The Stockdog Diaries

Tell Me Thursday #4

2012-01-26T12:52:00.000-08:00

This week's TMT questions were really good! I had to think a bit!

1) How do you search for and then choose a trainer?

You name it, I've done it. From taking a giant leap of blind faith and taking my dog to a clinician that I'd never tried, to auditing a clinician first to decide if they were right for me, to looking at some of the top handler/trainers and attending their clinics to learn how they approach training. Word of mouth helps too, and I've learned what word of mouth to take and what to toss out.

2) The dog world is small and... uh... talkative. After choosing a trainer how do you handle those people in your life who don't believe in that trainer/trainers methods and criticize them to you?

Hey, the proof is in the pudding. Most times the people that are trashing who I train with are getting their asses handed to them. So why would I take merit in their opinion? They can do what works for them, and I'm happy to do what works for me. Thankyouverymuch.

3) Do you believe that a person's personal life should influence your choice of a trainer? (i.e. do you believe a person's choice to be a party animal outside of work would affect your choice?)

I'm a big believer in things all running together and crossing over. I personally look for someone who handles themselves well on and off of the field. Granted, I'm not saying that folks can't loosen up and have a good time... that was my minor in college. But I've yet to see someone be consistently successful when they're drunk by noon, or if they are rude and treat others poorly. Karma is a bitch.

4) When you have a break through moment with your dog, do you feel that moment makes your connection stronger with that dog and makes the next step in training easier?

Most definitely. It helps to build the sense of team work. I don't know if it really makes the next step in training easier, because there will always be cogs thrown in the wheels, but I know that it makes me more patient in working through tough spots because I have that point of success to refer back to.

5) Do you stick with just one trainer, or do you go to multiple sources for help?

I stick with one trainer the majority of the time, but I also go to other trainers at least once a year to gain additional perspective and experience. It definitely helps me to have the congruency of the same trainer as much as possible, but I have other trainers that I go to that have a similar method of training and I can go to them and not get my brain too mixed up. I think it's good to use more than one trainer, but you always have to keep that internal barometer of what you know works for you and what doesn't.

Tell Me Thursday #3 (Yet again, on Friday)

2012-01-20T05:54:00.000-08:00

Yes, I'm doing TMT on Friday yet again. As many of you might already know, my family and I have been knocked on our collective asses this past week by a nasty stomach virus. I haven't been sick in over two years, so this was a doozy for me. I'm finally feeling better today, just in time for the big AFC Championship game this Sunday. Go Ravens!

1. What is one lesson you've learned this week?

That eating like crap will make you sick. The reason that I've not been sick in over two years is because I have been eating well for two years. Well, except lately. And that is why I believe that I got sick. Not only sick, but sick for FIVE days. My body just couldn't keep up.

I also learned that the next time I am sick, I am announcing to my family that they need to act as if I AM OUT OF TOWN. I can leave town for a week to go to Nationals and everyone pulls together and gets by. My husband goes to the grocery, does laundry, the kids pitch in and clean. When I was sick this week? Nothing. If anything did get done it was because I had to ask for it, and then it was met with large sighs, eye rolling, and grunting. Now if that doesn't make a gal feel better, what would? When I come home from a trial, I'm usually met with a clean house. Now that I feel better, I'm met with a dirty house and a shitload of laundry. Fun!

Maybe I should just find a trial to go to this weekend?

2. Who or what might you have been in another life? What might you be in a next life?

Heck, I dunno. I don't do so well with this type of stuff. A turtle? I like turtles for some odd reason. So I guess my answer is a turtle.

Next life? A tree? Wait, a dog could piss on me then.

3. What unusual things do you like the smell of but don't usually admit?

Gasoline. I remember my dad having a can of gas in the garage to clean parts off with and I would sniff it. Not like huffing or anything, but I would smell the top of the can if I was nearby. That's all. I know, that explains a whole lot.

4. What are your thoughts on continuing on vs. retiring when a trial run is going badly? How do you decide? Where do you draw the line?

If my dog is struggling with something, I will cross the handler's line/leave the post to help them. I get seriously annoyed when handlers won't do this. I also think that it would be great to start applauding handlers that do go help their dogs when they do it.

As far as calling a run, I'm a big fan of that too. If my dog is being an ass, not listening, sniffing for pooty (Yes, Nash, I'm referring to YOU.), I'm going to stop my run and yank their furry ass out of there. Each trial is a learning situation and if they learn that they can get away with shit, they will do it. If they learn that I will stop a run and the fun ends, then they'll realize it doesn't pay.

I'm not going to beg a dog to work for me in a trial. If you need help, that's awesome, we're a team and I'm here to help you succeed. But if you just want to dick around, I don't have time for it. Sorry.

5. This is a call for questions or subjects you'd like to talk about - I'd appreciate suggestions (and please come link up so that I'll be sure to see your post), so here's your chance!

Hmmmm, not sure of how creative I am right now after being zapped for a week...

Have you ever just not "clicked" with a particular dog?
What do you do to prepare mentally for a trial run?
Pet peeves in the stockdog/herding world?

Tell Me Thursday #2

2012-01-12T11:02:00.000-08:00

1. Stopping your dog - what do you prefer? On their feet? On their belly? Some combination?

It depends, I do both. I like a down most in the beginning and then a stand as the dog gains control. Definitely a stand on cattle.

2. At what point do you start teaching this?

I teach my dogs their down first, as early as 6 weeks or so. Savvy's last litter only had two and I taught them both to down before 8 weeks. Stand is something that I start teaching when we're learning baby driving in the control pen. I have them walk up and stop on their feet and use the line to reinforce it as I say "Stand".

3. Do you have a favorite dog? I won't tell.

Anyone who has seen me with Savvy will tell you what I'm about to admit... it's all about Savvy. I love working Hoss during chores because I don't have to say anything to him and he knows what to do. But Savvy is me in a little blue dog coat. We get each other. She's my girl.

4. What is the #1 thing a dog can do to push your buttons?

Be obnoxious. Whining, barking, not thinking... just being a boob. See: Nash.

5. Brrrrr... it's winter. What is your favorite soup recipe?

Baked Potato Soup

2/3 c. butter
2/3 c. flour
7 c. milk
4 large baked potatoes, peeled and mashed
4 green onions, chopped
1 1/4 c. shredded cheddar cheese
1 c. sour cream
1 t. salt (or to taste)
1 t. pepper

Make roux with butter and flour over medium heat. Gradually whisk in milk. Stir in potatoes and onions. Bring to a boil, stirring frequently. Reduce heat and simmer 10 minutes. Mix in cheese, sour cream, salt, and pepper.

Quick But Efficient

2012-01-09T14:13:00.000-08:00

I have been covered up like cat shit all day, on the go, stuff to do, and my schedule is booked until literally 11pm tonight, but I carved out 30 minutes to run out and work Savvy, (and make my journal entry here), because it is 47 degrees on January 9th for Pete's sake. It was nice out yesterday evening as well, but after spending 3 hours in the truck and sitting through two meetings for the HWASC, I just wasn't up for it mentally. So I decided to make up for it today.

I sorted off a group of 2 heavies, 2 ewes, and 5 very light lambs. It was a fun group. The older sheep kept them anchored, but the lambs reacted faster and showed very quickly when Savvy was affecting them on the outrun work.

Today I focused on large outrun work in the arena and really was a stickler on her not affecting the sheep on the way around, as well as being very black or white on her outs and downs. I paid close attention to how she left me, then focused on the sheep and when they alerted to Savvy and/or moved from her affecting them.

On her downs and outs, I made sure that I took the time to walk out and pet her when she did a good one and I also would look out ahead to where I wanted her to out to and I would walk after her if she tried to cut it short. (Which she did, of course.)

After being corrected with the d/o several times, she finally kicked out nice and wide and got to balance without following their movement. When I told her to down on balance, she took her down quickly, and when I asked her to walk up, she did it flat footed. It was beautiful, but it just took being consistent and sticking to my criteria.

I could have quit there, but I had her try another one on the opposite direction to pull them out of the draw they had escaped to. It took less d/o this time and once she downed on balance, I let her fetch them flat footed to the gate so that we could let them go back up to the barn.

It was a fun, quick little training session that took less than 15 minutes, but it was really worth making the time to do!

Super Saturday

2012-01-08T14:47:00.000-08:00

We had another day with warm temps on Saturday... cooler than the day before, but 45 is better than 15! I'll take it! I had a Beachbody Super Saturday event to go to in the morning in Indianapolis, but I knew that when I got home I was going to get some stock work done.

I decided to work Savvy on ducks this time because I was just too tired and lazy to deal with mucking through all of the mud in the dry lot (funny, I know), to get sheep out. So we sorted of a group of Magpies and worked them in the duck arena. Then I was reminded of why I don't like those damned Magpies and want to sell them all in the spring. Ugh.

Since the tarps are all off of the back fence for the winter season, they were really tough to get out of the back corners or off the back fence to fetch. So I decided that I would focus on some good basics with Savvy and work through the problem.

The first thing that I stuck her on was leaving to get around the ducks too quickly. Any time that she was too fast, I would down her, then send her again. After a few times she got the drift. She really did NOT want to soften herself to bring the ducks out of the corner, so I stepped forward to help her out and give her some confidence and keep her from crossing over.

The ducks were just TURDS. The hens would run back over Savvy if she downed and just generally weren't wanting to play, so I would step up and help Savvy get some confidence to figure out how to push on them to keep them moving. It took a lot of cheering, but I did see her make some progress.

Once Savvy got them out of the corners, I would let her drive down the fence line for her "cookie", but I still made sure that she was on a flat footed walk and I would down her when she was too fast. It was a tough mental workout for Savvy, but I'm starting to see some progress. Those ducks might be tough nuts to crack, but it's good work for Savvy and I!

Last Minute Sheep Work

2012-01-07T14:55:00.000-08:00

Friday we had an unseasonably warm day for January, I was stuck in the house all day watching my two youngest kids and two of my friend’s kids, so when 5:00 came I made the snap decision to skip the gym and head outside to work Savvy on some sheep before the sun went down. Hoss was more than happy to sort out a group of 8-9 sheep that ranged from light lambs to heavy wethers and put them down in the arena for me.

I started Savvy off with working on her outruns, focusing on her not affecting her stock until she gets behind them and d/o her when she does. When she followed the movement of the sheep near the top of the outrun, I tried to be very quick to stop it and d/o out her again to finish the outrun correctly.

After several tries at it on both directions, she was able to get around them nicely at the top and brought them to me at the triangle that I have set up in the center of the sheep arena, so my next goal was to work on driving the triangle to work on my brain being able to keep up with my dog. She did well enough, but needs more work on breaking off and moving out wide on her redirect to turn the sheep properly at the corners.

We worked the triangle in both directions, then when she did a really good job of getting them turned to me, I downed her at the top and had her fetch to me on a flat footed walk as we wrapped around the bottom of the triangle and headed to the gate to exhaust the sheep. If she broke into a trot, I would down her and then ask her to walk again. If she broke the down, I would d/o her. She gave me some really nice pieces on the fetch and showed lots of restraint and was working hard to break off and cover as we turned at the bottom of the triangle.

All in all it was a good day of work and I’m glad I made the decision to get it worked in to my schedule.

New Years Day

2012-01-06T16:59:00.000-08:00

On New Years Day I had the opportunity to head to Kentucky to Tenley’s place to work some really fun call ducks that she had brought with her from Connecticut. She had a set of hens and a set of drakes, but the hens were the most challenging of the two groups because the dogs needed to push on them, but keep them grouped at the same time, because they were more than happy to just stand there, or go in their own direction!

The first time I worked Savvy on the hens, she struggled in the beginning because she wanted to cross over to bring the hens out of their nook, rather than softening herself and turning the corner to bring them out. Every time that she crossed over, I simply downed her and called her off the stock, as if to say, “If you don’t go the right way, you don’t get to work.” After a few times of that, she got the picture and did it right. If she really struggled with it several times in a row, I would stand closer to the ducks to help keep her from crossing over.

Once she did get them out of the nook, she fetched them well enough, but tended to over-flank on the fetch. It was just something that she needed to work out on her own and much of the work was just me letting her figure out the best way to get the job done, and only getting on her if her error was blatantly obvious.

Second time on call ducks – used the drakes this time, Savvy started out wanting to cross over and I had to stop her and call her off twice. The third time she went around really fast, wasn’t thoughtful and skimmed past the ducks in the corner. Tenley advised that when she is going that fast on stock that needs a slower approach (such as the call ducks), that I need to down her and let her think for a second, then tell her g/a again.

I called her back to me and sent her again, and she took off too fast, I downed her, then resent her. She got up SO nice and thoughtful and got right around the ducks. She was then able to fetch them to me twice. She was still wanting to let one drop, but not as much as before, and I just had to step out to her to get her to pay more attention and drop back to cover it.

Tenley said that since Savvy’s default is to gogogogogogo without thinking as much, for the time being it will be my responsibility to make sure that she takes the time to THINK. So I need to give her mental breaks, down her and let her collect herself, down her and ask her to try again, etc., until she gets into the habit of being more thoughtful on her own.

The final time we worked the hens again for just a short period of time and our goal was to get one or two good fetches and then find a good place to quit. Savvy was wanting to push on the hens a bit too much, so when she was making them quack, I needed to put some pressure on her to correct her for pushing, and then immediately get her to come back on and keep bringing them by talking her up. It was a lot of fun and I was able to get it on video:

Tell Me Thursday #1 (on Friday, no less)

2012-01-06T05:30:00.000-08:00

I've been following Laura over at Crooks and Crazies for awhile now, and have enjoyed her Tell Me Thursday questions, but haven't make the time to join in. So now that she posted the first TMT of the new year, I thought I'd bite the bullet and jump in. Granted, I'm a day late, but better late than never, right?
1. What is your favorite new toy? I know you have one, so you might as well go on and fess up.
It's not EXACTLY new, but still quite new (I got it in November)... my MacBook Pro.

Love, love, love it for so many reasons. It's my first Mac and my first laptop. I love how easy and intuitive it has been to use. I love that I can use it anywhere in the house and be close to my family without being tied to the desk in the kitchen.
I love that I can take it out with me when I train and instantly type out my notes and then post it to the blog. (Look out for more blog posts this year!) I love that I can use it to quickly upload and edit my training videos without having to take hours like my old PC did.

2. If you're going to be caught under the mistletoe, who would you LEAST like it to be with?
Someone with bad teeth. (Somewhere in Greenwood, my friend just spit coffee on her laptop. You're welcome, Durkin.)
3. New Year's Resolutions - for your dogs - share!
To focus on training Savvy as clearly and consistently as possible. To resist the urge to trial too much this year. To travel and train in different environments. To go to Cow Camp in Montana. To raise an awesome litter of puppies and find excellent working homes for them, and keep the perfect girl for myself.
4. New Year's Resolutions - for yourself - share!
Finally reaching my goal weight/fitness level. Becoming consistent on using my time management and goal setting system. Keeping my plate clean of extraneous activities. More time with Mark and the kids, doing things together.
5. How did you handle the holiday food situation?

Pretty well! Not one single buckeye was indulged upon. That is a record.

Getting Back In The Groove

2012-01-01T03:17:00.000-08:00

After a month of not working either of the dogs, and making the hard decision to focus on Savvy to take towards Finals and letting Nash settle into the role of a farm dog, I was ready to break out of my funk and get back to working. I had to opportunity to go to my friend Mary's place the day after Christmas to work dogs.

I worked Savvy in Mary’s big field on 6 head of sheep, mostly light with Martha In the mix. We hadn’t worked in about a month, so my brain was a bit rusty and I wasn’t sure how Savvy would work. I was mostly wanting to focus on her being supple and listening to me. She worked better right off the bat and was working wider and more thoughtfully than she has in the past. I still had to d/o her, but she took her downs faster and didn’t have to d/o her as frequently. We lost the sheep to the other side of the field a couple of times, but mostly due to my handler error and not thinking quickly enough. My biggest challenge as a handler right now is thinking as fast as my dog thinks and works, or else I will slow her down. I missed downing her on the back of her fetch once and she was following her sheep a bit too much at the top of the outrun, so I have to pay more attention to her not following the sheep.

The second time we worked I worked on the same basic stuff and having her not fall into the sheep moving. She started off okay, but when we lost the sheep to the trees along the back fence line, she didn’t know to go into the trees to bring the sheep out, as she’s never had to do that before, so I had to d/o her to the fence so she saw it as a boundary and then I had her do the same thing in to opposite direction to get her to work in the woods and give her more experience in that situation. There was a little alcove in the opposite corner that Savvy had to work hard to bring the sheep out of and I worked on d/o ing her so she would take her time and soften to bring them out.

Weekend Update - Sunday - More Fun With Dux

2011-10-11T08:29:00.000-07:00

Sunday I worked the dogs on ducks. Savvy was up first and I worked her on the Khakis. I just wanted to focus on going back to the basics, so we worked with just having her fetch along the fence line all the way around the arena, working on her rating her ducks, taking her downs, breaking off the cover, etc. She did a good job, there were a couple of times that I had to push her out because she is wanting to come up short on her flank when she breaks off the cover and she doesn't quite get the ducks turned back on line, so I had to make her finish the flank.

Nash worked with the Magpies, which are a "bit" more challenging than the Khakis... I worked on the same thing with him, and while he wasn't able to get all the way around the arena and our goal just changed to getting them fetched to the first corner, I was really happy with the work that he gave me because he had a really hard set of ducks and he eventually figured out how to manage them.

There was one "rogue hen" in the group, so my focus there was to show Nash that if he rated his ducks and took his time, she would be less likely to keep breaking off and eventually stay with the group. We had to bring the "many to the few" a couple of times, but once he rated right he was able to keep her tucked in.

His old friend, Distraction, paid us a visit near the end of the session -- Nash nearly had the group fetched all the way to the first corner, when he got distracted by one of my students arriving for a lesson. I was not going to let him off the hook and I really wanted him to learn to work through that darned distraction! We went back and started over again and he worked through it nicely.

He showed me a lot of nice progress, like learning to stand for a moment to rate his ducks, moving his head slightly to keep a duck tucked in to the group without losing the rest to the draw, etc. Finally he worked really hard and go them back about 3/4 of the way back up the fence and I could see that he was getting mentally tired, so I stepped away from the fence and towards the middle of the arena so that he could drive them the rest of the way and get a win before we retired.

Weekend Update - Saturday

2011-10-10T08:27:00.000-07:00

I was able to get the dogs out and worked this weekend before lessons and I got good work out of both dogs each day. On Saturday I worked sheep down in the arena on a group of about 8 light ewes and 2 heavier wethers.

I worked Savvy first and we started with driving first because as we entered the arena the sheep were wanting to hang around the take pen, so I had Savvy drive them up the field diagonally to start with. After that I called her out and then worked on flanks/fetching. I concentrated on getting her to leave me correctly and looking for the bend of her head to show the give. If she sliced her flanks, I would down/out her and then resend.

I also focused on her downing being precise, as that is what kills us on the trial field. We can't have precision timing if she doesn't listen immediately. I was also working on my end as well, first being sure that she gave when I sent her on a flank/outrun, then immediately turning to watch my sheep for the first sign that they were being affected. If they started to flick and ear or turn their head, I would down/out Savvy.

She started getting a little more contrary after several times of being down/outed, so I just cut to the chase and started running her out when she sliced in. If she wasn't going to pay attention to the first correction, I needed to increase that correction! After I did that, it really clicked with her and she started giving me these nice big, soft, thoughtful outruns. Huh. ;o) Once she gave me a really good outrun, I let her fetch and once she got to the top, I downed her, then said, "Walk" and she got up and did a nice, flat-footed walk right off the bat, which hasn't really been her M.O., so I was glad to see that. She was also breaking off of her stock to cover nicer and then went right back to a correct walk up.

Nash and I worked the same sheep, but I went back to using a rake with him that morning because he was pretty amped up and I wanted to get into his head right off the bat. My first focus with him was to focus on similar things as I did with Savvy - insisting on the give and on him moving around his stock without affecting them. We had to focus far more on him giving to me and breaking off of the stock, but I didn't escalate the correction to running him off, as that would be a little bit more pressure than he can handle. Downing/outing seems to work okay for him.

He finally started getting it and the more I insisted on him giving, the better his outruns became. It was a nice session in all, he did some really nice fetching, and he's learning to soften himself at the perimeter of the fence to get around the stock and not affect them as well and I was seeing that in his work.

Funny How Time Flies...

2011-10-04T15:47:00.000-07:00

... when you're too lazy to post, huh?

I'm trying to collect my thoughts and energy from a hectic summer and early fall and look forward to the next couple of years of training. Yes, you read that right, YEARS OF TRAINING. You see, Miss Ferreh let things slip and slide this year. I didn't work as hard as I could have and it ended up showing. I did okay at Nationals, but I didn't do GREAT. Plenty of people would have been pleased as punch with how I ended up at Nationals, but I left HUNGRY. No, not for Doritos and pizza, for excellence.

There were times during my Nationals runs where I literally thought to myself, "I am not having fun.", or "I am not enjoying this." How sad is that? I wasn't enjoying it because I knew I had the potential to do better and I had squandered it.

As soon as the awards were handed out and the dust had settled, I hunkered down in a friend's camper, grabbed a pen and paper and I started writing out my training and trialing schedule for the next two and a half years. I changed a lot of my goals dramatically. For instance, instead of pushing hard to finish Savvy's WTCH by next spring before her next litter, I decided to back off and not trial for at least another year, if not two. I want to take time, work on basics, work on basics, work on basics. I want to enjoy my dogs and the process without feeling the pressure of trialing for awhile.

My dogs are still young. They're not going anywhere. I'm not going anywhere. So why the hurry?

So my new goals are simple:

* Train at every available opportunity
* Get my dogs on cattle as much as possible, in as many different environments as possible
* Insist on the basics
* Have fun
* Log my progress HERE!

Crunch Time

2011-07-27T11:40:00.000-07:00

The heat of the summer is really and truly upon us here in Indiana and that, combined with the county fair, and our impromptu litter being born, kind of put a kink in the training plans that I had in mind. I got kind of lax and wasn't as "hungry" to train, and I'm refocusing now that there are less than eight weeks until we leave for Nationals.

Savvy has been anxious to get back to work, so she's helped me with chores here and there over the past couple of weeks. Nothing too strenuous, just keeping her sharp and moving. I've also used Nash for some chores, since it's been too hot to train and chores are the only time I want the stock getting moved around.

Since Sav has been spending more time outside of the whelping tub, I decided that I'd take her out to work cattle this morning before lessons, then get her back to the puppies once she was done.

I used Nash to bring the cattle out of the pasture and put them in the sheep arena. He did a nice large outrun to start with, but didn't want to listen as well when I asked him to slow down and walk once he was behind them. I really need to be more consistent on making him listen there. Once they were in the arena, I had him do the cross drive on the back fence, then I wanted to work on him bringing them out of panel #2 and getting them off the fence to start working on the center obstacle.

Nash and I have been working on fetching the cattle a lot out in the pasture, and I felt that it was really time to start putting that toward working the center. Now that he knows what the job is, there is a next step, etc. He stumbled a bit at bringing them off the fence because once a few would move off, he still wants to rush out to stop them, instead of waiting for the rest. Must work on that.

Finally, he waited and got them all off the fence, then I had him fetch them to the center pen and once he had them all rounded up, (there are 7), he put them right in the pen! I must also note that the sheep pen is smaller than the pen in the cattle arena, so those guys really had to be pushed in there. It was good work and I was HAPPY.

With Savvy, I really wanted to start seeing if she was ready to do more fetching out in the open without getting herself killed. I've worked hard with her since Memorial Day to get a better handle on her, and I know that to move up to Open we've got to get the center work down, and that means fetching cattle.

In typical Savvy style, the little blue girl rocked it out. Once she realized that I wanted them off the fence and brought to me, she was on the job. This is the first time I've ever fetched with her on cattle because I knew she needed a better handle on her first, but I was just thrilled with her. She has such a great sense of group that I knew she'd take to it well, it was just a matter of her learning how much was enough and how to read her cattle a little more.. ahem... safely.

Once she'd fetched around the arena a bit, I got ballsy and wanted to try penning them. She got them all set up at the opening, but then she had a "devil made me do it" moment and shot up to heads and brought them out of the mouth. Not a biggie, just a lack of miles. I got on her and had her bring them back. By that time it was clear that she was tired... who can blame the chick?... so I let her stop there because I didn't want to press my luck and get her hurt or wear her out. I felt confident that she'll get it soon.

Good work. Good dogs. We're getting there.

Wrench In The Works

2011-07-16T17:41:00.000-07:00

So on Monday, something interesting happened. I'm in the middle of the grocery store and Mark calls and says, "Savvy just had a puppy in her crate." The interesting thing is that I didn't know she was bred. Well, not exactly.

