Rave and I went to Dianne's today to work the beef cattle. It was raining, turning to snow when we arrived so we worked in the indoor arena. We had five steers to work with. Nice boys willing to let Rave work them. Since Rave has decided that the right way to work in an enclosed area is to do an outrun to the top and then pick them up for a fenceline or wall line drive we spent the lesson having her pick the cattle up off the wall and come all the way around to the shoulder of the lead steer. And we worked on her only getting to take a heel when she is asked to. Later we will allow her to decide but for now she can only do it on command.
It was a very good training exercise with me correcting and insisting that Rave go all the way and watching for the correction on the heel bite. I would be unable to see through the cattle when Rave was on the back so I was slow on my corrections. Intellectually I know that if the cattle aren't coming off the wall then Rave isn't coming through like she should, but in reality I keep trying to see where she was instead of going by what the cattle are doing. Watch your stock, they will tell you if the dog is right. We got some nice drives going down the wall with Rave holding the outside pressure well. Much better on the counter clockwise side but improving on the clockwise side. Not a lot of excitement in this lesson but really good solid work to improve our performance.
One steer did challenge her at one time and Rave met it head on. Good girl.
We left feeling good about where we are going.
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Monday, March 29, 2010
I'm Still Doing It
My good friend took some videos of us working this week. And yes indeed I am still saying stop and then accepting a no stop if everything is going right. I am better at it but still about 1/4 of the time Rave does not stop.
We worked the dairy steers this week. Took them out of the take pen, drove around the small arena, and put them back. Unfortunately there was no center pen set up so couldn't work on that. Did pull them off the fence a few times. Rave got to heel a few times which made her happy. She did a once and wait on her heeling which made me happy. These are kind little steers and I always feel sorry for the poor motherless boys but we work them anyway. Wish we had more access to beef cattle. I can take lessons now and then on some beef cattle but that will soon end as she will no longer have the cattle.
I took a lesson on the sheep. We worked in the indoor arena which was good. As everything was contained we could really concentrate on our maneuvers. I was to stand in one place in the middle of the long side near the wall. Cones where set up in a triangle on the other long side. I was to drive the length of the arena, turn, one time turning to the wall the other time turning to the open side, then turn and go through some cones on the other leg of the triangle, turn and repeat. I am very directionally challenged and kept forgetting which side (wall or open) I was suppose to turn to. And I once again asked for stops and did not make sure I got one. Sometimes I asked for stops that I discovered that I didn't need so I would let her continue on. Bad idea. She needs to stop even if I am wrong. A repeating theme! One time I got to fussing around to much with trying to make the cones. Moving Rave here and there, stopping, pressuring, etc. So once we finally made the panel there was to much tension built up and Rave took a bit of a run at a sheep. She hasn't done that in a really long time but we where really working on micro-managing and the tension just built up. It was a good opportunity for a correction as she should not do that regardless; however I set her up to fail. The better choice would have been to call her off and reset it up. Start fresh. Lesson learned by both of us. The other thing we worked on was hurrying her up as she made the flanking turn. I have gotten her a bit to cautious on her flanks and she is executing them to slow to make an effective tight turn. She enjoyed that and I was pleased that she didn't get over excited by being hurried up.
I also worked the ducks this week. Concentrating on penning. The ducks are getting more easy to pen. A couple will go in once put in the vicinity. Now this is good, and not good. It means we have been successful in penning but it also means that the usefulness of the ducks to teach Rave good penning is coming to an end. Of course with ducks it is easy to add something strange and it becomes hard again. If it gets bad I will but a strip of pine shavings in front of the pen and for awhile that will repel the ducks. Rave has developed a flanking style to her duck penning instead of a slow walking up style. It works so I don't know if I want to change it or not. It does put a lot of pressure on the ducks, but the ducks are really pulling to the draw which is directly opposite of the center pen on the open gate side, so I am not sure if it isn't needed. I need to move out to the bigger field away from their living pen.
So that is our training week.
