This post is late getting here since our girl's day actually happened more than a week ago but as they say, better late than never. I can't tell you how much I needed to get out and have some fun and what better way to do that then with Kelly, Rae, and Nancy! This was Nancy's first time down to work at Hog Dog so I hope she enjoyed it as much as we all did.
I have said this a few times already but the great thing about not having to accomplish anything is the lack of stress that it brings when working Diva. I simply love getting out there and just enjoying our time doing whatever it is that comes to mind. I decided to give the blind outrun a try since the sheep had seen us getting out of the cars and decided to head over the hill to the farthest corner of the pasture. Diva has worked very little but I love testing her and this task is one of the things that I have access to that really validates Diva's working ability. Without owning my own farm or ranch most of our "work" is done inside an arena or pen but Hog Dog's main pasture allows for a unique experience. Each time I send Diva out over that hill and across a pasture that is nearly a 1/4 of a mile I get a euphoric feeling. I stand there watching her head up and she always looks back a few times to make sure she is doing the right thing and then poof, she disappears and the wait begins. Somewhere over there are 25 or so sheep with my dog and I can no longer see anything. I have to trust that Diva is treating the sheep fairly, that she is rounding them up, and that she knows her task is to bring them back to me. I do, and I should, because out there with no human around it's instinct combining with training that is guiding her and she has all of the tools that she needs. The waiting feels like forever but when I finally see sheep coming over the crest it's a proud moment. Diva brings the sheep straight to the gate and in they go to the smaller field to get ready for sorting. I have yet to do it but one time I would love to put the video camera on the tripod viewing the top portion of the pasture just so I can actually see what happens after Diva leaves my sight. Obviously the sheep are gathered and no one is hurt but I am curious as to what method she uses to get the job done? Does she make an adjustment to her outrun once she locates the sheep visually or does she stay true to the command I gave? If it's the former will the video show that her decision was the right one given where the sheep are? I almost always tell her "away, go get your sheep." when I send her because where the gate is located the closest fence line is off to my right and I want her to cast out and hug the fence so she makes a clean gather. This bit of large field gathering came in very handy when she finished her OFTm. On that day I also sent her away and she kicked out so wide all the way to the fence and had a gorgeous outrun and lift.Very pretty! Hog Dog has been a crucial part of our journey and as we are nearing the end of 2014 I figure I should mention exactly how blessed and thankful I am to be able to work there.
Once everyone got there the fun began. Kelly and I had wanted to see if Raven would work for me so I took her out to sort and gave it a go. It was a very short attempt that proved even for a Aussie that appears to "live to work" it's still about living to work with their person. I have to admit though I was a bit surprised. Raven apparently loves me but not enough to work with Kelly standing where she can see her. As I was laughing and giving Raven back to Kelly Singe came charging out to greet me so Kelly said to try her. Again, it was a no go. I am loved but I am not "the one". So like a good sport Kelly then took Diva out to "work". Surprisingly Diva was happy to work with Kelly as long as Kelly didn't give her a correction. Corrections can come only from me apparently ;-). It was interesting to watch Diva with Kelly and I have no doubt that if I wasn't around Diva would settle in and really apply herself. I also am curious if Raven's tune would change should I take her out to work cattle. Guess maybe we can try that at our next girl's day ;-).
So there you have it. Just a beautiful December day spent with good friends chatting and working dogs. It's the simple joys in life that heal the soul and Diva and I love spending time with our friends!
The Diva Chronicles
Friday, December 26, 2014
Monday, December 8, 2014
WAV Trial
This post will be short and sweet...I think ;-). I don't have any pictures or videos to share of Diva but she did an amazing job in her sheep runs at the WAV trial at Keepstone farm in Berryville, VA. I hadn't planned on entering this trial just going out to take pictures and catch up with Kelly, Rae, and Nancy but a couple of sheep runs opened up and I figured what the heck! Diva already has her WTCH and we aren't trying to make a go for finals points so it was purely for fun...and that is awesome!
Diva did what Diva does best (ok, one of things she does best ;-)) which is go out and settle light stock. She may lack grip and not be super stylish but she can bring calm and peace. For these sheep the bubble was big and they couldn't tolerate over flanking. In both runs Diva had decent flow, the sheep walked, Diva walked, we made all of the obstacles with all of the stock, and had controlled re-pens. The one area I managed to mess up both times was coming from panel two to the center pen. Diva had the sheep nice and calm at the second obstacle and as they came through instead of telling her go bye get around I told her away get around...derp! So what I ended up with was the sheep coming through panel two and then Diva catching their heads and holding them on the fence until I had the good sense to send her the proper direction! Totally not her fault as she did exactly what I asked but it lost us the chance for that picture perfect line from obstacle two to the center pen and it made us have to actually work a little more to get them in the pen (which we did :-)). You would think after all of this time I would be able to know my go bye's from my away's but sadly that isn't always the case, lol. So we ended up with a score of 100 for the first run and a 113 for the second.