You see, Savvy had a silent heat this time around and the first inkling that I had that she was coming into season was the day that I heard her yelp in the back yard. I went out to check on her and she was fine, but after that Nash was paying a LOT of attention to her and whining incessantly. Yep, that is the sign. I put her britches on her and she was spotting. She is kind of hard to figure when she's coming into heat because it is more like 5 months rather than 6 and since this was her third heat with us, so I was finally able to count it out and see how long her seasons were exactly.

As it turns out, that yelp that I heard outside was likely she and Nash breaking their tie.

Fast forward several weeks and I had some friends here to work cattle. I got Savvy out of the truck to work her turn and she suddenly seemed, ahem, portly. I gasped. I asked my friends if she seemed fat. They agreed. I made a frantic call to my vet (on her cell phone, on her day off) and left her a somewhat animated voicemail. Since Savvy still had a standing heat after I heard the yelp, she was pretty sure she hadn't been bred, because that should have pulled her out of heat. Uh huh.

I went ahead and made an appointment for the next week (after 45 days) to have her x-rayed. Of course, the day before the appointment I didn't think she seemed as big, so I cancelled it. I didn't want to be the silly, over-reactive person who assumed the worst. Uh huh.

A week before she whelped, I had one of my herding students, who is a vet, palpate Savvy to see if she felt anything. She felt around and said that she didn't feel anything, however that didn't mean that she couldn't be hiding one in there. Uh huh.

So I hurried through the grocery store as fast as I could and I resisted the urge to yell at the slow people in my way, "Move! My dog is having puppies at home!". For some reason, I didn't think it would help matters much.

By the time I got home, she had FOUR puppies in the crate. All boys. That's a lot of puppies to be hiding in there, I tell you what! We got them moved into the garden tub in our master bathroom, which has turned out to be the PERFECT whelping box.

The first evening, Savvy found issue with the runt of the litter, so then we were left with three boys. The second day, as I was getting ready to do tails and dewclaws, I noticed that one of the black tri boys wasn't looking too good, so I decided to skip him until we saw how he would do. Turns out he was septic (otherwise known as fading puppy syndrome) and he didn't make it through the evening.

So now we're left with two fat and healthy little boys. One blue merle that we call Jeff Saturday and one black tri that we call Dallas Clark. (We're Colts fans.) Savvy is a great mama, and she's already wanting to get back to work, but is torn with going out to work and getting back to the babies. Maybe after a few more days, she can get ease back into it all.

Covering Our Bases

2011-07-16T17:05:00.000-07:00

Training has been going well over the past few weeks since I was last able to post. We've worked a little bit of everything, so I'll just try to cover the basics, mostly so I can look back and remember myself!

We've worked on ducks, the new Magpies are old enough to start working, so I try to work them more to get them good and legged up for the fall trial. With Nash I worked mostly on fetching out in the open and driving across the middle of the arena. Savvy and I worked solely on walking flat footed, over and over and over again, as well as some flank work.

On cattle I've been working in the arena with Nash getting more confident in pulling the catte off the fence. His outruns are getting much larger and more supple. He is learning to soften and get around the stock better too. With Savvy, I focused on proper walk ups, not rushing the cattle, and switching gears at the top of the outrun.

With the sheep, I worked with Savvy on her outruns, downs and outs, and making her lifts less PUSHY. I kind of fell asleep on that front and I really need to watch that. I've been so focused on making her outruns better that I wasn't paying attention to the next part. Whoops. Her drives were nice and she hold the line nicely. We still need to owrk on breaking off to cover, however.

Nash on the sheep -- same stuff as Sav -- work more on the outruns as he is naturally tighter, but the work on cattle has helped him become more supple on the sheep as well. He faded a bit on th edrives and needed redirected a bit more. He also needs work on breaking off to cover.

Weekend Work

2011-07-04T13:30:00.000-07:00

I worked both dogs before my lessons this weekend, Saturday on cattle and Sunday on sheep.

On Saturday, I started by having Nash move the cattle from their new grazing paddock up into the arena. He is getting more confidence in moving the cattle in large areas and is listening better there, but he definitely needs more miles.

I had Savvy go first and she went in the arena dead set on not listening to me. She started stuff on her first go at the cattle, I called her out, re-sent her, she did a nice cross drive, then dove into the cattle again. She blew me off repeatedly when I called her out, so once I got her stopped up, I drug her little blue behind "unceremoniously" off the field and put her back in the truck. Game over, hooker.

With Nash I worked on hm going around on a proper outrun to not affect his cattle, bringing cattle to me along the fence, downing on the back side, then as the cattle moved off the fence between us, I would call him through to finish the flank and move around the cattle. It was a nice little exercise and it did well to help his self control and confidence.

On Sunday I didn't have a whole lot of time to work each dog, but I had a set of sheep in the cattle arena and we worked on penning, outruns, driving, and fetching. Just a little bit of everything to see where they were at.

Quality, Not Quantity

2011-07-01T05:42:00.000-07:00

I worked both dogs on cattle yesterday morning before I started my lessons for the day. I was in a time crunch to get them worked just once so that I could also pick up some electronet that needed moved later in the afternoon. My goal was to get in, get some good work, and get out.

Savvy went first and my main goal, as usual, was to not let her get herself maimed or killed. My second goal was to continue working on her staying out of the flight zone on her outruns and flanks and to keep her walk ups controlled and not too fast. If she had her druthers, she would shove on them to get them running, then race up to their heads to stop them. She's kooky like that.

She did some good stuff, and is continuing to listen better to me, especially on her downs and stops. I'm toying around with using the "stand" command for her standing stop, rather than "ho". It works for her, so we'll see about Nash. She only took a cheap shot on a nose once and quickly came out of it when I told her to, so I was pleased.

Nash and I continued to work on him being able to slow down, turn down his energy, and slip between the cattle and the fence to bring them off. He is getting better each time and he's really starting to get the concept of getting as close as he can to the fence. I love it when I see his wheels turning and he tries with all of his heart!

No Time Like The Present

2011-06-28T10:57:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I need to get back to journaling my training sessions with the dogs, and there is no time like the present, right? Right.

So, yesterday I took the dogs out for some quick time on the cattle while my mom was here to watch the kids for the afternoon. The plan was to work each dog once, then go on to run my errands, etc. I started with Savvy because the stuff that I've been working on with her on the cattle doesn't have the cattle moving or running much, so it would keep them fresher for Nash.

I've been working on her taking BIG outruns around the cattle. Focusing on her being correct and not coming in to their flight zone too early. She is such a head hunter that I really want to pound it in to her little noggin' that she needs to get in front of the cows, then walk up to turn them. Not slide in right under their noses and hooves and hope that the good lord doesn't decide to take her to the promised land that day. Seriously, that is her methodology.

She's doing much better on her outruns and will stop when I tell her to about 90% of the time, which is a HUGE improvement. I have a much better handle on her just from showing her that I wasn't messing around, and, yes, I would be consistent and insist that she listen. Things were all going well until the cattle came off the back fence and I went ahead and sent her around to see if she could fetch them. Fail.

Miss Fearless cut in too close on one of the steers as it was breaking away and she got caught up under him. She came up hollering and holding up her left front leg. Sakes alive, did she make a racket! I just thought to myself, "Well, you've finally went and broke something." I just stood there for a minute and didn't make a big fuss over her. I had her lie down for a minute, then I let her walk around to see how she was. She was putting weight on it, but you could tell it hurt like the devil. So I carried her out of the arena and put her in the truck.

While Savvy was resting in the truck from her dumb-butt attack, I took Nash out. The time before I worked with him in the round pen, trying to show him that he could get the cattle off the fence. The round pen helped because I was close and could be there to help him and make sure he didn't pop out of the pressure to get to heads. It took some doing, but he finally got them off the fence on the away side. Yay!!! So then we tried the go bye side for good measure. Again, it took some doing, but he got up to them, slowed down and pulled them off the fence! I was happy with that, even though it wasn't a long session, so we quit there. I didn't want to push my luck and end up with TWO lame dogs!

Once Savvy was in the house, I gave her some Arnica and crated her for several hours. She came out right as rain. She has a scrape from the cow, but that's it. Maybe this time she'll learn. We'll see.

Great Lakes Classic Wrap Up

2011-06-20T08:17:00.000-07:00

Okay, so it's now June 20th, and I'm finally writing about the trial that we went to over Memorial Day weekend. A bit behind in my blogging, you ask? You bet your ass.

Of course since it has been three weeks, I'm going to have to generalize much of what happened, because I didn't get much video to spur my memory, and really the whole trial boiled down to several simple things that led to some great success in a three day trial.

So, first off, I went into this trial really not knowing what to expect. It was the first time that I was going to be trialing two dogs at a time (Nash and Savvy, of course), on all three stock, two trials a day, for three days straight. I didn't know if my brain would survive such a feat! There was a possibility that if Nash and I played our cards right that he could finish his WTCH over the weekend, but I put that in the farthest recesses of my mind because I knew that there was just as good of a chance that it might not happen either. (He needed one Open Sheep leg, two Advanced sheep legs, two Advanced duck legs, and one Advanced cattle leg.) I expected for Savvy to finish all of her started titles and I was thinking there was a chance for her to win the Most Promising Started award if I could keep her screwed down on cattle.

My plan was to do as Tenley suggested and use each run as a way to train for the next run. To be stronger at the end of the trial than we were when we began. My strategy was to cross the line for Nash when he was struggling or just plain not listening, and to do so as soon as I could. He only got one or two chances, then I was going to cross. If either dog really blew me off, I would call the run.

Nash struggled a bit with the ducks on the first day, so I crossed the line when he needed help, then after I crossed the line I reminded myself that we were in "training land" and I made darned sure he took every down, that his walks were flat footed, etc. It gave us extra opportunity to work the pens with less pressure as well. After crossing the line on his first Open sheep run of the day, as well as ducks, he got qualifying scores on his second runs! I believe that I had to cross the line on cattle the first day, but I could be wrong...

Savvy did well her first day, but I called one of her sheep runs because she was being a screw ball. She had a good cattle run on her first run, but was a pill on the second and she showed everyone why we call her the "little blue bomb". Sigh. Her duck runs were okay, but I know she could've done better. I wasn't as present during those runs as I was during sheep and cattle, but she did okay and got good scores to finish her duck title that day.

The second day I saw Nash continue to gain confidence from me crossing the line to help him on the previous day. I saw myself having to cross the line (the times I had to), much later in the runs and he was listening better. His first duck run of the day was under the judge that gave him his Q the day before, so I used that run as a training run and was ready to cross the line and help him so that his next go was better when it counted. That plan worked and he got his second Q that day to finish his duck title. He also finished his advanced cattle title that day and got one sheep leg in advanced.

Savvy stayed pretty consistent on the second day, but she was an ass on her cattle run under the same judge as the day before, which meant that she only had one more chance on the last day to get her title. I was getting a bit ticked at the thought of finishing the weekend without all of her started titles! She was just losing her impulse control and I really knew then that I needed to put the screws to her. One of the judges wives told me that I should have named her "Mongoose", because she was fast, fearless, and fierce! She darned near gave heart attacks to the people watching - and it was mild compared to the crap I've seen her do at home. Sigh. The good part on that day was that she had some nice sheep runs and finished her sheep title.

Since Nash had finished his cattle and duck titles the day before, I pulled them on the last day of the trial so that we could just focus on his sheep runs. He really had just one shot to finish his WTCH on that last day and it was his first sheep run of the day. He had to qualify under that judge for the title -- no pressure there! Actually, there really wasn't much pressure because I put it in the back of my mind and just thought we would give it the best try that we could and if it didn't happen, it didn't happen. No big deal. The run was okay, but at the cross drive, Nash started to blow me off and mess with the sheep. Instead of crossing the line, I called him back to me and made him lay down and told him to "knock it off". Then I sent him back out to finish panel 2 and then the center chute. It wasn't the prettiest run, but we got 'er done.

Savvy just HAD to get that one cattle score under the other judge and I wanted her to continue to get good scores on her other runs. She had one duck run and one cattle run before the run that really counted on the cows, so I really put the screws to her during those runs so that she would be more in tune during her "big run" on the cattle. When it was time for that run, I was all business. I downed the hell out of that dog during that run, and I knew I would lose points for it, but it was better than not qualifying. I was NOT going to let her get out of control and run to bite heads. I insisted on calm, controlled work, and it paid off. She got us through the course and I think she only mixed it up once and it was negligible... well, for Savvy at least.

When it was all said and done and the dust had settled, we did okay. Nash did finish his WTCH and he also won the High Combined Non-WTCH award. The High Combined award surprised me after pulling some of his runs and crossing the line so much, but I guess it paid off in the end! Savvy got that final cattle leg in started and so she took home all of her started titles and the Most Promising Started award.

Savvy's MPS photo with Judges Preston Kissman and Larry Teaff

Nash's WTCH photo with the judges and all of our friends at the trial.

The awards and the titles were great and all, but the best take away from the trial was having dogs that really were better leaving then when they came. I felt more like I had three solid days of training rather than three days of trialing. I felt better mentally about it all and I could tell the dogs did too. I did right by my dogs and it showed. Even if I hadn't won the awards, I would have been just as happy because I felt I taught my dogs that they couldn't mess around on the trial field and my standards were just as high when I trialed as when we trained at home.

May Tenley Dexter Clinic - A Synopsis

2011-06-03T13:38:00.000-07:00

Yeah, so I'm like a bajillion light years behind in everything around here, including my blogs. You'll just have to crucify me later. But I'm going to try to catch up as quickly as I can because there is a LOT of training that will be going on around here this summer and I really need to start documenting it again for my own sake.

So I'll start with the Tenley Dexter clinic that I hosted here in mid-May. I have notes to help my memory, but much of what I worked on with both of my dogs boiled down to the same few basics. Go figure.

The number one lesson was consistency. I'd slipped into a bad habit of getting lazy and not MAKING my dogs take their downs right away. I was using "Hey" too much to correct them and I wasn't physically going out and MAKING them do it. I was becoming responsible for their actions, instead of holding them responsible for it. So their downs were falling to shit and it was nobody's fault but my own. So, the first order of business was really nailing both dogs for their downs, as much as it takes.

Lesson number two was being hard enough on Savvy. I was better than I was in January, but Tenley really helped me even further to see when Savvy was being a turd and when I needed to go out and thump her. Well, really, "thumping her" sounds harsher than it is, but I do track her down and swat her with my hat. Yep, a hat is must have equipment for Miss Savvy. 'Nuff said. I was always worried about turning her off, but as long as the corrections are fair and I don't make them personal, she doesn't take them personally. She is far more thoughtful afterward and works better. Of course.

Lesson three is that it sucks to be at the point in your training where you're moving up into the big leagues. It's a big jump and it's never pretty and never easy. I'm at the point with both dogs where they have to start listening to verbal cues more and paying attention to my physical cues less. They have to have their timing quicker and can't be as sloppy. I really saw this while working ducks with Nash, as he was watching my stick way too much, so Tenley had me use hoses instead to chuck at him and make him take his flanks. It worked like a charm and he was far sharper in just a few sessions and watching me far less.

My biggest take away from the clinic was one day when Tenley and I were talking about trialing the dogs. I was slipping into the "but my dog has a trial coming up in a few weeks and..." mode and Tenley wasn't having it! LOL! Tenley gave me some excellent advice in that I should look at these trials as a training time. I need to help Nash as much as he needs. Cross the line. Train! And with each trial he will get stronger, not weaker. My dogs should be BETTER at the end of a trial, not worse. It was a HUGE paradigm shift for me.

Priceless!

Measureable Progress

2011-05-11T15:54:00.000-07:00

The heat has finally hit us here in Indiana. Sigh. The sheep are hot, the dogs are hot, and whadda ya know, I'm hot. (Well, y'all already knew I was hot... LOL!)

I worked the dogs early this morning before my lessons and before it was too hot for everyone involved. I was only able to work each dog one time, as Savvy is in standing heat now (which kind of snuck up on me because she has been keeping herself very clean, so I didn't realize she was coming in!). I am running them in shifts because I'm pretty sure if I keep both of them in the back of my truck, Nash's head will explode. I'm jes' sayin'.

Savvy went first and I put some light sheep in the HT arena for her, because I really wanted to give the rest of the flock the chance to graze as long as possible before the heat of the day hit. Plus, I didn't want Savvy or the sheep getting too hot in the arena. So we just worked on outruns and driving corner to corner. Really, after doing the work, I think we would have been okay to work in the arena. She's really getting to the point where we can find things to do in the HT arena, but she's kind of getting past that point now and needs more work in the arena. Her outruns were just beautiful. Her driving is good, nice and straight. Her inside flanks are rough because she still wants to over flank. Something to talk to Tenley about this weekend.

Nash and I worked on the ducks in the HT arena. I set up two cones in the west end of the arena, so Nash had to drive the ducks to the far end of the arena, then do the figure 8. So it worked on him driving at a distance and up the middle, as well as him breaking off and doing his flanks correctly for the figure 8. He will break off better for the away than the go by on the inside flank. More to talk to Tenley about. His driving up the middle is getting progressively better and he's getting better about holding his line and not needing to be redirected constantly.

Figure 8 - Ducks

2011-05-10T04:52:00.000-07:00

Not much to write lately, as it's been either too wet or too busy to get much work done. I took the dogs out to work ducks yesterday afternoon, but quickly lost my temper and got impatient (my fault, not the dogs'), and I stopped and put the dogs up.

Later in the evening I tried again with the ducks. I put up two cones and just wanted to work on doing figure 8's with the dogs on the ducks. Nash did better at doing something more fun and he was paying attention better and didn't get stressed as quickly. Savvy really liked it too and it gave her LOTS to pay attention to. She was actually tired at the end, which is sometimes rare.

Some more good weather this week is forecasted, and Tenley will be here for three days this weekend, so hopefully you'll finally be reading more here!

Recovery

2011-04-24T17:47:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I had an excellent opportunity to work dogs with my training buddy and the big thing was recovery. Recovery! The rain here has been nearly relentless and I've had to cancel lessons every day I had them scheduled. My training pens are a muddy, slippery mess and the only place that I had to work was the arenas. There was a break in the rain yesterday afternoon, so we threw the trucks into four wheel drive and took the dogs down to the arenas to work.

I mention recovery because a couple of days earlier I attempted to work the dogs on my own and I got bogged down in frustration. I was working them about 85% right, but when I did 15% of it wrong, I got so damned ticked off at myself that I just couldn't see straight. I wasn't mad at the dogs, it wasn't their fault. But I was mad at myself because I knew better, but for some reason I wasn't doing better. I finished our training sessions that day in a really bad funk.

So just to have the chance to get out with someone who could watch me work the dogs and keep me accountable felt like a gift. I could recover what I lost in that crappy training session and train the way I knew I should.

My goals for working both of the dogs were the same, but I worked on slightly different things. I started them both in the take pen, working on them doing a correct take pen, but then Michelle was waiting in the field with one of her dogs to recover the sheep (see the theme here?) and put them back. That way my dogs weren't going into the pen already thinking about putting them back. It really helps to teach a dog to do a pen the right way. If their mind is focused on recovering the sheep, they will be tight on the take pen and cob it up.

Once each dog had gotten better at clearing their pen correctly and could do it without me entering the pen to push them around, I would let them continue on out into the arena to work for a bit. Savvy took awhile to get to this point at first because she was just so darned quick and wanted to shut down the heads. Nash was better, but was kind of thinking about bringing them back right away, so this exercise was good for him as well.

Out in the field, I had the goal of just sticking to the basics: round is round, straight is straight, stop is stop. Savvy did some nice driving, but wanted to slice a bit on her flanks and outruns, especially at the top. It just took pushing her out at the end to show her. We did some fetching across the arena, with me really focusing on her kicking out wide on her cover and not slicing. It just takes showing her again and again and again.

With Nash I worked on driving and fetching the sheep corner to corner. I let him drive them to the top corner, opposite of the take pen, then sent him on the away, making sure he was out and square. On the top of that corner, he really needs to break back on a go bye to cover and fix the line as they come through the panel and he would rather stay on the away. So I'm working on finding the best way to fix it. If I run out to block him and make him take the flank he will eventually take it, but he's way too tight when he does it. If I stop him and make him take a square flank, the sheep will already be back at the pens and I'm afraid the lesson will be lost. More to do there.

All in all, good work. It was really fun to have a day to mend my mind, work my dogs well, and watch the fabulous progress that Michelle is making with her dogs. You can't beat that. Not even with a big 'ol stick.

Building Blocks

2011-04-18T18:34:00.000-07:00

Today I stepped up to my own personal challenge of getting out and working the dogs every day that I had a chance. The weather this week is calling for a lot of rain, and this afternoon was just perfection, so I grabbed both dogs and we headed out to work ducks for a few minutes.

Earlier in the afternoon I shipped all of the icky Blue Swedes and the old Indian Runners off on a permanent vacation, so now I just have my Khakis and a set of four Magpies to work. I started Nash on the Magpies, as they are pretty heavy and since he needs to work on his driving and pushing it was the obvious choice. My goal with him on the ducks right now is to stress the basics of driving: straight is straight, and he has to break off and be round on his flanks. I am really watching him hard to be sure he breaks off and takes flanks when I tell him, because I'm seeing that crop up as an issue on all stock. So if he doesn't listen, I must step forward and MAKE him take his flank. He had some good work and drove them into the first corner with me being farther back than I have been.

Savvy worked the Khakis and I just wanted to go back to basics with her again and really put the screws to her with fetching along the fence line. As usual, Savvy was very responsive once I made my expectations CRYSTAL CLEAR. If I step up and show her exactly what I want, she is totally "yes, ma'am". If I get murky and muddled on my expectations, she's all, "yahoooooo, sucker!". After running her off the back of the ducks a couple of times, she was far less pushy and we worked well together to take them up the fence and around the corner. I am really looking forward to getting more time and miles on the ducks with Savvy and watching the progression in her training.

No More Coasting

2011-04-18T18:04:00.000-07:00

The trial at our place this past weekend was chock full of lessons. Chock friggin' full. I won't give a blow by blow of the runs and all, just mostly the highs and lows and the take aways that I learned.

First off, I learned that I can't ease up on my training and expect to coast through a trial. Nope. No way. Over the past six weeks I have been focusing on getting my new business up and running, and I admittedly took my focus off of my training. Big no no. Granted, I did train, just not as much as I could/should have and my mental game was OFF. And it showed.

Second, I learned that when I trial at home, or even away from home, it is critical that I take time before each run to focus my mind and connect with my dog. I can't get sucked into trial politics, idle gossip, or small talk before I take my dog into the arena. I lose my focus and my dogs are more than willing to drive the bus if I won't! It is too easy to get distracted by all of the responsibilities of holding a trial here at home, so I need to make space and time to re-center myself before a run. I owe it to my dogs.

I learned that I need to make time to take extra sheep down to the arenas when we train to create a draw down to the pens, like there normally is during a trial. When there isn't a trial going on, my sheep are drawn to the opposite corner because it is closest to the barns, so my dogs train with the opposite draw. When they go in to trial, the sheep are doing something completely different! But if I think ahead and take down more sheep, I should be able to help with that.

I understand more clearly now just how critical it is that I get cattle here to work at home, well, like NOW. Nash needs to work cattle more often to help bolster his confidence, and Savvy needs to work cattle repeatedly so that I can repeatedly show her that she can't run around like a gator on meth and keep throwing herself under the bus. She is doing better than she was, and she is chock full of talent, but that won't do us any good if she gets her fool-ass killed or injured. But, as with anything I've taught Savvy on stock, it takes me showing her one hundred times that she has to do it MY way.

Granted, it wasn't all rubbish. Nash did put down a first place Open sheep run with a 110, and he got one leg of his Advanced cattle title. Savvy had some terrific sheep and duck runs in FEO, with one duck run earning her a 96. (I'll take it...) There were good points, definitely, but our good wasn't our best.

So my goal for the next six weeks before the next trial is to TRAIN at every opportunity I can eek out. Even if it is just 10 minutes for each dog on ducks (like I did today), that is better than nothing. I am doing my damnedest to get cattle here, and I am focusing on working on Nash's confidence and skill, and working on Savvy's skill and attention to working for ME.

Reassessing

2011-04-11T12:56:00.000-07:00

I was able to work my dogs briefly yesterday before lessons. There is a lot of stuff going on here at the farm this week to get ready for the ASCA trial this weekend, so finding time to work the dogs has been pretty slim.

I worked Savvy in the arena with the sheep a couple of times, just working on making her take her downs when I ask, redirecting out runs, driving skills, etc. We did a bit more driving than we have in the past, which forced me to work on her inside flanks. Seeing as how we really haven't worked on them much, (if at all), she's doing pretty well at getting the gist of it. She did a couple of really amazing outruns, so I think all of our work is beginning to pay off. We did a small demo on ducks for one of my students so that they could see what they needed to work on with their own dog, and Savvy did well.

