The Labor Day Weekend

Labor Day weekend was one of the best weekends Ken and I have had at the house. The weather was beautiful and it was cool. Ken work in our woods clearing out some more of the underbrush we wanted to do away with, although most of it will stay so the deer have a place to hide. Clearing out some of the underbrush is a heathly thing for the woods. While walking with Ikon and Seuss at the back end of our woods, I found these berries. They are very pretty even though I do not know what kind they are. I am sure the birds, squirrels and deer will enjoy them!

Below is the path in our woods that the deer travel, this is looking towards the back of our property, way down there.

In this picture you are looking down the path in the opposite direction. To the right over a fence is a small creek and more woods. Sometimes when there is very heavy rain the water will turn this path into a small creek, but it drains right off. It is very peaceful and the deer just love it. I even found out we have a turtle living in our woods, not a snapping turtle but a turtle. I hope to get a picture of it one day.

On Monday, Ken and I went out to Hempstead where our herding club gets together. We had some herding tests and so Trouble and Angelus came out with us to see if they would like to herd sheep. Below is Trouble and yes he will start his herding lessons at the end of the month. If all goes well he should be ready to show at our spring herding trial in March 2011.

Another picture of Trouble and Joy, who is not only an AKC Herding Judge but the President of our club.

Below are some of the folks who came to have their dogs tested. Sitting is our friend John, his shepherd and his step sister. We got John to join the herding club. :-)

The picture below shows Socks being pushed away from the table where we were setting up food for the lunch.

Nothing could keep Socks away from the table!! Thank goodness the food was not on the table yet.

I call this picture, "If I stare at the ball long enough...." LOL This is Lite who belongs to Joy, she is an awesome herder and ball freak!

Below is my Angelus who said he did not want to herd. Joy and I are still going to work with him, sometimes it takes a few times before the instinct kicks in.

This is John's dog, he is just a year old and has great instinct. He will start herding lessons with Trouble.

Yes even Standard Schnauzer can do herding. They were bred as farm dogs so the AKC has allowed them to compete for herding titles even though they are not in the Herding Class.

This is a new addition in the AKC, the Finnish Lapphund. The dog was bred in Lapland and was used to herd reindeer. They are great sheep herders. This pup is only 8 months. You can find more info on the Finnish Lapphund at the AKC website.

She was really enjoying herself.

Joy talking to the newcomers about herding and lessons. I think we got 4 new club members today!

And finally here is Ken fixing a panel we use in herding trials. We have a trial coming up Halloween weeken.