Rocky Neck Beach on New Years Day, 2011

Getting a better view of the water

By the Pavillion at Rocky Neck Beach

Jim with Will and Emma on the breakwall

Will on the breakwall

Will

Frisbee games

Will checks on the seagulls

Emma is worn out after a fun day at the beach

It's New Years Day and here we are at the shore in Connecticut, with a lot of other people who decided to enjoy the almost 50 F degree weather outdoors. There are remnants of snow on the ground from the snowfall that brought about a foot of the white stuff on Boxing Day, but that didn't stop any of us. We were determined to be outside on such a wonderful day to start the new year. Will and Emma couldn't be happier - they loved the beach and the romp with all the other dogs who were there.

Rocky Neck Beach is just a little over an hour's drive from our house, and we've never been there before, so it was a perfect day to explore. The beach is in a cove, and is a nice white sand beach, surrounded on one side by a rocky 'arm' that juts out into Long Island Sound. We walked out to the tip of the peninsula to view the sound and the bay on the other side, which is surrounded by homes, probably most of which are seasonal.

They both loved the water, and walked or ran into it to play with the frisbee. As a matter of fact, Will would take the frisbee into the water after he caught it, dropping it just along the edge, as if daring Emma to go in and get it. Which she did. The water wasn't as cold as we thought it might be. I guess it hasn't cooled down as much as it will over the winter yet. I also think that the shallower water of the sound doesn't get as cold as the ocean just east of us in Rhode Island.

The tide was going out when we arrived about noon, and kept going out till we left about 3 pm. It was wonderful having so much beach to walk on at low tide. Lots of shells, and lots of gulls along the edge, but not many other shore birds. We saw a half dozen or so men with metal detectors scouring the beach for treasures. One guy was even wading knee deep in the water. Seems like it's the thing to do in the winter -to find rings and money and other objects that were lost in the busy days of summer. We didn't see anyone find any treasures, though.

We walked way out almost to the end of the long breakwall that protects the beach. It was pretty slippery on the big black rocks as we got closer to the end. Will and Emma didn't seem to mind too much - Will had a couple of slips when he tried to move too quickly from rock to rock, but Emma was pretty sure-footed and not afraid to jump rock to rock at all. She's got those short strong legs that carry her like a little mountain goat!

They were both exhausted after the afternoon at the beach and just zonked out in the car for the ride home. Before we headed home, though, we had to go to Lenny and Joe's Fish Tales in Madison for an early dinner. They were as busy today as they would be in the middle of summer, amazingly enough. It's a great place to check out if you're in the mood for a beachy meal of fish or seafood. Their clam strips are yummy!

Thanksgiving on the Bruce Trail in Canada

Lori, Jazz, me, Emma and Will on the Bruce Trail

Lori and her Springer, Jazz

Jim, Emma and Will at the ruins on the trail

Jazz and Feather have a swim

Puff balls 'exploding'

Last Monday was Thanksgiving Day in Canada and a wonderful day for a nice walk on the Bruce Trail in Burlington. The sun was shining and the sky was a brilliant blue, making a great backdrop for the bright oranges, reds and yellows of fall. It seems like the colors are much more brilliant in southern Ontario than those in Connecticut this fall. The very dry weather we had through August and September in New England have taken a toll on the usually colorful fall foliage. We've had color, mind you, but just a lot less brilliant than normal. The oranges and reds have seemed much more muted. The yellows are just as bright, though, but it almost seemed like everything was yellow this year. And now, mid-way through October, we're already into the golden bronze and copper tones, which is the customary second part of fall color. Well, I guess this is the time for that since we're halfway through October already.

Anyway, my sister Lori and her dog Jazz joined us for a Thanksgiving weekend walk on the Bruce Trail just north of Burlington, Ontario. This part of the trail has multiple side trails and runs in part alongside a creek that winds through the woods. We saw more people than we usually do when we've gone there before with my son, Aaron, probably since it was a holiday weekend, and it was such a nice day. We were joined by a dog that lives on the property that flanks the trail by the road access. We learned her name was Feather, but we called her Tramp because she looks just like the dog from Lady and the Tramp, grey and raggedy but cute and friendly. She walked (or ran) the entire way with us and our dogs, until we were near the end of our walk and thought we were lost. We thought she might lead us back to the beginning of the trail so we asked her to 'Go home', and she took one look at us and ran off through the woods. We decided not to follow her, bushwacking like she did through the woods, since we didn't know where she was going. We ended up meeting a woman who knew the trails well and she told us the way back to the beginning. It was a maze of trails and we weren't sure enough that we were on the right track, but as it turns out, we were heading in the right direction after all. We made it back to the cars with no problem once we got the directions straight. I guess we need to pay better attention when we walk there. Usually Aaron is the one who leads us through, and he's much better with directions!