I was short on time when I worked Nash on the sheep, so we just did a quick run through of the Open A course, to see where we were at for this weekend. All I can say is: Bing, Bang, Boom! That's precisely how he managed the course. Got them all around, one, two, three! It really gave me some confidence that he'll catch up on his sheep titles quickly, after the setbacks that we had last fall.

I worked him on the ducks again to see if I could patch together some confidence in his driving the ducks at a distance. He is making improvements, but I'm not sure if I feel confident enough to still trial him in advanced ducks this weekend. As it turns out, we are short one set of ducks for the trial, due to a fox problem that we're experiencing here at the farm. If I do pull my runs, the problem is solved and we'll have enough ducks.

After much thought and discussion with my training buddy, I'm thinking that Nash would be better served if I pull his duck runs for this weekend. If I still try to trial him now, I might do okay and squeak by, but that isn't what I want to do. I want to do our best. I also run the risk of tearing down any training that we've worked on up to this point by trialing him when his confidence in driving away from me isn't at it's best. I think we would both be better off to pull the runs, use the next six weeks to train well, and then do Advanced ducks at the Michigan trial. I think it will pay us off greatly in the long run.

Not an easy call to make, but one that is worth making. That is for sure.

Horse Fair and Trial Prep

2011-04-08T05:56:00.000-07:00

Well, those Hoosier Horse Fair last weekend was a total blast and was great work for the dogs. Nash and Savvy got to break the cattle for the cowdog trial, then they helped me put on one demo on each of the three days of the fair. 1) How to Start Your Dog on Cattle, 2) How to Raise a Sensible Farm/Ranch Dog, 3) How to Start Your Dog on Sheep. It was fun for me because I basically got to train my dogs during the demos and work is work!

Once we got back home and things settled down, I got back to trying to train and that hasn't happened as much as I would have liked, as my two youngest kids came down with bronchitis while I was at the Horse Fair, so I've been battling that all week. I did work the dogs on Wednesday when I had lessons, and that was pretty productive.

I worked Savvy on a light set of sheep in the HT arena, working on her outruns, short flanks, and driving corner to corner. Her driving skills are improving and the light sheep really forced her to work on those short flanks and make them correct and precise. Her out runs were the best part - wide, quiet, but FAST. I wubba her.

I worked Nash on the most challenging of my ducks - the horrid Blue Swedes. Those assholes are just horrible, and if you happen to come to our trial and get those ducks, I apologize. I am selling them. They suck. Deal.

They don't want to group 95% of the time, so Nash had to work his handsome little butt off to keep them together and take them to each corner. It was a great exercise for him to learn how far off he needs to stay off the ducks, so I guess the little turkeys served a purpose. They're just not going to serve it much longer....

I did do some short sessions with Nash on the Khakis, who are much easier to work, so he could work on driving farther away from me. I'm not sure if we're going to have enough time to really get that worked out before the trial here next weekend, but oh well, the money is spent. We'll be ready by the Memorial Day SEMASA trial, that is for sure!

Ketchup!

2011-04-01T05:02:00.000-07:00

I'm getting a bit behind in my posting, so I'm going to try to mush everything together in some random thoughts and hopefully do a better job of getting my posts done in the future!

In the past week or so I've worked the dogs a few times. Last Sunday it was sheep in the arena, testing skills to see what we need to work on or tune up. Nash is continuing to improve and we worked mostly on correct outruns, flat footed walks on the fetch, and some driving here and there. I feel pretty confident about where he's headed on sheep.

Savvy on the sheep was pretty good, we're at the time and miles stage right now. She's getting better about not breaking her downs, but it is still a work in progress. Her flat footed walk on sheep is much improved, but just takes consistent reminding when she starts to hustle.

We worked ducks on Wednesday and I tested the dogs there a bit as well. I tried hanging back closer to the Advanced handlers line in the duck arena when I was having Nash drive and he was REALLY uncomfortable, which really surprised me! He has no trouble with driving at a distance on cattle and sheep, but for some reason we need to work on that confidence on ducks. Yikes! Time to get crackin'!!

Savvy is starting to show some nice things on ducks. She's really getting the idea about not shoving them, covering the group, and giving the ducks space. Just more time and miles and consistency.

This weekend is going to be jam packed with work for the dogs, as I'm doing several days of stockdog demos at the Hoosier Horse Fair at our State Fairgrounds in Indianapolis. Last night I took the dogs down to break the cattle before I use them in our demo today (How to Start Your Stockdog on Cattle) and before the Cowdog Invitational over the weekend at the Horse Fair.

Nash did a really nice job with the cattle last night and I'm really starting to see his confidence and skill on the cattle develop. He's just a ball to work with and cattle is where he shines. I used Savvy on a line and pinch collar to work the cattle calmly in smaller groups once Nash had broken them in a bit. It was good work for Savvy because she is going to need LOTS and LOTS of calm, quiet, muscle memory-type work on a line for her to know that she can't just run and bite noses and heels. She really has a good sense of covering her cattle, but it's teaching her to cover and not bring them back that she needs. And not making wrecks. And not hustling on the drive. Like I said, lots of stuff.

Small bits of good

2011-03-21T10:24:00.000-07:00

Sunday I had a busy day of lessons and there was rain forecasted later in the day (which never came), so Michelle came over early before lessons to work her dogs. I squeezed in as well before my first lesson arrived and worked with sheep in the take pen, just putting both dogs around in the pen. We didn't work for a long time, but just doing the basics of having the dogs be soft, hitting corners, etc.

Savvy took a few down/outs into the corners before she started softening, but she is getting it figured out. When she would give me a good piece, I would let her drive the sheep into the corner for her cookie. About halfway through, she started cutting her corners again and neither Michelle or I could figure out why she started doing that again, seemingly out of no where. With Savvy, it could just likely be that she's continuing to test her boundaries. Always testing... She did some good work, but she is still always thinking about her stock and not wanting to break off of them as much as she should.

Nash was fun in the pens because he is so different from Savvy and he just tries so hard to give me what I want. He was really working hard to turn himself off and settle his stock. You could just see the concentration and effort on his face! Such a good boy!

I used both dogs throughout lessons to move/sort stock and they are both making improvements there as well. Fun day!

Another Saturday - More Ducks!

2011-03-21T10:18:00.000-07:00

More time on ducks! I worked both dogs on the Khakis this time, but they have legged up pretty quickly, so I'll likely start working them on the various breeds that I've got here to get them more well rounded.

I started with Savvy and she started her fetch GREAT! Slow, flat-footed walk, and she even downed herself once to relieve the pressure! It soon became obvious that we now needed to work on Savvy staying off her ducks and covering. One hen wanted to peel back if Sav was too close, so she got lots of practice.

I worked hard to break everything into small pieces and reward her for doing the right thing. I also need to remember to stay smooth when I move forward to make her break off and cover. I was rushing forward and waving my stick like a tool and that made Savvy too reactive and not thoughtful.

The second time I worked Sav, we worked on the take pen and she was MUCH improved. We did fetching along the opposite fence this time and I had to get on her a bit for popping up and walking too fast, but she settled in. She started holding off and covering better. More small pieces, more time and miles.

With Nash, I really worked on him moving off the ducks, flanking without affecting, etc. I had to down/out him on his outruns/big flanks when he would fall into the movement of the ducks. As we went on he was working wider. I would reward with some driving if he gave me a good section of work.

The second time I worked Nash, we started in the take pen as well. He was much smoother and calmer than he had been before. He got corrected for breaking his down in the back of the pen, so we did it twice. He did better the second time.

We worked again on not following the ducks on the outrun and driving. Seeing small bits of improvement. On the fence, if he is not right on it, I need to take time to down/out him to the fence so he softens and gets them off the fence. Patience!

Warm Up Trend

2011-03-17T15:38:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was another great lesson day - warm, sunny weather and good students making progress with their dogs. The weather forecast is showing warmer weather for the next week, so that paired with the Daylight Saving Time will hopefully allow me to get out more and get good work done outside.

I worked both of my dogs on the ducks again yesterday, working the Khakis again to get them legged up. With Savvy, we started with fetching along the back fence, heading south, which was the direction she had the most trouble with the last time. She broke her down twice, but I put her back calmly. The improvement that I noticed was that when she broke, she was coming forward rather than flanking out to cover heads.

After that she held her down and I started the fetch. When she first walked up, she popped up and came fast, so I downed her, then after that she was better. I was putting a fair bit of pressure on the ducks, and that caused Sav to watch me and not the ducks like she should, so she was letting a couple of hens slip back past her. I pushed her back to cover each time she did that so she would learn to watch the stock. I experimented by standing straighter and putting less pressure on the ducks and that helped Savvy tremendously.

She was able to fetch along the back and side fence, then I let them settle in the top corner, then we reversed them and I worked on her controlling their escape. Good work, solid improvements!

Nash was next on the same ducks. We worked on getting the ducks off the fence and fetching in the middle. I was seeing his ability to get the ducks off the fence deteriorate a bit, so my plan for the next session was to take a step back and help him more, and maybe some pen work. His fetching in the middle was improve, but still needs more work on holding him out on his side. I might need to down him more, but on ducks that is hard because then you lose them. More to think about there! I also did some down/out to correct his outruns on the ducks as well.

When I worked Savvy the second time on a fresh set of ducks, we worked on the take pen first - hitting corners, down/out when she skipped a corner, etc. When we did the actual take pen, she stayed on her down at the back of the pen! good girl - she got a pat on the head for that!

We did a short "L" up the back fence and north side fence, then I flanked her behind and we worked on the control to the pen. At the pen, she wanted to break her down when I opened the gate, so I had to put her back a few times, then go gather the ducks back on foot. After a couple of times, she got it and held her stay. Then we repeated that short exercise: take pen, short "L" of fetching, then control to repen. Her control back was FABOOSH! And she also held her down on the repen.

On Nash's second turn we started in the pen and did the same exercise as Sav. Making him hit corners, etc. I did his take pen twice, because the first time he wanted to break his down at the back of the pen. I had him drive up the North side of the field until the middle and then had him take them off and we fetched in the middle. He got distracted by a student arriving, so I kept him busy by having him drive instead.

Sunday - More Ducks!

2011-03-16T16:47:00.000-07:00

More ducks today! Still working the Khakis primarily to leg them up since they're green and young. I started with Savvy and I was prepared to work on her impulse control issues. She was improved from the day before, but still needed work. I had to get on her a few times, but I stayed calm by reminding myself of my new training affirmation: "I am training one of the top dogs in the country, so I need to do this right." Now, if THAT won't keep you accountable, I don't know what will! And I can't wait for it to come to fruition!

Savvy finally started holding her downs, then I had to start downing her for popping up so fast and startling her stock, not to mention walking too fast (twinkle toes...). After some corrections, she did nicely. She got them out of the corner well and did a good job of fetching.

The second time I worked Savvy on the ducks, I started with a fresh group that were in the take pen, so I started with pen work first. I did the pen work as we did with Tenley in Georgia. She was cutting corners BA, so I started downing and outing her in the corners. In no time, she was hitting each corner 3/4 of the time! It was amazing to see how fast she picked it up!

We went on to work on fetching up the fence. We started the direction we went before and she did well. So I called her off so the ducks went back to the repen, then we went to opposite direction. She broke her downs a bit more going that way up the fence, but then she improved. Once they turned the corner, they were wanting to peel back for the pens, so she had to work harder on covering. It was good stuff. Definitely seeing improvement over the day before!

With Nash, I wanted to continue working on getting ducks off the fence and driving. Getting them off the fence was tough, but I think he's grasping the concept and needs more miles to make it proficient. Driving is doing well, so I also need to now work on fetching in the middle as well.

The second time I worked Nash, I worked on getting the ducks off the fence and then I went on to fetching in the middle of the field. He did better on getting them off the fence, but fetching in the middle is just going to take miles and time. I had to push him off a lot, but he is picking up on it quickly and he began covering nicely. After a few minutes he was fetching them pretty well. He was pretty darned happy with himself and so was I!

Saturday - Ducks!

2011-03-15T16:33:00.000-07:00

Saturday was the first day back to teaching lesson this season, and I was chomping at the bit to get out and start training again on a regular basis! It was a warmer day, but there were really high winds, which made it seem much colder and harder to focus. But we persevered!

I wanted to really focus on working ducks, a) because my dogs both need many more miles on ducks, and b) my ducks need legged up before the trials this spring. Two birds with one stone!

Savvy wasn't waiting to say on her downs and would break and flip away to cover head, like she did last year on sheep. I had to stay patient and present and just keep putting her back. She was able to fetch them up the fence to me once, then we took them off the fence for a second to fetch in the open. She did alright, but was pushing too much.

We went back to the fence and her breaking the downs got worse. I kept putting her back and reminding myself that this was the process I have to go through to have a great trial dog for the next 5-6 years! After much repetitious correcting, she finally stayed and calmly fetched them a short distance up the fence and we stopped there.

The second time I worked Sav on the ducks, we were still having issues with her impulse control. I had to be patient and present and keep putting her back over and over and over and OVER. I had to swat her with my hat on one instance and she was better after that, but still wanting to break. She was finally able to hold her down once so we could fetch along the fence and around the corner. I stepped up to help her in the corner and that helped her. I thing it will just take lots and lots and LOTS more miles on ducks for Savvy. QUACK!

Nash worked the ducks after each of Savvy's sessions, so by the time he got on a set, they were a bit tired, but not too worn out. So my plan was to work them for a minute and then use Nash to sort a new group. We fetched up the fence a bit, then I worked on Nash taking them off the fence and keeping them off. H was a bit worried, but I helped him and that built his confidence. Once he got them off the fence smoothly, then I had him drive them up the middle for a bit before we exhausted them.

The second time I worked Nash, the Khakis were able to work longer, but they were still heavy. it really forced Nash to have to learn to walk flat-footed and wait for the ducks to move off of him. It was really good work for him to do.

Tenley Dexter Clinic - March '11 - Day 3 - Session 2

2011-03-14T16:11:00.000-07:00

Nash and I worked the same exercise in the afternoon as we did in the morning - light sheep, small paddock, corner to corner. His Driving was nice and straight and my flank commands were getting faster. I was still having to down/out Nash at times, but that is to be expected.

One problem that came to light, (that I have with both dogs, actually), was that when I'm having to flank the dog from my saide on the drive, that I was using my stick incorrectly and I was too high on the dog. I need to practice to aim at the dog's elbow to push him off me to do the flank.

Toward the end, once we had gotten the sheep to the corner, Nash was getting distracted and sniffing, so to fix it I just kept him busy by having him take another step forward, which did blow the sheep, so he had to cover to put them back, etc. Tenley agreed that I did the right thing and it showed because his interest was improved afterwards.

We did it one more time, then did one flank/out and stopped there so he would remember it. Afterwards, Tenely complemented me on what a good job I am doing with Nash and gave me a big hug. That meant more to me than any ribbon or trophy!

I did the same exercise with Savvy. I got several good tips from Tenley that apply to working any dog, not just Savvy. My timing with Savvy on the down or flanks was slow, so Tenley told me that in smaller, tighter quarters I shouldn't wait for the stock to look precisely at the target because by the time even the best dog turns in, it's too late and they've overflanked, then you get that back and forth overflanking mess. So instead I need to look for the first reaction of the stock to turn my dog in on. It helped tremendously!

Savvy had a few good go rounds and her driving was getting better each time. Since she is so friggin' fast, she gets ahead of me on the drive and starts to look back at me, so I need to remember to down her so I can catch up and help her.

Another great tip that Tenley gave was when sheep are in a tight spot and one is staring at the dog, to have the dog wait in their down, because the sheep will look away from the dog three times before they'll move off the dog. I held Sav in her down and sure enough... 1 - 2 - 3, and that ewe moved!

Savvy took some nice small flanks to reposition herself and she is getting better at small, more patient work. So, her downs and impulse control still need more miles and work, as does my timing. Good stuff for us to work on this year!

Tenley Dexter Clinic - March '11 - Day 3 - Session 1

2011-03-13T16:11:00.000-07:00

I worked Nash in the small paddock with lighter sheep than we had used before, driving corner to corner. I was in a very calm, yet determined state mentally, and Nash was somewhat stressed due to the change in my demeanor. Tenley noticed it as well and mentioned it and how that I shouldn't be concerned by it, (which I wasn't), because he will get used to it.

I had to down/out him a few times on his flanks, but he was being slow and thoughtful, especially in the draw corner, so it was easier for me to see when he made the switch from going around stock to following stock. I was getting better about remembering, "Down. There, walk.", and I was also faster on flanking on the fly rather than stopping the action. It was a good session and I really felt "in the zone" as a handler.

With Savvy, I worked the same exercise as Nash with the same stock and paddock. She had some really nice outruns and got in behind her sheep quietly. She was getting a little stirred up on her flank change on the drive and wasn't taking a fast down, so I had to toss my stick between her and the stock. Tenley advised me that when Savvy gets amped up and wants to go quickly and be reactive, I have to remember that it is my responsibility to keep myself calm and centered so that I can keep her calm and centered. If I amp up in response to her energy, then we're hosed!

She was doing some really nice, straight walk ups and even started to fix her line a few times. I do need to pay attention to how she gets up, because she was popping up quickly and spooking the stock again, so I had to work on "one step, down, one step, down, etc." to settle her and get her up more softly. Very nice session!

Tenley Dexter Clinic - March '11 - Savvy - Day 2 - Session 2

2011-03-12T06:05:00.000-08:00

Savvy and I worked on the pens again in the barn for our second session of the day. I started with just putting her around both ways until she was supple. Tenley suggested that I pay attention to my energy and stay calm because even through I didn't have the tick on her, I was tense and that was amping Savvy up.

After putting Sav around a few times, we then moved on to the next part of the exercise, which was taking the sheep out of the pen and driving them down the center aisle of the barn. I had to out Sav a couple of times on the back of the pen because she wanted to break her down and follow the stock out of the pen. I had to show her she had to stay before she could work. After a few times she figured it out, then we worked on the drive.

The sheep were really heavy and Sav had to figure out how to push them off me. At one point I patted my leg to get her to walk on them right beside me and she had NO problem walking up next to me, like my boys always have, so I was happy to see that!

We repeated the exercise several times and the other thing we worked on was letting Savvy grip appropriately by letting her bit and then calmly downing her right away. She worked really hard for me and by the end we were both being more calm and smooth. I was even able to get her to take ONE step on her walk/down instead of FOUR!

Tenley Dexter Clinic - March '11 - Nash - Day 2 - Session 2

2011-03-12T05:46:00.000-08:00

I had thought that we were going to work on the pen work again, bur since the rain had let up, Tenley wanted us to work in the small paddock again. Tenley gave me the option to work on the corner to corner exercise, or... a Figure 8 exercise. I felt a huge smile coming on as I said, "Figure 8!". I had not done any Figure 8's with Nash yet, so I was excited to try it with Tenley's guidance.

We sat up two cones to do the pattern around, with very heavy sheep, so that Nash really had to PUSH. I had to down/out him a few times to make sure his flanks were flanks, but not too much. I was trying to remember the "Down. There, walk." rule, but Tenley said that in a Figure 8 exercise, since the dog does a lot of flanking with very little actual driving, that the dog was more willing to turn in, so she wanted me to be flexible and experiment with just using "There".

He did great! It really helped me to get in the flow of using my flank commands more and my stick less to direct the dog. By the end, he was really figuring out the pattern and anticipating the turns. It was soooooo much fun and I was so proud of my bubba dog!

When I was putting Nash back up in the truck, one of my friends came up to me and asked if I had heard what Tenley was saying while I was working Nash. I hadn't. With tears welling up in her eyes, my friend told me that Tenley had covered up her mike so she wouldn't distract me, and said to the other people at the clinic, "You guys just don't know how hard she has worked with this dog to get him here. Last spring she couldn't get this dog to go around his stock, and she has worked so hard to get him working this well."

Of course, by this time, tears were welling up in my eyes too! Tenley is not big on lavishing praise on her students, you really have to earn it! So to have her say something like that while I was working meant the WORLD to me. It was worth the trip to Georgia, that's for certain!

Tenley Dexter Clinic - March '11 - Day 2 - Session 1

2011-03-11T13:55:00.000-08:00

It was raining quite a bit on the morning of the second day, so I worked both dogs in the barn on their penning skills for their first session of the day. We used three calm sheep in a stall.

With Nash, we started in the pen, flanking him around each direction. If he sliced in on a corner, then I would down/out him to the corner. After doing that a few times he got the hind and was hitting his corners better. Then Tenley had me leave the pen and direct him from the outside. He got a little worked up and started whining, but didn't take any cheap shots.

He was more reluctant to keep on his flank to go behind the sheep, so I had to use my stick a bit to help him and then call him through to me at the gate. Then once he was at the gate, I had to go to the end of the pen to call him forward. We did that a few times and then quit on a good note.

I did the same exercise with Savvy as well. Savvy is more of a landshark in the pens, so Tenley advised that I be ready to pop Sav under her chin if she cut in to bite or start trouble. After getting popped a couple of times she was far more thoughtful! She was also tending to speed through behind the sheep to "get it over with", so Tenley had me stop her more frequently and behind the sheep to settle her a bit. She still wasn't trustworthy enough to work her from outside the pen, so I just repeated the exercise until she was supple and thoughtful. Hers did good!

Tenley Dexter Clinic - March '11 - Day 1 - Session 2

2011-03-10T13:45:00.000-08:00

While we were at lunch, Tenley was answering questions and she got on the topic of teaching "there" and driving. She mentioned something in the way that she teaches the "there" that was just a tad bit different than the way I had been doing it, but it made a big difference. I had been teaching it by saying, "There. Down", then after the dog was down, I would tell them "Walk" to walk them in on their stock.

Tenley does it in a different order. You "Down" the dog on the point you want them to turn in, then after they down, you say, "There! Walk!" That way, the dog isn't forgetting what the "There" is all about if they mess up their down, etc., and it also builds excitement and sharpness into the "There". Eventually you can drop the "Walk" part and just say "There!" and the dog knows to turn in and walk up.

On our second session of the day, Savvy and I worked on the same exercise as we did earlier in the day (the so-so session), however I did tell Tenely that I wanted to be better about retraining myself to say "Down. There, walk", instead of my old habit of "There, down. Walk".

Savvy started out and did a nice away outrun and drove a tad. On the second outrun, she started her bit of cutting in repeatedly, so I decided that after downing and outing her two or three times, the next time I was going to run down for cutting in. I did, and after that she left nice as pie and did one of the nicest outruns I've ever seen her do! She must have known I meant business!

I kept letting her drive to reward her for good flanks/outruns. Her outs were much better on the few times I had to use them. I had to toss my stick at her for not downing a few times, but those were better as well. It was a really fun session.

I had so much fun with Nash! He did a couple of improved outruns and he also started taking his outs better and was more thoughtful going around. So Tenley had us focus more on driving corner to corner in the paddock, and once Nash was in the corner, holding the pressure, I would walk out and pet him while he "marinated" in the pressure.

His driving was good, but I need more work on spitting out my flanks quickly and remembering "Down. There, walk!"

Tenley Dexter Clinic - March '11 - Day 1 - Session 1

2011-03-09T07:37:00.000-08:00

Okay, so the first morning of this clinic I did an AWFUL job of taking notes. Really awful. It was cold and wet and I was feeling rather blah. The working sessions with both of the dogs were okay, but nothing great. It was more of a warm up in my eyes, especially after seeing all that came after it during the rest of the weekend. So I'm warning y'all now that this first blog post of the clinic is rather sucky, if I do say so myself. But hang in there, because it gets better! Damned near awesome!

So, Savvy was first and we worked a group of heavier sheep in a small paddock. Tenley reminded me that my goal was to work on getting her wide on her outruns and flanks, and then if she was good on that end, I would drive with her to reward. Savvy did pretty well, about that same as before, having to down/out her here and there on the outruns and working on her walkups being calm and collected.

With Nash, we did the same exercise as I did with Savvy in the same area, same sheep. He did better on his flanks, and they were getting more square and wider. On his driving, it was clear he doesn't want to walk up near my because of my energy. This makes it difficult for him to push heavy sheep off of me. So I have to direct all of my energy at the stock so it doesn't affect Nash. Having him help me set lesson sheep into the round pen will be a perfect place to have him work on that.

He did some really happy and fast outs, which I LOVED. I made sure to walk out and pet him for those to reinforce them. His driving and flanks also got better as we went.

Picking Back Up

2011-02-19T16:32:00.000-08:00

The temps have been much warmer this week, but with all of the melting ice and snow, the footing was damned near treacherous outside and training just wasn't going to happen if I wanted to stay off of my ass. Today was a really nice day in that the ground has started to absorb much of the runoff and is slightly firmer than it has been. It was soft, but not too mucky. The sun was out and it was about 44 degrees by the time I got out to work, so there were no complaints from me!

