My training buddy and I went out to Roy's for a lesson today. It was really cool. There was a ewe in the group that had been a bottle baby and it was its first time really being worked by a dog. It stamped at Rave and refused to move. Rave laid her ears back, streached her neck out and one slow step at a time advance on the reluctant ewe. The ewe thought better of it and turned and went with the experienced girls. Only to turn again and repeat the process several times. Rave stayed cool and did not 'bust'. We have been working hard on this and it was so fun to see it pay off in a 'real' situation. We where able to pen the sheep several times but it was not real smooth. I am not sure if this is because for these sheep the draw is so strong back uphill to the bed down area or if we are not quite getting the cover from the turn on the second panel right. It does seem to be getting better and my confidence is growing. Last year I didn't think I would be able to pen anything ever!
After my buddy and I stopped for lunch we returned to my home and worked the stock there. She and Colt worked on the sheep. They are coming along so nicely. Great to see this team grow! I decided to take my young steers out into the big field and see how that would go. I have been keeping them in about a 100 by 80 foot enclosure. WEll these steers are just babies after all and they kicked up their heels and ran bucking and um...farting. They had a grand time. Rave had to really run to cover them. They went down the gully, Rave brought them back, they galloped across the field, Rave headed them off. Finally they had had their fun and they settle down and we where able to get some parallel driving in. Guess I better start working these guys in the arena. I have been doing mostly walk up stuff with them in the small enclosure. These babies will be one of the groups in our trial. Won't the competitors be surprised to find the cattle lighter than the sheep!
Monday, April 27, 2009
Friday, April 24, 2009
Working with Rave
Spring has finally arrived. The grass
is green, the weeds are growing, and the sheep are sheared. I continue to concentrate on our cattle work. Rave is gaining confidence as she handles more cattle. I continue to work with her on approaching heads, especially with my borrowed three steers. She is calmly walking up on them. At Dianne's where we are working 15 to 20 head she still has a tendency to slip around and heel them. I think this is just going to be Rave's 'style'. It works. She is able to get them moving and to control what direction they are going in. She can handily take a kick and come back stronger for it. We are not really working much on the center obstacles as the steers I have will readily go in given any chance to and at Dianne's there are no obstacles. I have been using the ducks at home to do some penning as they are, or w
here, more reluctant to pen. We have gotten so we can do it though and I do not know if that means we are getting better or if the ducks have just figured out if they go in the pen the dog will quit putting pressure on them.
Last time we where out at Dianne's we worked the sheep in the big field. It has been some time since we did that. With working the cattle so much Rave's outrun suffered. It was not as wide or as long as it was before we started working the cattle. But her driving is coming along nicely. I am still paralleling her as she drives the sheep across the open field but we are going for a long distance. She was much better at not pushing to hard and the sheep kept an even pace for the most part. These are nice sheep, well used to being worked by dogs, but not in the least bit heavy. They do not try to stay with the handler.
I also was able to go out to our aussie trainer Roy last weekend. Rave did much better at pushing the sheep to the back of the arena after passing through the panel. I think that the long distance driving has helped there. We worked on getting the sheep through the chute. And although we accomplished it mostly, we where not settling the sheep after they passed through the end panels and made the turn to the chute. It was more of a slam dunk, with the sheep helping a bit. There is a mighty draw for these sheep back to the exhaust so it is hard to get them stopped as they come out of the panel and head diagonally across the ring to the repen. We did manage it a couple of times but it wasn't smooth. We are going back on Sunday and hopefully will have better success.
is green, the weeds are growing, and the sheep are sheared. I continue to concentrate on our cattle work. Rave is gaining confidence as she handles more cattle. I continue to work with her on approaching heads, especially with my borrowed three steers. She is calmly walking up on them. At Dianne's where we are working 15 to 20 head she still has a tendency to slip around and heel them. I think this is just going to be Rave's 'style'. It works. She is able to get them moving and to control what direction they are going in. She can handily take a kick and come back stronger for it. We are not really working much on the center obstacles as the steers I have will readily go in given any chance to and at Dianne's there are no obstacles. I have been using the ducks at home to do some penning as they are, or w
here, more reluctant to pen. We have gotten so we can do it though and I do not know if that means we are getting better or if the ducks have just figured out if they go in the pen the dog will quit putting pressure on them.Last time we where out at Dianne's we worked the sheep in the big field. It has been some time since we did that. With working the cattle so much Rave's outrun suffered. It was not as wide or as long as it was before we started working the cattle. But her driving is coming along nicely. I am still paralleling her as she drives the sheep across the open field but we are going for a long distance. She was much better at not pushing to hard and the sheep kept an even pace for the most part. These are nice sheep, well used to being worked by dogs, but not in the least bit heavy. They do not try to stay with the handler.
I also was able to go out to our aussie trainer Roy last weekend. Rave did much better at pushing the sheep to the back of the arena after passing through the panel. I think that the long distance driving has helped there. We worked on getting the sheep through the chute. And although we accomplished it mostly, we where not settling the sheep after they passed through the end panels and made the turn to the chute. It was more of a slam dunk, with the sheep helping a bit. There is a mighty draw for these sheep back to the exhaust so it is hard to get them stopped as they come out of the panel and head diagonally across the ring to the repen. We did manage it a couple of times but it wasn't smooth. We are going back on Sunday and hopefully will have better success.
