Coming off a trial that gave me much to consider I knew that I needed to fix some of the things that I had neglected to solidly proof as we moved up the ranks. Everyone is excited when you finally teach your dog to drive. It's one of those milestones that marks your ability to start trialing with the *big dogs*. Suddenly, Fido gets the concept and off goes the stock and your dog! But what happens when you realize that you still need Fido to get around the stock in the corners to come to the center obstacle or that you need Fido to start taking true inside flanks that can't depend on you being there to help with your body? The trial in Indian proved two things to me without doubt. Diva didn't truly understand inside flanks and what little she did get revolved around me standing perfectly still. As soon as I moved her brain says that se needs to get to balance and she will quit a flank mid go to do so. This made for one blown cattle run where instead of kicking out as I had asked her and coming in behind me to set up for the center obstacle she very neatly balanced and ran the cows right by me (and the mouth of the chute, lol)! I am laughing now but you can bet that at the time I was far from it ;-).
With dreams of a WTCH still fresh in my mind I decided to enter SEMASA's 35th annual Great Lakes Stock Trial on Memorial Day weekend. So when the opportunity presented itself to participate in a Terry Wofford cattle clinic I jumped on it. I have worked with Terry a couple times before including back when Diva was more afraid that not of cattle. This time I knew we had a lot more going for us and I was hoping that Terry could give me some tips to fill in the gaps. I explained to Terry what I wanted to work on and so what he had me set up was first putting the cows in a corner and then pulling them back out. As they were coming out to our imaginary center obstacle I was supposed to flank Diva around and work on getting her to continue that flank until I said other wise. Diva did as I expected and then I did as I expected. What's that you ask? I get flustered, I yell commands louder, and I inevitably change position and try to correct Diva by chasing her on the flank. If you think sounds hilarious then you are right and believe me you should see how it looks! Terry blamed me for moving and said the dog was right, and I blamed the dog and silently accused Terry of not knowing anything ;-). Hahahaha...sorry Terry! So we continued to work on it and when we finally had success we called the first trip in the pen done and made a big deal over Diva. Session two went along better and Diva was getting around in the corner nicely. We were still missing the complete flank though unless I moved to help keep her motion going. On a good note there were so many things that I would normally stress over when working cattle that I didn't have any time to focus on and low and behold Diva did them wonderfully. She held her ground, stayed in the pocket under pressure, worked her cross drive at a good distance, and turned back a challenge from one of the steers. These are all things that a year ago I wasn't sure I would ever see from her on cattle.
At the end of our time with Terry I left knowing what our homework was going to be and how I needed to go about starting. It really wasn't a surprise as it's what I had been thinking myself but getting confirmation from someone of Terry's experience made me feel good about my own growing knowledge in the world of stock dogs.
The Diva Chronicles
Friday, May 10, 2013
The Long Drive Home
I have been sitting on this blog post for more than two weeks now while I gave myself time to digest what happened, what didn't happen, and more importantly why. To say that the weekend was less than spectacular would be an understatement and yet to say it was a wash would be lying.
One of my dearest college friends passed away unexpectedly the Monday before the trial and at only 34 years old. Meghan was a bright and shining star who touched not only my life and my husband's, but our lives as they were first joining together. She had a smile that could light up a room and a laugh that made you want to join in. I think the most shaking thing for me was that I am never going to get to experience those things again and in the last few years I didn't reach out as much as I could have. In a single word, regret.
As if the emotional heartache wasn't enough Indiana decided Spring was over rated and that a dose of winter mixed with 40mph wind gusts would be fun for all. The mornings were bitter cold and the wind cut straight to the bone. I suppose this should be expected since I am convinced trials don't ever happen during nice weather ;-). The good news was the dogs and stock were feeling great. The bad news was that none of us were prepared clothing wise. I ended up wearing a hodgepodge of various items that had been left in my truck which included one of Taylor's winter hats and two different colored stretchy gloves (I think one was Jayden's and the other was mine, lol!). Anyway, as they say, the show must go on and in this case so must the trial.
Saturday's trials were using course F and so with that thought in mind I decided to only enter cattle and ducks. Diva and I were coming off a long winter of very little practice having only worked cows once in January and once at Easter time. Our duck practice was even sketchier with just 15 minutes of work back in January before our time on cattle! So one might question why I chose to not enter on sheep which we had at least 6 practice sessions on in the last 4 months ;-)? The answer is that I simply wasn't sure how the course would run, how the sheep would be, and I didn't want to frustrate my dog. When it comes to stock Diva and I make an interesting pair. I have the most experience with cows and am comfortable working them in all situations while Diva found them scary at first. Ducks I have the least experience with, and am not fond of at all, but Diva loves them and is a very natural duck dog. Sheep seems to be where we log the most hours but I also find them to be the highly variable when going from one farm to the next. From light to heavy, fetchy to flighty, and everything in between. So right or wrong my logic when entering a trial on a course I had never practiced before was to pick the two types of stock we felt the most comfortable with and hope that our combined skills carried us through. I dare say that I also might have had a touch of overconfidence going that I could secure the 2 needed advanced Q's on sheep the next day on course A ;-).
