We were to be without electricity supplies today, due to some local tree felling work, so found ourselves briefly at a loose end, with grooming appointments necessarily cancelled.

Luckily our friend Jackie invited us for a fun day at her home, with herding lessons for the willing - and lots of lovely free running for the non-herders.   All dogs now sleeping peacefully with just the faintest whiff of sheep drifting above them in the steaming warmth!

It was wonderful to see the progress that young Mirk is making - in less than three months he has all the basic herding training in place and shows a great willingness to co-operate to get the job done.  Today we watched him in action with a group of very lively Shetlands, swinging 'bye and away and stopping sharply on his feet for different whistled commands, creeping at a slow walk forward when told, and using his initiative to hold the flock against a fence.  His coat is huge at the moment and he looks all dog!

Diva looked slender and feminine at the side of him, wearing her threadbare "maternity clothes" but she gave a good account of herself, remaining keen and focussed to gather the larger flock on the 8-acre field and bring them to the barn paddock for her young brother Blaze to practise with.

Blaze has only recently discovered the joys of herding, failing to "switch on" properly on earlier introductions, but seems determined to make up for lost time, and today circled busily round the large flock, keeping them fairly well together despite his lack of experience, and producing a pleasing knack of scooping the flock out of the corner when they tried to evade him with that tactic! He should sleep very well tonight.

Thanks to Jackie for all the fun and training,  the opportunity to watch a selection of talented Borders in action, and a lovely lunch as well!  Our unscheduled day's holiday turned out to be a day to remember.

P.S. There is a link to Jackie's website on our "Links" page