Chris is now free to be a sheepdog puppy! It will take me a little longer to get out of the habit of watching out for her, so she didn't overdo it, though. She was out for most of the day today, and getting herself really dirty like most pups do.

With freedom, comes trouble. She got in trouble a few times also. With all of the dogs outside with her, she can be more easily coaxed into doing something like wandering where she shouldn't be.

I checked on all of them often during the day, since I have been dog sitting the Canadian Borders for a couple of days. However, I was told toward the end of the day that one of the Canadian Borders was in the road, in front of the house. My neighbor told her to go home, which she promptly did. I guess I better watch them a little better.

Several times when I would hear a commotion outside, I would run out to see just what was going on. One time Chris and the two Canadian Borders were out greeting the UPS truck. YIKES!

I called them, with a gruff voice to let them know that I was in disagreement with what they were doing, then herded them back toward the house, as I greeted the UPS man.

None of the 5 dogs are aggressive toward strangers, but they could get hurt by the truck. My other two Borders, Kate and Tam, stayed back without being told too. Hopefully in the future, Chris will learn to greet, but not run out in the driveway toward visitors. I hope Kate and Tam will influence her in that respect.

I threw the ball with the Chuck-it ball launcher for all five of them out in the pasture. At first, Silas, one of the Canadian Borders, caught the ball and promptly left the pasture. I called him to come back unsuccessfully, and had to go after him to get the ball back. He was not understanding the game as we had never played ball out in the pasture. The pasture is for herding!

Once he figured out the game was in the pasture, and that I closed the gate, so he couldn't steal the ball, he was on. He caught it more than half of the time. With Kate followed by Tam in the number of catches.

Annie, the other Canadian Border collie, and Christian were not interested in the ball at all. All they wanted to do was herd the others as they ran for the flailing ball.

It's nice to be able to have my girl back. I look forward to working with her on sheep. I also look forward to watching her continue to grow up.