Smart Dogs

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Breakfast started at 8:30 this morning, and we were in the dining room shortly after that. We enjoyed our breakfast and quickly made our plans for the day. Our first stop would be a sheep dog herding demonstration on the Ring of Kerry. The Ring of Kerry is a very scenic drive that takes most of a day, but we decided to only go about ¼ around the ring to make it to the demonstration, as we saw the total ring 5 years ago. We made the drive and totally missed the pub where the demonstration takes place. We ended up on a small road that only fit one car in the town of Kells. This road was very interesting and we had mountains to our right and ocean to our left. The weather was gorgeous and we had spectacular views of the Dingle Bay. After a good 30 minutes worth of driving on this road, we finally found our way back to the main route and back to the pub. Amy and I quickly made our way into the little shop and out the back down up the hill to see the demonstration. The demonstration was already in progress, but it was amazing to see these dogs worked. The farmer was at the bottom of the hill and he was using whistle commands to move a pack of sheep around the field. The demonstration was over quickly and there were lots of questions asked about the dogs, sheep, and the farmer. We stayed after the crowd left and talked one on one with the farmer. We asked a lot of questions about the dogs. Amy wanted to pet the dog, and the farmer had to call him over as he was still “on the job”. He told us that when the collies are out with the sheep they are very focused and they do not seek any human contact. Basically, he said that the dog would not come near us if he hadn’t called him over. The dog let us pet him quickly and then the farmer gave him the command that he could return to his work. By this time, Eileen had finally caught up with us. I guess that we were supposed to pay for the demonstration and we had inadvertently snuck into the demo. It worked out and we enjoyed the experience. We all made purchases in the little shop to make up for the lack of entrance fee. We took a few pictures outside the pub and we watched a woman who looked exactly like my aunt Sonny climb over a fence in a dress and high heels to have her picture taken with the Dingle Bay behind her. It was entertaining! We grabbed take away teas and got back on the road to Killarney. Since our trip was wrapping up, we needed to make sure that we helped the local economy before we left. We headed for the Blarney Woolen Mills and made some last minute purchases before heading out of town. Our next stop was Limerick to visit our cousin Chris O’Regan and her family. We made our way back thru the twisty roads and we just happened to stop in the very same New Castle West Tesco that we stopped in our first day in Ireland. Everyone in the car was asleep and I was getting very sleepy. We walked around the grocery store for a little bit and then got ourselves packed back into the car and headed for Adare. We were in Adare during our last visit to Ireland and we had fond memories of this little town. Adare has also grown since our last visit and we found that the shop keepers were a little snippy. I guess the tourists must get on their nerves. We purchased a few things and then called Chris to setup a meeting place. We met her husband Michael at the entrance to the Limerick race track and we followed him back to their lovely home. We were welcomed with a cup of tea and some good conversation. Amy and I enjoyed meeting their dog Millie. Their daughter Deidre came home from Dublin around 8pm and we had a lovely dinner. We chatted away over dessert and before we knew it their son, Brian had made a special trip out to see us. We chatted with him about his current sports medicine internship and his travels. We all stayed up very late but enjoyed our visit with them.

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