Back To Work!

   Though not entirely intentional it was good to have a  couple of weeks off after doing such a big trial. My original idea was to just take a week but while we were up in PA at a friend's party Diva managed to rip and blister her paw pads pretty badly. Some liberal applications of Tuff Foot took care of the issue and so it was time to get busy thinking about the training we need to do to get that WTCH. 

   In prepping for the Tee Creek trial I had been focusing on working lighter more trial like sheep. In light of that when I made plans to go out to Hog Dog this past Tuesday and work I was surprised at how heavy the sheep were and the stress it was causing Diva to walk straight in and push on them. She was confused about their seemingly lack of a "bubble". In the defense of the sheep they had just been worked the day prior for a full day of lessons which always heavies them up and in general they are just very calm sensible animals. It was a good training opportunity and something I need to remember to re-visit periodically. 

  To start our work session there were 10 ewe/lamb pairs out grazing in the large field. I was excited to see that the ram wasn't out with them which gave me the opportunity to send Diva on a LONG gather. I wish I had the camera with me because it never fails to make me smile to be able to send my dog 600 yds+ over a hill to get the sheep. If the sheep are out of my sight I never give her a flank command. Instead I just tell her to go out and bring them, leaving it up to her how she accomplishes the task. This farm is also blessed with very thick lush grass that is still knee high so it's fun to watch how Diva would leap and prong in all directions while she worked out where the sheep were. I could tell the moment she found them though because she took off like a rocket and disappeared over the hill. I guess you could argue that this might be "ruining" her outruns in general since there is no way for me to see her or correct her from this distance but the way I look at it is that I sent her out there because I trust her and what matters in the end is that she delivers the sheep safely to the arena gate....which she does :-). 

   Once we had our sheep in the arena I sorted off some of the ewes into the shelter pen in hopes that i would have the lightest sheep possible and to maybe make a draw. Lol, neither was very effective because even the lambs in this flock are very sensible. Using the wings from some agility jumps I went about setting up an ASCA A and B course so I could do a couple of video demos for a friend who is thinking about doing started level soon. Without a take pen and re-pen I had to improvise but I think it was visually enough to show the basic workings of a course at started level. You will see where Diva was not as willing to walk straight up on these sheep and a few times when she was doing little avoidance behaviors indicative of stress. Eventually she was able to work through it but I admit I was annoyed at her not doing something I thought should be easy for her. So without further ado, here are the two videos. I set them to music because there was an agility class going on at the same time and the barking was pretty loud at times. Keep in mind this arena is a bit small to be a ASCA sized arena. 

   ASCA Course A demo (minus the take pen since we have none)

ASCA Course B demo

Where To Go Next?

   In the afterglow of having such a successful weekend I also started thinking about what the next step for us is. There are a tempting number of trials in the next 6 weeks however none of them are very close to home and aside from that I think that Diva and I have some work to do before we step into the advanced cattle arena. So what are my plans? 

   In regards to myself I need to go through some remedial handler training. It's funny how "we" work so hard to train the dog but often forget our part when push comes to shove. Time and time again this weekend I was reminded that when it came to working the center obstacle I was the weakest link in our team. There is a lot of thought and strategy that goes into being successful there and I need to work on my on the spot problem solving. When I did remember to capitalize on Diva's strong fetching and sense of balance I usually ended up with the stock being delivered straight to where I needed them. This was definitely the case on ducks and something that likely cost me getting that 2nd leg of advanced on Sunday. I also need to be more aware of my position and what it communicates to Diva as well as remembering to say what I mean and mean what I say ;-). The last thing that I am committed to working on is remembering that I need to keep all of this training light and fun for Diva. She is not a serious dog and I make leaps in progress when I praise vs. scold. Coincidentally I think this may also be something I should work on with my children ;-). 

   For Diva the things that I feel we need to work on between now and our next ASCA trial are her off balance flanks and coming into me without slicing. I would also like to improve on and proof her standing stop, which I needed on sheep and didn't always get (Diva likes to take a few additional steps). And of course we also need to spend a lot more time on cows building on her confidence and getting a real grip when needed. Unless she offers it herself I will probably wait until I am in NY next with Dawn to start working on her gripping. Hopefully that will be sometime early October and then again at Thanksgiving. In the meantime when I next get up to Amanda's to work her cows I plan on focusing on take pen work. 

   Fall also brings around a few agility trials so it's back to regular classes for Diva and I. Stock can be so fun for me and time consuming that I forget that besides a WTCH we are also chasing dreams of an ATCH!

