A wet competition...

On Saturday me, Josefin and Erik went away for a competition and Herding test.

It didn’t go so well. Apparently I was about to get ill again which Kate sensed and it didn’t help that it was poring down rain and thundering and lightning.

I don’t remember when I was this wet the last time.
We thought about going home to get a snorkel and flippers.

When you are like me, terrified of thunderstorms, it is not appealing to walk around on a field with water ankle deep.
When you walked around the whole course it is time for the last thing.
THE PEN!!!


So there I was, just standing there, holding a steel gate in a huge puddle and there is a BIG thunderstorm.

I have had better days.

Kate did the worst outruns she have ever done. She did it just because she sensed that my body was shutting down again. I didn’t feel it then but it came after we came home.
Dogs are amazing. Thanks to my dogs I know what is going to happen before I can feel it myself. Since she felt that And my fear of thunderstorms there was no surprise that it went like it did.



On Sunday we had beautiful weather on our last training day in ‘herding school’.
Kate’s outrun was perfectly fine and when we came home after ‘school’ she had to round up our sheep.

I have never seen her do such a perfect outrun ever.
I went to bed smiling on Sunday night.

Herding while dizzy...

Since I wrote hear last time we have taken it slow.

Just play & fun. No hard work.

Kate has been great. She does everything perfect. The few time she go in to tight, I stop her and push her out again. No hard voice, just a quick 'STOP' and then I show her with my bodylanguage that I want her to go more out.

Today though, the gang was on the run again.

I have been pretty ill this week. I'm constant dizzy and have problems just to stand up straight. Of course the Houdini-gang has to be a pain in my ... right now.

My mom drove by my house so Kate and I didn't have to walk all the way up to the paddocks. When we came up there we walked up to the fence and looked for the gang. NO woolie Houdini in sight.

We stood there and listened and probobly looked kind of stupid.

Not a sound from the gang.

Since I couldn't focus my sight at all becouse of my dizzy head I had to rely on Kate.

Suddenly we heard them.

Five of the was hidden behind a couple of my moms chickencoops. The other two was on the wrong side of the fence. AGAIN!!!

I sent in Kate and she rounded the up.

Already there I thought that we could practice a bit. (This weekend we have both practice and course. Next weekend it is time for a competition again. AND the herdingtest that I hope will go well this time.)

Kate worked nice and calm with the gang and she took every command that I gave her.

When Jenny doesn't open her big mouth and try to fix the small things, everything works like a charm!

I hope that I get better before the weekend. It is hard to really work with Kate when I'm not well. She doesn't want to leave my side so it's not easy for her to make a good outrun. She stops and looks back at me to see if I'm still standing.

I have fainted earlier so she gets a bit nervous when I'm like this. Suddenly I can't be in charge and she don't like that, but, she has started to handle that better.

Today's herding-course = both good and bad

Today it was time for the course again.

If I only could learn to keep my mouth shut!

Kate worked just fine in the beginning. It was not necessary to step in and adjust the small things that she did 'wrong'. It was not really wrong but it was the perfectionist in me that opend it's big mouth. I started to adjust the smallest things.

'-If she could just take ONE step to the right it will be perfect.'

You never get JUST ONE step and suddenly you have moved the sheep much moore far to the left than you had in mind.

The pen usually is our strongest side. She never looses sheep around the pen. She allways put them straight in very calmely.

Today we had sheep all over. Was it her foult??

NOPE!!!

It was me and my big mouth again.

She got so nervous from all my instructions that she even got insecure of the parts that she knows AND does perfectly.

I totally destroyed her confidence today.

I'm gonna take her with me later today up to my sheep and just play around them so she will have a really fun time before we go to bed tonight.

Tomorrow I'm gonna keep my mouth shut when we practise.

We are going to my first instructor. He is the one that helped me with Dumdum.

He is our 'herding guru'.;-)

Picture time....

Because the dogs hadn't worked for three days they had A LOT of energy that needed to get out.

Embla doesn't need to work, she is happy just to come along. She doesn't care about the other dogs. She walks around in her own little world.

Running and chasing each other is fun.They managed to stop for a few seconds. Unbeliveble.;-)Eleven years old.?.

'Old?? Who's old?? NOT ME!!'The Houdini-gang.Kate and I. Bamse was working so we took a timeout.Kate is working.

Since the last practice we had on Orust she has started to listen better and her outrun is getting wider. Me like.;-)Bamse is keeping an eye on Kate.My beautyful Dumdum.I was not feeling to well today so I sat down most of the time today.

Kate and I are having a snuggletime. Dumdum (Bamse) was not tired. No no, he doesn't know what tired means. He doesn't stop working even when he can't walk straight. I have to go in and stop him.

When you look up 'Workoholic' in the dictionary, you will probobly find a picture of him.;-)

Even Dumdum wanted some 'mommy-time'.

Of course he loves to be hugged, can't you see that. He is just smiling.;-)

Kate just sits there looking at the sheep. I love that about her. She can relax even when there are sheep around her. Dumdum can't.

Swedish herding!

Sit and point!

