Fresh Beef...On The Hoof Of Course!

    Thanks in part to Kelly's great initiative we all ended up at a relatively local, meaning in the Mid Atlantic region (LOL!), farm to work cows this past Sunday. This farm regularly hosts AHBA and AKC trials and there is talk that next year one of the region's ASCA clubs may put on an ASCA trial there. Yipee!

    We were graciously given free rein to use cows for the afternoon which is something I know everyone appreciated. Cattle opportunities are far and few between so having fresh stock to work is exciting. The farm is home to a variety of breeds so there was a lot of fun to be had when sorting groups and figuring out how they all worked. If you haven't worked dairy cattle before they don't tend to stay together as well as their beef counterparts. Further more there were three types of dairy cattle, Holstein, Guernsey, and Jersey. My experiences raising bull dairy calves has left me with a rather well develop dislike for Jersey's. I think it is their deceptively sweet eyes that war against their often opinionated nature. As babies I dare you to look at one and not want to hug it! But what is the fun in life if you can't in good humor give your friends a hard time? So naturally as Kelly was helping me sort off my group I ended up with the Jersey and two Holsteins ;-). Diva was doing a nice job moving the cows around and we put them through the various obstacles that were set up a few times. The cattle moved very nicely off the dog and despite trying to set up a nose grip opportunity they just never really needed one while Diva was out there. We did at one point lose one of the Holstein's to the back by the re-pen/draw  and when I started to move in to push the cow out of the corner Diva suddenly decided she was going to come in full throttle and "help" me. This resulted in the calf making every attempt to not step on Diva while he hit the fence with his shoulder trying to get away. I really hate to lose my cool but let's suffice it to say that Diva got scruffed up and endured the walk of shame out of the arena without a chance to fix her mess. Probably not the best choice but there have a been a couple of times on cows since Diva gained her confidence that she has suddenly decided to get naughty and I want to nip it in the bud!

    After spending her time out in the truck away from everyone she came out much improved and working awesome! I made a point of telling her how good she was frequently and we celebrated together with her bouncing all over me and making silly noises. That is the great thing about Diva. She really does take emotional correction to heart but as soon as you find a place to praise she is 10x better. I was working on sending her all the way around in the corners to make a space on the fence and each time she was successful she would fly over to me and leap in the air with a huge grin on her face. Happy dog! She continues to be much more successful on the away side but we were able to end on a very pretty go bye into the corner which made me happy.

   

 

 

A Sheeping We Will Go

   I am rejuvenated! Not that I wasn't enthusiastic before but all of the pressure is now gone and I can look forward to what's next... an ASCA farm trial! I love farm trials! Diva needs 1 leg to get her OFTDm title and I think we are in a good position to wrap that up nicely. We are two weeks out from that trial and my plan is to get Diva thinking "sheep" and chores.

   Today I was able to meet Rae at the Renn Farm to work and assess where Diva's mind is at. The good news is she was VERY steady and calm on her sheep. The bad news is that due to me dialing down on her she is back to looking at me a lot on the drive :-/. Also, our old nemesis of not completing her flanks until told otherwise (especially on the go by side) reared it's ugly head. She just loves to get to balance and bring them to me ;-)! I mainly worked on getting wide continuous flanks and she did get much better. My thought is that if I re-visit this enough in the next couple of weeks it will stop being an issue. We also worked on straight walk ups which is something of a pet peeve of mine. I have seen so many dogs in a trial situation that can't just walk straight into pressure and it teaches the stock to lean on the dog. What you end up with is a dog that has to constantly flank to make motion and/or the stock are zig zag around. Diva doesn't have a lot of power but I want her to use what she has effectively and it is my observation that if a dog comes in straight, holds, and waits 9 times out of 10 the stock will turn away even if the dog doesn't have a bite. This definitely works on sheep and it also works on cows. Patience, patience, patience! I need to continue to polish this in Diva as sometimes she wants to flip away or take a few steps either direction before walking in. This is often enough to turn the heads away from where they need to go.