I can feel myself gearing up to pick up on my training again and lessons will be right around the corner in just a few weeks. I'm really ready to get back to it and I know my dogs and my students are as well! Today I only had about an hour or so to work the dogs, but I was grateful for every minute that I was given. It was so nice to be able to walk out my own back door to work, rather than driving hours to do it.

I used Hoss to sort off a group of considerably lighter sheep than we have worked in the past. Working the light sheep at the clinic and at Mary's really gave me the confidence to do it at home. I had two of my lighter ewes and four ewe lambs and Hoss and I took them down to the arena for Nash and Savvy to work. Because of the time constraints I worked each dog once, but we got a lot out of that amount of time, so it worked out okay.

Nash was first and I started off with the sheep in the top corner in that strong draw, so that I could send him up there and he really had to work to bring them off the draw, much like we did at the clinic a few weeks ago. I had to down/out him a few times, but the distance in between those is getting longer, so I see progress there. He got in behind the sheep too fast and over flanked, so he needed to break off and cover on the reverse.

In hindsight, I should have been moving out toward the dog/sheep at the top of the arena, so that I could push Nash out to cover more. I just kind of stood with my thumbs up my ass on the other side of the chute and didn't move until it was too late. Duhhhrrrrrr!

I worked on Nash walking up flat footed and also had him drive once. He is doing really nicely on holding the line and correcting himself pretty squarely when he needs to. He showed me that when the sheep were on the other side of the chute from him and he would crawl under it or flank behind it to keep the sheep on line. Really fun to see those gears turning!

Savvy and I worked on the same thing, same sheep. Of course, as usual, we spent A LOT of time working on basic impulse control, but that's okay. That's just where we are and were we need to be. On the first outrun of the session, I was sending her on an away, and she came straight in three times in a row. So I outed her and got in a better position to pressure her out. Funny thing was, I really didn't end up having to help her much, as she did a nice pear shaped outrun and kicked out really wide in the back to get in behind her sheep. I was gobsmacked!

On the fetch, we had to do lots of downing when she chugged and running off when she broke her downs. That's just par for course right now. I just keep reminding myself that it won't always be this way and I have to be vigilant in showing her what I expect. I fetched across the arena to the opposite corner and had her present there, then would flank her behind to let the sheep reset themselves.

On the next two outruns, she did okay, but I didn't stop her in time on the back and the sheep smashed themselves into the corner and Savvy just did a fly-by instead of getting in the corner and getting them out. I say it happened twice because I let it. The first time, I just called her off and tried again. Once she did it twice, I made sure it didn't happen again. We moved together to get much closer to the sheep so that I could make sure she got into that corner and got the job done.

Once she finished that smaller outrun and got them out of the corner, it was then time to focus on the fetch. She. just. would. not. let. up. Breaking downs, chugging on the walk, on and on and on. Finally I had it when I downed her to get to the other side of the sheep and she just got up and started fetching hard when my back was turned. I ran her fool ass all the way back to the other side of the arena. Once she was there, I waited until she downed and turned her head. I wasn't angry, but I was wanting to send her a crystal clear signal that I was not going to accept that shit anymore!

Working at Mary's - Nash

2011-02-15T06:24:00.000-08:00

We worked on the same stuff at Mary's as we had with Savvy - three sheep in the big field and doing outruns, fetching across the field. Nash's outruns are improving incrementally. I'm still having to down/out him, but his outs are better. Not perfect, but better. He is going slightly deeper at the top of the outrun before falling to the stock's movement.

He was wanting to chug on his walkups, so he got downed a lot until he was right. When I tried to push him out to break off on his cover, he wanted to dick around a bit and make it a game. I would calmly stop him up and make him flank back correctly. Although I had to be on him a lot, he is tarting to understand what I'm expecting from him and he's giving me a lot more "tries".

The second time I worked Nash, we worked on the same exercises as before. We kind of got cobbed up on doing the downs/outs on his first outrun and Nash lost the sheep back to the draw. They wanted to stand along the fence with the sheep in the adjoining pen. So I looked at it as an opportunity to have Nash work on going deep and peeling the sheep off the fence. He did okay, but he was distracted and dicking around because he started eating snow, watching Tenley's girls on their walk (they were in heat... sigh), so I just stayed calm and kept him working. I didn't want to make a big deal out of it and make things worse.

Once he got the sheep off the fence, I downed him and let the sheep wander back toward the center of the field and I went to Nash to pet him and collect myself. I could feel myself getting frustrated and letting my sleep deprivation get to me, so I wanted to get my focus back and move forward. We then were able to go back to working on the outruns and fetching for a bit, which went okay after that.

One thing that Tenley suggested, which was exactly what I needed to hear, was that I need to remember to just do small bits of different exercises during each session with the dogs, but especially for Nash. Instead of drilling, drilling, drilling one thing, I need to break it up and work on driving, etc. to break up the monotony and make it more fun for the dog. Savvy can take a whole lot of the same thing and not get bored or worried. But Nash isn't as much like that, so I need to recognize when he needs a "cookie" and do something else for a little bit to keep his interest up.

Working at Mary's - Savvy

2011-02-14T06:24:00.000-08:00

Over the weekend, I went down to my friend Mary's house to work dogs for the day. The weather was so nice, warming up and melting the snow!

We worked three sheep in the big field at Mary's. I wanted to focus on outruns and fetching across the field. Savvy started out on her outrun tight, so I had to down/out her a few times. I will say that she stopped and took her outs far better. I finally had to run at her to correct her, as the down/outs weren't getting her attention.

She waited better on her downs, but I still had to run at her for breaking a few times. Her walk up was too fast at first and I made the mistake of running at her instead of just downing her. (Bad trainer.) We fetched across the field, downing her when she was too fast. I also made the mistake of not really having her present the sheep before we stopped and I called her off to re-send her. (Bad trainer. Again.)

When i sent her the second time, she left tight, so I downed/outed her and she took it well. She then went on to do a very nice outrun. I downed her at the h top and really made sure she walked flat footed. She did a really nice and controlled walk. I needed to do a better job of holding the stock up, so as she fetched, I put more pressure on my side of the stock to have her present the stock to me, and she did well.

I flanked her behind to fetch across again and I should have called her off to do another outrun. Brainfart on my part. We fetched across one last time and I downed her when she walked too fast. In hindsight, there was one sheep not really staying well with the others, and while I let Sav cover it a couple of times, and I made sure she broke off the cover, I should have had her covering it more and faster.

The second time I worked Savvy, her flanks were getting better and her walk up was slightly better. However, she was being a pill on staying down and she was also pushing the stock on the presentation. I had to be VERY persistent with her and I had t run her off over and over again to insist that she stay out to cover and not push in.

She finally got it and then Tenley suggested that I send her around the sheep again on a short outrun and at whatever point Savvy started to get pushy, I should run her off, and once she stops, I should put the lead on her and take her off the field. So basically, set her up for a big correction, something to make her think, "Shit, if I don't listen and keep pushing, Mom is going to take me off stock."

Tenley Dexter Clinic - Feb. '11 - Nash - Day 3 - Session 2

2011-02-13T15:58:00.000-08:00

Nash and I worked on the same driving exercise that Savvy and I worked on for our final session. Nash did much better on the exercise than Savvy did, due to his experience with driving. So Tenley had us make it harder by saying we had to settle the sheep at each cone until she said to move on. He did that pretty well also and had some good standing stops.

The biggest critique that Tenley gave me was that I was continually stopping my dogs short on their flanks, and that might be part of their slicing issue. I'm watching my stock, just not closely enough. I'm not making sure they're looking at the target when I say "there". So she challenged me to pay more attention to that and do more on my part of be clear to the dogs.

Tenley Dexter Clinic - Feb '11 - Savvy - Day 3 - Session 2

2011-02-13T15:29:00.000-08:00

For the final session, Tenley had us work on driving, since we had worked so much on outruns and fetching during the clinic. We worked on driving the sheep from cone to cone, laterally against the draw. I immediately got a bit flustered at the speed of the exercise and I mentally fell apart for a bit. I would bet if you looked closely you would have seen my brain leaking out of my ears! I think Tenley recognized that too, because she came in and worked Savvy for a minute to show me what I needed to do. She told me not to worry about the speed because both Savvy and I need to get conditioned to think and react quickly on the fly and that the more we worked on this, the precision would come naturally.

Savvy did some nice things and I needed to crisp her up on her "theres", so Tenley suggested that I down her on the "there", but walk her up quickly, just as soon as her elbows hit the ground.

I was most proud of myself for recovering mentally and not just giving in the fatigue of working for three days. I felt overwhelmed for a moment, but I sucked it up and stayed present for my dog and didn't turn into a puddle of mush. It felt good to be stretched beyond my comfort zone!

Tenley Dexter Clinic - Feb '11 - Nash - Day 3 - Session 2

2011-02-12T15:18:00.000-08:00

Nash and I worked on the pen again during this session. We worked just two sheep because one sheep slipped under the pen while we were breaking for lunch, so Tenley just had us work the two to add a challenge! And to tell the truth, except for the penning, he handled it pretty well.

Nash did better on his outruns, and he was more thoughtful throughout. I had to down/out him less often and his outs were improving with me just taking one step towards him and reapplying the pressure when needed.

His walkups were nice. He was also flanking into my pressure better during that session. However, he would then jump back (flip flop) on the flank to cover and I got perturbed and lost my cool with him a little bit. It was better than I would have handled it in the past, but I still need to work on that more!

Tenley also commented that I need to be less herky-jerky in my reactions and motions when I'm flanking the dog. If I want my dog to work calmly, it has to start with me.

I also saw during that session that I need to work on getting one step, then a down on Nash's walk up. He wants to take three instead of one! We didn't get the sheep penned, because the two sheep were a bit squirrely there, but it was good work.

Tenley Dexter Clinic - Feb '11 - Savvy - Day 3 - Session 1

2011-02-12T15:08:00.000-08:00

Savvy and I worked on the penning exercise again. Her outruns and flanks were starting out nicer, but were "fish hooking" toward the end, so I still had to down/out her when she hooked in. When she was outing I had to step out at her, but also remember to stop walking once she starts out on her own. If she stops short, I need to reapply my pressure as needed.

I had to focus more on her impulse control this time, as she was breaking her downs more. But I stayed persistent. I must!

Earlier that morning, Tenley was talking about disobedience being constructive or destructive. Sometimes a dog might not listen to us, but if the effect is correct, we have to let those ones go. At one instance when I redirected her, she left before I sent her, but she left very correct and I got her for it. Tenley pointed that out that I should have let it go because even though she left early, she was still offering a correct behavior and it was okay to let that slide.

Once Savvy got them to the mouth of the pen, I saw that I need to work on her impulse control as I'm applying pressure to the stock. When I would push on the stock, or tap on the ground in front of their feet, she got really antsy and wanted to pop up. So I had to keep calmly saying, "Down. Good girl. Down.", etc... while I pressured the stock to reinforce her staying down.

She showed me several good "pieces" during that session and showed me that concepts are starting to gel for her.

Tenley Dexter Clinic - Feb '11 - Savvy - Day 2 - Session 2

2011-02-11T14:35:00.000-08:00

Savvy and I worked on penning in the lambing jug again during her second session. Her outruns were much better right off the bat. I had to down/out her about half way around on the outrun, and her outs went to crap. She wanted to almost flank backwards to farther back on the arc. Tenley advised that I really watch that it doesn't become an issue with her and I need to help her more on her outs if that crops up more.

Savvy did her second outrun perfectly and downed nicely at the top. Of course, then she broke her down and I had to run her off. Sigh. She walked up well, and I downed her, then she broke again and I had to run her off again for that.

After being ran off for breaking her down the second time, she walked up VERY nicely and got the sheep right to the mouth of the pen. Tenley wanted me to take things very slowly with her at that point to finish the pen, so she had me walk Savvy up one step, then down. Then one more step, then down. This was to make sure that Savvy didn't hurry or frighten the sheep and blow them out of the pen. She gets up so quickly when she stands up, that she sometimes spooks the sheep, so she really has to learn to get up slowly. She penned her sheep and we stopped there!

Tenley Dexter Clinic - Feb '11 - Nash - Day 2 - Session 2

2011-02-11T14:27:00.000-08:00

We worked on the penning in the lambing jug again on the second session of the day. Nash did better on being thoughtful and wide on his flanks. When I did have to down/out him, Tenley had me ask for the out without walking out to make him do it. If he responded, I let him go, if he stopped, I took ONE step at him until he outed.

We were able to pen the sheep once, which was really cool. Nash was nice on his walk ups and was thoughtful and responsive. After he penned them, we tried again. The second time I sent Nash, he dicked around on flank again and I had to run out at him twice, but that was the only time that I had to do that during the session. He was pretty thoughtful after that.

Tenley noticed that neither of my dogs want to flank into my pressure, so when I see them doing that I need to curl around a bit to free them up and make it more comfortable for them to come around and finish their flank. I also learned how much I need to back up and draw sheep in at the pen. I saw how standing too close to the pen can really shove the sheep out of the mouth of the pen and make more work for the dog. Good stuff!

Tenley Dexter Clinic - Feb. '11 - Savvy - Day 2 - Session 1

2011-02-10T17:05:00.000-08:00

Savvy worked on the same exercise that Nash had with trying to pen in the lambing jug in the arena. Savvy also started coming in straight on her redirects, right off the bat, so after several down/outs I started running her down as I had with Nash when he did the same thing. It was good for her because she has such issues with impulse control and sometimes it's hard to get through to her. That really made things more clear to her when I was not happy with her behavior. She took it very well because I didn't make it personal and once it was over, it was over.

Once she got to the top of the outrun, she started breaking her downs, so Tenley suggested that I run at her for that as well. After having to do that a couple of times, Tenley called me over and we had a VERY interesting, paradigm changing discussion about what Tenley referred to as "mental toughness".

At first, when Tenley used the term "mental toughness", I kind of did the "doggie head tilt" myself because I wasn't sure exactly what she was referring to. I tend to think of terms like "drive" and "biddability", but "mental toughness" was not one I had thought much about. Tenley explained it by referencing my own two dogs. In her opinion, Tenley said that Savvy had more mental toughness that Nash did. (Insert doggie head tilt.)

"Nash wants what he wants, but he's willing to try what you want.", Tenley said. "Savvy wants what she wants, and that's all she wants."

Of course, at that point I had a big grin on my face, because that sounded a WHOLE lot like yours truly. I want what I want, and that's about it! So I found a point of reference at that moment. Savvy wasn't being stubborn or bad. She just wanted things her way and saw no point in doing it another way.

I found the entire thing really intriguing because for the past year I had kind of been thinking of the two dogs in the reverse. I thought Nash was the one that could take more and Savvy was the one I needed to be a little easier with. Heaven knows why, really. It could be that I was trying to take it easy on Savvy because of her past, or maybe I thought of Nash that way because he is worlds tougher than his brother? I dunno. But once Tenley put things in those terms, it did make PERFECT sense to me. Over the weekend it proved to really improve my training, because it allowed me to ease up on Nash more when he needed it, and get tougher on Savvy when she needed it.

So, basically, I have to "out persist" Savvy and be clear that I will hold her what I ask each and every time. She also has to make the jump into working farther away from me and being responsible for her own actions. At the end of the session, Tenley suggested that I might try to make that transition easier by having Savvy try to take her flank/redirect on her own two times, then if she is not successful, I need to go closer and use my pressure to make her correct. Then I repeat by going back to having her try it at distance twice, moving close once, etc.

Tenley Dexter Clinic - Feb. '11 - Nash - Day 2 - Session 1

2011-02-10T16:56:00.000-08:00

On the second day of the clinic, Tenley had us set up a small lambing jug in the lower 2/3 of the arena to practice penning. The goal was to work on what we had before, but the pen gave us a goal to work towards with the skills we were working on. We really had to make sure the dogs were presenting the sheep and covering squarely.

On his outrun, Nash started well until about halfway around, then he sliced. When I downed/outed him, he kept moving straight forward when I would send him. After several down/outs, Tenley had me run straight at him when he started out moving straight and I was to run at him until he was at the arena wall and downed. I had to hold my pressure on him there until he really turned his head/gaze away from me and gave to me mentally. It was neat to see how quickly he would do that and how I needed to read him to see it. Tenley wanted me to do that because I was in the habit of releasing my pressure too quickly from the dog and there wasn't much of a correction in it when I did that. After doing that a few times, he was much more careful and he gave me much better tries on his outrun work.

I was most proud of myself during that session for being able to switch gears mentally and being able to move between correcting the dog and then letting it go and moving on. I've worked really hard at that last year and now it is so easy for me to do. Something sooooo important!

We didn't get the sheep penned on that first session because by the time we got the sheep to the mouth of the pen, my brains were just about leaking out of my ears and I got all spun around, but I was really happy about the work that we put in. And really, that's the most important part!

Tenley Dexter Clinic - Feb. '11 - Savvy - Day 1

2011-02-09T07:08:00.000-08:00

I worked on the same exercise and sheep with Savvy as I had with Nash: very light sheep and sending her and having her cover fast, break off to cover, and doing her walk up step by step.

Savvy did the best outrun work that I've seen her do. She took her downs/outs much better than she has before and she wasn't put off my any of it. By the end of the day, she did a nice, wide outrun the entire length of the arena!

Working on breaking her off the stock to cover took a bit more work, however. It got to the point where Tenley suggested that for the time being I just had to automatically run/push her out on the cover each time. Until she starts to gain muscle memory and does it automatically, I need to expect that she is going to push on the cover and I need to show her what I expect.

Tenley Dexter Clinic - Feb. '11 - Nash - Day 1

2011-02-08T07:08:00.000-08:00

I didn't do a good job of taking notes on the first day of the clinic, so I combined the first day's sessions for each dog in my notes for the blog. The second and third day I did a better job!

We worked three VERY light yearlings that had a very strong draw to the top of the arena. So we worked on correct outruns, making the dog cover correctly on the lift/fetch, fetching/walking straight, and presenting the sheep.

I had to down/out Nash several times on his outruns, but he was definitely making progress from the last time we had worked (a month before). Once he did get to the top of the outrun, he struggled with covering the strong draw with such light sheep, but after a few tries, he got it faster.

With the excitement that he saw from covering after the lift, he really wanted to shove on the fetch, so I had to give him a "heyyyyyyy" at the top to make him change gears. If I would see that he didn't respond, I had to move forward to apply pressure to MAKE him change gears.

The other thing that we focused on quite a bit was teaching him to really control the sheep when he covers and fetches, not just follow them around. Once the sheep move on the outrun, he is quite happy to fall in behind them and shove them around. No more, my friend! I really had to step up my game and use my pressure to make him break off of the sheep to cover, rather than shoving them forward as he covered. It is something that is just going to take a lot of time and miles to make that his default, but it was great to do it with such light and honest sheep! My own sheep are happy to come to me, even the lighter ones, so this really shined a bright light on some things to work on.

30 Day Push

2011-02-02T07:55:00.000-08:00

So, as many of you know, our area was slammed by the big winter storm. We're under 4 inches of sleet and now it's snowing sideways with 40 mph winds. Good times for all! Not a lot of stock work being done here, so I'm hoping to post about things that will still help you become a better handler/trainer and achieve your goals. When we're stuck in neutral and it's out of our control, these are great things to think about and work on.

One of the biggest obstacles that most of us face is the lack of time to train. There just don't seem to be enough hours in the day, right? Many times we also lose track of our goals and we forget that we can take small steps each day that will help us get closer to reaching them.

I just finished a free (gotta love free) 30 day program called "The 30 Day Push" It's by fitness guru and life coach Chalene Johnson (you've probably seen her on the infomercials for TurboJam and TurboFire...), and she calls it her "30 day program to master organization and achieve your goals". It is a program where you just sign up with your email and name, then each day you get an email with a link to a short video - usually about 5 minutes long. The video is Chalene coaching you on time management and goal setting, etc. You get a quick homework assignment each day as well.

I was kind of skeptical about this program at first, but it turned out being really great. I am a busy gal, but this was easy to fit into my day and it really has help me to find extra time in my day! I get my tasks/chores done sooner and that has given me extra time to focus on working with the dogs, or doing research/reading on the days that I can't get out. It has also trained me to get in the habit of doing at least one thing each day to help me reach my goals. That was worth the time to do the course alone!

So, here is the link to the site: www.30daypush.com

I challenge you to take the time to at least check this out and give it a try. The registration for this month is open until February 7th, then it won't open up again until March 1st. You'll be amazed at the difference it will make and you'll have more time to focus on what your passion is: the dogs!

If you're up to taking the 30 Day Push, keep us posted in the comments section! Can't wait to see how everyone does!

Finding the Lesson

2011-02-01T10:39:00.000-08:00

The other day I had the innate pleasure of having a, for what seemed on my part, lengthy phone conversation with another stockdog trainer/handler who could be considered by some to be rather competitive and egotistical. Now, I can see y'all scratching your heads and wondering where I found the pleasure in being stuck on the phone with an egotistical know-it-all, but that is where the lesson was. I realize it hardly makes sense, but I have made one of my goals for this year to find a lesson in every experience that I have, especially where it concerns stockdogs.

I wanted to share this experience with y'all because we all come across people like this in every walk of life. These people are in every sport, every venue, and they find it very easy to rub their fellow competitors the wrong way and we find our buttons being pushed by them quite easily. It is these kind of people that get under our skin during a trial and they can knock you off of your game if you lack the skills to handle such mind games.

So how do you learn to not let this type of competitor get to you? Well, it is sometimes a process, but one worth considering. It sure can make life much easier! The first thing that you have to do is acknowledge their behavior for what it is, a behavior. It is not the person, the being itself, but a front. It is something that this person has learned to do to cope with their inequities in life. Basically, they're still that little kid inside that doesn't feel they're up to par, so they try their hardest to make those around them feel "less than". They boost themselves up at the expense of others. They make excuses when they don't succeed, rather than taking responsibility for their actions.

So, the second thing that you can do, once you recognize this, is to use this person as an example of what NOT to do! So many times, the things that bother us the most about other people are the things that we do ourselves. Stop and think, "Do I do these things as a behavior to make myself feel better? How can I change? How can I prevent myself from becoming THAT?"

When you are able to stop and ask those questions, you will be able to see people that use these behaviors for the inner person that they are. You will be able to relate to them on a more human level, you'll be able to see them for another person who loves their dog, enjoys training them just as you do, and as someone who simply has a poor coping mechanism that is carried over from their past. I look at is as an annoying little bug that I can flick off of my arm. That's how bothersome it becomes when you look at it that way.

Now, all of that being said, am I perfect at not letting people like that get to me? No, but I'm getting better. And it makes me feel so much better and in control of my own response. Not only that, but it frees up my time to give more focus and effort to my dogs. I'm not wasting nearly as much time worrying about those folks, and I can give that extra time to my dogs.

And isn't THAT what it is all about anyway?

A Year of Savvy

2011-01-17T16:45:00.000-08:00

Just a year and a few days ago, I drove to the airport to pick up a new dog. This is what came out of the crate:

My Savvy Girl. It astounds me that it has only been one year. Really. Because it seems as if she has been here forever. It has been a very fun and interesting year with Savvy because I have learned so much from her in such a short period of time.

She has taught me to be the student. Each dog has their own lessons to teach us, if we are open to learning. So many times we get caught up in what we need to train our dogs to do or not do, and we lose the lesson that they are here to teach us. Savvy has taught me how to be still, to be quiet and listen to what she needed. She has taught me to observe and how to pay attention to the tiniest of details.

Sav has shown me that good things really do come in small packages. Despite her diminutive size, she packs quite a punch and is full of energy and spunk. She is tiny, fast, and nearly fearless. Especially when it comes to cattle. There just isn't much she won't take on and a nose that she won't take hold of.

Patience. Oh, how she has taught me patience. In all of those times that she would break her down to go and cover heads and I had to put her back. Again. And. Again. And. Again. I have videos of me putting her back behind her ducks for over five minutes. Anyone have a video of paint drying that they'd like to trade me? Might be more exciting. But in reality, it was the lesson that we both needed to learn that day (and every day after that). I needed to learn to be patient and keep calmly putting her back, just as she needed to learn to be responsible for her own actions and stay behind the stock on her own. We both needed a ~~lotta~~ little patience.

Miss Savannah Sue has taught me to make time for fun. She's pretty good at it. Especially if it involves a ball. Balls, balls, balls, balls, BALLS! Savvy is our first truly ball crazy dog and she is always looking for a friend to throw a ball. Our family has spent almost every evening since her arrival tossing the ball for her while we watch television. She has learned how to play gently with little kids and is already playing ball with the (now 1 year old) baby. (I can still call him a baby, right? At least until he gets drafted in the NFL?)

