Running Again

When I got home from work, I changed my clothes and grabbed the dogs to go for a run. I decided to give Tessa the chance to run free. Over the years I've added various commands for her to follow. Because I live in the country I often run down my range road. My busy range road. So Tessa has been taught to heel to the ditch side, irregardless of what side of the road I happen to be on. She also knows "wait", "here", and "ditch". I use the ditch command when a car comes to tell her to hit the ditch. She's actually quite good at this and will swerve into the ditch when she hears a vehicle, often alerting me of approaching traffic.

I was not entirely sure of how well she'd listen off leash. After all, it has been a long time. But she was a superstar. When I called for her to wait (she's a faster runner than I am) she skidded to a stop leaving a set of elevens from her boots. She was so happy to be free she literally bounced beside me when I recalled her to my side.

Feeling adventurous I also took Reba with me. Poor Reba has had very few experiences with being on a leash and having to run beside me. At first she pulled and strained wanting to run with Tessa, eventually settling in to running by my legs. We had a few awkward moments as she tried to cross to the other side, tangling in my legs but began to learn to pay attention to where I put my feet. We were doing awesome until it was time to turn around home.

You see, Reba has always done leash work on my right side. Whoops! As I switched directions she thought she needed to stay on the same side. Unfortunately this would put her in the middle of the road. Tugging and puffing I tried to help her see she could run on my left. With worried looks she was bound and determined to run where she was comfortable. Prevailing I won the battle. When we pulled into the yard I released her. I think she enjoyed her first run even if it left her a little baffled. You could just see her wondering what her crazy human is doing.

The Laziest Thing

Yesterday, while driving to meet my honey, I saw the laziest thing. I had to swerve to stay on the highway I was so startled. You see on the service road running parallel to the highway was a slow driving SUV. It caught my attention because it was driving excessively slow, which is normally only seen during crop time, when the farmer crawls along side the field of wheat or canola. But it's winter and there really isn't anything interesting to look at.

It wasn't until I was almost past the SUV when I noticed the dog trotting happily along side the SUV. The driver had the window down and on a long leash was taking it's dog for a walk! To put this in perspective yesterday was a gorgeous, unseasonably warm day. I'm a bit baffled how anyone can consider taking their dog for a walk - from their car! Really - the laziest thing I've seen in a long time!

Run Time

Prior to her injury I would take Tessa running with me.  It was an ideal way to help her stay in shape as well as spend some quality time with me.  Normally, she runs off leash in the ditch but today I kept her on leash with me.  You see it's her first run in over 6 months.  She was slightly excited.  I have had an antibiotic resistant sinus infection so have not run for around 2 months.  I was also slightly excited to go for a run.

Well, the word run being used loosely.  I decided that because both of us were not in shape it would be best to start out easily and carefully.  The plan was to run twenty minutes doing 1-1 ones.  1-1 ones is basically 1 minute running and 1 minute walking.  This was to give both our bodies a break and to ensure I'd be getting enough air.  

When Tessa saw me pull on my running tights she howled her joy.  At the door she jigged and danced around my legs as I pulled on my shoes.  It was a bit of a battle to get her to sit still long enough for me to get her boots on, snapping her leash on we were off.  Bucking and bouncing at the end of the leash she knew exactly what was happening.  

When the watch beeped signaling our first walk break Tessa strained at the end of the leash.  I was quickly realizing she was not interested in taking this slowly.  Normally I would put a chain on her to remind her of her manners but today I just had her nylon collar which was not conveying the message of "wait".  We lurched through the run with Tessa straining all the way.

Pulling into the driveway, I reached down and unsnapped her leash.  She ran up to the door to wait for me to catch up.  In the house with her boots off, laying beside me as I did my stretches I looked down to see her smiling a big doggy grin.  She was one happy dog.  And I was one happy human.

Doggy Help Needed

A question for the readers (assuming there are any, haha)...

Grant often works as a contract hired hand for some of the large ranches in his area.  He has encountered a major problem.  Where Grant lives its big wide open rolling country.  You can literally ride for hours on one plot of land.  For those of you familiar with Wyoming it would be a similar landscape.  The problem being in the past 10 years the drought and increasingly lack of water has created a nightmare for him.  

You see, Grant has had 2 dogs die from heat exhaustion in the past 2 years.  Where he is riding and working is in the middle of nowhere.  With the low areas drying up he has to travel increasing distances to get to water for the dogs, and with temperatures commonly in the 30C mark (approximately 90F), the dogs are overheating.  He carries water with him and gives it to them but this is just not enough.  By the time Grant can get the dog to a cool place or even back to the truck and trailer it's too late.