Tobermory, Georgian Bay side

Jim and Emma

Will on the lookout

Aaron and the dogs

Will watches

Happy Cajun

Cajun and Eevi

Eevi

Trip to Tobermory, Ontario

Here's a few photos from our short camping trip in September to Tobermory. We went with my son, Aaron, and his two dogs, Cajun and Eevi. It was the first camping trip for Will and Emma and they had a great time, as we thought they would. We all love being outdoors, and it was a great weekend, even though it did get a little rainy and windy. We still got some great shots of the water and the rocks, and we all enjoyed the walking and being together.

Herding Training at Nutmeg Farm

Jim's first time with Will and the sheep

Will gathers the sheep

On the run

Emma watches the action

We are really trying to keep to weekly herding lessons for Will and Emma, but it's been tough due to our schedules. But we've had two weeks in a row of lessons, and we've actually had a great break-through with Will. He was the reluctant border collie when it came to the sheep up until now, but 3 weeks ago he actually seemed to notice the sheep and came to life! Lynnette had him in the small pen with a flock of sheep, doing the lunging that she leads him through, and he was going along with it all. We didn't notice anything different in his attitude towards the sheep. He usually seems like he doesn't really care that they are there, and in fact, seems like he wants to get away from them. The change happened when Lynnette opened the door to the pen to let the sheep into the large area of the barn for to give more space for lunging. Well, the sheep took off out the door as fast as they could and Will suddenly seemed to notice them. He perked right up, and ran out after them, with Lynnette still holding the lead. The instinct and the training came into play, and he began to circle around the sheep, gathering them into a circle, like he knew what he was doing. He raced and raced in a wide circle around the startled sheep. Startled because he had shown no interest prior to this, and they did nothing else but what they knew to do they gathered together, and turned and turned , watching every step that Will took as he ran around them

Lynnette was not as surprised as we were. She knew that he would the interest would 'kick in' at some point. . She let him have his rein for a short time, but stepped in to have him turn around to go in the opposite direction. She kept him going back and forth in his running circle, first one way, then the other. He was in his glory! And we were in awe that he finally had discovered the sheep, and his true nature to do something about them!

We've had one lesson since then, and each week, he goes through his paces, with the warm-up exercises, putting up with all the stretching, the flexing, and the backing up and side-stepping. But for the second time, when he got into the pen with the sheep he suddenly came alive. This time, Lynnette worked with him for a short time, and then called Jim into the pen. While Will continued to work the sheep, Jim changed places with Lynnette, and got himself into place, complete with horse whip and all.

For the first time, Jim was surrounded by the flock of sheep who were all trying to avoid the crazy running Will. Will just kept his pace, running a circle around the sheep. Jim did what he was told, working Will back and forth with the sheep, around and around, back and forth, changing directions just as Jim instructed him to do, by holding out first the left hand with the whip, then the right. Back and forth, back and forth. Shorter and shorter circles, then, when Jim was in the corner surrounded by the sheep, Will came to a stop and laid right in front of Jim and his flock of restless sheep. He did it!

It was the greatest feeling to see Will find his sheep, and to see Jim in there, whip in hand, looking like he knew what he was doing in the middle of a big flock of sheep.

Will and Jim wait in the hangar while Emma has her lesson

More herding training

Learning how to herd is a long, slow process, even for border collies. Especially border collies that don't get to work with sheep every day. We live in a semi rural area, not a farm, so it would be impossible for us to have sheep at home. We can have chickens, according to our zoning, but they draw the line at any other fowl or four legged farm creatures. Even geese are out of the question. So for now, we are limited to taking Will and Emma for their almost weekly sessions to become familiar with the animals, and to learn how to do what supposedly comes naturally to them.