  Overall I was pleased with her work today. Maryland has brought August weather back in full force so it was humid and rainy but she kept working and did a nice job of settling sheep that hadn't been worked by a dog much. The little bit of pen work we did today was also decent but before the farm trial I will have to make an effort to do some gate sorting and serious pen work practice. More pressure exercise! ;-)

We Did It! New WTCH Diva! *Part 2*

   Sunday morning my entire demeanor was different. I was of course riding the high of WTCH'ing the day before and also enjoying the feeling that nothing was riding on our performance today. Don't get me wrong, I still wanted good scores but there is a difference, in my opinion at least, between wanting something and needing it ;-).

   Our first draw was a really nice and workable group of all Herefords and as I was walking in to the arena I was thinking I had things pretty much in the bag. Diva did a decent take pen and the group went straight up the fence towards obstacle one with no break in motion. However for whatever reason Diva suddenly decided just before obstacle one that she was dying to eat some grass and cow poop. Talk about infuriating! Here I am with my new WTCH and she is acting just as casual as can be on this drive. My group of cows was being very good and had she not been off contact they were willing to move along a nice pace. After I yelled at her to get out of it she did go back in to work and had a decent cross drive. We got all three cows through obstacle 2 as well and once again despite there being an opening on the fence for her to go through on the away Diva decided she just couldn't come to head when it was just as easy to fetch them to me :-/. I laid her down while I moved myself to block the cows. My intent was to stop things, re-organize, and send her around on a go by to do what we had done in other runs. What happened though was as soon as I started making motion to stop the cows Diva had a ye-haw idea and rushed in doing a drive by on the heads which pushed the cows right by me and past the opening to the Y. I sent her around to stop them which she did but when I asked her to walk up she once again blew me off and took a cheap shot. I actually couldn't believe that she was doing this and I know at one point I yelled outloud, "You are such a bad dog!" :-). I finally managed to get 1 in the center but Diva wasn't even trying to listen at this point and so I did what I had to do. I yelled at her to lie down, said thank you to the judge, and walked her off the field without finishing the run. She went straight into the ex pen and believe me I had a few choice words for her that left her with no doubt about my unhappiness. I suppose in looking back I could have finished and re-penned the stock. It would have been a Q had I done so but I felt in that moment that I needed to make a point with Diva. Once I had a chance to cool down some I could appreciate the significance of the fact that Diva now has enough confidence on cattle to be naughty.

   Between the first and second run I made up with Diva and we had ourselves a little discussion. It was foreign territory for me to have to dial down on her when working cattle but I wanted her to show the patience and strength she has had in training leading up to this. Our draw for the last run was a group of Hereford/Dexter crosses that had been some what challenging all weekend. There was one amongst the group that didn't like to stay with the others and they leaned on the dog a bit. Diva's take pen was very good but as they came out each cow went a different direction. It took us quite a bit of work and patience to get everyone back together and to that first panel. Diva was having to work each cow individually, walk up on the head, and wait. I was actually very proud of her for this work and the pictures from this run show a very engaged dog. Once we got them through panel 1 they drove well on the cross drive and all went through panel 2. This time Diva listened and we were able to get a decent set up for the center with 2 out of 3 going through. She did a fantastic push off the -re-pen gate and that was that. In the end our score for this run was the lowest of the weekend (100) because we did have to spend so much time and effort getting to the first panel but from my view it was the best work she had done all weekend!

   So now what? Diva and I have many adventures still ahead of us and though I was very focused on finishing her WTCH I also realize that there is always something to work on. We have a farm trial coming up near the end of the month and I also have my eye on heading to GA in the late fall in hopes of getting her RTDcs. Up until now I have done very little AHBA but that is another venue we will be exploring.

   Before I wrap this up I just want to say thank you to everyone who has supported me along the way. Without this network of friends and family I would not have been able to reach this goal. First, my husband. I know he really can't understand why this is important to me but he does recognize that it makes me happy and he supports that. Second, the lovely ladies who I am proud to call friends. Kelly, Rae, Dawn. We work in the rain, the heat, the cold, and the mud and we do it with a smile on our faces :-). Thank you for never letting me give up and for offering advice, encouragement, and places to work livestock! There are many more people who have played a role and I hope they will forgive me for not mentioning each and every name individually in the interest of saving space ;-). I thank you all!

