BevLIve: Preparing for the road

Got home from work Monday night at 6:30 and it was still over 80 degrees and about 100% humidity. I'm sure looking forward to all that dry heat out west.

 Had to unhook the trailer and get the dirt bike loaded. First, of course, I had to make sure I could get the bike running. We had had a lot of trouble getting it started when we used it out in  South Dakota and Colorado in the spring, and I hadn't turned it on since. So off comes the air filter, and after half an hour of messing around no luck. So I finally got angry and hauled it up the hill and got it rolling at a pretty good speed and jumped it into gear. I didn't get killed, and it started. New gas added to the tank and a long time running, and it look good to go. The bike is really handy at some of the bigger trials for running errands, moving sheep, and exercising dogs. Just now I'm not sure it's worth the trouble though.

 Got the bike loaded and the truck hitched back up to the trailer. Checked all the lug bolts and air pressure in the tires. Then began loading all the stuff I might need while out west. In no time it’s 8:30 and time to feed the dogs and quit for the night.

 I sometimes think the best part of these trips is finally leaving so all I need to do is sit and drive.

 After our morning walk I finally got a chance to work my dogs today.

I'm worried that Mirk may have trouble if/when the western sheep face up to him. This isn't behavior typical of sheep in the UK, and it takes many dogs a while to learn how to handle the western sheep when they first run up against them. Mirk didn't seem to have any trouble in the spring, but these sheep will be tougher and more aggressive then the sheep we saw earlier this year, so I'm trying to help get him ready for them.

 

I put my flock of sheep up against the fence and asked Mirk to walk up into them (see picture). Admittedly, they weren't facing him but it at least gave him a chance to practice walking up on sheep that weren't moving away. Since he likes to grab the sheep if they do too much breaking away from him I won't practice this again. I don't want to encourage too much gripping this time of the year. We'll come back to this work after the trial season.

 Just worked Bill on stopping and listening, not his strong suits. Bill's as trained as he is likely to get at 9 years of age and just needs a little reminding of what he knows. Did a bit of driving with Huck. He needs a bit more encouraging than the other dogs, and I just want to keep him tuned up until we get to Sturgis.