Category: barclay

Barclay’s herding lesson

On By stefrobrtsIn barclay, farm, pets6 Comments


Barclay had his 4th herding lesson today. This is at Brigand’s Hideaway in Brush Prairie. They have lots of sheep to use and a round pen. There are always lots of people there working sheep with their dogs.

He has been doing really well, but he still likes to grab at the sheep. Normally the teacher uses a regular fiberglass staff to guide him, but today she brought a rake. When she said she would ‘bring the rake next time’, I thought it would be some fancy tool, but no, it’s a rake 🙂

Here’s Barclay trying to grab a sheep from behind.

So she uses the rake to put a barrier between him and the sheep, and it’s wider than the staff so he notices it more, but he can still see through it.


Guiding him with the rake she had him doing smooth circles around the sheep. She also was able to reverse him and get him to circle the sheep in the other direction. She can spot every little good thing he does, and point it out. And she’s really gentle with him and gives him breaks, and doesn’t push him too hard or stress him out. I think we all have fun! Except maybe the sheep.

By the time we headed home he was tired and dirty, and slept all afternoon!

Does this easygoing training method work? Well this morning I was letting the sheep hang out in the front yard while I cleaned their stall, and I forgot to close the gate to the main pasture. I spotted it about the same time mom-sheep did, and we raced for the gate, but the herd beat me to it and blasted out into the main pasture! Oh no, how was I going to get the sheep and goats out of there by myself, with 2 acres for them to run around, and Dave already gone to work? Barclay raced out after them and they went around the corner of the paddock where I couldn’t see them. I was still wondering what I was going to do when suddenly here come the sheep – with Barclay behind them!! Zoom, back through the gate they go into the yard! I was so happy I hugged him and showered him with treats!! Normally he would have chased them all over the pasture with no rhyme or reason, but for some reason he turned them around and brought them back to me – maybe just dumb luck, but it was just what I needed!

Peaceful Sunday

On By stefrobrtsIn barclay, chickens, farm2 Comments
Sunday was a beautiful sunny day.

The sheep and goats ate their fill of hay then spent the rest of the day sunning themselves.

The llamas did the same, happy knowing there was more hay in the manger if they needed it.

The chickens were in their pen, safe from Barclay

And all the chickens were happily scratching away, including the hen who got her tail feathers pulled (she still has a tail, it’s just not as full as the other girls).

I hope your Sunday was just as nice!

Hope for the future

On By stefrobrtsIn alki, barclay, pets2 Comments


Like many Americans we were glued to the TV last night watching the election results. The dogs even sacked out in the front room with us and didn’t cause any trouble most of the evening, dozing away while the results rolled in. I have to say we were very happy with the outcome. Obama seems like the right man for the job. I think he’ll represent us to the rest of the world intelligently, and with a dignity we have been lacking for a long time. I liked the plans he laid out, and I realize they may or may not pan out, I’m not some starry-eyed idealist, I know how political promises work. Either way, it’s better than when Bush won by 51% and declared he had a mandate to ignore the other 49% of the country. Obamas speech last night inviting all of us to work together again was a good sign for the future.

Barclay and the ‘flirt pole’

On By stefrobrtsIn barclay, petsLeave a comment

I built a ‘flirt pole’ for Barclay. This is a dog toy that is similar to a ‘cat fishing pole’, where you have a dangly toy on a stick and the cat goes nuts for it. Well, same thing, but dog sized! I took a stick, drilled a hole in the end and put an old rope through it, knotted one end and tied a toy to the other. Because the rope goes through the stick I can pull it back and make the rope longer or shorter depending on what game we’re playing with it.

The flirt gives us some extra training opportunities, like learning ‘drop’, ‘sit’ and to ‘wait’ until released to play!

Then I swing the toy around, drag it on the ground, flip it in the air, and he goes nuts chasing it!

And since he loves to tug the stick gives me a little extra leverage 🙂


Nothing sweeter than chewing on your catch! Barclay had no interest in this toy until I tied it to a rope!

This is a great way to run off all that puppy energy, doesn’t take long to wear him out.

Afterwards there’s nothing like a dip in the pool – or the sheep trough, whatever you have handy!

Spinning step 1 – Scouring Wool

On By stefrobrtsIn barclay, spinning2 Comments

I’ve been looking forward to this project for a while, and believe it or not opening our new retail store has given me free time during the day – time when I am stuck sitting at the store with nothing to do. Time I could be working on my spinning! So I went out to the garage where Mom’s wool has been airing out on a screen for a month or more – it was pretty rank! I spent a bit of time pulling off the poopy bits.

The wool that is left looks good, but it has a lot of dirt in it. Sheep also have a natural lanolin on their wool so it feels greasy. Removing the dirt and grease is called ‘scouring’ the wool. Luckily, one of the ladies in the llama club who has many years of spinning experience invited me to her house for a lesson in scouring and beginning spinning, so I think I know what to do!

So I put a nice square foot of it in a laundry bag. Then I filled the kitchen sink with HOT water, a splash of Dawn, and some Boraxo.

Mixed it all together and then gently set the wool in the hot soapy water.

No rubbing, I just pressed it down into the water. Rubbing will turn it into felt. I left it to soak for 20 minutes.

Eww, that water is disgusting! Who would think that wool was that dirty? I should go give my sheep a bath! Or at least give them one before they get sheared next year!

Barclay says ‘mmmm, the kitchen smells like sheep…’

More hot water. Rinse and repeat. Three times until the water looked clean.

Then I had a bag of wet wool. So I took it to the washer, and set it on Spin, and let it go for three minutes. I pulled it out and the bag was two pounds lighter!

After the spin cycle the wool was just damp, so I set it on a screen in the fish room to dry. By evening it was dry and ready for step two. More on that later. Right now there’s a lot more wool to wash!