Names and Rambling

I'm going to go ahead and send in the ABCA form the pups and put them all in my name since I am going to keep them all until they are 4-5 months. I'll train 3 pretty far along with the idea of selling 1 of the 3 as a nicely going young dog. Here are the names I'm going to use.

* Grace

* Rose

* Nora

Since I have already once had a "Grace" I will probably use Grace for the white female, as I doubt I will keep her- although it's not out of the question. If she is a superstar, then here she'll stay despite her color. She is already getting lots of freckles, so she won't be "Snow White" for long. She is going to be a beautiful dog, you can see that already. Nora will be the darkest female, as I like that name the best and right now I'm quite drawn to the darkest girl. I like the 3rd female too, but she is going to look nearly like Ivy, and keeping Ivy and Gwen straight now is hard enough! LOL! I told Ivy this morning she looks more like her mother each month as she is heading into full adulthood.

*John

*Henry

I like both names. Although it's kinda funny since it's John-Henry... I am SO drawn to both of the males, and typically my bond history with males is better than with the females. "C" boy seems to be seeking me out, and he is the outgoing pup in the litter. The 2nd male has the prettiest head and the most perfect, even marking on his face (not that either matter). He is a doer also, but he is pretty laid back. Although now I tend to want the most outgoing, biggest personality in the bunch, that is not what was picked for me with Cruz.... Cruz was a middle of the road pup. I'm so excited about these babies and forming bonds with them. By the time they are ready to start work my little flock will be well into good numbers and I won't be breeding every ewe I own. My plan this year for the 4 likely lambs is to leave one ram, band any others. Next year I will put that with 3 ewes. Of those lambs, no ram-lamb will be left unbanded. The following year I will be able to start turning over ewes and/or selling some lambs. While Ben is gone I plan to extend the sheep area.

I have made some hard decisions to move along the dogs I am not working a lot. As I mentioned Mary Jane is going to a lovely home in PA. Clare and Logan are going to what sounds like a super home, also in PA to a woman that trains working GSDs and would like to start herding with a Border Collie. She owns a bordering kennel as well. Clare will be her herding partner, as well as a house companion. Logan may or may not stay with her, but she will put a good foundation of work on him (be it herding, obedience, agility) and then properly home him. This is if the man in NW Virginia backs out on taking Logan. A co-worker has said he will take the two hounds shortly after the first of the year. He hunts on 30 acres and is going to build a small kennel on his house property. If the gentleman in Virginia takes Logan, I may see if the woman in PA that's taking Clare would be interested in Kit. Kit's a fun dog that would be fantastic at agility. She's nice on stock. She needs more time up close, but she is going to finish out nicely. I like her a lot, she just isn't "my type" on sheep. She works like Toss- straight on. Many compeditive people like this. They don't stall out, and they enjoy driving. I like a bit more natural outrunner, and a dog that's a bit more gifted in "feel". I'd rather work on developing confident driving skills than teach an outrun. It's taken me many years and dogs to learn what I want, and now that I do, I need to try to get my dog "population" back down to where I can properly work each one, and can afford to do something more than just feed and maintain them. (anyone care to know how much de-worming (even when it is the sheep and goat safeguard) and flea crap costs for 14 dogs? Or how many pounds per day of food they eat?) I sold Mary for a lot less than she is worth, but in doing that I was able to be picky about where she went, and put her into the price-bracket of real farmers- which is where I wanted her to go. I held out for what felt right for her, and the family in PA is perfect! Same holds true for Clare. Is she a nice dog? Yes. Will she be a nice working dog? Yes. Does she have a personality that will allow her to transition to a new home if the owner is knowledgeable? Yes. Clare is going to this woman for very, very little money- but like with Mary, that allowed me to say no to people that would not meet Clare's needs. Clare is very talented on sheep, but she is quite soft in my hands. She is going to be perfect for someone with some herding skills, and takes weekly lessons, but is not as far along as me- thus putting less "handler pressure" on her. This woman has worked with everything from abused English Shepherds to the the hardheaded, driven working lined GSDs and done a spectacular job at both ends of the spectrum. (she sent me oodles of videos) The woman in PA will not get Clare's ABCA papers for the price she's paying until proof of spay has been sent. And it's likely Logan will simply not be registered. If she were to take Kit it would be the same deal as with Clare.

I feel good about the homes these dogs have lined up, and I feel it is the best for all of us. Jim can't go anywhere, as making a transition even to an educated handler would be overwhelming to him. And due his reactions of fear, I could never in good conscience re-home him.

Well, it's noon now, so it's time to go outside for awhile, as it's as warm as it's going to be I'm sure. Tomorrow is supposed to be warmer. I had heard rain, but now it doesn't say rain for tomorrow, it has it for today. It's quite "dreary" out, but it's not windy and it's not raining.... Maybe I can get a few pictures of the new little ram-lamb. :-)