Without picking apart the details of each run I will say this. If you haven't run course F before and your dog is not familiar with driving off of the fence then you will likely find it frustrating and have little success. It is a very tight course, particularly at the free standing pen. Time was also an issue when working cows. Those 10 minutes seemed to go by very fast ;-). Diva and I didn't have a very successful first attempt because we struggled to get everyone going up the middle. I was reminded that I needed to work on teaching Diva to come out of the take pen and cover her cows more effectively so that we aren't starting out with the cows already going down the fence line. On our second go I think we both had a better idea of what was happening and we had a pretty decent run. We managed to get something through every obstacle and put 2 in the free standing pen. At that point time was ticking away and I can remember hearing people on the sidelines yelling, "run!" as I was headed to the re-pen, lol. As it turns out we made it with 14 seconds to spare...phew! When I left the arena the general consensus was that we had likely earned our first advanced Q but truth be told I was on top of the world for just having successfully navigated the course. Diva had worked her butt off for me! At the end of the day course F came out the clear victor with no advanced Q's in 2 trials on cattle.
Day two presented pretty much the same as day 1, bitter wind and cold. At least everyone was in better spirits since we were trialing on course A! The cattle were very happy to go around the fence line but they were no longer waiting for the dog to get around them in the take pen. Instead it was a flying leap to get out even if that ment going over the dog. Diva's new found confidence in doing take pens with cattle suffered a hit but nothing that I don't think we can fix. She was put off her game when the cattle came charging over her and I can't say I blame her. My desire to have her hit and be tough doesn't include having her suddenly become suicidal ;-). I was very proud of how she worked away from me and we had some nice pieces that finally came together and earned our first advanced cattle Q. Our duck runs went much better also and she earned her ATDd title with a very nice 105. I wish I could be as positive about the sheep but unfortunately we had little to no success. Diva was very steady and working at a good distance for her so the drive through obstacles 1 and 2 went pretty well. Where it all fell apart was trying to work the sheep at the center obstacle. They were very reluctant to go in the chute and I watched many a good dog and handler teams struggle at the same spot. For the few who found success the dog had to be way off and lightning fast on switching flanks when told. If you couldn't do this then the sheep would squirt right or left of the opening and haul for the re-pen area. I had not encountered sheep like this before so there were many lessons to be learned but no Q's to be had. I left feeling very frustrated and being a little hard on Diva but once I had time to reflect I was able to see how nice she worked and how hard she tried on those sheep. She is normally a much closer working dog and always stays on her feet so the fact that I was having to push her out behind panels 1 and 2 to work the center obstacle was very hard on her. Despite that she stayed engaged and tried to make it happen for me so what more could I ask for?
So after a long, hard, and emotional weekend I settled in to make the long drive home. 9 hours gives a person a long time to think about what went wrong and why. As is human nature I started out trying to find reasons to justify our failures. Its easy to place blame and deflect responsibility and I am certain we have all done it, even if some people won't admit to it. I wanted to explain it all away by talking about Diva's short comings on each type of stock but eventually I came to this conclusion. Herding is hard. The dog is a reflection of its training, experiences, and genetics. Two of those things are variables that depend directly on the human(s) in their life and what you do with them. The third is the raw talent they are born with but again it's the humans job to utilize these strengths and channel them. What does this mean? That when thinking of success and failure, through a haze of disappointment I might add, the only person I really needed to hold accountable was myself. Stock will be stock and they can change from day to day or run to run. It's all part of the puzzle when you walk into an arena and go about making animals with an independent mind move where you want them to by using yet another animal with an independent mind. Diva can only give me back what I have put into her and yet time and time again I have watched her try to give me more. What does this say about me? I can't take credit for her ability to forgive and exceed but its her love for me that makes her dig deeper when I ask. What I learned as I drove home was that I need to aspire to be the handler my dog deserves and not the other way around.
One of my dearest college friends passed away unexpectedly the Monday before the trial and at only 34 years old. Meghan was a bright and shining star who touched not only my life and my husband's, but our lives as they were first joining together. She had a smile that could light up a room and a laugh that made you want to join in. I think the most shaking thing for me was that I am never going to get to experience those things again and in the last few years I didn't reach out as much as I could have. In a single word, regret.
