As Promised...

It was a very sheep-filled long weekend!

Saturday- a quick trip to Louannes for a lesson for Brit, and just some work with Leo. 

and the cutest little lamb...

Sunday was spent in Highriver at the Stockdog Trial. I was really pleased with Brit! She listened, and was confident. My handling was the problem. lol. But we are learning together! I did find out that we were in Fifth place overall in the standings up until this weekend. We've got new things to work on for next time- that sneaky course designer added in some new challenges this time. lol

thanks Amanda S for the photo!!

and Monday (the Family Day holiday) was spent mostly at Altapete. A fantastic day!

the gorgeous Nan. Owned by Wendy Schmaltz

Gus

Brit, waiting impatiently

the roadrunner, I mean Kelly

baby Try who is having a bad ear day

and good girl Alice, with photobomber Hemp.

and of course I couldn't do this whole post without at least one puppy picture...

A great day indeed!

Friday

 

I am so glad today is Friday. This was a long week. 

On to the weekend!

A fun weekend of herding, herding, and more herding

followed by nice long walks with the dogs. 

Yay for long weekends. 

:)

Here, Have a Heart

yum!

hearts are yummy, and fun!

you want it?

oops, I dropped it

it's still good though, just a little dirty

here!

have my heart. :)

Put the Glass Down

Facebook is swarmed with crap everyday- even with my small list of friends I have to filter through crap about psycho (often angry) cats, shamed dogs, and bad jokes, oh and the odd "Share this post to avoid death, and win a millon dollars..." But among that crap sometimes there are interesting, or thought provoking things- like this gem. Shared from a "I love Science" thingy. No idea where it originated, or I'd credit them. It's probably been altered a hundred times from it's original form anyway. lol.  In any case this really stayed with me today. So I'm going to post it on my blog so I can read it when I need to.

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A psychologist walked around a room while teaching stress management to an audience. As she raised a glass of water, everyone expected they'd be asked the "half empty or half full" question. Instead, with a smile on her face, she inquired: "How heavy is this glass of water?"

Answers called out ranged from 8 oz. to 20 oz.

She replied, "The absolute weight doesn't matter. It depends on how long I hold it. If I hold it for a minute, it's not a problem. If I hold it for an hour, I'll have an ache in my arm. If I hold it for a day, my arm will feel numb and paralyzed. In each case, the weight of the glass doesn't change, but the longer I hold it, the heavier it becomes." She continued, "The stresses and worries in life are like that glass of water. Think about them for a while and nothing happens. Think about them a bit longer and they begin to hurt. And if you think about them all day long, you will feel paralyzed – incapable of doing anything."

It’s important to remember to let go of your stresses. As early in the evening as you can, put all your burdens down. Don't carry them through the evening and into the night, and day after day. Remember to put the glass down!

------------

Everyone has stress. Everyone has worry, and Everyone has stuff. It's how we cope with it that sets people apart.  I try not to sweat the small stuff (I own all the books), and get through the hard stuff with positive thinking (to change how I think about (or react to) the stress), and of course taking steps to change the stress. I am a worrier by nature so it sometimes is really difficult. But I march on- with an uplifting song in my ear, and a dog (or a few!) at my side. One foot in front of the other.

 

All in a Row

If you're a Facebook friend you've already seen this. I took it with my phone on our LW today. I don't normally take photos with my phone because they suck. lol. But this one is cute. They walk like this the whole way. No matter the combination of dogs- they always just line up. Boys on the outside so they can pee on stuff. lol.  This is Leo, Pixel, and V (in case you couldn't tell).

Running and Fitness

6/52 Full Out, originally uploaded by manymuddypaws.

Even though I haven't been doing agility with the dogs it still seems that we are SO BUSY!

Aside from training I also make sure that the dogs are getting good exercise everyday, and conditioning. It's work, but the dogs love it and I can especially see the results in the Border Collies.

