I don't wanna! *stomps feet*

This was Soda. More crap. I don't know if it was because of the cow incident or what but I got basically no work out of her. Just running out and then off.

I'm super frustrated! It's just more of the same ol' shit. I really am just going to have to stick with AKC stuff. She just can't take the pressure of even Novice. I was going to run another novice trial but the outrun is a bit bigger than the last one and we've been trying to work on it and ... nope. Not going to happen.

I really want another dog. Soda would be happy being a pet or every great once and while running some AKC stuff. Am I wrong to be so frustrated? We go from a good work to a really God-Awful-Waste-of-Money and it seems like these days, I get more crap than I get good. And on the other hand, even if I get another dog I still can't get to sheep more than once a week. I just simply can't afford it and no one in OC has sheep they'd let me use. I could probably do local sheep + fee or far away sheep w/gas + no fee but work.

I love this so much but the finite end is coming--I keep saying it but I can see it. I want to run a dog in the border collie nationals. That's my BIG BIG BIG BIG BIG goal. Reach for the stars and all that. I have to say it but I am still very proud of how far she's come but ... the journey is going to end soon and I don't know what I'm going to do.

On the + side, I may be able to get some ducks soon. That will be fun. Soda lervs poultry.

Soda the Cow Dog

We were out at the big field this week working on outruns. She's improved some. I know when you work a lot on driving the outruns turn to crap (or so I've heard) and that was pretty true of Soda. We tuned them up a bit and she ran a nice big outrun. She did bust out the patented "out crawl" at the top, but I figure with time comes confidence and she'll run eventually.

There are some cows and calves in pen out there and one of the calves can escape. He's actually a teenager, not a tiny thing. Anyway, he was out, being mischievous and checking out the sheep and the dogs and Soda was doing an outrun and not really minding him and then, he minded her and started chasing her! She was running and I was laughing soooo hard (he was more being mischievous and not so much I'M GOING TO KILL YOU) and calling her to me and she got about ten feet away from him, turned around to face him, and pinned her ears and went WOOOWOOOWWOOOOWOOOWOOOOWOOOOWOOO! (imagine a cross between a howl and a bark and that's what it sounds like, only really high pitched) and then she ran like hell again! It was an absolute hoot! When she was pretty out of the way she turned and barked at him again, only a few tough "Woof! Woof!" and I got the biggest kick out of it. It was pretty damn funny. She looked so put out afterwards. Not hurt, not upset, not scared, just annoyed.

Terry said she thought on the outrun that Soda was considering trying to work him but decided not to so maybe that's why he went after her. Pretty much though, if someone is inclined to go after a dog, they'll go after Soda. She kind of gives off that vibe. She's a weenie.

I wish I had it on video because it was really cute watching her try to stand up for herself.

Paige

PS. Lest you think I'm cruel, this whole thing took less than about 20 seconds and there wasn't a whole lot I could do about but encourage Soda to run like hell back to me, which she did.