He's always run traditional Border Collies but is thinking about getting something with short hair.  I'm wondering if the hair will make a big difference?  What do people who live in hot climates do?  Grant is just heart-sick over his dogs and I know there has to be a way.  The bottom line is the dogs are a great help when working with herds of cattle.  

I use a kiddy pool, or a hose when my dogs get too warm but these are just not viable options when you are a 1 1/2 drive from town in the middle of a 1000 acres of land.  Any and all help would be appreciated.

Poor Whiskey

Poor Whiskey.  We've been having unseasonably warm weather creating a tremendous amount of ice.  Whiskey is one of those tender footed quarter horses, and this uneven hard ground gives her tender toes.  She gimps from the automatic waterer to the straw pile and gimps from the straw pile to the hay bale.  She even patiently waits by the feed shed for me to bring the feed to her.  When Derek the farrier comes out I'm going to have him bring this stuff you put on the soles (not the frog) of the hoof to try and toughen them up.  I could buy her the little rubber boots but with the ice would hate to her to have even less traction than she already has.

Today I was out and just petting and scratching her, continuing my never ending search for skin ickies (and yes there are more!!) when I discovered the entire area under her head was an itching mass of things.  This may explain the mystery of the moving tractor bucket.  When I went out in the morning the bucket (front end) of the tractor had been moved 2 feet.  Baffled and concerned I looked over both the horse (the only animals with access) to see they were both happy and healthy.  My suspicion is Whiskey has been itching the bottom of her head on the top corner of the bucket.  As Whiskey is an easy 1400lbs. she'd have the power to move it.

When I scratched her under her chin she blissfully began to lick my coat and hand, telling me she was enjoying the automated scratch.  Later I observed her scratching on the tombstone of the bale feeder.  As much as it pains me to admit it, I'm loosing the battle with her ickies.  Tomorrow I'll call the vet and see what she has too say.

Working like a Dog

I love writing about my animals, but his week I've spent very little time with them. You see the Alberta Stock Dog Association is hosting the Canadian finals and the Western Canadian finals this August. As a board of director this means I've been working very hard to get some stuff set up. One of the things I'm working on is putting together a sponsorship package - it costs a surprising amount of money to host a trial. The other thing the board of directors is working on is finding a suitable field. While this sounds easy it isn't. The field needs to be within proximity of a major airport, be a "quality" field meaning no big holes, overly rough etc., as well as large enough to host a trial so around a quarter section size. We are currently investigating fields in the Calgary area.

So this week, I've been working like a dog for the dogs. In addition, I've started rehab on my shoulder to try and make it a little more functional. I've set up my chores so I don't have to do any heavy lifting. Normally I fork hay to the sheep off a round bale. This just helps prevent waste. Right now, the sheep have a round bale in a tombstone feeder, so no forking for hay for me. With Buddy gone I don't have the horses separated which means in the morning I feed a few flakes of hay and in the afternoon I turn them out with the round bale for a while, bring them in and grain them. Bottom line, I'm not carrying water or forking hay, thus saving my shoulder some wear and tear. Hopefully enough to give it some healing time.

All in all it's been a busy week with no play time for me.

Buddy's Big Trip

Today, I hauled my rear end out of bed at 6:30, fed the horses and hitched up the trailer.  Buddy was going to be embarking on a new adventure.  I loaded him up.  Well, I attempted to load him up (this was his fourth trailer trip).  It took my mom nervously clucking behind him and holding up her arm to get him to step into the stock trailer.  And we were off.

After tensely navigating the extremely icy country roads I hit the highway.  It took Buddy a ways before he figured out how to stay balanced and then it was smooth sailing.  I was heading to cowboy country and my old mentor Grant who has agreed to give Buddy his start.  Now normally I'd have no qualms starting a horse.  However this year I haven't been on a horse since May.  You see in May Whiskey sprained her hock and is still lame.  I was further derailed by my doctor telling me riding with fluid in my ear is not a good idea (that's where your balance center is).  I thought I'd best err on the side of caution and not make my first riding experience in the better part of a year on a baby.

While Buddy is at Grant's, I'll periodically drive out and ride some of Grant's horses to get some muscle tone and balance back.  This is a commitment as Grant lives a comfortable three hour drive from my house - one way.  When we arrived Buddy came out of the trailer slightly bug eyed, clearly wondering what was going on.  I took him into the barn and pulled of his blanket only to have him steam.  Apparently he found the drive a wee bit stressful as he was a hot sweating mess.  

With some luck, he'll settle in and be a little superstar for Grant and I'll be able to figure out just what his purpose in life is supposed to be.