Tee Creek: Day 2

   
   It's amazing what a shower and some food can do for your mood! At the end of day 1 the heat had pretty much taken it's toll so it was nice to be able to relax and enjoy a nice meal with friends after a refreshing shower. On Saturday night we got a taste of what Sunday would deliver with pouring down rain and a nice lightning show. No one can say that Ontario Canada didn't present us with some weather challenges ;-). When we woke up Saturday morning the temperature had dropped by about 10 degrees but the ominous dark clouds and spitting skies didn't bode well. They decided to run the same format as day1 with cattle and ducks going simultaneously and then move on to sheep. Diva and I were making the move up to Advanced ducks and Open cattle for day 2. Gone were the nerves. They had been replaced with a sense of calm and purpose. 

   Ducks: Day 2 for the ducks was a completely different feel. The ducks were basically done with the trialing game and your dog had to be exact. The room for error was very tiny and in most cases as soon as they cleared the first panel they made a beeline for the back fence. Diva was just a little to pushy so we had to adjust a couple of times before we got them going down the fence to panel 1. I also made a very bad handler error when it came to set up for the center obstacle. Diva has a very good sense of balance and is a pretty strong fetching dog. Instead of staying on the right side of the center chute I moved over to the left which had the ducks missing the center and splitting between Diva and myself. Things got messy and the ducks got stuck at the back fence so we didn't get any through the center. No Q for our first advanced run. On the second go I was determined to utilize my dogs natural talents and I got a group of ducks that was pretty decent. Diva walked and the course flowed very nice. I remembered to stay to the right of the center and when I flanked Diva on the away she brought them straight to me and 3 went right through the center while 2 skimmed. I was so excited and made a big deal over Diva after the re-pen. We ended up with a nice score of 103 and our first leg of ATDd!

   Cattle: As luck would have it the cattle were appreciative of the cooler temps and the misty weather so I thought that they worked as well on day 2 as they did day 1, if not a little better. Our first cattle run was so nice and I do have a video of it to share below. Diva was working fantastic and she was definitely growing in confidence. I was able to send her out to cover and she did so easily. We got 2 through the center and got our first Q. When it came time for the second cattle run Diva was still working great. We drew a group of all Dexters and since we were the last cattle run of the day they were moving a bit pokey. Diva really had to push and I was very proud of how she stayed committed to the task and got things done. There was one point at the re-pen when I thought she might grip but she was still looking high and in the end I think it's better that she didn't. While the scores weren't terribly high I was still so proud of the way Diva had worked. She Q'd all 4 cattle runs over the weekend and on Sunday we earned her OTDc. 

   Sheep: What can I say about the sheep on day 2? Did they improve? No, and to add to the chaos the skies opened and the lightning flashed. I really thought about pulling my runs there was so much lightning going on. It really didn't give you a good sense ease to be standing in the middle of the field with your hand on a metal gate ;-). Just like day one the sheep bolted from the take pen towards the first panel but today I had a new plan. Instead of sending Diva on a go bye and bringing them down I just told her to walk up and trusted her to go with the sheep while I closed the gate. I was soaked and I didn't really want to stand around any longer than necessary. It worked great and Diva was very good about staying on contact without chasing. The cross drives on both runs went well but on run 1 I buggered my chute set up (again, lol!) so we only got 2 through. On the second run my brain was back and I stayed on the right side while Diva fetched them straight to me and 3 went right through. You take what you can get under conditions like those and so we re-penned and got the heck out of dodge so to speak :-). I really only needed the 1 leg in Open sheep for a title and could have moved up for that last run to advanced but when it comes to the last run out of a 12 run weekend with stormy weather I just didn't care! There are always more trials and Diva had done so well she had nothing left to prove to me or anyone else.   With my clothes and dog soaked completely I closed the last gate and gave Diva a huge smile. 2 Q's and OTDs but even better than that was the fact that Diva rose to the occasion and worked for me even when the going got tough.

   So all total for the weekend Diva earned her STDc, OTDdsc, and one leg of ATDd. She Q'd 9 of 12 runs with 2-1st, 1-2nd, 2-3rds, and 3-4ths. Both judges scored pretty tough but in the end I can appreciate that for what it is. I learned a lot about working the center chute and have a good idea of what it is I need to work on before we step out again in advanced. 