No, I was not feeling well so I sat there and let the dogs work around me.

This is really good because even if I'm not well the dogs can still do their job.Kate was really tired when we walked home (Dumdum to). Good! That means that it is going to be a quiet night at home.=)Embla was not with us in the paddock. She waited for us at my moms house.On our way home, Kate met her favorite person in the world. Moa, my niece.

Lifestyle Market

On Saturday and Sunday my friend Marie and I were on a Lifestyle Market. We showed & talked about Tahitian Noni.

We had a really good time and made lots of new friends. We got some new contacts that wanted to know more about Noni and TNI.

Unfortunately there was more activity around in our county (Offshore World championship, another fair about a Viking village, horse judging (breeding), etc) so we didn’t get as many visitors as we hoped for.

We were happy anyway.=)

Our beverages.
My brother and I drink the purple one on the top and Kate drink the green one next to it.
She loves it. Every time I open the fridge she goes to the fridge-door and starts licking her bottle.=)
Embla and Dumdum drinks the one on the left with the gold-coloured top.
The women that had the table on our left side made beautyful jewlery. Off course I had to buy not just one but two of these angels.
One for me and one for my niece. I give her an angel every year on her birthday. She was born two months to early and she was so tiny. She is ‘aunties angel’.
When I came home yesterday it was not hard to see that the dogs had a LOT of energy. They had not worked at all this weekend and I was to tired to even move my feet.
I called my mom and asked her to check the Houdini-gang for me.

When I woke up this morning I was feeling really sick. It was to much for me this weekend even though it was fun.

When I came downstairs this is pretty much what happened.
The dogs really needed to work. I didn’t have energy enough to work with them so they have been a bit moody today.

Tomorrow, I promised them, we are going to work tomorrow.


I have to congratulate Josefin, my coach. She and her Troy has been qualified to compete in the USM.
(the Swedish championship for young handlers)
GRATTIS!!!

On the move again...

My dad called this morning and woke me up. This was not the type of call I wanted before my morning tea.

I had the whole day planned. This was not a part of my plan.

The Houdini-gang were on the move again.
They have been calm for weeks now and stayed on the right side of the fence. I should have known that it was time for a breakout.

I dragged myself from the warm cosy bed, stumbled into some clothes and almost tripped down the stairs.

Found my raincoat and boots. It was poring outside. Nice!! Or not!

It felt like I was sleepwalking on my way up the road to my parents where the sheep are. Kate ran & jumped of joy to be the one that I brought with me. It was just her, no other dogs that could steel my attention from her.

When we finally came up to the paddock (it’s up hills almost all the way) I turned of the electric fence and opened the gate. Kate drove them back in and I closed and turned on the electricity.


I had been home for about 15 minutes when my dad called again. Guess what… Yep!! They were out again.

)=/&%#¤”! Houdini-sheep!!!!”#%()”#¤

Kate & I went back up there and we let them out to a smaller paddock that is joined to the first one.

I told my dad that ‘if they break out again before two o’clock, Shoot them’.

I went back home and cleaned up a bit before my neighbour stopped by. She helped me with my hair. She cut of 20cm but it is still long.

When she left I finally got some time to eat breakfast.


When my brother came home he helped me fix the forest-paddock so I could put the gang there. It was my brother who ran over the fence with a tractor so he had to fix it.


Right now it is nice and calm. We are going in to town to pick up a package and after that I will have my morningtea.

If the Gang does something more tonight, my dad doesn’t have to shoot them. I will kill them myself.

Tomorrow and on Sunday I’m going to be on a fair with Noni so if the Gang doesn't do anything stupid... No herding this weekend.

It's really fun to get confused sometimes...

Yesterday we had a new kind of trainingsession.

Our local club is one of three neighbourclubs that have a yearly competition. This competiton is all about teamwork.

Everybody in all three teams does one individual race first.

When that is done every team choose two pairs. These two pairs are now supose to herd one flock of sheep each. They have to take the flock the same way as they did induvidially. The only 'probleme' is that now it is two dogs and their two 'leaders' on the field.

Our club came in last. The prize is not a trofy. It is just the pure joy of having beaten the other two teams. And the winning team is also the one that is hosting it the year after.

We do not want to come in last again so that is why we had this practice.

Roland and I was competing last year but we didn't do the teamherding. We want to do it this year and if it goes like it did yesterday... LOOK OUT!!! hehe

Everybody else have only Border collies on their teams. We have Toddie. I love this dog.

I was a bit late to practice yesterday because I had to wait for my brother to come home. He was mine and Kate's taxi.

First we had to wait for him and when we came down to the ferrycrossing the stupid ferry had just left. We had to wait for that to.

When we arrived I was afraide that everybody had already teamed up. They had not so Roland asked me if I wanted to team up with him and Toddie.

When it was our turn, Sture told us which way to go across the field. While he was placing out the sheep for us we decided who would take the right side and who would take the left.

I already had Kate on my right side so I chose to send her from the right.

Sture was done with the sheep and we sent out our dogs.

Kate did what she allways does. Right before she reaches the sheep she sneak in right infront of them and rounds up on the other side.

