Pilgrim and the student Tee resting happily.
Connie does her dog training mainly by working Tee, the younger dog, with Pilgrim her older more seasoned dog. She gives the older dog commands while the younger one follows the older one’s lead and learns the commands (we’ll cover commands in another post). Tee is fun to train because she loves treats; she is eager to earn them. Pilgrim is happy with a simple pat on the head and actually doesn’t take treats.
Tee is a Huntaway/Border Collie cross. The Huntaway breed a is a large, strongly built dog used for general sheep herding tasks in New Zealand. However, Tee assists Grieb Ranch in gathering cattle here on the Central Coast. Wikipedia describes Huntaway dogs as vocal, energetic, friendly, active, intelligent and trainable. They are a barking herd dog so Tee is trained when to bark and when not to. It is said that Huntaways are not just intelligent – they are extremely intelligent – so need an owner who is calm, confident and consistent, who make the rules clear and stick to them. This is a real challenge to Connie! Tee also is part Border Collie which are said to be the “most intelligent” of all domestic dogs. Indeed, Tee is one smart doggie!
The recent flash rains caused a lot of work for us as the dry, crisp vegetation left on the hills washed and the soil that had turned to powder, flowed. 
All year we work at maintaining our mountain ranch roads so they will hold up when the rain comes. We don’t need them to get wiped out. The recent rains, and the manner in which they came, challenged all we have done during the past years of drought. 