The corgis always look ripped- they have big solid butt muscles, tiny little waists (well, Pixel is on a diet). And Boone is too shaggy to visually see. But Brit's muscles have really been developing, and I can see the difference in how she uses her rear. And Leo has definition now from being so fat and flabby before.

Every day we do a leash walk- I alternate the dogs and take two or three each time. The time and place varies depending on how busy I am. We also do an off leash run. Either together as a group, or in two groups depending on if I want to deal with Brits obsessing...

The free run is just that- they run around the coulee at their own pace doing their own thing. While they love it, believe it or not most of their actual fitness comes from home!

Our conditioning games are what has been building muscle, strength and fitness. The peanut ball, fit discs, and tricks are done a variety of ways every day. Recently Sarah loaned me her fit-pods for something new. They are four small pods that the dog stands on- one on each foot. The corgis are not a fan of this. Brit is more accepting. lol.

In any case I am excited for the nice weather to come- so I can get the bike back out. And so the dogs can get swimming again. Those are two things that also make a big impact on their fitness.

Spring can't come fast enough!

Dizzy

Wendy, from Crazy and Little, started a "Sisterhood of the Traveling Lensbaby" blog. She has 10 or so people lined up waiting for the lens- it will get sent around, and each person will post on the blog she has set up for it. (Note: She is still open to a few more, so if you have a Canon SLR email me and I'll hook you up!)

 I agreed to play because I thought it would be fun, and easy. Well I suppose it's fun, but it's certainly not easy.

According to wikipedia a Lensbaby is " a line of camera lenses for SLR cameras that combine a simple lens with a bellows or ball and socket mechanism for use in special-effect photography. A lensbaby can give effects normally associated with view cameras. The lenses are popular with photographers for the creative possibilities of the selective focus and bokeh effects"

The link to the Lensbaby website can be found here

In effect it is a weird little lens that you manually focus (or attempt to) buy squishing it together. No joke. It's cool, but a challenge to get used to!

I took it out today and practiced on Brit. She proved to be a cooperative model, and was very patient with me. lol. I'm not quite sure what it is supposed to look like, so I picked out a few that have even a little bit of focus. I took about 20 photos...

I am going to try on an inanimate object, it might be a bit easier... lol

I love my dogs

2/12 MMP There's one in every photo.., originally uploaded by manymuddypaws.

Happiness is...

good dogs

friends

wagging tails

pesky puppies

crittering

Blue Skies in February!

Wonderful Weather

We have it real good right now weather wise. In the +'s!!! Which is amazing. The snow that we got last week is almost all gone. And the wind is not too bad either.

We walk in all sorts of weather, but I don't always take my camera- especially if it is -20 and windy and snowing. lol. But this week there were TWO walks that my camera came along for so I have some photos to post.

Jolene (from OneCollie) met me and the dogs all had a great time.

Thursdays Walk

Happy with the Prize (that she stole from a Collie)

Tug

handsome tater

Fridays Walk

Crazy V with the pink ball

Buddies. Sort Of.

Boone was afraid of the shooting at the range and took refuge under Tate. lol

Bark! Bark! Bark!

Bark! Bark! Bark!

Leo's got the moves...

Kort is a ball hog. Pixel was mad.

An Alternative to Fetch

 I don't play much fetch with my dogs anymore. The little ones twist and torque and try to turn going 100mph. Or leap up to try and catch it. Seeing as how I am trying to keep them sound fetch is not something we do. But they do love their toys. So we have a compromise. They still get to fetch, but the fun is in the searching!

The first step is that the dog must stay.

 I said Stay....

then I throw the ball. Usually into long grass, and far away. The dog has to look at me before I release them. Now of course they've lost sight of the ball so the search is underway...

 the nose is good, and she will usually always find it. Sometimes it takes a while though...

 Success!

and sometimes she doesn't find it and we have to go looking together. Either way she's getting exercise, and having fun!