As if the emotional heartache wasn't enough Indiana decided Spring was over rated and that a dose of winter mixed with 40mph wind gusts would be fun for all. The mornings were bitter cold and the wind cut straight to the bone. I suppose this should be expected since I am convinced trials don't ever happen during nice weather ;-). The good news was the dogs and stock were feeling great. The bad news was that none of us were prepared clothing wise. I ended up wearing a hodgepodge of various items that had been left in my truck which included one of Taylor's winter hats and two different colored stretchy gloves (I think one was Jayden's and the other was mine, lol!). Anyway, as they say, the show must go on and in this case so must the trial.
Saturday's trials were using course F and so with that thought in mind I decided to only enter cattle and ducks. Diva and I were coming off a long winter of very little practice having only worked cows once in January and once at Easter time. Our duck practice was even sketchier with just 15 minutes of work back in January before our time on cattle! So one might question why I chose to not enter on sheep which we had at least 6 practice sessions on in the last 4 months ;-)? The answer is that I simply wasn't sure how the course would run, how the sheep would be, and I didn't want to frustrate my dog. When it comes to stock Diva and I make an interesting pair. I have the most experience with cows and am comfortable working them in all situations while Diva found them scary at first. Ducks I have the least experience with, and am not fond of at all, but Diva loves them and is a very natural duck dog. Sheep seems to be where we log the most hours but I also find them to be the highly variable when going from one farm to the next. From light to heavy, fetchy to flighty, and everything in between. So right or wrong my logic when entering a trial on a course I had never practiced before was to pick the two types of stock we felt the most comfortable with and hope that our combined skills carried us through. I dare say that I also might have had a touch of overconfidence going that I could secure the 2 needed advanced Q's on sheep the next day on course A ;-).
Without picking apart the details of each run I will say this. If you haven't run course F before and your dog is not familiar with driving off of the fence then you will likely find it frustrating and have little success. It is a very tight course, particularly at the free standing pen. Time was also an issue when working cows. Those 10 minutes seemed to go by very fast ;-). Diva and I didn't have a very successful first attempt because we struggled to get everyone going up the middle. I was reminded that I needed to work on teaching Diva to come out of the take pen and cover her cows more effectively so that we aren't starting out with the cows already going down the fence line. On our second go I think we both had a better idea of what was happening and we had a pretty decent run. We managed to get something through every obstacle and put 2 in the free standing pen. At that point time was ticking away and I can remember hearing people on the sidelines yelling, "run!" as I was headed to the re-pen, lol. As it turns out we made it with 14 seconds to spare...phew! When I left the arena the general consensus was that we had likely earned our first advanced Q but truth be told I was on top of the world for just having successfully navigated the course. Diva had worked her butt off for me! At the end of the day course F came out the clear victor with no advanced Q's in 2 trials on cattle.
Day two presented pretty much the same as day 1, bitter wind and cold. At least everyone was in better spirits since we were trialing on course A! The cattle were very happy to go around the fence line but they were no longer waiting for the dog to get around them in the take pen. Instead it was a flying leap to get out even if that ment going over the dog. Diva's new found confidence in doing take pens with cattle suffered a hit but nothing that I don't think we can fix. She was put off her game when the cattle came charging over her and I can't say I blame her. My desire to have her hit and be tough doesn't include having her suddenly become suicidal ;-). I was very proud of how she worked away from me and we had some nice pieces that finally came together and earned our first advanced cattle Q. Our duck runs went much better also and she earned her ATDd title with a very nice 105. I wish I could be as positive about the sheep but unfortunately we had little to no success. Diva was very steady and working at a good distance for her so the drive through obstacles 1 and 2 went pretty well. Where it all fell apart was trying to work the sheep at the center obstacle. They were very reluctant to go in the chute and I watched many a good dog and handler teams struggle at the same spot. For the few who found success the dog had to be way off and lightning fast on switching flanks when told. If you couldn't do this then the sheep would squirt right or left of the opening and haul for the re-pen area. I had not encountered sheep like this before so there were many lessons to be learned but no Q's to be had. I left feeling very frustrated and being a little hard on Diva but once I had time to reflect I was able to see how nice she worked and how hard she tried on those sheep. She is normally a much closer working dog and always stays on her feet so the fact that I was having to push her out behind panels 1 and 2 to work the center obstacle was very hard on her. Despite that she stayed engaged and tried to make it happen for me so what more could I ask for?