Accomplishments, Goals, and Plans
• Successfully penning ducks, gaining confidence (is it a false confidence?)
• Stop, Stop, Stop, Stop, Stop, Stop-Mean it or don't say it!
We worked the dairy steers this week. Took them out of the take pen, drove around the small arena, and put them back. Unfortunately there was no center pen set up so couldn't work on that. Did pull them off the fence a few times. Rave got to heel a few times which made her happy. She did a once and wait on her heeling which made me happy. These are kind little steers and I always feel sorry for the poor motherless boys but we work them anyway. Wish we had more access to beef cattle. I can take lessons now and then on some beef cattle but that will soon end as she will no longer have the cattle.
I took a lesson on the sheep. We worked in the indoor arena which was good. As everything was contained we could really concentrate on our maneuvers. I was to stand in one place in the middle of the long side near the wall. Cones where set up in a triangle on the other long side. I was to drive the length of the arena, turn, one time turning to the wall the other time turning to the open side, then turn and go through some cones on the other leg of the triangle, turn and repeat. I am very directionally challenged and kept forgetting which side (wall or open) I was suppose to turn to. And I once again asked for stops and did not make sure I got one. Sometimes I asked for stops that I discovered that I didn't need so I would let her continue on. Bad idea. She needs to stop even if I am wrong. A repeating theme! One time I got to fussing around to much with trying to make the cones. Moving Rave here and there, stopping, pressuring, etc. So once we finally made the panel there was to much tension built up and Rave took a bit of a run at a sheep. She hasn't done that in a really long time but we where really working on micro-managing and the tension just built up. It was a good opportunity for a correction as she should not do that regardless; however I set her up to fail. The better choice would have been to call her off and reset it up. Start fresh. Lesson learned by both of us. The other thing we worked on was hurrying her up as she made the flanking turn. I have gotten her a bit to cautious on her flanks and she is executing them to slow to make an effective tight turn. She enjoyed that and I was pleased that she didn't get over excited by being hurried up.
I also worked the ducks this week. Concentrating on penning. The ducks are getting more easy to pen. A couple will go in once put in the vicinity. Now this is good, and not good. It means we have been successful in penning but it also means that the usefulness of the ducks to teach Rave good penning is coming to an end. Of course with ducks it is easy to add something strange and it becomes hard again. If it gets bad I will but a strip of pine shavings in front of the pen and for awhile that will repel the ducks. Rave has developed a flanking style to her duck penning instead of a slow walking up style. It works so I don't know if I want to change it or not. It does put a lot of pressure on the ducks, but the ducks are really pulling to the draw which is directly opposite of the center pen on the open gate side, so I am not sure if it isn't needed. I need to move out to the bigger field away from their living pen.
So that is our training week.
Accomplishments, Goals, and Plans
• Successfully penning ducks, gaining confidence (is it a false confidence?)
• Stop, Stop, Stop, Stop, Stop, Stop-Mean it or don't say it!
Friday, March 26, 2010
Seeking Failure
Seeking Failure. What does that mean? I listened to a story on NPR where they where speaking about how the 'great' ones all seek failure. They do not do the things they are comfortable with. They do the things they are not good at, over and over again. Until they are good at it. Michael Jordon while a youth would play pick up basketball games. During these games he did not take the easy shot, although that would have been the easy way to win the game. No he would turn the hard way, dribble the dangerous course, etc. until he could do those moves as easily as taking a shot with no one around. He was not afraid of failure. They gave other examples of people, athletes and scientists, willing to reach their fullest potentional by being willing to fail. Not once, not twice, but many, many times. Fail and come back and try again. That is what brings out your full potential.
Now I must admit that it is very easy for me to fall into doing what is easy. Not working on the skills that I and my dog find more difficult but doing what is easy, and therefore fun. My latest example is whistles. I tried I believe 3 times. I did not make a conscious decision not to use the whistle after that. But I had such a time of it trying to sound the whistle while working my dog and failing that I soon would forget to take the whistle with me and it was too much of a bother to go back to the house to get it. Soon after that I didn't even think that I should have brought it. I was back in my comfort zone.