 

We Did It! New WTCH Diva! *Part 1*

   You can cry for many reasons and along this journey I have cried my fair share of sad tears and frustrated ones. Today, after getting home from the Tee Creek weekend, as I was editing photos, I finally cried some happy tears. It all came pouring out as I re-played my runs in my head, our successes, our failures, and what it took to get here. Overcoming obstacles and finding our way to this, the golden ticket so to speak...her WTCH. And then I remembered one of my favorite Dr. Seuss quotes (and we all know how much I like Dr. Seuss :-)). "Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened." I haven't really stopped smiling since. Besides, it's not really over anyway. Not by a long shot. I could get very mushy if I stayed on this path of thought but I know what everyone is waiting for is the play by play of our runs so with out further ado let's begin!


   Saturday morning the AM cattle trials were set to run back to back and such is my luck I was drawn to go first. To further heighten my anxiety I noticed as I was waiting to go in that I had drawn a group with a steer that was familiar to me from last year. This particular steer would challenge the dog if it was pressured to much. I had this big game plan about where I was going to position Diva before opening the take pen and where I would stand to influence the cows but the cows seemed to have missed the memo and just went around me, lol. Diva was a little barky and not as willing to get deep into the take pen as I would like but I can't say that I blame her when all 3 head of cattle are staring at you with their butts firmly tucked into the corner. Diva went out and rounded up the cows to start the drive to panel one which went very smoothly. We got all 3 through the first set of panels and she executed a pretty nice crossdrive. The group did stop at one point but she quickly got things going and brought them through obstacle 2. When it came to setting up for the center I opted to flank her out on a go-by and then have her come up behind me and around so we could do a parallel drive to the center. All three cows went through and her re-pen was independent and wonderful. The relief I felt at the end of that run was incredible. While I couldn't find out my score I was fairly certain that we had gotten the needed Q to finish her WTCH. I was right of course and she did it in style with a nice score of 113!

 

 

Drive to obstacle 1

 



 

 

   For our second run I drew a group of all Dexter's that worked very nicely. Diva had a nicer take pen and our run was pretty smooth with everything going through obstacles 1 and 2. Again the set up to the center was our weakest link mostly because Diva wasn't taking her away side flank all the way to the heads to turn them. One of the steers ended up ahead of the group so I had to rush over to the fence to hold him while Diva continued to work the remaining two. We ended up with two through the center but it could have been better if we had clicked a little more. In hindsight I was doing a cardinal sin of center obstacles and that was standing to close to the opening which pressured the stock and made it harder for Diva to get the job done. Despite that it was a very nice run with a score of 103 under judge Chris Caldwell.

    With the WTCH in the bag we headed back to the hotel and out to dinner to celebrate! Commence the party ;-)!

Diva and Parfait. The hottest two WTCH dogs at the trial :-)



Gorgeous and Smart!



 

Every stock dog needs a little time play

 

 

So Excited I Can't Sleep!

After all of the talk and planning the Tee Creek trial is finally here. My stomach is doing flip flops and the excitement level has been rising. Yesterday Diva and I went out to Dawn's to get in one final pre-trial tune -up on cattle and things went very well. Diva was doing really nice in the pen work. Her confidence level is way up and I am no longer cheerleading. In fact now I am having to tone her down in some places. This makes me smile :-). Our first go on the cattle she was in full on drive mode. She happily put on her big trot and took the cows all around the arena (on the fence) but "forgot" that I needed her to make a space coming off the second panel so that we could set up for the middle. On one hand I was happy to see she felt good enough to blow me off and the other I was  annoyed to see her get sucked into the motion and forget that she can "fetch". How amusing that a year ago I complained about my fetching dog that was hard to teach the drive to ;-). I decided to re-pen the cows and take a break to re-group because I really didn't want to yell at her, especially after the nice pen work.