So after a long, hard, and emotional weekend I settled in to make the long drive home. 9 hours gives a person a long time to think about what went wrong and why. As is human nature I started out trying to find reasons to justify our failures. Its easy to place blame and deflect responsibility and I am certain we have all done it, even if some people won't admit to it. I wanted to explain it all away by talking about Diva's short comings on each type of stock but eventually I came to this conclusion. Herding is hard. The dog is a reflection of its training, experiences, and genetics. Two of those things are variables that depend directly on the human(s) in their life and what you do with them. The third is the raw talent they are born with but again it's the humans job to utilize these strengths and channel them. What does this mean? That when thinking of success and failure, through a haze of disappointment I might add, the only person I really needed to hold accountable was myself. Stock will be stock and they can change from day to day or run to run. It's all part of the puzzle when you walk into an arena and go about making animals with an independent mind move where you want them to by using yet another animal with an independent mind. Diva can only give me back what I have put into her and yet time and time again I have watched her try to give me more. What does this say about me? I can't take credit for her ability to forgive and exceed but its her love for me that makes her dig deeper when I ask. What I learned as I drove home was that I need to aspire to be the handler my dog deserves and not the other way around.
Sunday, April 7, 2013
Nothing Exciting...And That's A Good Thing!
Maintaining a blog can be hard work. Especially if you are trying to keep it fresh and interesting. I try to keep mine honest also but that doesn't always make for the most informative or exciting read. It is a struggle to decide what is "blog worthy" and what is just re-hashing the same ol' same ol' on a different day. I honestly wasn't going to write anything about our sheep working session this past Friday for a couple of reasons. 1.) I have no videos or working photos to share. I don't know why, but for me to want to present something to people I also feel like I need a visual aid to go along with it :-/. And 2.) Nothing exciting or new happened. This got me thinking though that not every time you work do you have a break through or do something new. This in itself is an important lesson for those who are moving up the ranks to learn and plays big into handler expectations. So Friday for me was neither an epic failure nor did any fireworks go off. We came, we worked, and this is the way it went.
Hog Dog is down to just 7 workable sheep at the moment due to lambing. These 7 are all of last years ewe lambs that were not bred and though they have been worked regularly for many months without a more seasoned ewe, or two, to anchor them they don't always make the best choices. Nothing as wild and crazy as some sheep might do but they are lighter that what you typically get at Hog Dog. I actually love working them alone as it offers a lot of awareness opportunities for Diva who can get rather complacent working on what to us is home turf. I didn't have a set training plan for Friday but as usual we started the work session by going out and gathering our sheep in the big pasture. Once we had them gathered I had Diva drive them down to the lower fields and we split them into two groups. Diva doesn't rate very naturally and as we were driving down the field she seemed to have lost the concept of a straight line walk up in favor of flanking to make motion. I decided to put her in the field with the sheep while I stayed outside at the gate and just let her go do her thing and be "responsible". This is a great exercise for her and for me! I always want to say too much and she likes to look at me more than she should. As an extra bonus I forgot my stick over by my truck so I had nothing to wave around like a wild woman, lol!
The first couple of minutes Diva just went and fetched the sheep to where I was outside the gate. Typical of her she just pushed them right to me and when they didn't stop she pushed them on past and was forced to get around them again and bring them back. I let her work at this for a few attempts before I pointed out that she needed to get back and actually watch the sheep to hold them to the gate ;-). Once I was sure that she was thinking more about her position I started having her drive them to various spots in the field and in particular to the one corner they don't like to get into. This was very hard for Diva because I wasn't in the field to help her hold a side and she lost them several times before we had any success. To get that success I was forced to move down the fence line to put myself in a more natural position (though I remained on the outside of the fence). After we accomplished getting them into the corner I wanted to practice a little exercise there using the gate to the small pen. Basically I was just having Diva drive the sheep into the small pen, then stopping at the opening to hold them in a down (or sit as directed), and then sending her in the small pen to bring them back out and do it all over again. She took them in and out a few times and I was happy with how she was able to work independently without me in the pen. To finish off we worked on inside flanks and getting some very direct straight line walk ups to drive the sheep away. As soon as I got a really nice walk up we quit and I made a big fuss about her.
So there you have it. Nothing exciting happened...and that's ok :-). Also, I will leave you with a few non working photos to look at because I just can't seem to bring myself to have a text only blog post ;-).
Hog Dog is down to just 7 workable sheep at the moment due to lambing. These 7 are all of last years ewe lambs that were not bred and though they have been worked regularly for many months without a more seasoned ewe, or two, to anchor them they don't always make the best choices. Nothing as wild and crazy as some sheep might do but they are lighter that what you typically get at Hog Dog. I actually love working them alone as it offers a lot of awareness opportunities for Diva who can get rather complacent working on what to us is home turf. I didn't have a set training plan for Friday but as usual we started the work session by going out and gathering our sheep in the big pasture. Once we had them gathered I had Diva drive them down to the lower fields and we split them into two groups. Diva doesn't rate very naturally and as we were driving down the field she seemed to have lost the concept of a straight line walk up in favor of flanking to make motion. I decided to put her in the field with the sheep while I stayed outside at the gate and just let her go do her thing and be "responsible". This is a great exercise for her and for me! I always want to say too much and she likes to look at me more than she should. As an extra bonus I forgot my stick over by my truck so I had nothing to wave around like a wild woman, lol!
