Thursday, June 4, 2009

Garden and Dog Status

Hey! Let's take a trip around the garden! We will work our way from the front yard around to the back.



Look $50 bucks worth of fresh oregano growing right by the road. This bush is really taking off!

Is this a weed? Not sure, but it makes nice flowers!

Our rock wall plants are really getting established and making some nice flowers

More flowers from the rock wall. You can see the raspberries trying to expand their territory.

Wide angle view of the rock wall flowers


Another weed? Or should we consider it a wildflower?

Daisies and lupin going crazy

Strawberry patch is going to be productive this year. And the cherry tree is making cherries.

The artichoke and rhubarb are going to take over this bed. We need more space!

The plants on our back wall are filling in too! (tilt head left)

Foxglove and hostas growing poorly in terrible soil.

Herb bed is filling in a major way.

Raspberries are expanding despite the dense crappy soil. I am just going to let them go.

Most of the shrubs are doing well, but the ferns are getting burned.

Can't remember the name of this flower.

Thimbleberry for the birds and the bees.


And now on to the dog update.
Ari is a happy boy. He still has an injury in his back leg, but he can run around with his new little brother Epic without much trouble. He still doesn't get to chase the ball too much, but at least he gets to go to the park for a jog.
Epic is starting to get into chasing the ball. He gets very excited when I wave the ball in his face and say 'ready'. I do this and then roll the ball and let him go get it. When he brings it back I 'click and treat'. I usually only do this about four times and then take a break when he is still really amped. He has started really tugging on a little snake toy, but I think it's about to rip apart. Maybe I will have to keep buying the same snake over and over again, possibly up to 14 times.
He responds well to the clicker, but he still sometimes wants to run off with the ball or the tug. To help with this I am playing ball possession games and lots of tugging. I am trying to make him want chase after me even when he has the ball and tug in his mouth. Luckily I do this in my basement where no one can see me.
I am also working on basic obedience, just to enforce things he already knows and make sure he listens to me. We should probably take an advanced obedience class at some point this summer.
Well if flyball is going to take some work, at least herding comes very naturally to Epic. Last week we worked on increasing the length of his outruns and his ability to fetch even a widely spread bunch of sheep. He did really well with little help from me. He is pretty reliable doing about 100 yard outruns, and he even went way around the pond to get some wandering sheep. He and I are also getting better at sorting sheep together. It's still a lot of pressure for him, but he listens well and my command of the gate has greatly improved- we both just need to approach it with more patience and confidence.
I am going herding tomorrow and this time I promise to take some picture.

1 comment:

An English Shepherd said...

great flowers & good luck with the herding

Wizz :-)