Just returned from a weekend in Kentucky Bluegrass country. What a beautiful place. Wonderful rolling hills with fall trees scattered amongst green pastures. Filled with beautiful horses. Couldn't help but dream of how fun it would be to have a field like that filled with sheep to round up ;-) I got to tour a couple of horse farms and they where fabulous. Returned home today while my husband continued on in his journeys to promote Health Care Reform.
I got home in time to go out to my little not so beautiful field, although the view is very beautiful, and work Rave. My friend came over and we took turns working our dogs. I worked the cattle and sheep. Continued to work on being quiet and calm. Had Rave down a few times, usually I just do standing stops, we did a walk about. Tried to keep more distance from her. Not very exciting to report but good solid work. I will continue with my plans of slow and steady.
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Thursday, October 22, 2009
A New Leaf
The leaves are all changing color and the air is fresh and crisp. A great time for new beginnings. I finally have returned from my travels and have been able to work Rave for the first time since Nationals. I have been out three times and boy did it feel good to be back out in the field with my dog and the stock.
I am trying to hold true to the new me. Calm, easy. I have worked Rave on the sheep. Having her bring them out of the sage brush. I remained standing at the top of the gully. It was a bit fast but I resisted hollering and waving my stick. Got them all to me and calmed down. Then we did a walk about. I paid attention to the sheep not passing me by, basic stuff but we have not done it in ever so long. If the sheep got going to fast I just shook my stick, actually a buggy whip that makes a bit of a whistle sound. No verbals. Soon she was holding her ground and adjusting her pace on her own. We did that for awhile, just working on being relaxed. I plan to do this exercise at least once a week.
Yesterday I set up at the center chute and my friend pushed the sheep out of the pen. Rave tensed up and when I sent her was tight. I called her back and resent. It was a bit better but not much. I should have stopped her but let it go.
We have worked the ducks. Again working on being relaxed, both of us! Didn't even have a center obstacle set up to avoid the temptation of trying it. I just wanted to move the ducks around calmly. We did do the end panels, working on her not shooting through on the second panel but approaching is softly and allowing the ducks to flow off the fence instead of race off the fence.
With the little dairy steers, I put them in a 16 x 16 pen. These are sweet little steers who don't have a mean bone in them. I feel rather guilty working them and setting them up to be gripped. So after the session I gave them some grain to make amends. Anyway, I had hoped to work on Rave walking into heads but these little steers turn off a dog to easy. So we ended up working on Rave heeling and staying calm. Once and done and no flip to the head. I was really pleased with how she did. I will only have these steers a few more weeks. Mostly they have been worked very little and have eaten all my grass! I will be feeding my sheep hay sooner than I had planned. Hope I have enough for the winter as I didn't stock up this year.
So not to exciting. Just concentrating on calm, quiet work. And that is my plan for the winter.
I am trying to hold true to the new me. Calm, easy. I have worked Rave on the sheep. Having her bring them out of the sage brush. I remained standing at the top of the gully. It was a bit fast but I resisted hollering and waving my stick. Got them all to me and calmed down. Then we did a walk about. I paid attention to the sheep not passing me by, basic stuff but we have not done it in ever so long. If the sheep got going to fast I just shook my stick, actually a buggy whip that makes a bit of a whistle sound. No verbals. Soon she was holding her ground and adjusting her pace on her own. We did that for awhile, just working on being relaxed. I plan to do this exercise at least once a week.
Yesterday I set up at the center chute and my friend pushed the sheep out of the pen. Rave tensed up and when I sent her was tight. I called her back and resent. It was a bit better but not much. I should have stopped her but let it go.
We have worked the ducks. Again working on being relaxed, both of us! Didn't even have a center obstacle set up to avoid the temptation of trying it. I just wanted to move the ducks around calmly. We did do the end panels, working on her not shooting through on the second panel but approaching is softly and allowing the ducks to flow off the fence instead of race off the fence.
With the little dairy steers, I put them in a 16 x 16 pen. These are sweet little steers who don't have a mean bone in them. I feel rather guilty working them and setting them up to be gripped. So after the session I gave them some grain to make amends. Anyway, I had hoped to work on Rave walking into heads but these little steers turn off a dog to easy. So we ended up working on Rave heeling and staying calm. Once and done and no flip to the head. I was really pleased with how she did. I will only have these steers a few more weeks. Mostly they have been worked very little and have eaten all my grass! I will be feeding my sheep hay sooner than I had planned. Hope I have enough for the winter as I didn't stock up this year.