  The second time in the arena I changed my game plan entirely. Forget the big picture and trying to practice the course. What I needed to do was remind Diva she can get around the cows when asked AND continue her flanks until told otherwise. She did a really lovely take pen and I must pat myself on the back for finally remembering to open the gate and then position myself (and my stick) in suck a way that the cows started out the direction I wanted them to! It's only taken Dawn 3 years to get this through my head ;-). *Thanks Dawn!* From there I immediately sent Diva out to cover which she did but it was slicey. From there I started doing the half moon exercises on the fence and periodically asked her to try and make a space on the fence. The first time she was able to get through on the away side I threw her a party which really pumped her up. We did this both directions until I could see her confidence at making a space on the fence really growing. Then it was time to put some more control back on her by asking her to walk slowly into the heads and wait for them to move off. She did a very nice job of this and as luck would have it one of the cows decided no to turn away. I couldn't see from my vantage point but Dawn had a very clear view and when I told her to get a hold Dawn said she went in and nailed him good on the nose! We decided that was as good a place as any to call it quits so we put the cattle away and went to relax for a bit.

   Just for fun Dawn put her 4 Geese in the duck arena so that I could see how Diva reacted. She had been very interested in them from the moment we pulled in and she heard them honking. When I asked her to get around her eyes got big as saucers and you could tell she thought she had just won the duck lottery! This was the first time I had worked Geese too and I was pleasantly surprised by how nice they are to work and how honest they were! The dog needed to be correct but even if they were to pushy as soon as the dog backed off they settled. We worked on getting them through the center Y chute which turned out to be a fun challenge. The set up had to be just perfect and a few inches made for near misses. Diva and I will definitely take any chance we get to work Geese from now on and I would love to trial on them!


   So there you have it. I am so excited I can't sleep! I am looking forward to a weekend with Rae, Parfait, Dawn, and our Canadian friends. Watch out for the partying ;-). For the friends who won't be there I want them to know how much I will miss them. This means you Kelly and Amanda ;-). Diva and I are going to give it our best and at the end of the weekend I hope we will be able to count ourselves amongst those who have earned a WTCH.

Finally, A Break In The Weather!

   Maryland has been dishing out some of it's most miserable summer time weather over the last month with heat and humidity in the dangerous levels. I always err on the side of caution and will be the first to admit I loathe being overly hot so Diva and I haven't been out to work stock in forever. Today however we finally got a really nice break from the oppressiveness and made our way up to PA to deliver some Hotstyx and work cattle. Tee Creek is just a little over a week away so it's time to get serious and put our game face on. My game plan for the day was to work on small spaces and pressure in the pens, walking straight up on the heads, and practicing continuous flanks until told other wise.

   We started out with a nice group of 3 that needed to be pushed on as they were very interested in grazing. This is the type of cattle we are likely to encounter at Tee Creek so it was a good training opportunity. Diva is doing very well at driving her cattle and also going to head but we struggled with her not completing her flanks when I was asking her to peel them off the fence and get around. I also had her put them in the 3 sided pen, hold them, and then take them back out a few times. She did well with her hold but was slower than I wanted in taking her go bye (in to me) flanks to neatly tuck them in the pen. This seems to be something I am going to have to work on more in general and so I chose to not nitpick today in favor of rewarding her for what she did well and boosting her confidence. Our big highlight for the day came when I was singling out cows and having her walk up on their heads while they were grazing. They had been moving ok off of Diva but not giving her 100% respect so far. Diva surprised me by really focusing on the cow I had her walking up on and taking things step by step without using her bark and bounce technique. When she was within gripping distance and the cow still hadn't moved off or even looked away I told her "Get a hold of that!" and surprise surprise she made a very clean nose hit that had the cow and myself shocked! Only one of us was delighted though ;-). Yay for Diva! Even better was she immediately stopped pressure when I asked her to and then went back to driving. That was the only time she hit but definitely not the only time she was in their face making them move. I can see where when I am giving her permission to get in there she is doing it in a confident way and she isn't harassing after they turn.