The first couple of minutes Diva just went and fetched the sheep to where I was outside the gate. Typical of her she just pushed them right to me and when they didn't stop she pushed them on past and was forced to get around them again and bring them back. I let her work at this for a few attempts before I pointed out that she needed to get back and actually watch the sheep to hold them to the gate ;-). Once I was sure that she was thinking more about her position I started having her drive them to various spots in the field and in particular to the one corner they don't like to get into. This was very hard for Diva because I wasn't in the field to help her hold a side and she lost them several times before we had any success. To get that success I was forced to move down the fence line to put myself in a more natural position (though I remained on the outside of the fence). After we accomplished getting them into the corner I wanted to practice a little exercise there using the gate to the small pen. Basically I was just having Diva drive the sheep into the small pen, then stopping at the opening to hold them in a down (or sit as directed), and then sending her in the small pen to bring them back out and do it all over again. She took them in and out a few times and I was happy with how she was able to work independently without me in the pen. To finish off we worked on inside flanks and getting some very direct straight line walk ups to drive the sheep away. As soon as I got a really nice walk up we quit and I made a big fuss about her.
So there you have it. Nothing exciting happened...and that's ok :-). Also, I will leave you with a few non working photos to look at because I just can't seem to bring myself to have a text only blog post ;-).
Lambie cuteness. This ewe had twins but rejected the smaller one.
Another view of the big ram lamb
Unfortunately momma didn't want the little black ewe lamb. She is now a happy bottle baby :-)
No stick is to big, lol!
Diva posing for a picture in NY
Another staged photo in front of the pond
Now that's a happy working dog!
Saturday, March 30, 2013
Bring on the cows!
Every trip to up to NY I always make a point of getting over to Dawn's to get in some cow time. This trip it was particularly important because we have a trial coming up and this will likely be our only chance to work cows before then. My focus for today was to work on our take pen skills and just establish more confidence in close quarters. The last time we worked cows was back in January and Diva did a very good job of working the off side and taking control. She has become very fond of getting to the heads and turning her cows but I have yet to get the much coveted heel grip. If we had more access I think that she would eventually get it but I can't say I am unhappy with how she is working and therefore I am confident that we have enough skills to make a bid for our WTCH in April.
Below are a sampling of videos from today though some of the better work that came near the end I didn't capture. What we were doing was using a set of gates, small pens, and two fields to work. The idea was to have Diva push the cows from one pen to the next, back and forth, and then out into one field or the other while maintaining control and immediately turning them back and re-penning. I wanted her to get comfortable applying pressure and holding it as she has a tendency to want to bounce out of the pocket and go to the heads. In the first video she did a nice job of pulling them out of the pen but she lost one when it came to covering in the field. The next time she was faced with same task she covered better and the calves turned immediately and we re-penned.
We also did an exercise in the smallest pen where I went out and then Dawn and I were both (from opposite sides of the pen) encouraging Diva to move the cows and grip. We made a lot of exciting noise and offered encouragement for every time she got close but in the end she hit the heads (and a couple of shoulders :-/) but no heel grips. On the bright side she ducked kicks appropriately and didn't take any hits and for that I am always happy.
Saturday, March 2, 2013
Spring Is Just Around The Corner...
Seven weeks. That's how long it had been since we worked stock until yesterday, March 1st. I have committed myself to going out to Indiana to trial in April and to be ready for that Diva and I have to get out and dust off the cobwebs. The time for softness and excuses has passed. We are 5 Q's away from a WTCH and I want it so bad I can hardly stand it. Perhaps after the first one I won't feel so much excitement about the next? Who knows, but I am not too ashamed to admit that at this point and time it is foremost in my mind.