So not to exciting. Just concentrating on calm, quiet work. And that is my plan for the winter.
Monday, October 12, 2009
New Beginnings
It has been about two weeks since we returned from Nationals. What an experience that was. As I had to leave shortly afterwards for an extended business trip with my husband I have had time to contemplate where we go from here.
First and foremost, I am amazed at what my dog can do. And I am tickled by our disagreements. She of course is usually right, except in that she firmly believes that fast is better. But what a happy attitude she has, even when we are arguing. ;-)
So where do we go from here? Back to basics. I need to watch my stock much more carefully. Heads, eyes, ears and beaks! Its so fun to watch Rave I forget to watch my stock. I need to calm my voice, Rave can't stay calm if I am transmitting panic! I need to quiet my voice. How can she know when she is right or wrong when my voice stays the same. I need to be consistent. I may repeat a command once if I have doubts that she could hear, but a command is a command, not a request. That said I need to be sure to let her over ride my command when needed. Watch the results, trust my dog.
So how do I plan to implement this? Return to walk abouts. Watching my stock, not letting her push them past me. Little to no command, instinctual work. Work on her taking slow down commands and stop commands, and just as important speed up commands, push on commands. I need to do half moons on the fenceline to solidify the square flank. This will greatly help our center work. I need a stop right now, no questions asked command. I will need to get a sheep who is not part of the group to force a break away. Work on letting her cover with a kick out, or to stop and let it go if I tell her too. Ah that will be hard. She does not like her stock to be separate. And that I need to work on too. A leave it command. I can do that now with the different types of stock. She will gather the ducks and leave the sheep for instance if told too, but to leave one of the same type behind, ah that is a different story. I need to work on the take pen. That has been such an easy one for her I never work on it. At Nationals we had trouble with the take pen. Take nothing for granted. I would like to learn to whistle. I have no doubts Rave would pick it up easily and probably prefer it to my erratic voice, but it is something I have no talent for whatsoever. I can't sing either. You would not recognized Twinkle Twinkle Little Star if you heard me hum it!
I need to work on having the stock pushed out of the pens at her. I never do that. And it shows at trials as she gets tight in her muscles as she watches them come out. Tight muscled dog makes for nervous stock.
I need to do chores. Lots of chores. Of course I don't have lots of chores to do so I will have to make them up. Moving the sheep from this pen to that. The pasture to the barn etc. She won't know there is no real point to it all. It will seem like a real job to her. And give her a feeling of purpose. I know she thinks it rather silly to take the sheep through two panels floating out there at the end of the arena. What's the point? But she humors me and listens to my countless directions.
Speaking of countless directions. I want to set up random panels around my arena. We can go through them, either direction, figure eight, what ever. This is more to work on my depth perception which is dismal. I can't back a car up into a tight space either! Maybe if Rave starts to learn 'see a panel go through a panel' she can compensate for my lack.
Enjoy. Enjoy the love that she has for working stock. Enjoy the beauty of her athletics. Laugh at the expressions she gives me when she knows I am wrong (and pay attention to it). Enjoy the little dance she does when she sees me pick up the 'working shoes'. My two old dogs are really slowing down. They remind me every day how brief a time we have with these special spirits. I don't want to ever forget that as we go forth to do battle to learn the intricacies and the dance of working dogs on stock!
First and foremost, I am amazed at what my dog can do. And I am tickled by our disagreements. She of course is usually right, except in that she firmly believes that fast is better. But what a happy attitude she has, even when we are arguing. ;-)
So where do we go from here? Back to basics. I need to watch my stock much more carefully. Heads, eyes, ears and beaks! Its so fun to watch Rave I forget to watch my stock. I need to calm my voice, Rave can't stay calm if I am transmitting panic! I need to quiet my voice. How can she know when she is right or wrong when my voice stays the same. I need to be consistent. I may repeat a command once if I have doubts that she could hear, but a command is a command, not a request. That said I need to be sure to let her over ride my command when needed. Watch the results, trust my dog.
