Fun With Sheep and Walk

Our friend recently purchased sheep for her Aussie to herd.  I'm sure readers of our blog remembers seeing Gabe who we hike with a lot.  Its his sheep.  April was nice enough to invite us over to see what the boys would do.  

We tried Teach first.  Teach had seen sheep before at the Collie Club of America Herding Regional's doing the Instinct test (which he flunked).  He was too interested in staying with me than seeing what the sheep were all about about the test.  So I was pleasantly surprised when he really showed some interest with the sheep.  The video was taken after he first saw them and herded them around.  He loves to still come back and check in with mom.  

Tucker was up next.  He had been tested on sheep before he came to live in West Virginia when he was 12 weeks old.  He LOVED them at the time and showed a ton of instinct.  At one time in the video his breeder did he jumped over the head of the border collie to get to them.  So when we took Tucker out we had him on a long line just because I wasn't sure what would happen.  Well, needless to say he turned on as soon as he saw them and I couldn't keep up!  You'll see I drop the line.  He went on long several minutes after we stopped videoing and I eventually had to make him quit.  Talk about good exercise for him.  Here's his video.

After Tucker and Teach cooled down we went for a little hike up the hill and found this cool little American Flag to take pictures in front of.  

Pretty Yellow Finch on the flowers.

I had the best dogs the rest of the day.  They were WORN out!!!

Hiking Adventure: Fayetteville Trail

After we checked out the face trail on Saturday (it wasn't very long) we decided to check out another trail we had been wanting to do.  We had our friends with us with River the German Shepherd and the dogs wanted to really stretch their legs.

The face trail was neat, but really lacked the length we wanted.  So we headed to one that was about 5ish miles and knew there wouldn't be many people on it so the dogs could have some freedom.

Tucker and River had been dying to play with each other when we were hiking to the Face.  It was such a steep short trail we weren't about to let them go.  Teach was free but he is very trail savvy and too sophisticated for nonsense (most of the time as he tried to start stuff with Tucker and River too, he's hoping I didn't notice!).

FINALLY ... FREE!

Our leaders

HEY!

Look at those muddy feet

King of the rock.

It was such a nice trail.  I still need to see exactly how far we hiked.  We did about 3 different trails that all linked together.  Saw a few different bikers, hikers, trail runners, and people with dogs.  Our guys did great with everything we passed.  

This is the type of weather you expect for March and not January.  It really felt like a spring day.  We took full advantage of it!!

Crazy Dogs on Walk & Share Gratitude

Saturday we met our friend Gabe and his mom at the park for a long hike.  All the dogs were needing to get out and release some energy.  April and I both had rough weeks at work so also needed a good walk in the woods.  Something about the woods that just makes things okay (and of course seeing your dogs have such a great time!).

As usual I took several pictures.  I don't go on a walk without my camera because when I do I always wish I had it with me.

Today we are participating in #ShareGratitude Blog Hop hosted by our friends over at Cascadian Nomads, Oz the Terrier, Loved By A Collie, and Kitty Cat Chronicles.  We're grateful we had to chance to get in the woods and enjoy the peacefulness after a hectic week.  I'm always grateful to my "fur kids", family and friends.  Without any of them no way I could get through this crazy world.  

Hiking with Friends - Two Collies and a German Shepherd

On Monday I decided to take the day off and enjoy this beautiful weather we've been having.  I called my friend Laura to see if she would want go hike out on the Long Point Trail in the New River Gorge.  She had never been on that trail and I knew she would love it with the views it had to offer.

She brought Pirate and Rasky along for the fun (because what fun is it to go hiking with out our furry friends).  Teach enjoyed having his buddies along to share in the adventure.  (Although Teach didn't appreciate Pirate stepping all over him in the car.  He would growl and grumble at Pirate like an old man ... it was hilarious!)

We got really lucky and didn't have anyone at the Point while we were there so were able to get some great pictures of the dogs.  

The dogs made me a nervous wreck with how close to the edge they would get!!  I don't like heights and always a bit rubber-legged out there.  But it did give us a chance to get some gorgeous shots.

Waterfall way down at the bottom of the Gorge

I love pictures of Pirate and Teach together showing the two coat types in Collies

Some waterfalls across the Gorge.  I zoomed up to get them.

Our State Flower is in full bloom.

And these pictures are from Laura's camera.  Her dogs really pushed the limit on the getting close to that ledge.