Open Cattle: Score 96 under judge Neil DeShazo  

Tee Creek: Day 1

   In the days preceding Tee Creek I wrestled with nervous excitement. On one hand I was worried that we weren't prepared and on the other I knew that we had logged the hours and paid our dues. Trialing to me takes courage. It requires the confidence to go out there and let not only the judge but everyone else at the trial judge you. For me this moment seemed big, perhaps bigger than it really was. I have made a bit of a reputation for myself by finding these working situations on Craig's list and working primarily on my own so for me this trial was my chance to prove that 1.) I am not crazy ;-), 2.) Diva is a nice working dog, and 3.) Hard work pays off. No one likes it when people talk about them but I have to say it hurts me so much more to think that someone might be talking badly about my dog. Ok, so maybe I am a little crazy :-). Anyway, by the time Saturday morning rolled around I was all tied in knots and couldn't wait to just get that first run behind us. 

   The format they decided to work with was to run ducks and cattle simultaneously and then switch judges and do it again. Once that was over we would break for lunch and then move on to AM and PM sheep run back to back. Ontario saw fit to provide us with record heat and humidity for the day. 95 degrees with humidity levels in the high 70's. So by the time you took your dog out to potty you were dripping with sweat. Thank Heaven for Kelly's RV with the AC cranking!

   With 6 runs per day I am going to condense a little. A total play by play would end up being a short story instead of a blog post ;-). 

Ducks: They were a heavier bodies breed with lots of hens mixed in. On Saturday morning they started out working ok but the dog really had to have almost a completely flat footed walk and you could not over flank. Our first run was in Open and Diva wasn't taking her "steady" as well as she should have. The drive to panel 1 was a bit start stop and I didn't set myself up right to help Diva at the center obstacle. Our group of ducks ended up scattering and despite our efforts to regroup once they hit the back fence it was hard to pull them back up. We did not get any through the center obstacle and didn't get a Q. The 2nd duck run (also Open) went some what better as Diva had decided she could walk when asked and I handled the center obstacle better. This group of ducks stayed together pretty well and we did get 2 through the center for a Q that earned us her OTDd title.

Cattle: The cows were pretty nice but if your dog got in their face to much once they set their mind to run to the back fence there wasn't much stopping them. Overall I thought they were fairly cooperative if the dog would hold pressure and they were very good about not kicking in tight quarters. Our first run was when my stomach really started doing flip flops. Diva was in started cattle and my hope was to Q every run this weekend. I had made up my mind that I was going to go in the take pen with Diva regardless how she was acting because the take pen can be so key on cattle. What happens there often sets the tone for the rest of the run. We drew a nice group for our first run and Diva got a little strong in the take pen with her bark but everything went very smoothly around the course and I was able to hang back and "practice" my set up for the center obstacle in preparation for hopefully moving up on Sunday. We lost a fair amount of points on the control to the repen/repen when our nice little group did some running. I had a moment of indecision about whether to send Diva out to cover or elect to tell her keep "walking up" and have her tail gate some. In the end I choose to let her tail gate because I wasn't certain that if I sent her to cover she would stay committed. We did eek out a Q. On the 2nd run I had the confidence of a decent duck run and the morning cattle run to help me out. Diva was also feeling pretty good so we went out, took charge, and never looked back. She ended up with a nice started score of 86 and 1st place for her STDc title!

Sheep: The sheep at Tee Creek were wired from the get go. By far the lightest sheep I have ever worked and it made for an interesting predicament when it came to the 1st panel. Every group reacted exactly the same. When you would open the take pen and send your dog in the came absolutely flying out and bolted all the way down through panel one before they stopped. Very few dogs were able to cover without the sheep running into the fence so what most handlers did was flank the dog on a wide go bye and bring them back down before starting their run. It was rather odd considering that once you did that the sheep settled pretty well. If your dog had a decent steady and would hold the 45 off the fence you were ok. Diva's first Open run was ok but my set up at the center obstacle was a fail. I found myself not doing anything that I had planned to do and was standing in the mouth of the center chute, lol! We didn't get any through despite me being there because when I finally settled the sheep and had them ready to go through instead of getting out away as I asked Diva took 3 steps straight up before turning her head and it was just enough to have the sheep skim the chute. No Q for that run but a good lesson learned! By the time we got to the last sheep run of the day Diva was hot, I was miserable, and we both just wanted to lay down. Once again the sheep rocketed to the first panel so I kicked her out on a go bye and brought them back down before starting the drive. She did a great job walking steady and had a gorgeous cross drive. Coming through panel 2 the sheep bolted but Diva was able to cover and turn them back just after they passed the center chute. We steadied things up and managed to get 2 through the center. Not the prettiest set up but I was happy. Got a Q and earned her 1st leg of Open sheep. 

