With all the cow work going on, and, Dally being “out of the action” (or so I thought), I decided I’d let Eden tag along on some days. I worked her with Lucas, by herself, and then, at the end of the week, with Dally.
She is not quite one, her birthday is in a month, and she’s not had to do too much around here, but “sit”, “stay”, “walk up”, “get in the yard”, and “load up”. She’s a hunting little fool, and we have mice and moles and rabbits to keep her plenty happy. She can tend towards hard-headedness, but she’s still pretty young.
She handled the sorting of the pairs adequately… It is very difficult for dogs to stay laying under their sagebrush when you move your horse and position.
Long days and heat help!
The last day I rode, we moved cattle along some little sloughs with wet bottoms full of cattails and open water areas as well. Tuff didn’t seem to want to jump in, Dally would make a run to the edge of the water and stop, but that was enough to send Eden pell mell into the water. Ker-splash! She’d jump in, continue on to the cow, and goose them out! She does have her Great Aunt’s ear piercing yip. If there was anything I hoped she DIDN’T inherit from Elsa, that YIP would have been at the top of my list! At this point, I’m not too worried about it, once she knows what to expect, and gains a little confidence, the YIP may disappear. I even heard her BARK, a deeper and more tolerable tone, although I’d prefer she not use either!
For about a quarter of a mile, there was plenty of action, and even a bite or two, and I was mighty pleased with my pup. Brandon quipped that if I could get her to work as well on land as she did on the water, I’d have something! Thanks, Brandon. But he’s right, she has a ways to go.
She’s still too focused on looking for bunnies and mice, and this year, THEY ARE EVERYWHERE. She isn’t getting the connection between “SWWWWWSSSSS” and the action of then going after a cow even when Dally and Lucas both showed her by example.
But she’s enthusiastic, she’s quick, she’s healthy and in good shape, she is focused on me (and got used to seeing me on horseback – though she needs practice at following the right horse!). She just needs more miles, more time, and she’ll be a great help!
This is the only pic that showed her working that wasn’t blurry or had her partially hidden behind a bush!
Atta girl, Eden!
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How exciting knowing you have a great dog coming on… know you are proud of her…
I’ve never actually seen, in person, cow herding dogs, only sheep herding. But it’s absolutely amazing to me to see the connection between person and dog and the communications of “swwwwwwwssssss” and such. It’s a mystery to me, but I sure enjoy hearing about it. Thanks!
Linda Watson recently posted…Intense Curiosity and Joyful Fascination
Eden seems to be coming along just fine! She is young and taking it all in from you and the other doggies. Each one comes with their own special personality. Give her a hug from me!
P.S. can you please tell me what camera you are using? thanks.
For the most part, this is a Canon Powershot SX260 HS. Sometimes I use my bigger Olympus SLR.
She is doing a great job being just under a year.
We adopted a 7 year old beagle about 3 weeks ago. She is a sweet thing, but very obsessed with HUNTING. More so than any other beagles I have owned. She hunts FROGS in our yard and is so very anxious when inside wanting to get back out to hunt them down. She will not eat them, thank goodness, but she pesters them until they ‘croak’ literally.
I’m working on training her on the leash, something she knows very little about. Prior owner obviously never had her on one. George already adores her, which is why we adopted in the first place. Since we lost Gracie in March, he had taken to sleeping 23.5 hours a day and would not go out and enjoy his yard much. Chloe is now interacting with him and they both go out to do beagle barking/patrols. But George sits and watches Chloe hunt/torment the frogs. I can see he is actually smiling through his eyes watching her. It has been a good decision for him.
Me, the jury is out…. she wears me out with her constant whining to be outside and I so miss Gracie’s personality. She was calm and a leader of the pack after me. She would follow my command, then get the other two to do the same. She was such a help. Miss her daily.
We fall in love with those dogs that really match our personalities. Barking a lot bugs me… my dogs do it, but I don’t like it!
It’s wonderful when you see all that work you have put in on teaching your dog finally start to come together.
You must be a proud mum, what a little helper