When we got out to the farm yesterday the workable sheep were out in the large pasture. Most of the older ewes are separated now into the back pasture with the ram for lambing time so what is left are a few ewes that are pregnant but not as close to lambing and last years ewe lambs. A total of 11 sheep which gave me plenty to work with. I started Diva by gathering the sheep and then working on flanks out in the large pasture. Diva has a notoriously strong sense of balance and it can be hard to remind her that she must continue on her flank until I say otherwise. Particularly to the go bye side. It's the basics that make the whole and so I find myself wanting to re-visit and polish good flanking, "there", and walk up. Once I accomplished what I wanted in the pasture I had Diva drive the sheep down to the smaller fields and sorted sheep off into various areas. I put the 3 older ewes and one lamb in the round pen and 3 lambs back out into the big field. After a short break I took Diva back out in the large field with the 3 lambs and worked on driving and inside flanks. There is a free standing pen out in this pasture and it wasn't long before the lambs figured out that they could use it as a shield. It was a great opportunity to get Diva taking her flanks and walking up so we worked at it until she was able to push them past the pen without them cutting around it and coming over to me. After getting them driving up the field I had her navigate the lambs through the panels and around the cone. This was all done out in the open and off the fence line. We took another short break and then went in and worked the ewes in the round pen. This is a pretty small area and with very fetchy broke sheep it was a nice way to work on inside flanks again and challenge Diva to keep them driving while I stayed stationary in the center. For not having worked in a so long I couldn't have been happier with how she did!
Rae came down to Hog Dog and joined me which was another wonderful part of getting out to work stock. She brought along with her a 6 month old puppy that belongs to a friend and is visiting for some training, Esme. Those who know me know how much I adore watching first exposures. I find it so interesting to see the raw product! I ended up taking Esme in to the round pen with some nice broke sheep to give her a first exposure to stock. She showed a lot of interest for a 6 month old puppy but naturally she wasn't 100% secure working with me(a stranger). To help her get comfortable after the first time in the pen we brought in Diva to show her the ropes. Diva likes to work with other dogs and she really thinks its fun when I am not on her case about working to close or cutting her flanks ;-). Below is a video of Diva and Esme having a good time!
When we got out to the farm yesterday the workable sheep were out in the large pasture. Most of the older ewes are separated now into the back pasture with the ram for lambing time so what is left are a few ewes that are pregnant but not as close to lambing and last years ewe lambs. A total of 11 sheep which gave me plenty to work with. I started Diva by gathering the sheep and then working on flanks out in the large pasture. Diva has a notoriously strong sense of balance and it can be hard to remind her that she must continue on her flank until I say otherwise. Particularly to the go bye side. It's the basics that make the whole and so I find myself wanting to re-visit and polish good flanking, "there", and walk up. Once I accomplished what I wanted in the pasture I had Diva drive the sheep down to the smaller fields and sorted sheep off into various areas. I put the 3 older ewes and one lamb in the round pen and 3 lambs back out into the big field. After a short break I took Diva back out in the large field with the 3 lambs and worked on driving and inside flanks. There is a free standing pen out in this pasture and it wasn't long before the lambs figured out that they could use it as a shield. It was a great opportunity to get Diva taking her flanks and walking up so we worked at it until she was able to push them past the pen without them cutting around it and coming over to me. After getting them driving up the field I had her navigate the lambs through the panels and around the cone. This was all done out in the open and off the fence line. We took another short break and then went in and worked the ewes in the round pen. This is a pretty small area and with very fetchy broke sheep it was a nice way to work on inside flanks again and challenge Diva to keep them driving while I stayed stationary in the center. For not having worked in a so long I couldn't have been happier with how she did!
Rae came down to Hog Dog and joined me which was another wonderful part of getting out to work stock. She brought along with her a 6 month old puppy that belongs to a friend and is visiting for some training, Esme. Those who know me know how much I adore watching first exposures. I find it so interesting to see the raw product! I ended up taking Esme in to the round pen with some nice broke sheep to give her a first exposure to stock. She showed a lot of interest for a 6 month old puppy but naturally she wasn't 100% secure working with me(a stranger). To help her get comfortable after the first time in the pen we brought in Diva to show her the ropes. Diva likes to work with other dogs and she really thinks its fun when I am not on her case about working to close or cutting her flanks ;-). Below is a video of Diva and Esme having a good time!
Girls Weekend In PA
For those of you who follow this blog I guess it's not hard to figure out I have had little time for training this winter. To add to that, Diva tweaked a muscle in her right front leg at Thanksgiving time and spent 6 weeks on restricted exercise. By the time the holidays were over I was jonesing for some training time and to hang out with the girls! We ended up planning for the second weekend in January that involved spending Saturday at Amanda's working stock and then Sunday staying at Kelly's to work her sheep and ducks.
Diva hadn't been on any stock since Thanksgiving so my plan for Amanda's was to give her some duck and cattle time. We worked the Call ducks first as a easy way to warm up and she did very nice. A bit fast to start but settled in well. My main purpose was to widen her out some and work on keeping her flanks square. This has always been a challenge for us on ducks. I almost hate to admit this but given how naturally she took to working ducks it's something I haven't put much training into. I know there is much debate about the weight that duck titles are given towards earning a WTCH and that many true stock people don't take them seriously. While I don't love working ducks I do appreciate it much more than even a year ago.