   On day one Diva earned her STDc, OTDd, and one leg of OTDs. She Q'd 4 of her 6 runs. 

Count Down To Tee Creek

   This past weekend was the Willoughby Stock Dog Club's ASCA trial at Tee Creek in Ontario, Canada. It was also set to be my biggest trial weekend of the year since Diva and I will not be attending ASCA Nationals in California. With the weather preceding this trial being hot and humid I wasn't able to work as much as I wanted to but I was able to get over to Dawn's house on Wednesday after I made it into NY. 

   Training with Dawn and Amanda is always fun and Dawn really has great stock, especially her calves. Working the cows was my main priority since I knew that is where we get the least exposure and Diva needed the most confidence. Almost as soon as we arrived we decided to get down to business and put 3 of the calves in one of the small pens (30'x50'). Diva went in and right off the bat started her bark and bounce away from the pressure. It was such a fine line between wanting to force her to stay on contact and knowing that I should just close my mouth and let her work it out on her own. Dawn suggested that we move the calves out to the trial sized arena and see if things went better out there. While she did drive them around some she was still checking in and not fully committed to the task at hand. I admit I was frustrated and feeling like I may have been setting us up for failure by entering the cows at Tee Creek. From working the calves we came out and proceeded to hangout with Dawn, Amanda, and the other dogs while everyone took turns working the cows and then sheep. Diva was good on her sheep but she also seemed to be a little slow on her flanks. 

   When it came time for us to work the cows again I decided to put them back in the smaller pen and really work on just letting her get comfortable being close. I really didn't want to get on her for barking since that is where her power was coming from. What happened when we went in the pen will probably be forever imprinted in my mind because it was such a 180 from the work session just a couple of hours earlier. Diva was intense, she was applying pressure, and for the first time ever she was offering to go around the cows and work on the opposite side from me! I think that every one's mouth was hanging open and I know we were all smiling watching her take control and work the calves. It was like a light had come on in her mind! We were only in there for about 5 minutes because it was so good I wanted to end on that note. Dawn, Amanda, and I made such a big deal over her when we walked out and she was definitely riding an adrenalin high. We ended the day with working ducks and practicing getting them into the center pen. When it comes to center obstacles I am by far the weakest link ;-). 

   On Dawn's suggestion I decided to pop back out to her place on Thursday night to work the calves again and see if we couldn't build off of our success on Wednesday. With three calves back in the small pen I went in with Diva and waited to see what she would do. She went right around and pulled the calves off the fence and was wearing nicely as she fetched/drove them around. There was one point when I asked her to walk up on a calf with it's head down to turn it and she really got in it's face. Dawn and I were both giving her lot's of encouragement and making "get it" noises when she finally decided to hit the nose! Talk about a party! I was so excited and made a huge deal over her. We continued working in the small pen for a few minutes more and Diva was very keen to go to the heads now. What we observed in her technique was very interesting. When she went to hit heads she got down very low and slid in but when it came to applying pressure on the heels she was still staying upright and looking at the hocks. I really didn't want her to get kicked just as she was gaining some confidence so we didn't encourage her to hit the heels. At some point I am going to have to get her watching lower but right before a trial weekend isn't the best time to start training something like that, lol!

   After we gave her a chance to rest we took the calves back into the trial sized field and started practicing elements of the courses. My hope was that Diva would move up from started on Saturday to open on Sunday so I needed to develop a game plan for getting the cows to the 2nd panel. I wasn't 100% sure that Diva would stay committed on the cross drive while I positioned myself farther down the fence line ready to help turn the heads but when I tried it the change in Diva was very clear. Even when I had to jog to get to my spot she stayed driving the calves and she took her flanks deep into the corners adding bark when necessary. Instead of dread I was now excited to see what the weekend would bring. I can not begin to explain what being able to go out to Dawn's in the days preceding the trial did for Diva's and my confidence. I have said this before but my journey and successes are based largely around the great people who offer me support along the way. I always try to express my gratitude but I still worry that they don't understand exactly how much this means to me. Whether it be the people who share experiences and video via the Internet, those friends who have stock and let me come out to work, or the many who offer encouragement and support. Each and everyone has contributed to the building blocks that I hope to continue to grow from as a handler and trainer. Thank you all!