Maybe my favorite lesson that I've learned from Savvy is that there is nothing more refreshing than a fresh start. Savvy needed a fresh start, and so did I. She arrived to a clean slate and we have done nothing but moved up and on. She has also helped me see that I need to give the gift of a clean slate to my other dogs as well. It is a process, but one that I think is important to work on. I have become far better at correcting my dogs and not making it personal, just moving on to the next thing. Keeping the emotion out of training and just staying connected and present with my dog.

The ironic thing about Savvy is her original name. Jackie. I changed it because it was the nickname that I gave my first Aussie, Jack. Jack was the first, the rescue that I thought I was saving, but as it turns out he saved me. And I think that this Jackie, now my Savvy, has been the same way. We have saved each other.

No More Second Fiddle

2011-01-05T10:46:00.000-08:00

One of the things that I've been mulling over in the past week has been how Nash has seemed to have played "second fiddle" for the majority of his time here with me. When he came here as a puppy he got very little attention or training beyond potty training. He played second fiddle to the baby and to Hoss, because I was trying to finish Hoss's WTCH at the time and that was all that I could find time to think about.

When Nash got a bit older and was just starting in his training, I got another puppy, Liv. Granted, I didn't have the time for this Liv any more than I did for Nash, but I had been on a waiting list for Liv for two years and it was "now or never". Once Liv arrived, there was less time for Nash in general, but it quickly became apparent that Liv was a special case and I devoted so much time to trying to rehabilitate her.

Through the months that I tried working with Liv, Nash was definitely put on the back burner. Yes, I still trained him, but my mind and energies were elsewhere. By the time I made the choice to place Liv, and even afterwards, my heart was broken and it took a long time for it to mend again.

And about that time, Savvy arrived. The Golden Child. I would say that 99% of the time, Savvy is the dog that is the easiest for me to work. We work well together and she has a calming effect on me. I have been very open to the lessons that she is here to teach me, and I have really worked hard to train her most effectively. And wouldn't you know, that kinda put Nash back on second string again.

Well, I say "enough". I need to raise Nash up, not to "first string", but to an equal playing field with everything else that is going on. When I think of how much he has learned in spite of the limited time and attention that I've been able to give him, it amazes me to think of how much more we can do together if I give him an equal playing field.

No more second fiddle!

Squeezing One In

2011-01-03T13:52:00.000-08:00

Today the stars aligned and there were decent temps outside, my mom was here watching the kids, and I had an extra hour in my schedule. Huzzah! Time to go work dogs!

I continued working on what we started on over the holiday weekend with both dogs. I took a group of lighter ewes and two ewe lambs down to the arena so I knew we would have something good and light. Plus, I do need to start working the lambs in with groups so they get more accustomed to being worked in smaller groups.

Nash did some cleaner work on his outruns this time around. I still needed to redirect him, but usually once once per outrun, sometimes twice. It's making progress and that's all that I can ask for. He was also taking his redirects more squarely, which I know is the reason that I was only having to redirect him once most times. He would kick out on that redirect and finish nicely at the top.

On the fetch Nash wanted to work a bit more in the beginning, but after being downed a few times he did some nice slow walkups. I also noted that he is taking his downs MUCH faster than he was even a month ago, so that was good progress as well.

Savvy did some nice wide work on her outruns with me still shadowing her and making sure she finished correctly. The walks were more of an issue this time around, however. She had to be downed and outed a bit more than I expected. A few times when she broke her down it would knock the sheep off of the line and they wanted to go wander off. So I had to walk out to her and make sure that she still covered the sheep to bring them back on the line, but that she broke off of them to cover instead of shoving them on the cover.

New Year's Day Herding

2011-01-02T12:19:00.000-08:00

Well, I was also fortunate enough to work with some of my training buddies again on New Year's Day and start my year off the way I sent the last one out. How can you beat that? It was actually an accident that we worked on New Year's Day, because my friend had invited a bunch of us to come out to train on Sunday, but because she mentioned "kicking off the New Year", I didn't pay attention and assumed it was Saturday. When we were together on New Year's Eve and got to talking about the weekend, we realized we had our wires crossed. Then they decided they'd do it both days! (But I chose to only work on Saturday, as Sunday was forecasted to be COLD and, you know, there is FOOTBALL on Sunday.)

I worked Nash first and my main focus was to continue to work on the things that we had worked on with Tenley the day before. I continued to set myself up 2/3 of the way to the sheep, downing and outing Nash if he cut in on the outrun, and making sure he walked on his fetch. At one point I got in a bit of a hurry and I was mashing stuff together, and I had to remind myself to slow things down, be patient, and clear to my dog. We went through the O/L/F several times and he became more thoughtful at the top of the outrun and finally began to slow down more on the fetch. Just something that is going to need more time and miles, but I feel confident that we are on the right track.

Savvy and I also picked up where we left off the previous day and it paid off for us big time. The sheep were pretty light, so when she would get to the top of the outrun and I would down her, those sheep were across the field before we knew it. But that was actually a great thing for us because it gave us the chance for us to work on Savvy's patience on staying in her down, walking on the fetch, and staying out off of her stock on the fetch. I did have to go back and correct her for "creeping" on me a few times, but it was NOTHING like it had been in the past or even the day before.

By the time we were finished, I could walk 200 ft. across the field to get to the other side of the sheep and she held her down. Not too bad for a little dog that used to break her down if I literally looked toward the sheep or wiggled my boot. On her final fetch she was extremely thoughtful and she did her entire walk up flat-footed and when I downed her, far out off of the stock, she took that down on the first command. You could have knocked me over with a feather. I love that little dog!

Now if I could only get her to poop chocolate, she'd be perfect!

New Year's Eve Herding

2011-01-02T12:03:00.000-08:00

I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to send my 2010 out the best way possible. Working my dogs. And not only working my dogs by myself, but with my training buddies. And in addition to my regular training buddies, we were joined by our all time favorite training buddy. Tenley! Huzzah! (Personally, I think there is no coincidence that Tenley arrives in our neck of the woods around Christmas time. It's our Christmas herding gift from Herding Santa - yay!)

I got up at the ass crack of dawn to drive down so that we could get a good early start on the day and give everyone a chance to work their dogs. It made for a long way, but it was soooooooo worth it! We worked at my friend Mary's place. It has been a while since I've been to Mary's to work and it was so funny to me because her field used to seem sooooooooooooo big to me and her sheep seem soooooooooo light, but now that I have more miles and experience under my belt the field had gotten much smaller than I remembered and the sheep were just perfect to work. Funny how that happens!

Nash - 1
I worked Nash first and my goal with him was to work on his outruns in the new field. Going back to what we had done this fall, with the downing and outing him when he came in on the outrun. The first thing that became clear was that I have let his outs turn to shit. Bleck. So Tenley had me go back to walking parallel to him when I outed him, walking with my stick on the same side that he was so that he wouldn't be apt to suck in to me as he outed. I also need to get into the habit of looking ahead of the dog to where I want them to out to, rather than looking at the dog. It wasn't long before Nash was outing much better ("Oh yeah... Out. I remember that. Dammit."). Once he started leaving me on his own, I could stop walking with him and let him continue on his own.

I have fallen back in to the habit of being far too quick to try to physically stop or correct the dogs, especially Nash, and then it turns into a clusterf**k. So Tenley reminded me of a few things that I could do to communicate with him more effectively and not set either one of us up for failure. I don't need to try to race him or physically stop him, just downing him calmly is far more effective. If he leaves me wrong, I just need to stop him, flank him back and/or out him to where he was - that will get his mind right.

Another thing that I need to remember with Nash is to be a bit kinder to him where it counts. If he does a good job on a down or and out, I need to walk out and pet him. I've taken some of those behaviors for granted and that is why they were falling apart. I have to show him that those behaviors will pay and if he does them correctly, then he will be able to work and control the livestock.

Along that vein, another thing that Tenley pointed out to me (and this ended up happening with both of my dogs) was that I allow the dogs to get far too close to their stock to control them. I really need to work harder on showing them both that they can be farther out and control their stock in a calm manner. I could understand that concept on outruns and flanks, but I wasn't doing as well with it on the fetch and presentation.

What I need to do to work on that concept with both of the dogs is to first do my part of hold up my side of the sheep. It isn't rocket science and it sure-as-shit isn't anything that Tenley hasn't tried to knock into my skull for the past few years, but I'm still working on it. One big lightbulb moment that I got while watching Tenley work one of her dogs was that when I was trying to hold my side of the stock, I was still focusing on my dog to some degree. I wasn't focused on the stock as much as I should have been. How can I expect the dog to pay attention to the stock and their flight zone if I'm not? Durrrhhhh!

Savvy - 1
Since Savvy is still a few "steps" behind Nash in her training and hasn't been working in the bigger fields as much, I didn't work on her downing/outing on the outruns. Rather, I would send her, then shadow her along the outrun to keep her out better. Once she does that well I can then move on to the down/out scenario.

Since Savvy is naturally a wider worker than Nash, the biggest thing that I was having to work on with her was her typical impulse control issues. I have been challenged by her getting up out of her downs and reacting more than thinking, and working with Tenley really helped us there because it reminded me to be more concise with Savvy and be more black and white than I have been.

We worked a lot on just having Savvy WALK on her fetch. She can be a bit of a "chug monster" on her fetch, so if she got up and wasn't flat footed walking, I needed to down her. Problem was, she wouldn't take her downs quickly. (Whose fault is that? Miiiine.) So as soon as she didn't down, I was to walk directly at her and tell her to down again until she would take the down. If she got up to fetch before I said, "Walk", I had to stop her and out her to where she was. We did a lot of that the first time out, but it was all time well spent.

Nash - 2
The second time we continued to work on the outrun. This time Tenley advised that I go even closer to my sheep, about 2/3 of the distance from the dog, to put more emphasis on the top of the outrun being correct. I've fallen into the bad habit of worrying more about how the outrun starts than how it ends, which really makes no sense if you think about it. I would send Nash, then as he got closer to where I was, I would continue walking toward the sheep and make him continue on the arc until he was at the top.

The other downfall of my outrun training has been that I have been jamming all of the "pieces" together and thinking about my fetch when I should be concentrating on making sure the dog is right at the top of the outrun. I have to really instill the muscle memory in the dog to be right at the top first, then and only then can we worry about the fetch.

Savvy - 2
On Savvy's second time to work, her outruns were improving because I was doing a better job of shadowing her. I had to keep working on her with her downs and walking flat footed, but that was to be expected. Tenley did point out that I was being too "low energy" out on the field as wasn't moving my feet enough. She noted that it was probably because it was getting to be the end of the day, but I have to recognize that and step up. I also had to continue to keep Savvy out farther on the fetch like I did with Nash.

Snow Dawgs

2010-12-29T16:49:00.000-08:00

Today was a good day to work dogs, at least as good as it gets around here in December. It was in the mid-30's, still snow on the ground, but the ground was still hard and most importantly, my oldest child is home from school so she could watch the baby. Huzzah!

I didn't dare work in the HT arena, because there is a hill and that combined with snow equals me busting my ass. So I put a group of med-light sheep, about a dozen or so, in the sheep arena to work both dogs on. As a side bar, Hoss did a really good job of sorting for me this afternoon and it was one of those days where he was just on it and I didn't have to say much of anything to him. He just did it. Love it!

I worked Savvy first in the arena, as I was planning on having Nash work last so that he could continue to practice bringing the sheep back to the barns at the end of his session. I started with her just doing some scribble/fetching from corner to corner. It was the deepest snow that she's ever worked in, so I was curious to see how she'd work in it, but she did really well. She was kicking out wider on her flanks and was leaving my side pretty darn squarely.

I was worried that her downs would get even worse in the snow, but she didn't do too badly at all. Maybe it was due to the fact I was ready for them to be shit, she was paying extra attention? I still needed to really get on her at the top of her outrun, as she still wants to shove like hell on the lift. Must remember that next time!!! I had her drive the sheep into the corner once instead of fetching to me and she did a spot-on job of holding her line and getting the job done. She is doing a good job of catching that concept.

Nash. Oh, Nash. His lesson was as much for me as it was for him. For some reason he gets a bit nutty working in the snow. Just something else to work through, I know, but it unnerves the hell out of me. He races about, eats snow, just acts like a dipshit. Of course, I let my ego take over, and I got upset with him. Thankfully, I was able to realize that very quickly and I regained my composure and tried to stay cool and calm with him.

Unfortunately, this was a pattern that I found myself falling into several times during our session. But each time I was able to pull my shit together after a few seconds and we would do our best to move on. I found that if I did my best to be clear in my expectations of him and didn't take his disobedience personally, we were able to progress. I know that this is just the journey that the two of us must take together to be a team and it will continue to help me evolve as a trainer.

He did put down a nice section of driving and his inside flanks on that drive were spot on and square. He got a bit nutty towards the end, but regained his composure with a "Heyyyy" from me. We had to work on him pushing on the fetch, something he hasn't done until there was snow. Oh well, gotta learn, right? After some time he finally did settle down, it just took us both some time.

At the end, he made a small bit of progress in getting the sheep back up the the barn. I'm still trying to work out the best way to set the whole job up, but he is understanding it better and covering the sheep faster each time. It will just take many more repetitions before we get it all worked out and get the sheep retrained.

Ketchup

2010-12-29T16:21:00.000-08:00

Last week I worked the dogs in the barn when it was a tad warmer for once. I put about six head in each of the lamb pens and worked with them both on packed pen-type work, take pen, re-pen, etc. Take 'em out, put them back, etc.

I tailored each session to what each dog needed more. With Savvy, I worked more driving, having her push sheep into different corners of the barn, then outing her and sending her to bring them out. For Nash, I stood against the pens and worked on inside flanks, calling him in and having him keep the sheep off of me.

It was a really fun day, I got everything done in an hour, and it forced me to get creative and work with what I had!

Boys and Their Toys

2010-12-11T15:42:00.000-08:00

I had a small window of opportunity to work the dogs this afternoon and I jumped at it! We had nice weather for the morning and afternoon, but since I had no one sign up for lessons today, (the weather must have been too nice...), I didn't have a sitter for the morning. Mark only had to work half a day, so I had from around 1:00 pm until the rain was forecasted to start at 3:00 pm.

My friend, Sheila, came down to work her Corgi, Gareth, and it was nice to have someone to work with after being off for a week or so. They both had a really good day of work and it was fun to see how far they're coming. Really becoming an awesome team!

I worked Savvy in the HT arena on some lighter sheep. We started out just doing some scribbling and she was doing a really nice job on her outruns and fetching, so I started working on her driving. I remembered that one of my goals with her was to start nailing her downs, so I really paid strong attention to that. I had to toss the rake towards her a few times when she didn't listen and that helped. If she started sneaking up, I would out her to where she was. After a bit of that she became more responsive. I just think it's going to take a lot more of that. Might even try more of it off stock too, especially with her Number One Love: a ball.

While working the drive with Sav, I also saw how much we needed to work on the short flanks with her. She is getting much straighter on her driving, but she screws stuff up when she over-flanks. Of course, I could fix that faster if her downs were better, so I need to put that horse before the cart. She finally put her group where I wanted them and then I called her off.

Nash. Oh boy. Took him out to the arena and he was out of his skull, screwball crazy. I don't know if it was from being cooped up for a week, from Savvy being in heat, or the snow on the ground. Quite honestly, I don't care what the problem was, I wasn't going to let him act like that. No way in hell. He wanted to zoom past me, not give, eat snow, just generally act like a dipshit. I never let him have his sheep, either. I gave him several attempts to settle down and give to me, but he just wasn't chilling out. So he was done. I exhausted his sheep and put him away. I figured that was a more important lesson than making excuses for his behavior and trying to work around it.

After Sheila worked Gareth again, I took Nash into the HT arena to get a little closer to him and get into his head a bit more. I stood inside the gate with him for a minute and when he tried to dick around and eat the snow, I would whack him on the nose with my rake. After a couple times of that, he decided that eating snow just wasn't as much fun as it was before. Go figure.

Getting in his head right off the bat and being in the smaller area, he was right as rain again. He was doing nice big outruns and fetching beautifully. At one point he even flanked around past what most people would have considered balance, but because of the draw he was right. And since I was watching my sheep I realized that and I was SO happy with him. It was just nice to see him show something like that. Taking his "toys" away from him in the arena was the best thing I could have ever done.

With the episode that I saw out of him today, I know that my biggest goal with him over the winter is to really get in his head and not put up with his monkeying around. Granted, it has gotten FAR better than it was a year ago, but it's still not where it should be. Always more to do...

Photo of the Day

2010-12-03T18:17:00.000-08:00

"Old School"

This picture of Savvy was taken in June by my friend, Lori Herbel. I finally found a few minutes to sit down and go through them and edit, etc. I toyed around with this shot to make it look "Old School". Rather fitting since Savvy is very much a throwback to the old time Aussie. I think it fits her to a "T".

SEMASA Trial - Day 3 - Lesson 3 - Don't Try to Write a Blog Post Two Months After the Event...

2010-11-23T18:03:00.000-08:00

Alright, so I just realized that I left everyone hanging on the third day of the SEMASA trial in October. If you missed the first two installments, you can find them here and here. So I pulled out my video of the runs to piece together what happened and my brain is mush. So please, don't expect much detail.

I had pulled Nash's sheep runs because they were becoming a big disaster, and I decided to run Savvy in FEO sheep and ducks instead. She had one sheep run and two duck runs. She would have received qualifying scores (all three were in the 80's) and first places had she been not been running FEO, but after watching the videos I am sooooooo glad that those were dry runs instead of the real deal. She did a good enough job, but I know we can do better. She turned quite a few heads, as she normally does, and we got to work "off the res", so it was a success.

Nash's duck runs were alright, but nothing ground breaking. Kind of a time and miles thing. The biggest triumph there was that on his final run he ran right after one of the bitches in heat and he didn't act as if it bothered him one bit and he put down a decent run with a score of 102. Not bad, considering.

Nash had two good cattle runs, but there is only one on video. At some point he did get one through the chute, but I can't tell on the video when it happened. He did get his title and an extra leg, and that Open Cattle title gave his mother, Dally, the last title she needed to get her Hall of Fame Dam status. It was a really awesome thing for us to be able to do, as Hoss also gave her two titles needed for here HOF. So to nudge her over the top was special.

Here is the video of the one cattle run that did get taped:

One thing that I will say about waiting so long to revisit what went down this weekend was that watching the videos nearly two months later, I realize how much improvement I've gotten out of both of the dogs in the past seven weeks or so since then. Nash's poop eating hasn't been that bad, his cattle work is 200% better, and Savvy seems to have a better handle on her in general.

Oh, and how did the weekend end in all? I was just sure that the other Open dog would end up winning the High Combined Non-WTCH award for the weekend, especially after we bombed on our sheep runs and pulled the last two. There was just no way. But when they announced the award, they called Nash's number. I about shit my pants. In fact, I think I asked, "Are y'all sure??" I was floored. It really went to show that if I did my best by my dog and tried to keep our head above water, it all seems to work out in the end.

Unseasonably Warm Weather

2010-11-22T15:11:00.000-08:00

We experienced some unseasonably warm weather today, and I had a sitter (thanks, Mama!), so I took advantage of the opportunity and went out to work the dogs. This morning I was kind of taking some mental stock of where the dogs were weak in their foundation and the first things that came to my mind were pen work and working out in the open. Two very different skills sets, but both very critical. I've been very stuck in a rut with working them in arenas and not doing the big and little things, literally.

So I sorted off two light sets of sheep, but put a leader in each group for the open field work, just to keep things a litter easier. I worked both dogs in a similar fashion. I started by doing packed pen work, which I realized was NOT a smart thing to use light sheep for. Holy Christ! Mental note, next time use sheep that are a little more broke... BOING! I did the best I could given my poor choice of stock selection, and once the dogs were acting a bit more supple, I had them take the sheep out. I did the pen work in the barn, which also made me realize that it would be something that I could do in the colder weather, or when it is muddy outside. Huzzah!

Once the pen work was completed, I had them take their sheep through the pens and out into the barn lot, then out in the open between the sheep arena and the duck arena. It is actually the hardest place to work in the open here because of the strong draw up to the barns. But I figured that with the leader in the group, it would be the best time to work on the dogs covering the draw out in the open. It was really fun ad it showed me that the problems that each dog has in the arena is the same thing they have trouble with in the open.

Nash needs lots of practice with covering the draw, so this was great for him. He really wants to do the right thing and can be overly cautious, so I have to work hard to show him when to chock it down and when to kick it in to high gear.

Savvy is pretty good about covering the draw, but her desire to catch the eyes kicks in and she tends to over flank, so we work on that, especially as we got closer to the draw of the barn. The other thing that she trends towards is pushing on the fetch, so it was a lot of running her off there. I tried applying the pressure slowly and increasing it, which works in a smaller area, but it didn't go so well out in the open. It was clear that she needed R-U-N-N-O-F-T (name that movie...). The size of the area clearly watered down the effect of my pressure, so I needed to put a bit more "salt" on her.

All in all, it was a fun training time and the dogs learned a lot, as did I. They were properly worn out and had we all had lots to think about.

Scribbling

2010-11-21T16:56:00.000-08:00

Today I remembered something that Bob Vest used to talk about - scribbling. He would use the example of a child learning to write and starting with scribbling, then the more they practiced and learned the concept of writing, their letters would become more recognizable until they were writing legibly. A dog needs to scribble a bit when they are learning the concepts of working stock, and although it might not look pretty in the beginning, as the dog gets more proficient, the work looks better.

I did more poking around in my training today. Trying some of this, some of that. Really trying to see what the dogs were good at, where their weak spots were. What worked, what didn't. Sometimes I'd try something and find myself saying aloud, "I'm not happy with that." Well, then change it, try something else! And I did.

I'm trying to let myself be okay with some scribbling, as long as the dogs are doing the basics right and not getting too screw balled with the basics. I put the screws to Savvy on her downs, as I really saw how much liberty she wants to take with them. It's like she's counting a waltz: Down-two-three. (With the Down being my command and the two-three being the steps that she takes before finally downing...)

I doodled around and really made sure they covered their sheep, fetch straight, turned when I said there, and fixed their lines. If something got out of whack, they had to fix it, fix it, fix it. I also worked with Nash again on catching the sheep up as they left the arena and although it still didn't look great by any stretch of the imagination, it DID look better than it did yesterday. And that's how I have to measure the success - is it at least noticeably better than the last time?

So, some scribbling here in the off season is part of my plan. So that hopefully by spring they'll be able to write the Declaration of Independence in cursive... :o)

Striking A Balance

2010-11-20T13:38:00.000-08:00

Today I tried to do a couple different things with the dogs in their training. The first session that I did with each dog, I worked them both in their respective areas on outruns and fetching. I tried to do a little more with each dog on letting them cover the draws more and fixing their own lines on the fetch.

I also tried taking Kent's advice about not being as picky and stopping the dogs up as much, but that kind of spiraled into a monkey mess. The dogs were getting too tight and too fast and I wasn't happy with the direction things started taking. I need to find a middle ground there with my criteria. I don't want to shut the dogs down, but I do want them to try to do things the right way. Argh. I'm certain that the problem there is me, so I need to do more work there on my part.

The second time that I worked the dogs, I had each dog take their set of sheep out of the arena and then instead of the sheep getting to run back to the barns, I had the dogs run to catch them. It's something that I knew wouldn't be pretty in the beginning, but the dogs need to learn to not let the sheep get away and the sheep also need to learn that they can't get away. They all need some training in that department. Granted, things weren't perfect, but I made sure that they both got their sheep back together and move forward. I know I need for them to learn from their wrecks, so I just let go and we worked through it.

Once the dogs had their sheep back, we worked on some basic fetching and covering out in the open field. I wasn't sure how it would go at first since the sheep that I had for them were pretty light, but after they worked so hard to bring them back both the dogs and the sheep decided they weren't going to screw around too much. The sheep were honest, but not crazy. The dogs both did a good job in their own way. Nash was more careful and calculated, where Savvy went into her default of being more reactive, but at the same time she was the better of the two of covering. So I need to find some middle ground there with her. I want her to be more thoughtful and work with me a bit more, but at the same time for her to know when she can break out and work on her own.

It was a fun way for them to both end the day. It should be interesting to see how it pays off down the road.

Kansas Clinic

2010-11-20T13:23:00.000-08:00

Well, I've finally recovered enough to sit down and rattle something out about the Kansas clinic with Kent Herbel. It was a great trip and good time spent out and about with the dog and new friends. The clinic was held at Denny & Donna Ashcraft's ranch in Mayetta, KS. Denny and Donna have a beautiful ranch and they ran a wonderful clinic.

