Bleeding, Breeding and B'Dog #3

It has been a very busy couple of weeks here at Goat Hill.  On Thursday, September 18, just before we celebrated Cody’s 6th anniversary, Bo jumped into the water trough down by the little house and severely lacerated his left front paw.  At least, that is how we think the injury occurred.  I could find nothing obvious that he could have hit.  There wasn’t much blood, but it was a significant injury, with all the tendons and ligaments exposed.  Dr. Mabry at Coryell Vet Clinic said Bo had “de-gloved” his paw.  This is how it looked. the following week when we were in for the bandage to be changed.  

It is much better now, but still has quite a bit of healing to do.

A few days later, our yard fence was finally completed, and our gate hung from it’s singletree hinges.  

The yard is now supposedly sheep, goat and cow proof. We will see how accurate that is when we get goats next weekend!

And if that wasn’t enough excitement, a few days later Meg finally began her heat cycle.  We had hoped it would come in August, but she kept us waiting until September.  She and Dutch finally “tied the knot” early Saturday morning, September 27, and again on Sunday morning and twice on Tuesday.  Here is a photo of the happy couple In the door of Meg’s boudoir.  If all goes well, there should be pups sometime between November 28 and December 2.  

Then, last weekend we loaded up the rig and drove west to Cross Plains to Maci and Peg McGraw’s B’Dog #3 trial, a fund-raiser for the upcoming Texas Herding Association Finals. 

 

As usual, the trial was great fun.  Peg and Maci’s pasture has some terrain, and not a few trees.   It offers handlers and their dogs the opportunity to expand their trialing horizons on a challenging field.  Much more fun than running in a flat, wide-open, course.  Here are some pics from the trial.  

The Bagley dogs didn’t do all that well, but we had fun, and, hopefully,  learned from our mistakes.   The big winner at least in my mind, was 12-year old Cody.  Since Bo was on the injured reserve list because of his lacerated foot, Cody ran in his place.  He didn't place all that well, but did get numbers on his first run and a 69 on his second.  Both his shed and pen were perfect on that run.  Pretty darn good for an old guy who doesn't trial regularly!  

Dutch placed 8th and 11th on his runs.  His outruns and lifts were good, as were his shed and pen numbers.  All my dogs lost most of their points on their drives...much to work on!

Meg, on the other hand, was a BB in a boxcar.  I hope it was hormonal!  Thanks to Lauren Galia for the video from which I pulled these shots.  Meg's first run was a disaster; her sheep ran away from the set-out and had to be reset. The reset was behind one of the fetch panels, so I couldn't see when she approached at the end of her outrun.  The sheep took off at a dead run, and run was somewhere between a rodeo and a circus.  I retired when the sheep refused to stop running.  The following sequence pretty much says it all.

We have another chance in Oklahoma in a couple of weeks.  Hope we do better.