In Heat

Yep! Christian has come into heat. This is earlier that my other dogs have, but she is not too far off the time-line.

The first time that I put a diaper on her, so she could be in the house, she spun in circles three times, as she was trying to get a look at the "clothing" that I had just put on her. I chuckled at her antics, and told her to "leave-it", hoping that she would accept it as a way of life in the house for the next three weeks. http://www.SheepdogHerding.com/seasonals She has accepted it!

In the herding side of her life, she is coming along quite nicely. I haven't been working her too often, trying to allow her to grow up, before asking for much harder work.

Her mind wants to work and work, putting the Puritan's work ethic to shame, but her over-all well-being comes first. In a few more weeks, her growth plates will have closed, and my worrying about her quite so much can end.

Thus far, she has learned the basics of herding. She still does not know her flanks by command, but that will probably come in the next month or two. She does small outruns (while being careful not to be too far to encourage cross-overs) and fetches, and we have been working on driving. It has been pretty easy to encourage her to take inside flanks, which I found intriguing, as when she first started she was such a strong header.

The lie downs are still her sticking points, as she does not want to. But none-the-less, I will need her to do that in the future, so we must get it. She can do her preferred stand, and has been learning to get back and keep away a little bit.

She has gone to all of the trials with me this year, and enjoys pestering me instead of watching the trials. At the Dunnigan Hills trial, she met a new friend. His name is Devon and was 11 weeks old. They played for quite a while away from the trial, and then later played some while watching the trial. I hope in the future as she gets to work sheep more often, she will enjoy watching trials as much as Kate and Tam do.