When it came our turn to work the cattle I asked for 3 head in the smaller PT field. I love working the cows in that size area as it lets me stay close enough to help and also gives plenty of chances for Diva to get them out of the corners. Diva came out all business with the cows and wasn't taking no for an answer. She did it by barking, as is her default way, but it was effective because her posture was authoritative. Amanda came by while we were working and made a comment about how much stronger she was and putting herself in the right place. It had been about 6 months since Amanda had last seen her on cows :-). Diva no longer hesitates to work on the opposite side of the cattle from me and she loves to get to the heads. There were a few spots where she was looking like she wanted to hit the heads but Amanda's cows are smart enough to know when to turn away ;-). All in all I was happy to see how she handled the cattle.
Unfortunately when it came to Sunday at Kelly's I had to bow out without working Diva. When I woke up that morning I knew something wasn't right and with in an hour I was certain that I was sick and only going to get worse. I made the 2 hour drive home with a fever, the chills, and stopped to be sick twice. It was the most miserable I have been in a long time. A trip to the DR. the next morning confirmed I had the dreaded flu :-(.
Diva hadn't been on any stock since Thanksgiving so my plan for Amanda's was to give her some duck and cattle time. We worked the Call ducks first as a easy way to warm up and she did very nice. A bit fast to start but settled in well. My main purpose was to widen her out some and work on keeping her flanks square. This has always been a challenge for us on ducks. I almost hate to admit this but given how naturally she took to working ducks it's something I haven't put much training into. I know there is much debate about the weight that duck titles are given towards earning a WTCH and that many true stock people don't take them seriously. While I don't love working ducks I do appreciate it much more than even a year ago.
When it came our turn to work the cattle I asked for 3 head in the smaller PT field. I love working the cows in that size area as it lets me stay close enough to help and also gives plenty of chances for Diva to get them out of the corners. Diva came out all business with the cows and wasn't taking no for an answer. She did it by barking, as is her default way, but it was effective because her posture was authoritative. Amanda came by while we were working and made a comment about how much stronger she was and putting herself in the right place. It had been about 6 months since Amanda had last seen her on cows :-). Diva no longer hesitates to work on the opposite side of the cattle from me and she loves to get to the heads. There were a few spots where she was looking like she wanted to hit the heads but Amanda's cows are smart enough to know when to turn away ;-). All in all I was happy to see how she handled the cattle.
This sequence shows her confronting a challenge and then moving to drive the group off
Always time for a "Barbie"moment. Say cheese!
Unfortunately when it came to Sunday at Kelly's I had to bow out without working Diva. When I woke up that morning I knew something wasn't right and with in an hour I was certain that I was sick and only going to get worse. I made the 2 hour drive home with a fever, the chills, and stopped to be sick twice. It was the most miserable I have been in a long time. A trip to the DR. the next morning confirmed I had the dreaded flu :-(.
Monday, November 26, 2012
Time Off And Training Retention
We're back! Back to stock work that is ;-). Diva and I have been taking it easy for the last couple of months while I adjusted to life as a working Mom/Wife. We have probably only worked sheep a handful of times and done absolutely nothing with ducks or cows since Tee Creek. Fortunately all of that changed over Thanksgiving vacation while we were up in NY. I always make a point to work at Dawn's when we are up there and after having our break through on cows at her place just before Tee Creek I was excited to work her calves again.
I had some doubts as to what 3 months off would mean for Diva's confidence level and fully expected to have a dog that was needing help and bouncing away from the pressure. After all she had only just come into herself when it came to cows back at the beginning of August. What I saw from her then was exciting but I also knew that to get that advanced cattle title WE had a lot of work to do. My plan for this trip to Dawn's was pretty simple...I just wanted to see where she was and have a nice experience. I was pleasantly surprised to find that nothing had been lost and some new things had magically been found!
From the get go Diva was willing to get around the cows and "fetch" them. She was working her side with confidence and no running back to me for support. I spent a few minutes just letting her move them around and establish control. Her big dog bark was in full effect but she wasn't nagging. There were a couple of times when I thought she was going to hit but despite getting down low with her shoulders she keeps her head up and looks just below the hock. I really hate to encourage a grip here as it is dangerous waters. I think that she would have hit a head but Dawn's calves are very compliant so the face off opportunity never really occurred. Diva loves the heads though and this training session allowed me to see that there is a teaching opportunity to be had when it comes to turning the heads and waiting instead of rushing in and barking.
