Connecticut Sheep, Wool and Fibre Festival (100th Annual)
at Tolland Agricultural Center

Sheep herding trials

Waiting their turn

It's a hot day for herding! (or watching!) Watching the dogs and sheep

End of day
Skeins of wool ready for sale

Fluffy dyed wool


Daffodils and grape hyacinths around the labyrinth

A few milestones met

Here’s just an update on some milestones that Will and Emma have met. We are happy to report that Will is doing much better with his house training, and hardly has any ‘accidents’ in the house anymore. Very few dribbles while waiting to go out, once in a blue moon does he just squat on the spot, and he now will either ring the bells in the family room to let me know that he needs to go out, or will go to the front door to let me know. At one point it seemed like this would never happen, but for the most part, I would say he is house trained. I’m sure there will continue to be accidents in the house, but we are pretty happy to be at this point.

Will no longer makes a move to chase cars;
They both have learned to move to the side of the road (‘on the grass’) when a car passes by on our walks;
Will and Emma both ‘stay’ pretty well;
Neither one is a mop chaser, and they lay down nicely when the vacuum cleaner is going;
They don’t react to noises made by masking tape being pulled out
or to the electric beater
When I’m working in the kitchen, they lay down and watch quietly
They lay nicely while I get my hair dry and make-up on in the morning
They both sleep pretty well through the night, with the exception of a couple of 4 a.m. wake-up calls from Emma, mainly when we were in Burlington (a strange place for her, with all night noise and lights)
They both coming when called
They both wait at the top of the stairs when told to, so I can walk down without being run down
They travel very well in their crate in the van

Still needs work:
Walking on leash (pulling is the name of the game right now)
Coming directly to us when called to come, and sitting in front (Will tends to run like crazy all around, after he comes in the general direction)
Waiting to be told OK to get out of the crate in the car (it’s a mad dash when the door opens,
even if they are good at sitting, the wait command is a foreign word)

Will and Emma, 5 and a half months

A cold spring day and I wasn't in the mood to spend much time outside with the puppies this afternoon, so I got out my tripod and put my long lens on my camera to try a few puppy portraits. I thought it was about time to try something a little different than the usual snapshots of the two pups. So here's a few of the 'portraits' that I thought were good. I set them up on the wicker couch in the sun room, and the wall to wall windows let in a nice soft light from the overcast day. They didn't seem to mind sitting there, at least for a little while.

Pretty little girl, Emma

Who, me?

Will

Will

and more Will