   The second time we worked a new group that had one steer that didn't want to stay with the group and would head back to the re-pen if possible. I worked Diva on being more precise with her flanks, especially at the course obstacles where Mr. Steer would skim by if she wasn't careful. We also did more flanking exercises and I finally got a few nice continuous flanks that weren't flat on the away side. When we re-penned this group I had Diva put them in and take them out a couple of times which was great pressure work for her. She was much quieter working in the small spaces and only used her bark when she had to make motion. Unlike the first trip in she also wasn't distracted by having to walk by the other holding pens with cattle staring at her.

   Normally I would only work her twice but the 3rd group was a group of calves that are lighter and a little less predictable that the seasoned cattle so I wanted to take the opportunity to see what she would do after having to push so hard in the previous sessions. Right off the bat she went in stronger than these calves needed and then when they trotted off she got sucked into the motion and was tuning me out a bit. She was also reluctant to make a space to peel the calves off the fences and they weren't as willing to come off as the older cows. It took me several attempts to get her going all the way around and while I was happy with her effort she was a long way from pretty trying to get in there. On a good note, she quickly figured out that the calves took less push and was doing a nice standing stop and walk up which gave them plenty of opportunity to turn away calmly.

  For not having worked in a few weeks she was very good and I was smiling from ear to ear at the end. We will likely have time to get in a couple of work days at Dawn's when we get to NY next week and I hope to get out and work sheep once this weekend. All in all I feel very good about where she is at mentally and physically pre-trial. Tomorrow she has an appointment with Dr. Z to get "tuned up" but I haven't seen any signs of lameness since her last appt. so this more maintenance than anything else.  

Don't Over Think It

   T-minus 1 month until Tee Creek and after having found out last week that I got into all 4 cattle runs it seems that all I can think about is what might happen. I have crawled in to bed every night and played out possible scenarios until I fall asleep, which I am almost certain places me pretty close to the edge of obsessed ;-). Perhaps the most laughable thing about this is that I have trialed there before, know the cattle (somewhat), and it's course A all weekend long! In my mind though I figure that if I go over it enough when push comes to shove I will have an answer. I have pictured everything, from where I will stand once I open the take pen gate, down to which side of the chute will work better for sending Diva deep into the corner coming out of the second panel to set up for the center. I feel like I may soon need to make myself a T-shirt that says, "Keep Calm And Trust Your Dog". Diva has got this, I know she has. She is a much better cattle dog than she was a year ago and we are a much better team. We have trialed on some pretty challenging stock and learned some of the tricks of trialing from those with more experience. I shouldn't be concerned at all but the nervous excitement of finishing her WTCH has me twitchy.

    With the summer weather in full effect we have had very few chances to get out and work. High heat and oppressive humidity don't make for much fun. We worked sheep last Wednesday at Hog Dog but sessions were short and far between to save the dogs and the stock. I focused on more inside flank work with Diva and straight walk ups. There isn't much to report that I haven't written about before. She continues to be much better to the away side as far as inside flanks go and needs reminding the first couple of sends to keep moving regardless of what I do. I suspect that this will be a work in progress for us for sometime. I have a picture in my head of what I want it to look like and suffice it to say that it isn't there just yet ;-).

   In other news we have started back to agility training as well. On Friday we had our first private lesson to work on actually training the running A frame. Diva has needed some remedial contact training for a while and I need some serious attitude adjustments. I have been getting so serious about Q'ing that I am taking the fun out of agility and putting a lot of pressure on Diva. Just scowling at her is enough to flatten out her performance all together and at the last trial we attended I was grouchy with her all day. My main goal is to go out there and run fast, trust my dog, and have fun. In looking back at videos and pictures of me when I am working Diva I rarely ever smile. I am not sure why this is but my guess is that it has something to do with concentrating. Diva is very tuned into me and she is sensitive to pressure so I need to fix this problem quickly. A smile and a little praise in the middle of working go a long way with her and so I am reminded of something my Grandmother always told me. "You get more with honey than you do with vinegar." Good call Grandma! It works with dogs and husbands ;-).