Autumn

By the time September rolled around, I was getting to be a big boy - look at all that fur! I started an advanced obedience class where I learned to work off-leash and to focus on Mom instead of the other dogs. On graduation night I had to complete a novice obedience routine and I won first place (with a little help from Mom!)

Oh, I almost forgot! I had my first herding experience in September! Mom and Dad drove us out to the middle of nowhere to a small farm with sheep. It was so exciting - sheep and lots and lots of sheep poop! A herding dog's dream come true! Mom and I went into the pen with a herding instructor and four ornery looking sheep. But I knew what to do right away and was soon keeping those sheep together in one spot with my precisely calculated moves! I'm hoping we get to go back there again one day. (Mom says she'll add my herding video to YouTube soon so watch for it!)

Our backyard has these big old trees with lots of leaves that kept us nice and cool in the summer. But by November all those leaves came down, and I took it upon myself to help with the raking - the rake is a moving object, you see! I had a blast running through the piles of leaves and barking at the rake. The next morning I woke up and could barely see out of my left eye! Mom and I didn't know what was wrong and since it was a Sunday, she took me to the emergency vet. There they did some horrible tests (involving putting stinging drops in that eye!) and found out that I had a scratched cornea. We went back home and after a week or so of more eye drops and trips to my regular vet (remember I really like her), my eye was healed. So next year, no more leaf-raking for me!


Gotta zoom!


Ricky