Did I mention how much I love my dog? Only worked 3 times in the last 5 months and still manages to put up decent scores! That'll do Diva!
Ok, so I can't have a blog post without a picture, right?! Nancy, Spunk, Kelly, Singe, Rae, and Catcher. The black bi working dogs of the Mid Atlantic ;-). Love you all!
Diva did what Diva does best (ok, one of things she does best ;-)) which is go out and settle light stock. She may lack grip and not be super stylish but she can bring calm and peace. For these sheep the bubble was big and they couldn't tolerate over flanking. In both runs Diva had decent flow, the sheep walked, Diva walked, we made all of the obstacles with all of the stock, and had controlled re-pens. The one area I managed to mess up both times was coming from panel two to the center pen. Diva had the sheep nice and calm at the second obstacle and as they came through instead of telling her go bye get around I told her away get around...derp! So what I ended up with was the sheep coming through panel two and then Diva catching their heads and holding them on the fence until I had the good sense to send her the proper direction! Totally not her fault as she did exactly what I asked but it lost us the chance for that picture perfect line from obstacle two to the center pen and it made us have to actually work a little more to get them in the pen (which we did :-)). You would think after all of this time I would be able to know my go bye's from my away's but sadly that isn't always the case, lol. So we ended up with a score of 100 for the first run and a 113 for the second.
Did I mention how much I love my dog? Only worked 3 times in the last 5 months and still manages to put up decent scores! That'll do Diva!
Ok, so I can't have a blog post without a picture, right?! Nancy, Spunk, Kelly, Singe, Rae, and Catcher. The black bi working dogs of the Mid Atlantic ;-). Love you all!
Tuesday, December 2, 2014
All I Can Say Is...WOO HOO!!
Thanksgiving, a time to give thanks for who and what you have in your life.
I know I am guilty of not always taking the time to appreciate the little things but I would like to believe that after Scott's heart attack I have made leaps and bounds in that area. Not only am I appreciating the bad times as much as the good (hey, it's better to argue and have the chance to make up than not, right?! ;-)) but I have really settled into an understanding of what's important and what's not. This calm has spread into my work with Diva and I think the positive affect is incredible. I wrote about just having fun last time and how it made everything better and guess what, it worked again! Now I know this isn't rocket science so forgive me if you are reading this and have already reached this enlightened point but out there are people who still haven't. So here it is, just give thanks for the dog you have and appreciate the time you have together. The rest will fall into place and I bet you and your dog will be happier in the long run. Simple. Don't covet what someone else has, don't try and force your dog into being more like so and so's dog, train the dog you have because that is what will make you a great trainer/partner and that is what bring out the best in your dog. I found my smile again while working Diva and when I took the time to look down Diva was smiling back up at me.
So what happened last Wednesday that has me all excited? Diva and I went out for a girl's day with Dawn and Amanda in NY. Dawn has an excellent hook up for working cattle so we headed over there first. It is mostly Dexters with a couple of dairy heifers thrown in the mix. My expectations were pretty low given that our last time working cattle was months ago and on some very tough stock. I had managed to end on a decent note but I was having to support Diva a lot. So when I sent her to out to get her group I was pleasantly surprised at how bold and confidently she went. I couldn't help but smile because I had a lot of dog! Diva was making space on the fence, covering wide and fast, and she was being appropriate with pressure and release. To say that she was working awesome would have been putting it mildly. Diva has always been good at driving cattle but making space and pulling them off a straight area on the fence is hard for her. She usually isn't willing to make a space and she would rather bounce out of the pressure. On this day she had no issues what so ever getting around the cattle and cutting off the attempts to break for the draw. So what was different? I have a list of things I think played a factor. 1.) I wasn't trying to achieve anything other than to have fun. No pressure. 2.) I left my stick in the truck. This is something I may do from now on when I am training. I can't tell you how many times I have waved my stick at the stock and had it influence Diva in the wrong way. It's distracting and honestly waving it around or banging it on the ground doesn't help me or her all that much. I wouldn't say this will work for every dog and handler but it does work better for Diva and I. And 3.) Diva is fit. She is very lean from all of the frisbee we have been playing. Last time I weighed her she was down to 37lbs which is pretty good for a 20.5" bitch. This is a whopping 5lbs less than what she weighed this summer when we last worked cattle. She was slow and sluggish then which I played off due to stress and heat (which still may have contributed) but let's face it, less fat equals less bulk to move around and feeling better. Whatever the factors might be Diva was on and she was amazing!