I had fully expected to spend that first trip in the pen building back up to where we were but Diva did so nicely I found myself in a place I haven't been on cows before. I actually needed to come up with an exercise and do some fine tuning for a very specific result! In this case the most important thing a dog that is moving up from open to advanced can have is the ability to successfully peel the stock off of the fence. This skill is what makes for a smooth take pen and great set up to the center obstacle. Up until now I hadn't really had faith that if I sent Diva around to the other side that she would even commit fully and follow through. I had used her ability to hold the 45 degree angle while driving on the fence and my presence to peel the cows off the fence during our open runs. It had been a demonstration of our partnership but it isn't how I want our future runs to look. So with that in mind we worked a very simple and basic driving exercise of moving the cows down the fence and then having Diva get between them and the fence to get to the heads and turn them back around. I was supposed to try and stay stationary if possible and really let Diva do the work. The first couple of attempts didn't get the desired result as Diva just couldn't seem to make the space she needed to get along the fence line. What would happen then is she would miss the corner and the cows would continue to drive on down the next straight section of fence. The go bye side was noticeably more sticky than the away. Finally on our third try going away she got the break she needed and made it to the heads. What she didn't do was turn them and wait patiently ;-). Instead she took all of her excitement and charged at the heads barking like crazy, lol! So on the next pass down the fence I needed to prepare better for when she made it and get her to stand and hold. This took some timing and I found that my encouragement to get her in along the fence made for a very pushy dog on the heads. We worked this for a few times and in the end I got one beautiful go bye side with a wait and hold which was a good place to stop for the day.
What I learned from this is that it's ok if life sometimes gets in the way and you have to take some time off. Is it better to work regularly, of course, but the reality of being a hobby stock dog trainer is that things come up. Dogs have an amazing ability to retain information and I think this is especially true if you end on a really good experience. The old saying of "Put em' away and let them think on it." certainly comes to mind. We've had our break but it's time to get serious again. This spring I hope to finish Diva's WTCH so it's full steam ahead!
I had some doubts as to what 3 months off would mean for Diva's confidence level and fully expected to have a dog that was needing help and bouncing away from the pressure. After all she had only just come into herself when it came to cows back at the beginning of August. What I saw from her then was exciting but I also knew that to get that advanced cattle title WE had a lot of work to do. My plan for this trip to Dawn's was pretty simple...I just wanted to see where she was and have a nice experience. I was pleasantly surprised to find that nothing had been lost and some new things had magically been found!
From the get go Diva was willing to get around the cows and "fetch" them. She was working her side with confidence and no running back to me for support. I spent a few minutes just letting her move them around and establish control. Her big dog bark was in full effect but she wasn't nagging. There were a couple of times when I thought she was going to hit but despite getting down low with her shoulders she keeps her head up and looks just below the hock. I really hate to encourage a grip here as it is dangerous waters. I think that she would have hit a head but Dawn's calves are very compliant so the face off opportunity never really occurred. Diva loves the heads though and this training session allowed me to see that there is a teaching opportunity to be had when it comes to turning the heads and waiting instead of rushing in and barking.
I had fully expected to spend that first trip in the pen building back up to where we were but Diva did so nicely I found myself in a place I haven't been on cows before. I actually needed to come up with an exercise and do some fine tuning for a very specific result! In this case the most important thing a dog that is moving up from open to advanced can have is the ability to successfully peel the stock off of the fence. This skill is what makes for a smooth take pen and great set up to the center obstacle. Up until now I hadn't really had faith that if I sent Diva around to the other side that she would even commit fully and follow through. I had used her ability to hold the 45 degree angle while driving on the fence and my presence to peel the cows off the fence during our open runs. It had been a demonstration of our partnership but it isn't how I want our future runs to look. So with that in mind we worked a very simple and basic driving exercise of moving the cows down the fence and then having Diva get between them and the fence to get to the heads and turn them back around. I was supposed to try and stay stationary if possible and really let Diva do the work. The first couple of attempts didn't get the desired result as Diva just couldn't seem to make the space she needed to get along the fence line. What would happen then is she would miss the corner and the cows would continue to drive on down the next straight section of fence. The go bye side was noticeably more sticky than the away. Finally on our third try going away she got the break she needed and made it to the heads. What she didn't do was turn them and wait patiently ;-). Instead she took all of her excitement and charged at the heads barking like crazy, lol! So on the next pass down the fence I needed to prepare better for when she made it and get her to stand and hold. This took some timing and I found that my encouragement to get her in along the fence made for a very pushy dog on the heads. We worked this for a few times and in the end I got one beautiful go bye side with a wait and hold which was a good place to stop for the day.
What I learned from this is that it's ok if life sometimes gets in the way and you have to take some time off. Is it better to work regularly, of course, but the reality of being a hobby stock dog trainer is that things come up. Dogs have an amazing ability to retain information and I think this is especially true if you end on a really good experience. The old saying of "Put em' away and let them think on it." certainly comes to mind. We've had our break but it's time to get serious again. This spring I hope to finish Diva's WTCH so it's full steam ahead!
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