Lo-Lo was the nick-name affectionately given to Logan by the lady who showed us the basic herding ropes, and taught me how to not get mowed down by dumb & dumber sheep (which upon consideration would also be included in the basics of herding). After a 2 1/2 hour drive in pouring rain we pulled into the mile long 'drive way' of the ranch. I could already tell that the drive was worth it. I had arrived late, of course, and everyone else had been braving the rain since 8am so I was only able to catch the tail end of a lady working her Border Collie with the instructor in the ring. The lady would yell, chase and shake her bottle (a deterrent, not an innuendo) at her dog but he kept 'cheating' and would sneak a few steps in after a commanded 'stop'. The instructor stepped in and the dog didn't miss a beat and looked like he'd been working sheep since birth. It was so very amazing to see the instructor's presence in the 40-pen. Next it was Logan's instinct test in the round pen and I learned something very neat about Logan. She doesn't care much what she's doing as long as she's with her pack. She would start after the sheep and quickly return to me to see why I wasn't chasing sheep along with her! It wasn't until the instructor brought in her Aussie 'North' that Logan would stick with the sheep for longer than a single bark. The one thing she completely rocked? Her 'come' was spot on and made me look like a fantastic obedience trainer! She was biting the sheep on his rump (never fear, faint of heart. The rump was covered in at least 6 inches of wool.) and stopped her chase and came to me immediately after I said 'come'. I was so proud of my beautiful Lo-Lo!
After we worked in the round pen everyone shared stories over lunch about our dogs, dogs we knew, dogs we wish we didn't know, the amazing sheep stories of the more weathered herders and other bits of doggy this and that. It fit my need to discuss dogs at length and I was blessed by the warm country manner they all had. If the yacht and scuba tours doesn't work out for 'Gomez dream future' I would be quite content to own land, a few plow-like sheep, and my dogs. Lillian could run out the front door and I wouldn't have to worry about cars, my dogs would have a daily job, and Paul would be out of the city and in the country that he grew up with. It sounds rather ideal.
After we worked in the round pen everyone shared stories over lunch about our dogs, dogs we knew, dogs we wish we didn't know, the amazing sheep stories of the more weathered herders and other bits of doggy this and that. It fit my need to discuss dogs at length and I was blessed by the warm country manner they all had. If the yacht and scuba tours doesn't work out for 'Gomez dream future' I would be quite content to own land, a few plow-like sheep, and my dogs. Lillian could run out the front door and I wouldn't have to worry about cars, my dogs would have a daily job, and Paul would be out of the city and in the country that he grew up with. It sounds rather ideal.
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