Once we finished with the cattle it was back to Dawn's house to work sheep (after a hot chocolate break of course). Diva did a nice job with the sheep and I took the chance to add in a little work on her shedding. I have come to realize that for Diva to really focus on the sheep it's best if I can set up a situation where I am not a big part of the picture. We have done the part where the sheep are in balance to me and I call her through to split them. She does it with no issue because Diva isn't bothered by pressure from sheep but she also does it while watching my face and awaiting the next command. This is a vicious cycle that has me giving her more commands which in turn has her watching me more. What it boils down to is a mechanical shed and a frustrated handler and dog. This is not what I want when I go out to work so I have been trying to think of something different. Last time at Hog Dog I used the fence and a large group of sheep to just get her walking into them with me behind her (if she can't see me she isn't watching me ;-)). She did great with that step so at Dawn's I figured I could try with a much smaller group but using the same idea. My only goal was to find the point when Diva kind of locked in to the task and really shedded off the sheep herself. I got a short video clip of that moment thanks to Amanda. I am still saying far more than I want to but it's obvious in the video when Diva really gets it. In time I will hone this and then start adding myself back into the picture but for now I am beyond pleased with her progress.
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I know I am guilty of not always taking the time to appreciate the little things but I would like to believe that after Scott's heart attack I have made leaps and bounds in that area. Not only am I appreciating the bad times as much as the good (hey, it's better to argue and have the chance to make up than not, right?! ;-)) but I have really settled into an understanding of what's important and what's not. This calm has spread into my work with Diva and I think the positive affect is incredible. I wrote about just having fun last time and how it made everything better and guess what, it worked again! Now I know this isn't rocket science so forgive me if you are reading this and have already reached this enlightened point but out there are people who still haven't. So here it is, just give thanks for the dog you have and appreciate the time you have together. The rest will fall into place and I bet you and your dog will be happier in the long run. Simple. Don't covet what someone else has, don't try and force your dog into being more like so and so's dog, train the dog you have because that is what will make you a great trainer/partner and that is what bring out the best in your dog. I found my smile again while working Diva and when I took the time to look down Diva was smiling back up at me.
So what happened last Wednesday that has me all excited? Diva and I went out for a girl's day with Dawn and Amanda in NY. Dawn has an excellent hook up for working cattle so we headed over there first. It is mostly Dexters with a couple of dairy heifers thrown in the mix. My expectations were pretty low given that our last time working cattle was months ago and on some very tough stock. I had managed to end on a decent note but I was having to support Diva a lot. So when I sent her to out to get her group I was pleasantly surprised at how bold and confidently she went. I couldn't help but smile because I had a lot of dog! Diva was making space on the fence, covering wide and fast, and she was being appropriate with pressure and release. To say that she was working awesome would have been putting it mildly. Diva has always been good at driving cattle but making space and pulling them off a straight area on the fence is hard for her. She usually isn't willing to make a space and she would rather bounce out of the pressure. On this day she had no issues what so ever getting around the cattle and cutting off the attempts to break for the draw. So what was different? I have a list of things I think played a factor. 1.) I wasn't trying to achieve anything other than to have fun. No pressure. 2.) I left my stick in the truck. This is something I may do from now on when I am training. I can't tell you how many times I have waved my stick at the stock and had it influence Diva in the wrong way. It's distracting and honestly waving it around or banging it on the ground doesn't help me or her all that much. I wouldn't say this will work for every dog and handler but it does work better for Diva and I. And 3.) Diva is fit. She is very lean from all of the frisbee we have been playing. Last time I weighed her she was down to 37lbs which is pretty good for a 20.5" bitch. This is a whopping 5lbs less than what she weighed this summer when we last worked cattle. She was slow and sluggish then which I played off due to stress and heat (which still may have contributed) but let's face it, less fat equals less bulk to move around and feeling better. Whatever the factors might be Diva was on and she was amazing!
Once we finished with the cattle it was back to Dawn's house to work sheep (after a hot chocolate break of course). Diva did a nice job with the sheep and I took the chance to add in a little work on her shedding. I have come to realize that for Diva to really focus on the sheep it's best if I can set up a situation where I am not a big part of the picture. We have done the part where the sheep are in balance to me and I call her through to split them. She does it with no issue because Diva isn't bothered by pressure from sheep but she also does it while watching my face and awaiting the next command. This is a vicious cycle that has me giving her more commands which in turn has her watching me more. What it boils down to is a mechanical shed and a frustrated handler and dog. This is not what I want when I go out to work so I have been trying to think of something different. Last time at Hog Dog I used the fence and a large group of sheep to just get her walking into them with me behind her (if she can't see me she isn't watching me ;-)). She did great with that step so at Dawn's I figured I could try with a much smaller group but using the same idea. My only goal was to find the point when Diva kind of locked in to the task and really shedded off the sheep herself. I got a short video clip of that moment thanks to Amanda. I am still saying far more than I want to but it's obvious in the video when Diva really gets it. In time I will hone this and then start adding myself back into the picture but for now I am beyond pleased with her progress.
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