The clinic was a nice change of pace because there were many ranchers and their dogs that had never been to a clinic before and had never had any professional help with training their dogs. They were just working their dogs as best they could figure and they were so grateful to get some help and see a more efficient way to work with their dogs. That was something that I don't get to see too often, so it was a nice change of pace from the "been there, done that" crowd.

Nash - I was actually quite glad that Nash started off his first session with his, "I'm gonna try and beat you" bull shit. The last time that I worked him off the farm, he didn't do it, so I was glad to have to opportunity to shut him down and not let him get away with it. After I did that, he settled in and started working better. Over the weekend, Kent's comments were that I needed to not be quite so picky in how often I stopped Nash on his outruns to redirect him - that I needed to loosen up a bit and then raise my criteria slowly. The other was that I needed to let him break out and cover more. My insistence that he flank without affecting the stock and fetching without pushing wasn't giving him the chance to practice covering as much.

Another thing that Kent noted that I did with both of my dogs was being too quick to run them off and that was what was making them reactive and herky-jerky. I needed to be brisk when cutting them off and stopping them, but when I'm applying pressure to them to correct them for something I need to start slowly and build my pressure, not go straight to "guns blazing". :o) Once I tried it with each of the dogs, I could see a difference and it did help me to communicate more effective with the dogs.

Savvy - Somewhat the same deal with Savvy. I worked her in a smaller area, about 90 x 90 and it had a few weird corners and obstacles that she had to work around, which were nice. For some reason, she did a much better job of softening herself and getting around her stock in that new area than she does at home in the HT arena. I'm not sure if it was because it was flat (mine has a hill that draws her in), or if it was the stock. My biggest thing there was not being picky and making my signals to her clear and fair.

All in all, it was a good time and I picked up some things that would help me tune up my training and handling to get me through the next few months. It was so much fun to see Denny's dogs work and to get around a new group of dogs and handlers.

Measurable Improvements

2010-11-07T17:00:00.000-08:00

Catch up from Wednesday:

Worked both dogs on cattle. The calves are starting to get a bit dogged/sour and fussy about getting worked. The bull calf, especially is starting to draw Nash out and pick fights. I really need to either work Savvy on the bull calf, or sort him out because Nash spends his time on that bull, picks him out and they're at it the whole time. Nothing too bad, but it's just hard to get good solid training in when the dog is picking fights. Hmmm, well, now after typing that I realize I should be doing more to get on Nash for picking the fights. Such a fine line between letting them win a fight but making sure they're not starting them.

Savvy is making progress on the cattle and is getting a bit more thoughtful, especially in the corners and isn't so quick to turn the cows back at me. She is learning to wait and have the cattle move off her in the corners and isn't so apt to run in and create chaos. Also getting more proficient at doing a flat footed walk on her drive instead of rushing.

Sunday:

Worked both dogs on sheep today, still working in their respective arenas and still working on solidifying their concepts of flanking/outruns not affecting the stock.

Nash had two solid sessions, gaining ground every time. I am most impressed with how much easier it is for me to stop him up to redirect him. He isn't trying to beat me or flank off of me. Once I run to block his path, he is ready to stop and go again. I was able to get several large outruns that were at least the full width of the arena and his lift and fetch were very nice.

Savvy is making smaller, but measurable improvements on her outrun/flanks. Her biggest nemesis still seems to be the hill at the top corner of the HT arena where the draw gate is. For some reason, she wants to cut into a drive when she gets to the top of that hill, rather than stay closer to the fence to get around the stock. I was able to get her stopped up much quicker today and help her break out of that pattern. By the second session she was moving through that corner far more fluidly and did manage to get a few lift/fetches done.

Of course, she still wanted to push on her lift, so she got ran off each time, but I feel confident that as her outrun improves, she will be doing more lifts and I'll have more chances to correct it consistently.

Steps Forward, Steps Back

2010-11-01T16:52:00.000-07:00

I learned a long time ago that nothing is static in stockdog training. You dog can do something spectacular one day, and crap on you the next. They can have a break through and then follow it up with a break down. That, and it takes lots and lots of repetition before the dog truly has a solid grasp on a concept.

Sunday I worked the dogs on sheep again, still on light sheep, and still in their respective arenas. Nash continued to make measurable improvement on his outruns and also showed improvement on the girth of his inside flanks. He is becoming much easier to stop up and isn't fighting me as much there, which is nice.

Savvy was the one taking a step back, which was interesting to me because she was the one that made the most improvement the day before. She wasn't doing anything horrible really, just coming in tight much earlier than she had in the past and I spent far more time stopping her up and redirecting her. I will say, however, that she was doing slightly better about pushing at the lift, so that is the improvement to hold on to there.

Not sure how much longer the cattle will be here, but I might work them Wednesday morning before lessons. We'll see...

Grasping Concepts

2010-10-30T13:32:00.000-07:00

I'm really trying to work on a good foundation of teaching the dogs that flanks and outruns should be done without affecting the sheep. Both of the dogs are working on this concept, just in different sized areas. Nash has already shown proficiency on this concept in the HT arena, so I've been working on this in the sheep arena (150 x 250) for a little while now. Savvy has just graduated out of the control pen and dry lot areas into the HT arena. Of course, they're both a little rusty because they've been working primarily cattle for the past six weeks, so getting back to sheep has been a nice change of pace.

Yes, believe it or not, I'm actually getting a little tired of working cattle. Gasp! Well, let me rephrase that, I'm getting tired of working these particular cattle. They've been here for awhile, they know the drill, etc. Everyone is getting comfortable with each other so the dogs aren't as challenged as they could be. Maybe if I came up with some fun obstacles or exercises... hmmmmmmm...

But I digress. Today both Nash and Savvy made good progress in their respective arenas on their outruns. I am getting better about watching my sheep and not the dog. Once the dog affects the sheep, then I stop them up and redirect them. Once they finally soften and get around to turn the last head, then I give them the "there" and have them fetch.

I've found that lighter sheep definitely make this task easier and do a better job of truly teaching the dog the concept. It forces the dog to soften themselves and not think about moving stock, rather moving around them. Both dogs are a little pushy at the top, which is to be expected, but Savvy is tending to be pushier than Nash. I've had to run them both out at the top and they're starting to understand more.

Since Savvy was being pushier on the lift and on her fetch, I did some walk about fetching with her so that I could run her out when she pushed and give her some repetition. She did really well and toward the end of working her on her second session, she was moving around her sheep so well that I could hear her footsteps as I watch the sheep. They stood still as statues and I could hear her little feet gallop around us. I never realized it, but you can't hear that if the sheep are moving too!

Now that will make the little hairs on the back of your head stick up. (c:

Where in the HELL did October go?

2010-10-29T04:26:00.000-07:00

I spent all of July and August asking, "Is it September yet?". And then, before I know it, it is the end of October. I really haven't meant to leave this blog stranded for so long, but things have been going here at a record pace this fall and it's hard to find an extra minute to do much blogging.

I promise, I will finish my posts about the SEMASA trials, as I've left y'all hanging on what happened on the third day. I have been training this month, but not keeping any track for even myself, so I need to get back to blogging here for my own records at the very least! Lots, and lots of cattle work, mostly, with a field trip to Dogwood Farms last weekend to work sheep again. Oh yeah, and some duck work too.

So, lots to talk about. Didn't forget y'all. Just gotta find some time. It's getting cooler here and the end of good training weather is quickly approaching. Gotta strike while the iron is hot.

SEMASA Trial - Day 2 - Lesson 2 - Persevere

2010-10-05T17:05:00.000-07:00

Trial 2
The second day of trials started with cattle. Many times a cattle run can be luck of the draw, and on Saturday neither the luck, nor the sun, were shining on us. There were two onery head of cattle that did not want to play no matter what group they were in, and I had the unsavory fortune of drawing one of them. From the very start of the gather, this cow made it clear that it was not going to leave the pens.

Nash worked hard for what turned out to be nine minutes trying to get the cows up to the first panel, but it was futile. Once I realized that it wasn't going to happen, I used it as a training experience and tried my best to at least train the cow for the next person that got it. We did a lot of holding a waiting for the cow to move off, but she just wasn't having it. Hooker. At least the judge took notice of our efforts and noted on our score sheet that Nash gave it a good try.

The ducks were next. It was our first opportunity to work call ducks and I was actually pretty excited about trying something new. Nash started off like a flying turd and flustered the ducks on his gather. I corrected him, then held a little more pressure on my side and he started doing better. He made the first and second panels pretty well after that, then he turned the dial up again once it was time for the center pen. Turd.

We would have them right at the mouth several times and he would bounce around and push them out. Talk about nerve wracking! Finally I was able to get him to work with me and we got the tiny buggers in the pen. Shew! I had him fetch a bit on the control to re-pen and he wanted to bounce around off my pressure a bit. I think a lot of the duck stuff will just be time and miles. Just doing it over and over again until it is routine. It ended up with a qualifying score and a first place finish.

The sheep. Oh yes, the sheep. Do I have to talk about the sheep? Where to begin... ummmm, on the outrun Nash decided that, "There, Walk", really meant "Hey, stop right there and snack on the closest cow pie. And don't just nibble on it, really stick your maw in there and get a healthy mouthful." Heaven help me. I finally managed to redirect him to start the drive to Panel 1, but he lost focus again, began sniffing around and shoved his nose into yet another cow pie. It was at that moment, a mere 49 seconds into our run, that I called it. (Are we having fun yet?)

Trial 3
Remember back in Trial 2 where I mentioned that I tried my best to train the naughty hooker cow for the next person who drew her? Well, as it would just so happen to turn out, that lucky person was ME. Hoo-friggin'-ray. As soon as the cattle were turned out into the arena, this hag glued her head to the pen gate and refused to budge from the back fence of the arena. So, again, after some training time we re-penned and hoped for a better draw on Sunday.

Our duck run started off the same as the first, with Nash flustering the ducks on the gather like a flying turd. He bobbled a bit more on the drive to Panel 1, but he finally managed to get it done. He did a bit more whining on that run and I think the toll of the long day was getting to him. He continued to dick around to get the ducks to Panel 2, but it finally happened as well. (Although I'm not exactly sure how, as I believe my camera woman was intoxicated at that point, due to the excessive drifting of the camera frame... ;0) Nash kept shoving the ducks around at the center pen and bopped them in and out once, but we finally managed to get it done again. And, once more, it earned a qualifying score and a first place - oh, and his open duck title (yay!). If nothing else, we were consistent!

The last sheep run of the day got me all shook up. Things were going better on the gather and the first part of the drive to Panel 1, then I heard someone yell from outside of the arena, "You have a lame sheep!". So I stopped my dog and looked at my sheep. One of the ewes was holding up her front leg. Just as I was about to lift my hand to signal to the judge, I saw another ewe lift up her front leg. Really? Were they fucking with me? I didn't know what the hell was going on. I had Nash walk up so that I could watch them walk and I didn't see anything.

Unfortunately, at that point my concentration was broken and Nash picked up on it instantly. He was zooming around, over flanking, not downing, etc. Our brains were both fried and we were both acting like we didn't have a brain cell to spare between the two of us, so I called the run once more. As it turned out, one of my friends had called out about the lame sheep because it was limping up until that point. She felt bad that she shook my concentration, but she was just trying to be helpful and I certainly couldn't fault her for that!

I was shaken. For the first time that day I was grateful for the drizzling rain because it helped to hide the tears that I was unsuccessful at fighting back. I put Nash up quickly, then took a walk down the road to try and clear my head once more. I was at a loss, but decided that I was going to walk down that road until I had a plan and I wouldn't turn back until I felt better. Or until I reached town, I suppose.

I decided to pull Nash's remaining sheep runs on Sunday and just focus on his cattle and duck runs. I already had planned on putting Savvy in a few FEO runs and that would allow me to sub her in for his pulled runs. We clearly weren't going to do anything but stay the same or get worse on the sheep. I needed a win. Not literally, but figuratively, of course. I figured we could hopefully get a better draw on the cattle and just get miles on the ducks since the title was out of the way. And I would have the chance to work Savvy, which is always fun and calming to me for some reason.

"After all, tomorrow is another day." (Name that movie for bonus points!)

SEMASA trial - Day 1 - Lesson 1 - Trust Your Instinct

2010-10-05T15:39:00.000-07:00

So I'm finally getting around to reviewing my videos and thoughts of the past weekend at the SEMASA trial. It was one of the best all around learning opportunities that I have had this year and it was, by far, the one trial that I can say I learned the most at. That is most likely because for once I was open to the lessons that I needed to learn. I saw each and every moment as an experience that I could learn from, a chance to improve.

The Ranch Trial
It started first on Friday with the Ranch trial. As I may have noted here on the blog, I was hemming and hawing about pulling from the Ranch trial for two weeks prior because I felt like Nash was not ready for the large field work. I knew that he could maneuver the pen work and the sorts and the trailer might be a challenge, but that the big field could go south. Way south. Instead, I went against my gut feeling and decided to go ahead with the run and just call it if it went too bad too quickly.

As it turns out, I should have listened to my instinct and made the hard choice to do right by my dog. The Ranch trial run itself wasn't the worst run, but it certainly wasn't our strongest moment. The pen work went pretty well, but out in the big field I chose to let him drive the sheep, but when he started picking up the pace and hustling I would down him and let the sheep escape/drift. We lost a lot of points for that, but I still believe that it was better than having things get ugly.

He got the sheep back for the trailer load and was being pushy, pushy, pushy and would not listen to me for the world. I just stopped everything and made sure that we didn't move on until he downed. Later the judge mentioned that I lost points for stopping to train and my reply was that they were points well spent. I knew that if I didn't make him listen to me then, he would continue to tune me out for the next five trials over the weekend.

After the trailer we went on to the sort and that went really well, and we only lost two points. Once the dust was settled, we had finished the course successfully but we did not earn a qualifying score. We lost the most points on the open field work, as we were off contact by allowing the sheep to leave. Not to mention to points lost for monkeying around at the trailer. So it was all for naught. Meh.

Trial 1
Once the ranch trial was over, we still had a regular arena trial to finish. We started first with our sheep run and it quickly became clear just how big of a mistake that I had made by running Nash in the Ranch trial. He wanted to hustle. He wanted to tune me out. He did not want to down. He wanted to go to the top fence of the arena and evacuate his bowels. I wanted to brain him.

After he finished shitting in the arena, I attempted to call him to me and start the run over again, as the sheep had run back to the pens once they realized that Nash was simply in the arena to fertilize it. Nope. No way. He was chugging at the sheep and tuning me out. Way out. After two minutes of generalized drain circling, I retired the run. If I could sum up my thoughts after that whole CF, it would be WTF? Clearly, going from the Ranch trial straight into an arena trial for his first trial away from home ways frying his brain. Ugh.

Ducks were our next class and I soon discovered the other huge obstacle that we were to overcome through the next three days. Bitches in heat. Four of them to be exact. Nash was the first dog up in the open class and he ran after the last bitch in the advanced class. A bitch that just happened to be in standing heat. After two minutes of flat out begging Nash to work while he instead sniffed the ground for the canine olfactory experience that is poon-tang, I again called the run. (sigh)

I was sooooooo very frustrated. Hell, frustrated does not even begin to cover the experience. However, I knew that getting worked up about it was not productive, neither was beating myself up for entering the Ranch trial. I took a break before our cattle run and walked out to the hay field where there was a flat-bed trailer parked. I laid back on the trailer, closed my eyes and cleared my head.

I re-ran the previous sheep and duck runs in my head, this time perfectly, so that I had a better mental picture to focus on than the one that actually happened. I visualized the perfect cattle run. Then I opened my eyes and watched the clouds for a few minutes. I focused on the edges of the clouds and how they would dissipate as they crossed the sky. I simply imagined that each dissolving cloud fragment was a problem as I watch them vaporize. Then I got up, dusted myself off (literally) and went back for our cattle run.

The cattle run wasn't the best thing that we had put down, but it was a definite improvement and a good way to finish what had been a mudslide of a day. Nash had a good gather and started to snack on poo on his drive to Panel 1, but each time I would just "walk, walk, walk" him out of it instead of yelling at him for it. He did better on the cross drive to Panel 2, but I was focusing on the work there instead of thinking about opening my center pen gate. Duhhhrrrr.

While Nash was trying to hold the group up so that I could pull my head out of my ass and open the pen gate, we had one steer head for the pens. Nash tried to get it back, but the steer's mind was made up, so we had to go get the other four and try for the pen again. He did a much better job of listening to me on that section of work and got the group back to the center pen nicely. Unfortunately the same steer decided to make a break for it and we couldn't get any penned, so I took it as our attempt at the center so that we would lose the course points but not the control points, as it had been good up until then.

The wager at the center paid off, as we did get a qualifying score on the run. It was a decent way to cap off the day and I was grateful that I had managed to collect myself and move forward. I had no idea what the rest of the weekend had in store, but I was determined that we would get up in the morning and start fresh.

Back To The Start

2010-09-29T11:28:00.000-07:00

I have been stressed lately. My training has not been fun lately. Which came first, the chicken or the egg? I dunno, but the two managed to snowball into a huge monkey/football orgy and I quickly found myself making things worse instead of better. I took time off so that I could work the dogs before the trial, and my first intention was to not train for the trial, but to work on the things that I saw slipping at the last trial. However, the more we worked, the more I started trying to patch things together to trial, instead of working on concepts and skills.

I knew that today would be my last day to train as I would like, with no lessons or other obligations in the way and I did not want to waste my time on stress or frustration. Each second that I have with these dogs is too precious squander. So before I went out to train, I set down in a quiet place outside without the dogs and closed my eyes. I just found my breath, relaxed, and came up with my goals for the morning.

First, I want to see my dogs as a partner again, especially with Nash. Savvy and I just flow much more easily, but lately Nash and I have been fighting each other more than not and it feels awful. Physically awful. So I wanted to see him as he is, honor who he is, and work together with who he is. He tries so very hard for me, but I have to be calm with him and try to be my best for him. It is only fair.

My training plan was to work each dog on the sheep and cattle, just one time each and we were not going to work on the course at all. I did have specific items in mind for each dog, however. I wanted to work on basic stock skills with Savvy - not shoving sheep and keeping her cool on the cattle. With Nash, I just wanted to work on the concept of the center obstacles.

Savvy did well on the sheep, but the group that I put out in the arena was quite lighter than I thought they would be and they were stinkers about wanting to draw to the top of the arena, closest to the barns. So I had to throw out the plan of fetching and we worked on driving in the arena instead. On the cattle, I kept Savvy on the line nearly the entire time and I also had to start using the pinch collar with her because she is so wont to pull and jerk at the line to get at the cows. (Little stinker!) She did a better job of "resisting the urge" after that and she is finally getting the muscle memory of "less is more". We still have a long way to go, but I am seeing small bits of progress and little glimmers that she gets the concept that I am trying to show her.

Nash and I struggled a bit on the sheep, mostly because of how light the sheep were and how strong they were drawing to the top corner. It took some finagling, but we finally got them worked around to the center and got them through. It is amazing how much differently the sheep will work if they know there are not other sheep in the pens. I need to start putting spare sheep in the pens to serve as a more normal draw - note to self!

The best work by far was Nash on the cattle. We really had a breakthrough and the light bulbs started going off all over the place! I used Nash to bring the cattle out of the pasture and did my best to keep my voice calm and happy, especially to keep him out of stress eating the poop. I let him drive them along the fence for about 100 feet, then once they started to turn just a tad, I asked him to get through and bring them off the fence. It took some doing and I had to step up to make sure he stayed behind, instead of over flanking and turning them back, but he did it. Once he had them going a little too far the wrong way, so I sent him back and then he did a nice job of driving them out in the open, right toward the gate. It was so much nicer than the last time!

When he had rested and it was his turn to work in the arena, I just had him take them out of the pen, then we worked on the center. He started off wanting to work my side of the cattle and shoved them on me, but once I ran him out for that, he quit. I think the work he did out in the pasture really helped him more than anything because he was far more confident than he has been for the past week, and he was stopping on his "there's" and "ho's" much, much better. He was working them better out in the open, was under much more control and was keeping them together as a group really well. He got them put through the center twice, once from each direction, then we quit. I felt like we were back where we needed to be.

I am so very grateful that I took the time to assess what was wrong and to be considerate of my dog. These dogs can do amazing things, but they are only one half of the equation. I think that we have to step up and strive at being just as amazing for them. We can't fight with them and not expect them to fight back. What we resist persists. I am fortunate that I have two very wonderful, but very different, partners to work with. My job is to remember why I love doing this, and not slip into making things technical to the point that I lose track of feeling it.

I've had this song running in my head all morning, and it's because it totally sums up where I'm at right now.

Fatigue

2010-09-27T01:00:00.000-07:00

This morning we had another day with perfect herding weather, sun with some clouds, but in the 50's and 60's. I just had one student out for lessons that had signed up for my 101 clinic, but since the clinic got canned, I got her in for lessons. I am so glad that I did because she really had a breakthrough with both of her dogs, especially her "hard case" dog, and it was one of those payoff moments for me as a trainer as well.

Unfortunately for me, I wasn't having the best morning with my own dogs. Our training time started off well enough, but started to spiral down the shitter quickly as training fatigue set in - both for the dogs and for me.

I worked Nash on sheep in the arena with a larger group of lighter sheep, still working on him doing an outrun without affecting the sheep. I did a better job as a trainer this time around and paid him on the pieces that were right by letting him fetch or drive if he gave me a good effort, even if it wasn't quite a complete outrun. I figured that was a far more fair way to pay him for his work and hopefully that will pay off the next time we try it.

After my student had left with her two dogs, I worked both of my dogs on ducks, sorting out four groups - two each of Runners and Swedes, so that they could do a run with each type. I started with Nash on the Runners and A course. We bobbled a bit on lifting them off the fence, then I pushed on him a bit more to hold his side and he got the gist of it again. I then gave him a break and worked Savvy on both of her sets, doing the started A course with her, one right after the other.

Then I worked Nash on the Swedes, this time doing B course. He did okay, but for some reason he really wants to fall in behind the Swedes on the drive and ends up lifting them off the fence, especially on the cross drive. So I'm having to do a lot of stopping him, flanking him in, then walking him up again. I've tried doing it with the long line, but the line worries him so much that he doesn't pay attention to what I'm trying to show him. I'm hoping that time and patience works it out. I also think that we need to do more driving up the middle - that might help it as well, I dunno. I think I also need to practice B course a little more too because I had my head up my arse about opening my pen gate and that screwed up our flow. Duhrrrr.

By that time I was needing to head down to the arenas to work Savvy on the sheep and both dogs on cattle, but it was past 1:00 and I was getting tired, not to mention HUNGRY. So I took a quick break and ran up to the house to get a sandwich. That helped a bit, but I was still feeling worn down and I hoped it would pass. I worked Savvy in the arena again on some trial sheep, just going through the started course with her to work on her take pen, fixing things on the fly, etc. Just one time around and we were done. Because of how the sheep left the take pen this time around, she ended up driving the course more than she did the last time and she actually did quite a nice job.

So, then it was time to bring the cattle in to sort and work, and I was dragging. Nash had started to show some mental fatigue on the ducks and I was worried that he might not be up to working the cattle. I thought that at the very least I could have him bring in the cows and sort them, but if he was too tired we wouldn't work in the arena and I would just work Savvy. (Because, if anyone needs cattle miles it is that girl!) I walked out further with him before I sent him, and he left well, but then stopped and started sniffing and even peed on some tall grass. Sheesh. I redirected him and he took off okay, but then once he lifted the cattle he started poking around and I could tell he was looking for shit to eat - a sure sign that he is stressed. Then he started snacking on poo. I tried talking him out of it (walk, walk, walk), and that didn't work. I called him out of it and he stopped and worked a few more steps, then started snacking again. This dog was fried. I was fried.

I tried calling him out of it a second time, but it was really clear that he was tired. It was really clear that I was tired. Even if I pushed him to finish bringing the cows in and sorting them, I could risk him doing something dumb due to fatigue and getting hurt, or losing confidence because he was tired. Not worth it. And I really need to be on my toes with Savvy on the cows, because Kamakaze bombers need that kind of attention. If I wasn't feeling it, I was more likely to make a mistake and she has no problem with getting in to trouble all by herself. No problem at all. (Sigh.)

So I called Nash to me and just left the cows out in the pasture. I felt like hollering out to the cows, "Just kidding, y'all!". It was hard to resist the urge to cram more training in on such a beautiful afternoon, but it just wasn't in me. Part of training hard is recovery and boy did we need to recover.

We have two more days to fit training in before the trial, Monday and Wednesday. We leave Thursday night since the ranch trial is on Friday. Oh, the ranch trial. (sigh) Still not sure where we'll stand with that one. I'm still worried about the open field work and what Nash might do. I'm willing to call the run if I'm worried it will undo our training, as the money is already spent. I don't want it to screw up the rest of the trial weekend. Hopefully we can try the big field again this week before we leave. And hopefully I can fit in some good training as well as resting time so that we're not too fried to enjoy it all!