Toddie looked a bit surprised. He was not used to have a small black and white rocket swooshing right infront of him.

Luckely nothing happend. Both Kate and Toddie are a little 'speciall' towords other dogs so we were ready for everything with these two on the field together.

They drove the sheep to us and now we discoverd that Kate didn't take my commands. AT ALL! She took Roland's commands. The ones he told Toddy!

I had to step in and sound really angry at her. That worked. She took my commands again.

The dogs worked perfectley together! No stupid growling or anything.

When we came up to the pen I grabbed the gate, opened it and sent Kate out to the left. Two seconds later the sheep were inside the pen.

We probably looked like two fools when we walked of the field. Our ears was the only thing that stopped our smiles from going all the way around our heads.

After a break, with lots of talking and laughing, it was time for me and Roland to go out again.

Don't know what happend this time but we got a bit confused.

I sent out Kate to the right again (and she didn't cross over :-O) and everything was fine.

Just until the dogs started to drive the sheep towords us.

The sheep were suposed to round us on our right side before the dogs could drive them away from us.

Kate was working great behind the flock and so was Toddie. Suddenly Roland commanded Toddie to push them to our left side. I thought that he just said the wrong command so I sent out Kate to the left side to push them back.

He kept pushing the sheep to the wrong side. Kate although had more preassure then Toddie so she managed to push the sheep the right way.

After they had rounded us he started to push them to the right. Now I had to stop and ask what he was doing.

He had managed to forgett which way we were suposed to go.

Now we were just standing still. Well, not completely still. We were shaking because we were laughing so hard.

We agreed what way we were gonna go and now everything went mush easier.

Kate pushed the sheep in front of her and Toddie blocked so the wouldn't get away.

We were very greatful for our dogs because they worked better than we did. We were still laughing and we did that for a while even when we were done.

The rest of the group asked us what the h... we were doing out there. 'Well, just a diversion to fool the other teams.' haha

We decided to do this again. We had so much fun and it was great to 'play' with the dogs not just practice for the regular competitions.

This is something we really recommend if you want to know how much controll you have. Not just over your dog but also over your self.

It's not easy because now you can't fix every angle yourself. You have to work together with an extra dog And person.

We didn't have to much control the last part of round two but that was because we were laughing so hard. It was the dogs that got the job done.

A terrible accident...

This month has been hard for me.

I´ve been sick almost the whole month and when I finally feel that it is easying up a bit, an awful accident happends.

It happened last saturday.

Me and my parents had planned to go to IKEA. We desided to go in the afternoon.

I was waiting for them to call and say that it was time to go.

My dad called, but it was not to say that.

He wanted my brother to come up and drive our mom and Asta to the vet.

I told him that we will both come up.

When we arrived I went straight in to the kitchen where Asta laid on the kitchentable. She was definatly not well.

What had happened was: Asta and Alba (Asta´s sister) started to fight. It wasn´t serious but Kim, mom & dad´s bigger dog, walked right in to the fight and grabbed Asta and shaked her.

Kim is a cross between Labrador - German shepherd. She is the sweetest dog you can find but she doesn´t allways understand how much bigger & stronger she is.

While I checked Asta I saw the she was swelling moore around her stomach. I told my mom that there was nothing to do.

It was hard for my mom to say goodbye and when she was done my brother and I jumped in the car with Asta and went down to Gothenburg with her.

The vet agreed with me that it was nothing to do accept putting her down.

Everything went perfect. The vet and her assistant were really nice and professional.

Asta are now sleeping next to one of our old dogs, Sally.

I never thought that I had to put one of Emblas doughters down before her. She is now 12 years old and Asta was gonna be 2 on the 8:th of this month.

You never know how much time you have with your beloved animals.

My dogs got a lot of extra love that night. Asta

born: 2008-08-08

dead: 2010-07-31

We miss U, you little monster-dog.

Kate, you stubborn dog...

After having one of my to long episodes I am up and running again.
I am still not well but I am standing and walking.

Today we, I and Marie, went to Orust for a trainingsession.

It was fun to work with these sheep because they are a lot quicker than what we are used to.

The problem I have with Kate are her outrun. She does everything else perfect but the outrun is pure crap.

Marie, Josefin and I have been banging our heads together to figure out what to do to make Kate to widen her outrun and get behind the sheep like she is suposed to do.

So, what is wrong with it?

She starts fine but a few meters out the outrun gets tighter and tighter and just before she goes up behind the sheep she does something that we can´t figure out why she does it.

It does not matter if I send her right or left, it is almost allways the same thing that happends.

She runs tighter and just before she comes up to the sheep she cross over right in front of the mob and rounds up behind them from the wrong side.?.?.

We have tested so many things to fix this and every time we think that we found a solution she does it again.

Today the thinking-cap came on.

Sture, whos farm we trained on today, is also a herdinginstructor. He helped me with some new idéas and so did Björn.

I have been taking notes the whole afternoon.

We desided that the only thing to do is; go back to the beginning and start over.

I am just as stubborn as Kate so this is going to be great in the end.;-)