Goals, Plans and Accomplishments
- Continue to work on penning the ducks, small steps, squaring off to take off pressure
- Continue to work on walking up calmly on the cattle heads
- Make sure that Rave gives a proper outrun on the cattle, not just slightly widening even if the cattle are not reacting to how close she is
- Remember to say there not stop if I am just marking a place
- Start working my sheep in the larger pasture
- Rave is working much calmer
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
The Great Head Hunt
We continued to work on Head Hunting today and met with our first big success! I didn't give the steers their breakfast this morning, much to their mooing disapproval. At about 12:30 I went out and put some grain and pellets in their trough. Let them start chowing down. I then brought Rave in and had her walk up and push them off the grain. Once they turned I gave her a 'that'll do' and we retreated to the corner to let the steers return to their grain. Repeated several times with me trying to keep Rave focused on their heads and Rave wanting to slip around to their heels, which she managed to do a few times, hitting high in her attempts to 'get it in' before I could stop her. But I was able to keep it to a minimum with a verbal correction for slipping around. And now for the BIG success. She hit a head! It was not in the best location. Right in the middle, which is rather a hard place, but she hit it. So lots of Good Girls, a that'll do, and exit the pen.
Goals, Plans and Accomplishments
Goals, Plans and Accomplishments
- Got Rave to hit a head
- Continue the head hunt game with the stock on grain
- Work on driving with the sheep
- Be happy with small steps, they will all come together into a large leap forward
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Camping and Herding
My training buddy and I returned from a 7 day working stockdog camp on Monday. What an adventure. It was in Washington State where the skies do rain. And rain it did. But I went armed with lots of rain gear and it really wasn't to bad. My training buddy and her young dog and Rave and I took off for our great adventure last Sunday.
Day one was very rainy. We worked with Lynn Leach in the larger arena on sheep. Rave started off with a bang, chase and split. Sigh. Someday she will remain calm even in a new place. We worked on straight walk ups and standing without busting to wait out the sheep turning. The next day we worked in a small holding pen with a chute in it. We had to push the sheep up the chute. Worked on inside flanks (the dog comes between you and the sheep as it crosses over to change their direction instead of going behind you) and the push. Again worked on staying calm when a grip was necessary.
On day four I moved over to working with Larry Painter on cattle. We tried various ideas on working Rave. She was having trouble holding her position on the drive up the fenceline. She would want to fall in behind instead of staying out to the side and 'working their heads.' It became apparent that Rave loves heels, hates heads. We worked for awhile with Rave on a long rope helping her hold the correct position. Then we spent the rest of the week having Rave 'hunt for heads.' We did drills inside a small pen, maybe 16 x 16 (?). Flanking (having her go around) to head, having her stand or walk up and then when the steers turned flanking her back to head. Not letting her, or at least trying not to, hit heels or slip out to the side. A very good tool for me to take home and try to make Rave into a Head Hunter!
The host of the camp, Nancy Ward, had dinners up at her house every night. It was nice to get inside, have great food, and a chance to talk to the other campers in warm surroundings. I was camping in a tent inside the ag. building and Nancy very kindly offered to let me take showers up at her house. I did take advantage of that on three of the coldest days. It sure was a nice way to warm up.
Overall I had a great time, learned a lot and look forward to trying to return next year.
Goals, Plans and Accomplishments
Day one was very rainy. We worked with Lynn Leach in the larger arena on sheep. Rave started off with a bang, chase and split. Sigh. Someday she will remain calm even in a new place. We worked on straight walk ups and standing without busting to wait out the sheep turning. The next day we worked in a small holding pen with a chute in it. We had to push the sheep up the chute. Worked on inside flanks (the dog comes between you and the sheep as it crosses over to change their direction instead of going behind you) and the push. Again worked on staying calm when a grip was necessary.
On day four I moved over to working with Larry Painter on cattle. We tried various ideas on working Rave. She was having trouble holding her position on the drive up the fenceline. She would want to fall in behind instead of staying out to the side and 'working their heads.' It became apparent that Rave loves heels, hates heads. We worked for awhile with Rave on a long rope helping her hold the correct position. Then we spent the rest of the week having Rave 'hunt for heads.' We did drills inside a small pen, maybe 16 x 16 (?). Flanking (having her go around) to head, having her stand or walk up and then when the steers turned flanking her back to head. Not letting her, or at least trying not to, hit heels or slip out to the side. A very good tool for me to take home and try to make Rave into a Head Hunter!
The host of the camp, Nancy Ward, had dinners up at her house every night. It was nice to get inside, have great food, and a chance to talk to the other campers in warm surroundings. I was camping in a tent inside the ag. building and Nancy very kindly offered to let me take showers up at her house. I did take advantage of that on three of the coldest days. It sure was a nice way to warm up.
Overall I had a great time, learned a lot and look forward to trying to return next year.
Goals, Plans and Accomplishments
- Had a great time and learned a lot
- Work on Rave holding pressure
- Flank to the heads, no heeling for a while
- Work on getting Rave to release her stock as she starts her outrun or reposition
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