Ketchup

2010-09-25T15:00:00.000-07:00

Ahh, er, I meant "catch up"... really, I did...

I've been training whenever I could fit it in over the past week and it has been paying off. I've been trying to get the dogs working on as many different stock during a day that I can. We had a three day heat wave in the middle of the week that put a crimp in my plans, but what are ya gonna do?

Here's the quick run down of what my training goals have been with each dog lately:

Nash:

Cattle
- Holding the stock between us, not shoving them on me or past me.
- Getting the cattle off the fence when/where he needs to
- Working the cattle in the middle of the area / center obstacle work

Ducks
- Not falling behind the ducks on the drive
- Getting the ducks off the fence when/where he needs to
- Working ducks at center obstacle

Sheep
- Doing an outrun without affecting the sheep in a large area. Lather, rinse, repeat.

Savvy:

Cattle
- Restraint.
- Restraint.
- Restraint
- Not getting herself killed due to her impetuousness and fearlessness
- Resisting the URGE
- Staying in the pocket BEHIND the cattle
- Being patient and giving the cattle time to think and move off of her pressure

Sheep
- Not much time on sheep, but did try to do a started ASCA course with her Saturday morning to see what she'd do and it was really nice.

Ducks
- Having her fetch ducks to me
- Restraint
- Resisting the urge to MOVE before I ask her to

Savvy is honestly doing so well that I'm probably going to enter her in a few FEO runs at the SEMASA trial next weekend. Probably just sheep and ducks though, as she needs a lot more time on a line with the cattle. I think doing an FEO run on cattle right now might be a death wish. There's a lot of work needs done there first...

Diggin' the Dux

2010-09-19T17:08:00.000-07:00

I was fortunate enough to be able to make it outside and work the ducks this evening, and I had a friggin' BALL. I've often heard Tenley extol the virtues of working ducks and just how much you can teach a dog while doing so. If I wasn't already, I am most certainly a true, blue believer after this evening.

I worked both of the dogs on two separate groups of 7-8 Runners. Nash was first and I was wanting to work on his rate on the drive, (he was a bit of a choo-choo train during the trial), as well as working on getting the ducks off of the fence to work the center obstacle. The Runners are perfect for both because they are fast and they really don't want to come off the fence where you'd like them to. So I had to read the spots where they did want to come off and work there.

Nash did some of the best flat-footed walking that I have ever seen him do. It was phenomenal. We struggled a bit when we worked on getting them off the fence because he was wanting to slice in on his flanks BIG TIME. Wowza. So, we had to take a step back and work on that. Down, Out, Redirect. Lather, Rinse, Repeat. Once he did get them off the fence, then we had to work on holding them between us as a team. The first few times I had my head planted firmly up my ass and just watched as Nash tried his best to hold up his end and I did NOTHING. Duhhhhrrrrrr! Once I removed my head from my posterior and got some oxygen going to my brain again, I did a far better job of holding up my side and we were able to easily get the ducks through the chute. Time to quit!

Savvy started like a whirlwind. That is mostly my fault because I have put off working her on ducks, well, because she is a whirlwind when she works them. I figured there was no time like the present and we were going to start working hard on it today. Savvy's challenge on ducks is the same challenge that she has had on sheep and cattle - staying in the pocket and wanting to control the heads. Zoom, zoom, zoom! Putting her on Runners is like giving her meth. The speed at which she moves is blinding.

The only exercise that I wanted to work with her was putting her on the fence line, walking myself around to the other side of ducks, then pushing the ducks towards her and asking her to walk up, then backing up while holding my pressure as she fetches them to me. At the beginning, it was difficult because she wanted to zoom out of the pocket, so I had to do a whole lot of stopping her up, putting her back, and starting over again. And again. And again. But that has been the way it has been on sheep and cattle, so she got the gist of what I was asking of her after a few times.

Finally, she was able to calmly walk them up to me as I backed up, holding herself in the pocket, and rating the ducks. A few times she would push them on me a bit and I would push back on her to run her off. At the very end of the session, we were fetching them up the long side of the arena away from the draw, which might have been tough but she handled it well. My concentration on the ducks was firm and she and I worked as a TEAM to keep those ducks between us. I had her fetch them the entire length of the arena, then as we approached the top of the arena, I tried something that Tenley says is proof that your dog is really reading the ducks and your pressure: I pushed back on the ducks to see if she would give ground, yet still hold the ducks. AND SHE DID. Twice. It was BEAUTIFUL.

That little dog is nothing but heart and every time that I am fair, clear, and consistent with her in my training, she rises up to meet me and the result is nothing short of amazing. She lives up to her name. U Bet I Can!

Consistency & Conditioning

2010-09-19T10:35:00.000-07:00

Ahhhhhhhhh! We had a fabulous morning of training. Thank heavens! I think we all needed it to be honest.

My goals for working the dogs today was to be calm and consistent on my end as a handler/trainer. I also wanted to work on Nash's conditioning as well. What I mean by that is having him work different kinds of stock several times with breaks in between to mimic what he has to go through on a long trial weekend. He was really zonked after last weekend with the farm trial, then two days of am/pm trialing. It really was more work than he is accustomed to, so I'm hoping that being able to work like this will not only maximize our training time, but help him get into better condition mentally and physically.

I started with having Nash bring the cattle in from the big field and sorting them. As he is getting more accustomed to the job, I am trying to get him to bring them through the open instead of allowing him to drive them along the fences until they get to the gate. He did a better job of working them in the open today and took his downs better out in the field. Still needing more time and miles there. Once they were in from the field, I had Nash help me sort them out - four in each round pen, then the rest went into the arena so that he could work a larger group in there later.

I worked Savvy in the south round pen on the first group of cattle. I started her on the line and just started with where we left off yesterday - working on impulse control, "ho", holding in the pocket, giving the cattle time to move off of her pressure. After a few times around in each direction, I dropped the line to test her control and see how she would do without being tethered to me. She did a really good job and I was pleasantly surprised! She was responsive, gave the calves time to move, and really did a nice job of staying in the pocket. When the impulse struck her to leave the pocket and go to heads, I would just use my stick and my body pressure to hold her in there and she would do just fine. It was really nice.

After giving the dogs a good break, I worked Nash on a group of 9-10 medium/light sheep in the sheep arena. My goal there was to take a step back to a smaller area than we used yesterday and really work on insisting that he stay outside of the flight zone on his outruns/flanks. It was a whole lot of drilling, but I feel that we made progress. We hit a spot where I could tell he was getting zapped, so we took a quick break, got him some water, then went back and tried again. I really like how he can go back to a task and keep going, I just have to read him better and see when he needs a break. Towards the end of that session, he was turning his head out away from the sheep more and making a more concerted effort to try to not affect the sheep. When he would make a good pass like that, I would reward him by letting him fetch or drive for a short distance, as long as he was doing them straight and not fading.

I gave Savvy a second go on the cattle, this time on the group in the north round pen. I started in the same manner as last time, but did drop the line a little sooner to let her work on her own. The second time around she was not quite as controlled in her work and was feeling a little too confident for her own good. She would try to force the cattle to move by hitting heels or heads, instead of waiting for them to move off. Just generalized shit stirring. Each time, I would pick up the line and insist that she do it right and respect the cattle. I really just want her to see that the cattle will move if she give them time, but that there is also a time and a place for a correct bite, then she has to let them go again. I think I'll try a few more sessions like that in the round pen with her, then move her out into the arena with her on a longer line and just start with her moving them up and down the back fence in a controlled manner.

I finished up the morning with having Nash work the larger group of calves in the arena for a bit. I didn't want to wear him out, because he had worked really hard for me all morning. I just wanted to stretch him slightly past his comfort zone and focus on one or two things, then we'd be done. My goals were to work on Nash peeling the cattle off the fence to "bring 'em", and also being responsive on my "down" and "ho" commands. I would help him peel them off the fence a bit, then once a hole opened up I would send him through and around. If the opportunity allowed for him to fetch them a bit, I would have him do that. But if not, I would just down him on the back side and have him walk them up a bit. Once he had done that three or four times, I could tell he was getting quite tired and I didn't want him to make a mistake that might get him hurt, so we stopped there. I had him exhaust all of the cattle out into the field again and he was very thoughtful about the tasks all the way to the end. Being tired might have helped there a bit...

I'm going to give him time to rest today and will hopefully go out again this evening to work ducks and might work Savvy on either the ducks or the calves. We'll see.

Following A Good Example

2010-09-19T08:05:00.000-07:00

So many times when we are at a trial, it can be very easy to watch someone struggling with their run and be able to play "armchair herder" to pick apart all of the things they are doing wrong. However, something that I am learning to do is to watch the people that are getting it right and seeing what they are doing to be successful.

Last weekend at the trial I was fortunate enough to have one of those instances. Kelly Hughes and her husband, Dan, came to our trial all the way from Pennsylvania - a 14 hour trip one way. Kelly and I have been friends on Facebook for some time, and I saw her trial her lovely girl, Tosca, at the 2005 Nationals the year they won MVA, but I had not met Kelly in person yet. She is just the nicest, sweetest gal, and she has to be a saint to be married to Dan. (Just kiddin', Dan is truly a great guy, but I couldn't resist the opportunity to get a dig in at his expense.)

What impressed me the most about Kelly was how she handled her dogs. She has a wonderful relationship with all of her dogs and they would turn themselves inside out for her. I watched Kelly put down some really nice runs with her dogs over the weekend, but most of the time I was watching the dog. On Sunday I started paying attention to how Kelly handled her young female, Raven, in the cattle arena. It was the epitome of a solid working relationship.

Kelly was very quiet with her commands, didn't say too much or too little, and always let her dog know when they were right and when they were wrong. Nothing seemed to get Kelly too wound up and it showed in the confidence of her dog. She was also a great example of not even hesitating to cross the handlers line to help her dog - she didn't even blink, just moved out and helped. Now, Kelly is one of the most modest handlers I have ever watched and she would hate for someone to be going on like this, but it was really something to take notice of.

So many times we notice the person on the trial field waving their stick and screaming and hollering at their dog. Heck, even one of my students noted that my dog's name changes as my run evolves - Nash, NASH, Nashville, Nashville!! Not one of my proudest moments... (blush)

After watching Kelly and Raven's cattle run, I vowed to work Nash the same way on our final cattle run. Before we went in, my goal was to work my dog in a calm and supportive manner from start to finish. We are a team, I was certain we had his title wrapped up, so I had nothing to get worked up about for Pete's sake! I helped him do the take pen, walking in a bit and helping him get around. When he got worked up in the corner where he had been kicked during the previous run, I calmly talked to him and helped him hold the pocket.

The poor calves were very tired and not wanting to play, and we weren't very successful at even getting to the first panel, so I called that we were going to repen and we put the cranky babies away. We certainly didn't get much of a score, but I was probably more happy with that run than any of the cattle runs of the weekend because I held fast to my goal and stayed calm and helped my dog. It was a good example that I hope to follow more in the future!

Frustrations

2010-09-18T14:00:00.000-07:00

On my first day of being "off" from doing lessons, my friend came by to pick up her trailer after the trial and to work her dogs while she was here. She wanted to play in the new sheep pens with her dogs, as well as do a little sheep work in the arena with her young dog.

My goal was to do some practical work with Nash on the cattle, work Savvy in the round pen on the cattle, and also to work Nash in the big field with about ten sheep to practice the open field work for the ranch trial in a few weeks.

So I started with Nash bringing the cattle in from the field. He did pretty well, but I realized early on that I really needed to put the screws to him and make him take his downs, make him take his outs, make him walk flat footed (not chugging along like a friggin' freight train), generally just make him listen and follow up. He got the cattle into the pens with very little fuss after that. Then I used him in the pens to sort the larger group into three smaller groups; one for each round pen and one for the arena. He listened to me very well and showed some really neat things.

I worked Savvy in the round pen on the cattle, which we hadn't done since the cattle were here in April. I worked her on a line, mostly to keep her in check because she would love nothing more than to quickly rush to heads and stir things up. As with sheep and ducks, Savvy's biggest issue on cattle is self restraint. So I worked a lot on her holding in the pocket, her standing stops (ho), and learning to let the cattle move off and resisting the urge to get back up to turn the heads again.

I'm telling you, working Savvy on cattle is just a hoot. She lives up to the nickname "The Little Blue Bomb" 100%. She will hit a heel like a speeding bullet and duck out of the way before the kick comes. If it's a head, she'll nail the nose and have her lips peeled back to show that cow just how many teeth she had before she hits them. Mighty mini might. I had thought about putting her out in the arena to see what she would do, but I think she's going to need as much round pen time as I can give her. Just to teach her control and restraint. Then, maybe she can earn some arena time - but only on a line!

To work Nash in the big field, we started by taking the group of sheep out of the pens, then having Nash fetch them to me calmly across the pits before releasing the fray out into the field. He was just too wound up, so I had to do a lot of downing him and outing him because he would try to sneak up behind us as I walked back to the sheep. Repetition, repetition, repetition. Finally, I let the sheep through the panels and they were off! Yowza!

Thankfully, my friend was playing "catch" for me with her dog so that the sheep wouldn't get too close to the cattle fence. Nash wasn't kicking out to bring the sheep back and was preferring to run up the middle to turn them. U-G-L-Y. So I started working on making him take his flanks squarely, then downing and outing him if he cut in. Over and over and over again. It was just not working well. He finally got it right one time, but pushed quite a bit on the top and I couldn't get much fetching done.

Then, when we finally did get it going right and I started to fetch, I got to the fence and tried to turn, but I made the mistake of not showing my dog what he needed to do to cover, he sliced, and off the sheep went again. I could have beat myself with the damned stock stick! ARghhhHHH!!

After that we just started circling the drain. I kept trying to get Nash to take the flanks nicely, but he was getting too tired to give a shit. We just had to stop. I was SO frustrated! I stood by my friend and cried. I wanted to pull my dog from the ranch trial. This was not going to work. She suggested that I keep trying over the next couple of weeks and only pull right before the trial if I still didn't think it would work. She also called me on giving Nash too many chances to listen. I am doing a lot of extraneous yakking at him instead of just making him DO it.

I am realizing that I am frustrated with where I am at, although none of it is within my control. I know what I want my dog to do, but I am so restricted on my training time that I am not where I think I should be. It's not really about a time frame on when my dog has certain titles, or finishes his WTCH, etc. It's more about a specific skill set that I want him to have, but I can only get so much out of the small amount of time that we've been able to train this year.

I think I really need to take a mental inventory of how much my dog CAN do and be grateful for it first. Being pissed off and having a pity party about where we aren't isn't being very productive. We really have come a long way in the past year and I am taking that for granted. Lots to think about!

Making Tough Calls

2010-09-18T13:59:00.000-07:00

A few days after the trial, I hit a wall. I had been mulling over and over again about my runs, my goals, and my reality. I came to the realization that my dogs, especially Savvy, were not getting enough work or attention. I know Nash should have been working better at the trial, and I am painfully aware of how often Savvy has been put on the back burner over the past five or six weeks when it came to time on stock.

It has been really had to find time to train because it's been so hot, I've had lessons to teach, my kids all have their various nap/preschool/middle school schedules to deal with, and now that it has been so dry our local harvest is in full swing - which means that my husband leaves at dark o'clock in the morning and doesn't get home until dark o'clock at night. I realized that I had client dogs that I had worked more in the past month than my owns dogs. Now, I love my students and their dogs, but something is wrong there.

On Tuesday afternoon, Wynonna Judd was on Oprah talking about her struggles and how she had successfully lost 60 pounds recently. The thing that struck me was when she said, "I had to put myself back on my list." She went on to talk about how she had to learn to say no and make herself a priority. That was my lightbulb moment.

I made the hard decision to take a two week break from doing lessons, just until the Michigan trial is over. I need to put the focus back onto training my own dogs instead of everyone else's. I still have a small beginners clinic to teach next week, but I will make sure to work my own dogs during the clinic instead of leaving them in the house.

It was really hard to do, but I know that it is a necessity. I have to make time for my dogs and their training first, not as an afterthought. They deserve that much, and so do I!

Let's Do This

2010-09-12T18:07:00.000-07:00

It was a looong weekend, full of high points and lessons learned, but at the end of the Honey Creek Classic, we walked away with this:

Yep, we finally won ourselves a BUCKLE!

As happy as I am to finally have won a buckle, I came away from the trial weekend hungry. Not physically hungry, mind you, but with a driving hunger to improve. Sure we did a lot of good things, but I saw a lot of things that I can't wait to start working on. I've honestly gotten far better work out of Nash in the past, so it made me really aware of where holes are starting to form in our foundation.

So, instead of being all about the bad stuff, I want to take some time to point out the good things first:

On Friday, we ran in the Farm Trial and got a qualifying score of 104, which earned us 5th place out of 10 dogs. I thought that was pretty good for a young dog who really doesn't get to do the farm chores with me very often. His duck work was really strong and we had a good rhythm going through most of the course. His open field work was pretty good too.

In the 12 runs that he ran over Sat/Sun, he got 8 first places. Not too shabby. (c;

Most of his scores were in the 80's, with his highest score being a 92 on ducks.

After our first two runs, I found our pre-run rountine/mantra. I spent a few moments before we went in the arena, just stroking him gently and bonding. Then, once we were in the arena and I had removed his leash and was ready to start, I would pat him and say, "Let's do this." For whatever reason, it helped me to get in the zone and cue to him that we were getting ready to do a job as a team. I did notice that once I started doing this, he stopped whining as badly at the anticipation of the start of the run. That helped BOTH of our sanity.

During his second to last cattle run, he got kicked by a cow, just above his right eye. He whined for a second and backed out of the pocket, but once I said, "Go on", he hopped back and gave that calf hell! He finished the rest of the run to finish his cattle title. I was proud to see that he could "take a lickin' and keep on tickin' ".

So, now for the not-so-hot stuff:

As I mentioned in the previous section, we had a pretty good pace going during the farm trial. That was, until we hit the part where we had to load the trailer. Then it fell to shit. I was in a hurry, Nash was pushing the stock around, and we started circling the drain. Granted, Nash had only loaded a trailer once before, and these were very light sheep, but I just didn't hold up my end of the team. What started as a nicely paced run, came to a screeching halt. (Gauging from my handling at that moment, screeching was the imperative word.)

Our first run of the arena trial weekend was on cattle and we had a good run going up until Panel 1, then the cattle got strung out a bit and the lead calf peeled off the fence toward the back end of the arena. Nash started to run to cover and I got on him, (Lord, I honestly don't know WHY.), and it went downhill from there. Not only did all of the cattle escape to the back fence, but my dog didn't trust me and promptly started tuning me out. Can't say that I blame him! Lesson: Trust your dog!!

That run was one of two non-qualifying scores for the weekend, both were on cattle. The other non-Q run was our last cattle run of the weekend. After Nash got kicked in the previous run, when he got into the corner that he got kicked in, he remembered and showed a definite loss of confidence. Of course, this wasn't that horrible or unexpected, but it was something that we had to work through. I had to step back and help him out more, but the calves were really tired and cranky at that point and he just couldn't win. After a few tries and some good confidence building, I re-penned the cattle without making any of the obstacles.

Some of the things that cropped up on most of our runs were over-flanking, fading on the drive (that was a hole that I knew was there), not taking his down or ho commands, and my getting wound up as the runs would progress.

So, lots of things to be grateful for, but also lots of things to wrap my brain around and work on. I'm ready to get back to training now. Let's do this...

Ducks - The Magnifying Glass

2010-09-06T18:12:00.000-07:00

Today was a busy, busy day of getting ready to for the trial here next weekend. Tearing down old courses, putting up new courses, picking up stuff, dragging out stuff, etc. Good times.

I set aside some time this evening to work Nash on ducks and boy, am I glad that I did. I've been really bad about working him on the ducks and it started to show. I mean, he still did well, but a lot of the things that we've been trying to dial in on the sheep were showing up on the ducks, but since they were ducks the issues were MAGNIFIED. Big as life!

His drifting and falling in behind the stock was the biggest issue by far. I would tell him, "There, walk." and he would take three steps to the side and fall in behind. Argghhhhhh! After I saw the issue, I started downing him as soon as he took the first step to the side. Then I'd give him a "walk". Then he kept taking steps to the side! Over and over again. (sigh)

Okay, so that approach wasn't working. So we took a break and I went up to the round pen and got my check line. My thinking was that if he started to fade, I could pull on his collar to get him to hold the line. No go. The line worried him too much and he started watching me. Argghhhhhh!

So I took the line off and took a breather and petted my dog. I could see the problem, but couldn't find a solution. Very frustrating! We went back to just moving the ducks around and having him fetch them to me, then we stopped. It was better to end on that note than to keep digging for an answer to our problem and coming up empty handed and frustrated.

I see far more duck work in our future. I also have a suspicion that part of this falling in behind behavior might be stemming from bringing in the stock at night. The sheep are pretty much going to head for the barn, so all the dog has to do is walk behind and keep them moving if they stop or stray. I dunno if that is really the cause, or just me neglecting to address it until now. Maybe it's both. Doesn't matter I suppose, I just need to figure out how to fix it instead.

Sunday - Seeing the holes / Taking small pieces

2010-09-06T05:35:00.000-07:00

Sunday I had a less hectic morning of lessons, since Mark needed to get outside to work on the sheep pens. It gave me a little more time to get Savvy worked in and paid attention to. I worked her in the dry lot on the lightest ewes I have. I just worked a lot on her being thoughtful as she went around her stock, not rushing around to get to the other side. If she rushed, or cut in on her flank, I would calmly down her and out her, then start her again.

One of my students noted that she was still cutting in on the top, which I had noticed too, but I explained that I was not going to try to "fix everything at once", as I am wont to do. (Tenley gets on me a lot for that one!) I just wanted to focus on her being thoughtful going around the sheep, then I would worry about the top. I was also noticing that she was wanting to rush between the sheep and the fence - bolt through the pressure, so I took time and set that scenario up several times to ease her through it until she found comfort in the exercise.

By the end of my session with Savvy, she was going around thoughtfully, and on the last outrun I was able to hold quite a bit of pressure on the stock and that was enough to push Savvy out on the top and allow her to turn the last head correctly.

I worked Nash again with my student's dog, doing the take pen/re-pen work. Afterward, I worked him alone again, mostly on driving and inside flanks. I'm working on getting him comfortable with driving farther away from me, but I think I am going to have to take more time with him between Open and Advanced. He will be fine in Open, as I'm now able to stay between the Open and Advanced handlers line, but right now the Advanced handlers line is just far too far away for what he needs to be successful. I will probably be able to move him up into Advanced ducks, but cattle and sheep will probably take more time.

I'm also having to watch him closely on his driving, because he is beginning to fade on the flank and not holding his line all of the time. This week is going to be a bad week to work on it, with the trial coming up, but after the trial is out of the way, the drive and squaring the inside flanks is going to be our biggest focus.

Saturday - Fitting It In

2010-09-06T05:18:00.000-07:00

I had a very busy day of lessons on Saturday, but I was able to take advantage of the perfect, cooler weather and fit in training with Nash while having a student train too. I have a wonderful student who is getting ready to do her first trial at her breed nationals in a few week and she needed to practice the re-pen. Nash and I needed to work on the take pen, doing it so that he just did the take pen, downed in the back and let the sheep go. Reason being, you don't want the dog thinking about bringing the sheep back when they're going in - they are more likely to cut the pen short and slice and create a friggin' wreck.

So what we set up was that Nash would take the sheep out of the pen, and my student and her dog would pick them up and re-pen them. Lather, rinse, repeat. As soon as we were done in the take pen, we would leave the pen and go towards the middle of the field to serve as a backstop so the sheep wouldn't escape to the back of the arena. It took a couple of tries for the two teams to get our rhythm, but once it all gelled, it was really fun.

After my student's dog was done, I did a little more work with Nash in the arena. I noticed that his away flank was turning to shit, especially on the redirect. He was FLAT and didn't want to square up. So I took some time to get the kinks out and by the time we were done he was doing much better. We did a little driving and ended with a nice controlled fetch.

Savvy was the red headed step child on Saturday and didn't get worked, so she helped to put the flock out to their grazing paddock after lessons. She did some really neat things, like carefully scooping some lambs back toward the flock when they wandered into the "pit" area between my arenas. It was so careful and thoughtful. But then, once she got all of the sheep into the paddock, she got some wild, reactive hair up her ass and she ran around and brought them all back out again. Argggghhhhhhhh! (I think, "Dammit, Savvy!" was my actual response as I went running down the hill to redirect her to put them back. As Dana McKenzie would say, "The devil made her do it." Savvy's reactivity is something that I will most likely have to focus on the most. Keeping her thoughtful and supple and "resisting the urge".