So how do I plan to implement this? Return to walk abouts. Watching my stock, not letting her push them past me. Little to no command, instinctual work. Work on her taking slow down commands and stop commands, and just as important speed up commands, push on commands. I need to do half moons on the fenceline to solidify the square flank. This will greatly help our center work. I need a stop right now, no questions asked command. I will need to get a sheep who is not part of the group to force a break away. Work on letting her cover with a kick out, or to stop and let it go if I tell her too. Ah that will be hard. She does not like her stock to be separate. And that I need to work on too. A leave it command. I can do that now with the different types of stock. She will gather the ducks and leave the sheep for instance if told too, but to leave one of the same type behind, ah that is a different story. I need to work on the take pen. That has been such an easy one for her I never work on it. At Nationals we had trouble with the take pen. Take nothing for granted. I would like to learn to whistle. I have no doubts Rave would pick it up easily and probably prefer it to my erratic voice, but it is something I have no talent for whatsoever. I can't sing either. You would not recognized Twinkle Twinkle Little Star if you heard me hum it!
I need to work on having the stock pushed out of the pens at her. I never do that. And it shows at trials as she gets tight in her muscles as she watches them come out. Tight muscled dog makes for nervous stock.
I need to do chores. Lots of chores. Of course I don't have lots of chores to do so I will have to make them up. Moving the sheep from this pen to that. The pasture to the barn etc. She won't know there is no real point to it all. It will seem like a real job to her. And give her a feeling of purpose. I know she thinks it rather silly to take the sheep through two panels floating out there at the end of the arena. What's the point? But she humors me and listens to my countless directions.
Speaking of countless directions. I want to set up random panels around my arena. We can go through them, either direction, figure eight, what ever. This is more to work on my depth perception which is dismal. I can't back a car up into a tight space either! Maybe if Rave starts to learn 'see a panel go through a panel' she can compensate for my lack.
Enjoy. Enjoy the love that she has for working stock. Enjoy the beauty of her athletics. Laugh at the expressions she gives me when she knows I am wrong (and pay attention to it). Enjoy the little dance she does when she sees me pick up the 'working shoes'. My two old dogs are really slowing down. They remind me every day how brief a time we have with these special spirits. I don't want to ever forget that as we go forth to do battle to learn the intricacies and the dance of working dogs on stock!
Thursday, October 1, 2009
Reality Check
Today was a down day. I puttered around in the room, ate a leisurely breakfast, went to Starbucks and arrived at the National site at about 10:30. Mosyed around. Watched a few sheep runs, missed all the cattle runs as they ended way early at about 2:30. These where the open dogs and I thought I would spend the afternoon watching cattle runs. Shopped a bit and bought a new leash and some dogie treats. We went off site for lunch to what was suppose to be a good burger place. They had the slowest service in town. What should have been an hour turned into about two hours away. It was incredibly windy all day which really takes it out of you.
Now the reality check. There was a professional video taper here. So I checked to see if he had my sheep run from yesterday. He did and I did a preview. WEll, it was not a bit like I remembered it. I remembered it being fast and that I had to yell get out a couple of times. I didn't remember the splitting and messes we made. Only good thing was the center. I think I am going to buy it, as painful as it is, to watch once a week. It will be a potent reminder to get her to soften to the sheep and to listen to me. I am afraid to watch my Finals runs. I know the last run was terrible. My score on the second run wasn't to high. And it is a total blur to me know. I don't know remember a bit of it! That is probably a real blessing.
Since we had such a late lunch decided not to go out for dinner but just have the cheese, crackers and apples that I have in my room. Nice to be out of the wind and just relax. I might even watch a little TV tonight if I can find something totally mindless.
Now the reality check. There was a professional video taper here. So I checked to see if he had my sheep run from yesterday. He did and I did a preview. WEll, it was not a bit like I remembered it. I remembered it being fast and that I had to yell get out a couple of times. I didn't remember the splitting and messes we made. Only good thing was the center. I think I am going to buy it, as painful as it is, to watch once a week. It will be a potent reminder to get her to soften to the sheep and to listen to me. I am afraid to watch my Finals runs. I know the last run was terrible. My score on the second run wasn't to high. And it is a total blur to me know. I don't know remember a bit of it! That is probably a real blessing.
Since we had such a late lunch decided not to go out for dinner but just have the cheese, crackers and apples that I have in my room. Nice to be out of the wind and just relax. I might even watch a little TV tonight if I can find something totally mindless.
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