We have always thought that Will would be the one to pick it up quickly, since he really likes to herd Emma. He also tends to go out wide around us and Emma, and will stand or lie there and watch what we're doing. If we move, he moves. If he gets bored in one spot, he moves around to the opposite side of his imaginary circle around us, and lies there watching everything we do. He can do this for quite a long time. And he really does herd Emma, especially when we're on a walk.He makes sure she stays on the path, or if she goes off the path, he will chase her down and bring her back, or will stand and watch that she doesn't go too far.

Emma has a knack at herding behavior too, but in a different way than Will does. She is obsessed with anything that moves, as I've mentioned before. She monitors the outdoors through the windows for all moving creatures or things, like squirrels, birds, even blowing leaves. She is getting better at controlling this behavior (or we are, I should say), but it could become a real problem. Border collies can be quite obsessive-compulsive in certain behaviors, and this is definitely one of them. We really want to keep this one at bay, and are learning how to handle it. This is one reason we really thought that if Emma had a job to do, she wouldn't continue to do this. We're working on it!

Emma is also good at herding her brother, Will. As I said, Will likes to lay at a distance and watch the action. We can tell Emma to go get Will, and she will go out to bring him in. This is usually successful, not always.

Well, about this training we are involved in. It is a slow, slow process and we began with learning how to give the dogs a good warm-up before they work. This is similar to how a person would warm up before doing some sort of physical exercise. The sequence begins with neck flexes, to the left and right. One side seems stiffer, but that is common, and it is now not as stiff as it was a few weeks ago when we began. The next is to stretch all four legs, and this is the part that always makes me laugh because it looks so funny. Working with one leg at a time, you hold it straight out for a few seconds, then to one side, then the other. We bought a DVD that Lynnette recommended by an animal physical therapist to understand some of this. She demonstrates with different dogs, and they really are quite agreeable to all of this. Besides being a good warm-up, this is all supposed to make it easier for you to handle the dog, and have them get used to being handled.

The warm-up continues with some 'yielding' exercises. You are supposed to get the dogs to go in a circle, first rotating around their front legs and then the back legs. They are learning how to make turns by crossing their legs at the ankle, rather than just moving to the side. It is much more efficient to turn this way, and it does not just happen. The latest exercise we have added is to move sideways, each way and to back up. This is getting easier, and they really don't seem to mind working at it. It's just trying to incorporate it into our daily routine is the difficult part.

Once we do all these steps at each lesson, the dogs are then given some lunging work. This is most similar to the way that horses trained. Using a long line (our teacher Lynnette, at Nutmeg Farm, recommends marine rope for it's 'life') she walks them first one way, then another, in big circles. This is done in a big structure she has on her property that resembles an airplane hangar.She will work each dog separately without animals, then will do the same thing with sheep or geese. Back and forth, back and forth, getting used to the movement, and to being in the pen with the animals.

Here's a few photos with a family of geese, father and his babies, from a few weeks ago. As you can see, neither Will nor Emma are too excited about being in with the geese. I worried they would just chase, but they are quite calm about the whole idea of being near them.

Will with the geese and Lynnette at Nutmeg Farm

Emma with the geese

Big daddy goose and his four 'babies'

Emma again, not wanting to get too close

Will in Herding Training

It's been a pretty packed summer with lots of travel and training and fun in this the hot and humid weather. A few weeks ago, we started Will and Emma in some sheep herding training, something that Jim has really been anxious to do. He found a trainer in Portland, CT, who does one on one training, and we've had a few sessions with her. She has shown us some warm-up exercises that we should do with them, and says that dogs, just like humans, need to stretch and tone their muscles to prepare for exercise. It's also a way to get accustomed to handling your dog, and for them to get used to being handled and manipulated physically. They both really struggled against it at first, but now they know what it's all about, they don't seem to mind being pushed and pulled, and having legs stretched one way and head stretched back and forth.

Will doesn't seem to be very interested in the sheep at all, while Emma is pretty good at the herding. We thought she might just chase them once she got into the pen with them, but on the contrary, she seems to have a second sense about what she needs to do. What they are learning now is to be comfortable with the sheep, to figure out how to move in tandem with the handle, and to figure out how the sheep move when they move. It's one step at a time.

Here's just a few shots of Will in training. More with Emma later.

Lunging practice (just like training a horse)

Is it done yet?

Not my turn yet

Father and Grandfather sheep