Bittersweet Symphony

2010-09-03T18:22:00.000-07:00

So today my Aussie Times came in the mail, (I pay the extra fee to have it mailed first class), and while flipping through I saw an ad that gave me pause. You see, this summer Liv finished all of her Elite agility titles with her new owner, and this (in addition to titles from other offspring) gave her mother enough titled offspring to earn Hall of Fame Dam in ASCA.

As I gazed at the photo of Liv's doggie mom, a dog that I fell in love with at first sight and was the reason that I wanted Liv so badly in the first place, I welled up with tears. Liv and I might have parted ways, but I will always be so proud of her and proud of every bit of the journey that she is now taking with Celia. I am so happy that she was able to give her mother HOF Dam, because I've always thought her mom was a great dog and she sure deserves it.

It is amazing what a difference a year can make.

You picked a fine time...

2010-09-02T18:10:00.000-07:00

... to teach me, Lucille. Oh wait, that was "leave me", wasn't it? Well, to be honest I knew that, but for some dumb reason I got the tune stuck in my head after working Nash this evening and that's what I imagine he was singing to me. Did y'all know that Waylon Jennings actually recorded "Lucille" before Kenny Rogers had a hit with it? Do any of y'all even know the song I'm talking about? (Except for you, Mom, I see you with your hand up out there...) Well, for those of you uneducated in your country classics, here is Waylon's version. Of course, I think it's the best one.

So, I digress. I used Nash this evening to bring the flock in from the pasture and once they were all in the dry lot, I thought I'd toy around with a couple of things while I had a few minutes of daylight left. My first idea was to have him hold the sheep off of the mineral pans as I filled them. Hoss had trouble focusing on the job the other night when I used him, but Nash had no problem. He just had to be in the general vicinity of the pans and the sheep weren't going to come near. Ummmm, probably because he has a bit more, ahem, presence than Hoss.

So the next thing I thought I'd tackle was inside flanks. When we worked in the cattle arena on Wednesday, I was working on staying closer to the advanced handlers line and seeing how he worked at a distance. He did okay, but it was clear as day that I hadn't worked on inside flanks with Nash. At all. Hmmmm, might be a good idea to work on that before we say, move up to open and beyond in OCTOBER.

I used the whole flock in the dry lot and worked on me standing next to the fence and calling him through. I had to work on the best way to skin this particular cat because Hoss was very easy to teach inside flanks to, but Nash was a bit more of a challenge. Any time I've tried to pull him off balance, he stresses a bit more and tends to turn in a tight circle before he takes the inside flank. And y'all just know that nothin' says "short bus crazy" and "the trainer scrambled his egg brain" like a dog turning circles when they're trying to do flanks. I can think of lots of words to describe it, but "correct" and "pretty" aren't it.

I discovered that once I pulled him off balance, he did best if I turned my shoulders and body in the direction that I wanted him to go. It really helped to guide him and communicate to him that I wanted him to continue on and finish the flank. Once he started to get the gist of the exercise, I was most pleased at just how squarely he did the inside flanks. He really didn't want to slice in as he went back around and it was very nice work.

Granted, I know that it is going to take a lot more repetition and work in other areas, but hopefully we can keep this momentum going and keep that snowball rolling down the mountain.

Getting back to the right space

2010-09-02T13:37:00.000-07:00

Here I am, again, trying to get back into the swing of blogging on a more regular basis. I have been training the dogs, but have either been too busy or not making the time to journal/blog about it, I'm not sure which is truly the case. I suppose you always make time for the things that are important. (sigh)

August was brutal here, as far as weather and training time was concerned. It was hot. Damned hot. Too hot to work the dogs on most days, and even if I did have lessons, my dogs got pushed to the back of the queue and by that time it was, you guessed it, too hot to work. Some days I would settle for just training Nash, since he will be trialing this fall, then would later feel quite guilty for not working Savvy.

So, as we finally move into September and cooler weather, I am recommitting myself to training/blogging/journaling on a more regular basis. I cannot improve if I do not immerse myself in the process. I've let a lot of things slide in many areas of my life over the past month and I must snap back into my good habits if I want to be successful!

Getting off the res

2010-08-16T13:46:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I had a great opportunity to get my dogs "off the res" and to another farm to work. The BAHA club holds a club fundraiser a couple of times a year at Claudia Frank's farm. For $30 you can work 1-2 dogs as much as you'd like. The farm is beautiful and Claudia has wool and hair sheep, as well as ducks to work.

We arrived early because the day was forecasted to be another scorcher, so I hoped to be in and out of there by noon. One of my students rode along with me, as they are preparing for their first trial experience at their breed specialty next month. A couple of my other herding buddies were also there, so it was a fun morning. It would have been nicer if we hadn't been rushed by the weather, as we didn't get to see each other working much, or much chance to talk, but it was well worth the drive none the less.

I worked both of the dogs on Claudia's woolies, which was a big change of pace for my two dogs. They've pretty much always worked hair sheep, and I had forgotten how differently wool sheep will work. It was a great challenge for both me and the dogs to read and rate the sheep correctly, but once they got the hang of it it was really great.

I worked Savvy in a smaller pen, bigger than my control pen, but smaller than my HT arena. We started by working on driving with her on a line so that I could work on her standing stop (Ho). I haven't taken much time to work on it at home, so I decided there was no time like the present. After some flanking and driving, I worked on just some simple fetching since the sheep worked so differently. They weren't necessarily light sheep, but they didn't really want to come to a handler either, so Savvy really had to work to touch the bubble and balance precisely. It was good work for her, as she tends to want to react more than to be thoughtful at times, so this really forced her to slow down and think.

The second time I worked Savvy in the same small area, we worked a bit on the fetching and the standing stop, then I tried working on her doing small outruns, softening enough to get around the sheep and peel them off the fence. That's when trouble struck. Savvy was getting worried about peeling the big woolies off the fence, so I tried shussssssh-ing her on to get around them and she took that as a cue to dive into the middle of the fray, getting trampled by the massive mob of mutton. Groan.

Now, a normal person would have probably taken note of the dog's reaction to the shushing, but no, not I. I continued to repeat it several times, and each time my trusty canine companion would rush underneath the feet of the nearest sheep. Finally, I pulled my head out of my ass and decided that maybe I aught not make that noise anymore. Huh, who'd have thunk it?

After my eventual revelation, I decided to work on helping her to gain the confidence to go between the sheep and the fence. It took a couple go rounds, but I finally got her to go through a few times in both directions, so we called it a day.

I worked Nash in the larger of the two arenas that were available. It was about the size of my sheep arena, maybe larger. There was an AKC course set up, and there were panels if we wanted to set up some ASCA obstacles, but I passed in favor of just working on the basics in a new area on the woolies.

Since I had discovered while working Savvy that these sheep had a little larger flight zone, I chose to work primarily on Nash's outruns. He started out with his usual trying to beat me crap, but once he realized that we didn't come to a new place to dick around, he quickly got with the program and started giving to me on his flanks. He did some really nice work and took his redirects nicely.

I had to do a fair bit of running him out on the fetch during the first session, but by the second session, the sun had come out and Nash decided that extra mucking about made him warm, so he did some very nice, very thoughtful, very responsive work. His outruns were nice, and his fetching got even better.

So it was a really great morning and I got some good work done with some good dogs on good stock. How can you beat that and still be home by 3pm?

Progress on Ducks

2010-08-06T18:09:00.000-07:00

I've been bad about posting here every time that the dogs get worked, so I am having to skip some stuff to catch up. Most of the work as of late has been on sheep - Nash in the arena and Savvy in the HT arena. Both are making progress but coming up against the inevitable stumbling blocks of moving up into larger arenas and on to more difficult tasks.

Last night and this evening I decided to try to get out and work the dogs on ducks, since it is so much easier for me to get sets sorted out and worked in a short amount of time. Nash had some good work - I set up a center chute to try our hand at a center obstacle and he did it several times with the slow Swedes.

I worked Savvy on another set of Swedes in the duck arena as well, but we fumbled and bumbled. She was wanting to do the same thing on ducks as she was doing in May on the sheep when Tenley was here - zooming to heads and showing little self restraint. I realized afterwards that I needed to put her in a smaller area to work where I could get to her and show her what I expected. She's too stinkin' fast for the big area and she's all the way around before I can get her stopped up.

Today I worked Nash on a set of Runners, to see how he would do working the center obstacle with lighter ducks. He did really well, but bobbled a bit more driving them out in the open since they were quicker and had a smaller balance point. It took a few more tries, but he got them through the chute and he is really starting to show an aptitude for knowing what the task is.

I worked Savvy on a set of Swedes, to hopefully keep things slower, but we worked in the duck yard instead of the entire arena. It worked sooooooo much better. If she was reactive and tried to rush to the heads, I could get her stopped up much faster. It was also easier for me to apply pressure to keep her behind the ducks and fetch them to me. I know that it will take a lot of repetition, repetition, repetition, but at least I know what I need to be doing with her to give her a more solid foundation.

Practical practice

2010-07-31T10:52:00.000-07:00

Last night the weather was perfect for training, but I was in a grumpus mood due to circumstances beyond my control, so I thought it best not to take the dogs out to train when I wasn't "feeling it". I did, however, take Nash out to bring the sheep in from the pasture and once he got them all in I decided to try our hand at doing some chute work for the first time. Why not?

So I had him sort about 7-8 head off from the flock, then we put them in the barn lot and I opened up the wing of the chute. I swear, you would have sworn that dog had done it a hundred times before, because he got them right in on the first try. Granted, these sheep are all very accustomed to being put through the chute, but if a dog doesn't do the work they won't go in.

After they were through the chute, then he got to do some pen work to get them out of the pen that they had been sorted into. If he didn't do a nice job, I would have him re-pen them on the gate side (not running through the chute again), then have him take them out again.

So all in all, he did the chute about three times and worked both of the sort pens several times. It didn't take a long time to do, but it was good practical driving and penning work and it gave him a real job to do. Once Savvy is driving out in the HT arena more, I will most likely have her do it as well on the evenings that she brings the sheep in. That way I'll have a well developed second and third string when it comes to chore time!

Movin' Up

2010-07-30T10:28:00.000-07:00

Wednesday:

It was a day that heated up quickly, so I didn't have a ton of time to work my own dogs after lessons were over. So I worked Savvy in the round pen in between my students' lessons and then I just worked Nash once out in the arena once lessons were over.

Savvy was doing a really nice job in the round pen of getting around her stock without affecting them and driving from one end to the other. I usually have had her drive to the two draws, so this time I had her drive from end to end against the two draws, and I would stand on the opposite side of the draw so she could work the draw side. She did an excellent job and I knew after those two sessions that she was ready to put out in the HT arena again.

Nash and I worked out in the cattle arena on a group of five sheep that were just a tad heavier than trial sheep, just to give him some success in the bigger area. It is nice to work in the cattle arena because there isn't a strong draw like there is in the sheep arena. I don't have any trial panels set up in there yet either, so I just set up two panels in an "ice cream cone" \/ formation in the center of the arena to work on the center obstacle.

We started with just doing some pinwheels and focusing on Nash doing a proper outrun and some short fetches. After a few times on each direction, we moved on to playing with the center obstacle work. It took Nash a second to figure out what I was asking him to do, but once he did it once he got the task and popped them right in. I was really pleased with how Nash did, because he has a much stronger foundation right now than Hoss did when we started doing this exercise a few years back. I have a stronger grasp on what I expect from a dog, and that translates into having a dog that is more able to give me that.

Thursday:

We were blessed with beautiful weather here yesterday and Mark got off work at a decent time, so after dinner I decided to neglect my yard work (again) and take the dogs out to train.

This time I started with Nash first, then Savvy. Reason being, Savvy is now just a few "steps" behind Nash in what she is working on, so it is helpful for me at this point to work Nash first so that I still have that concrete expectation in my head of what we need to work towards.

Since it was much cooler, we were able to work a little longer than we did the day before, therefore we were able to work on a few more pieces this time around. I started with just a small bit of pinwheel work, then let him work on driving the sheep around the course, but not allowing him to crutch on the fence. He drove the perimeter, but was "off the fence", which was nice to see.

After he drove the course, I had him pen the sheep, then we worked on pen work. For whatever reason, he was getting squirrely on his take pen, so I went in with him and we worked on him just sweeping the corners and calming down. The take pen in the cattle arena is larger than the one in the sheep arena, so I'm not sure if that was why he was so jacked up, or if it was just because he hadn't done it in that particular pen yet. Once he had "cooled his jets", I downed him at the back of the pen and made him stay there while I opened the pen and let the sheep escape. He was pretty keyed up at that, so I didn't let him get up and leave the pen until he was calm again.

After that, I had him do an outrun and pick up the sheep as if he was covering on the course out of the take pen. I figured that it was better to do it that way and break each piece down into small bites and do each bit until it was right, rather than smushing it all together and allowing him to make mistakes. I had him drive the course until the sheep were coming around the corner as if they were leaving the second obstacle, then we started working the center pen.

I could/should have set it up better to show him the task and break it up in to another small bite, but I missed the opportunity. Next time I will have him cover out of panel two, then stop him, then go on to work the center. We worked on penning them in the cone twice, then we were done. He did pretty well and really started to get the concept that we were doing this task together and he and I both had a side to work.

I worked Savvy in the HT arena on a group of 5 middle of the road sheep. My main goal was to work on her doing longer drives, but stopping her while she was still going straight. Straight, straight, straight. I also wanted to focus on her doing larger outruns, but still making them correct. The first few times she wanted to rush on the outrun, so I would stop her up each time that she rushed and I wouldn't allow her to finish unless she left calmly and thoughtfully.

She did much better after I set that criteria for her, but then she was doing her old habit of smushing the top of the outrun and flattening out at the last second. So I started watching her toward the end of the outrun and would flick my stick to get her to carry out the rest of the circle. She started doing better, so we fetched around for a bit, then we stopped.

It was a very nice evening to train and I'm so glad that I was able to make the most of the nice weather. It feels so good to be making such nice progress with both of the dogs and I'm feeling better about switching gears between the two of them and giving them each what they need.

Putting it all together

2010-07-25T18:15:00.000-07:00

Well, as of 2 pm yesterday afternoon, the 4-H fair is finally over for this year and I am so very okay with that. It was two weeks long for me and the dogs and their training got put on the back burner for the entire time.

We had a great day weather wise for lessons. It has been in the upper 90's for the past few days, but today a cool front came through bringing overnight rain and this morning the temps were in the upper 70's with cloudy skies and a breeze. Perfect weather for working, well, at least for late July!

I only worked Nash once, mainly because he did a good job and I was completely satisfied with his performance and didn't want to press my luck by working a second time. Usually I'm chomping at the bit to work a second time, but today was not the case!

We worked in the HT arena again, and went straight to working the draw diagonals of the arena. I would have him do an outrun, then drive toward a corner, out him, then start over again and go to the opposite corner. The HT arena has two draws that are opposite each other - the gate and the shady corner. Hence the name the "draw diagonals".

He did a nice job on the draw diagonals, so then I decided to switch things up and have him do the same exercise, but going to the opposite corners. This way is a little more difficult because the dog is having to drive across the draws, but Nash did quite well. I had him do it several times, then we quit.

Mark finally was able to mow the arenas, so I plan to set up an "ice cream cone" in the center of the cattle arena to start training on the center pen / center chute. I still have the "E" course set up in the sheep arena, so I want to start working him on that course as well before it has to come down for the fall trial courses. I'm so excited to start working Nash in the larger areas!

Savvy is still getting put on the back burner a bit while I focus on getting Nash dialed in for the fall trials. I've mostly been using her to switch out sheep during lessons, but taking my time and making sure that she's learning how to do them correctly and not cutting corners.

Today her big lesson was working the pens when they have mud and standing water. She was NOT cool with that! So I went in the pens with her and had her sweep the corners and made sure that she downed in the big water/poo puddle in front of the pen gate. After a bit, she realized it wasn't going to kill her and she got over it. Once the weather cools off more and I have more time to devote to training, I can focus more on Savvy's training and not just fit in little lessons during chores!

Playing Catch Up

2010-07-13T04:24:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was a busy one filled with working dogs, running errands, teaching dog obedience to 12 year olds (sigh), and cake. Lots of cake. Lots and lots of cake. But I digress.

Not sure if I'll get a chance to work the dogs today, but figured I could take the time to post on what we did yesterday. That is, if I can remember it all now.

I worked Nash in the HT arena again. Middle of the road to light sheep. I wanted to keep his outruns consistent, but then added in diagonal drives with the mix. So we started with sheep in a corner, Nash in the opposite corner, outrun, then drive the sheep to the opposite corner. You may recall that I was worried that Nash's drive was suffering a bit from all of the flank/outrun work, well as it turns out I had nothing to be concerned with. His drives were just great.

One thing that has started cropping up that I can't seem to figure out is that Nash is in the habit of not being directly behind the sheep on his fetch. He will be off to one side - his right, my left - and that is causing his fetch to be off. I've tested it in every situation against the draw and it isn't situational to the draw, so I can't figure what it is. No amount of holding my stick out to that side is fixing it either. So, something new to chew on.

Savvy was in the control pen again. Working on small outruns, driving and fetching. Her driving is coming along soooooo nicely. I look forward to having her drive in larger areas, because she really seems to have a nice grasp on the concept. Her fetches are always quite nice as well. She is still wanting to push/mush the very tail end of her outrun and the lift. I apply pressure when she gets to that point to hold her out, and it helps, but she's not to the point of being responsible for it on her own yet. But if it is anything like teaching her to stay on her side of the sheep on the fetch, it's just going to take lots of repetition.

I also think that I need to make time to do more visualization with what Savvy needs to work on, instead of just focusing on Nash. This working two dogs thing is a lot of work!!

Fence Hugger

2010-07-12T04:13:00.000-07:00

I have always been in awe of dogs that would hug a fence to get around their stock. Why? Well, most likely because my dogs didn't do it. Why? Well, because I didn't know what I needed to do to train for it. Or, more likely, I knew how, but wasn't ready to ask for it, expect it, get it.

Well, yesterday, by doG, we got it! Nash was full on, consistently, hugging the fence in the HT arena on light sheep. Yep, light sheep. In fact, I think it worked better on the light sheep because they were more honest and didn't suck him in on the top of the outrun and they forced him to get as far out as he could - hence the fence hugging. It was like Christmas morning to me!

But, with every yin, there is a yang. He is pushing a bit on his lift here and there, so I'm having to keep an eye out on that. I'm going to keep working in the HT arena for a bit longer, to solidify the outruns and work on driving from corner to corner as well. The arenas need to be mowed before I can work in them again, so that will keep me in the HT arena so I don't rush things!

Savvy had a nice day of training too - in the control pen and working in the pens for me during lessons. Her outruns/flanks in the control pen were as nice as I've seen. She is wanting to shove a bit on the top, so I still watch for that. But she is far more relaxed on her outrun and doesn't seem like she's racing to get to the other side as much. Self control is still her number one challenge and it's something that I need to focus on most of all. Just repeating things with her over and over until she learns to be responsible for herself. My mantra for her should be, "Resist the urge!"

Consistent Goofballs

2010-07-10T14:18:00.000-07:00

Yep, my themes for training this morning were consistency and goofiness. A sure fire way to ensure that you're having a good time, me thinks.

I used Savvy a couple of times in the pens to switch out sheep, so I took time with her there to sweep the pens, downing in the corners, and letting her stock escape the pens. I worked her in the control pen after my lessons were over for the morning and my main goal was to focus on calm and thoughtful work, from both of us. It worked very well.

She can usually do very well on her outruns, but then tends to slice the very last piece and/or rushes on the lift -- it all mushes together. So my first objective was to focus on her turning the last head of stock, then downing her before letting her fetch. A few times she was mushing/pushing the top, so I would step through and push her back off. After doing that, she was far more responsive and thoughtful and would get to the top nicely without shoving or slicing. So I would like to continue to get that out of her on a consistent basis in the round pen before we move into larger areas again.

I worked Nash in the HT arena, but this time I got the lightest bunch of wethers that I have - mostly yearlings, with a leader in there to make sure it didn't all go to shit. Ohhhh, it was soooo much nicer with the more honest sheep. Right off the bat, Nash left calmly and took a big arc to get around behind his sheep and fetched them perfectly. I could have quit right there!

Of course, I am the queen of getting excited about my dog doing something nice and losing my brain, so we bobbled a couple of times after that. I called Nash over to me and we took a pause under the trees and regrouped. With a fresh mind, I tried MY best to be consistent and Nash held up his end of the deal. He took one flank after another: large, thoughtful, getting behind his stock before lifting them. He's not to far from literally hugging the fences!

At one point I was so tickled with him that bent down to catch a breath and he wiggled underneath me. I jokingly said, "If you come near me, I'm a gonna get'cha." He snorfed at me, so I picked him up under his belly and held his back legs off the ground. It was a goofy little moment for us, but we aren't able to have those too often. Nash is such a goob, so it's only fitting that I goof with him when he's doing such a good job.

Making Time for Mama

2010-07-09T19:40:00.000-07:00

Well, more accurately, Mama making time for the dogs. Either way, between the heat, the rain, and our crazy summer schedules around here, training has been taking a back set to everything else and I'm gettin' more than tired of it. The fall trials will be here before I know it and I'm absolutely itching to get back out on the trial field again, but I want to make sure that Nash and I are at our very best.

So I've decided to get creative with my training during the busy/hot season by following much of the advice in the Jane Savoie books that I reviewed here and here. I have started by putting "practice" on my to-do-list for the day, so that I'm sure I will set aside time somewhere to do some visualization or watching trial tapes. I am working on visualizing perfect trial runs and gradually adding more detail to my visualizations as I get better at it.

Today I also had some extra time so I watched some trial films too. I found it very interesting how when I first saw those tapes four or five years ago I thought many of those dogs were so lofty, but now I could see holes in their performances or training where I was unable to see that back then. Not to say anything bad about the dogs or handlers, per se, I'm just more aware of seeing the whole picture now.

I was able to get both dogs out to work this evening once Mark came home. I worked Nash again in the HT arena on his outruns and lifts. I'm ready to start getting the lighter ewes out of maternity leave, because my wethers are getting too dogged to be honest and Nash needs honest sheep right now before we move out into the arena. He did good, though, and I was happy with his progress.

Savvy and I had a little better time of it today. Mostly because I got a more clear picture of what I needed to do with her. It's so hard for me to focus on her training right now when I feel so consumed with getting Nash where he needs to be. But at the same time, that lack of pressure on the two of us allows me to take my time with her and not get too wound up if things aren't just so. So I'm just trying to focus on the basics -- mostly getting her outruns calm, supple, and thoughtful. Thoughtful is always a big goal with Sav, because she can tend to swing towards reactivity if left to her own devices. So maybe I need to visualize on that some... huh?

Back In The Saddle

2010-07-04T09:32:00.000-07:00

Had a great day of lessons and training this morning. My students were all making great progress and they put a smile on my face all morning! I also got time to work my dogs as well before it got too hot.

I worked Savvy in the round pen first, because I figured she would need a tune up after being off for three weeks, and wouldn't be ready to go back to the HT arena where she left off. She was doing great at staying behind her sheep, but she was being PUSHY. Had to run her off multiple times.

The second time that I worked Sav, I worked her on seven sheep in the dry lot, to give her a bit more room, but not as much as the HT arena. I ended up working mostly on her outruns/flanks and I really never ended up happy with what we were doing. I think the biggest mistake that I am doing is not getting her to give when she starts. So I need to stop being lazy and get it! Darnit!

Nash made up for it though and put in some really good work for me today. I did some pen work to start off with, with me on the outside of the pen and having him sweep the edges and stopping in the corners. I also used him to switch sheep out for my students, but worked on him doing the chores and pen work with precision, not rushing. He needs to learn to do things the right way, not the fast way, and to be calm and thoughtful. It took some repeats here and there, and some patience on my part, but he is starting to get it.

After my lessons were over, I took Nash down to the HT arena to work on his outruns. The last time I worked him, I finally had some success toward the end of our session with correcting him effectively when he would slice in on the outrun, but he was getting too tired to keep it up. So this time I went in knowing what I wanted to do and what I expected and it helped tremendously.

My goal was to send him from the opposite side of the arena and try to get him to take as much room as he needed to get around the stock without affecting the stock. I first would look ahead to see what path I wanted him to take around the stock, so that I could look ahead as he traveled to know where he should be. Then I insisted that he leave me squarely. If he didn't, I would stop him physically, then redirect him. Once he left squarely, I turned to watch the path he was taking and if he sliced in and started affecting his stock, I would run out to stop him physically, then redirect. It worked like a charm and he was doing really nice, large outruns when we were finished.

My next goal is to get this going well on these sheep, to where he is nearly hugging the fence in the HT arena. I also want to make sure I can get the same thing out of him at other places. Once I can get it reliably, then I think we'll be able to hit the arena again.