This has happen through out our training. Some of it was lack of knowledge. How do I make the dog understand what I am asking? Some of it has been its easier to accept close than demand that it be right. The stop is a classic example. How many times have I accepted an almost stop? Then been dismayed when Rave took those extra steps when I really needed her to stay still. Just yesterday at our lesson I accepted her cutting in slightly at the center pen. It was cold, and raining. The sheep went into the pen. Therefore it was okay to not insist on the proper flank this time. Until next time when it does matter. So I need to accept that if I 'do something' to correct that something might not be the right thing. But I won't find out what is right if I won't try. I also have to accept that if I do something my immediate goal, say getting the sheep penned, might fail. But hopefully it will set us up for success in the future.
I need to be willing to stretch. How do I know we can't do something if we don't try? And expect that the first time we will fail on something new. And the second time, and the third time. And who knows how many more times? It is the striving that is the important part.
And also I need to be aware that it is not just my desires and goals out there. My dog does not have any ambitions but to work the stock and please me. I need to be aware of how she is reacting. Praise her trying even if it is a failure. That way we can try again.
So my thoughts on a cold, cloudy, rainy spring day. I think I will stay inside and drink coffee and contemplate my failures. They are the path to success.
Now I must admit that it is very easy for me to fall into doing what is easy. Not working on the skills that I and my dog find more difficult but doing what is easy, and therefore fun. My latest example is whistles. I tried I believe 3 times. I did not make a conscious decision not to use the whistle after that. But I had such a time of it trying to sound the whistle while working my dog and failing that I soon would forget to take the whistle with me and it was too much of a bother to go back to the house to get it. Soon after that I didn't even think that I should have brought it. I was back in my comfort zone.
This has happen through out our training. Some of it was lack of knowledge. How do I make the dog understand what I am asking? Some of it has been its easier to accept close than demand that it be right. The stop is a classic example. How many times have I accepted an almost stop? Then been dismayed when Rave took those extra steps when I really needed her to stay still. Just yesterday at our lesson I accepted her cutting in slightly at the center pen. It was cold, and raining. The sheep went into the pen. Therefore it was okay to not insist on the proper flank this time. Until next time when it does matter. So I need to accept that if I 'do something' to correct that something might not be the right thing. But I won't find out what is right if I won't try. I also have to accept that if I do something my immediate goal, say getting the sheep penned, might fail. But hopefully it will set us up for success in the future.
I need to be willing to stretch. How do I know we can't do something if we don't try? And expect that the first time we will fail on something new. And the second time, and the third time. And who knows how many more times? It is the striving that is the important part.
And also I need to be aware that it is not just my desires and goals out there. My dog does not have any ambitions but to work the stock and please me. I need to be aware of how she is reacting. Praise her trying even if it is a failure. That way we can try again.
So my thoughts on a cold, cloudy, rainy spring day. I think I will stay inside and drink coffee and contemplate my failures. They are the path to success.
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Down and Back
We had a lesson at Dianne's place today. We worked on outruns, driving through panels, and penning.
I need to really expect more from Rave's outrun. I am accepting her running much to narrowly. Works fine on these training sheep. Not so well if these sheep where not well use to dogs. So I place myself maybe 10 to 15 feet in front of her. Send. If she is not running out wide enough stop her, tell her to get back or out, let her go. If she again starts coming in repeat. I am still unsure of my judgement of when to stop her and insist on better. If I gain confidence in correcting she will gain confidence in what is expected. She did improve.
After the outrun she was to fetch them to me. Dianne was out holding the sheep with a dog. Rave did not want to go into the dog's 'space' so would not lift from the side that the dog was on. Which put her off line most of the time. She would bring the sheep to me. These sheep are quite fetchy so she had no problem presenting them to my knees even though I wanted them off to the left to make the turn around the post. So we had to reposition the sheep to make the turns. Every time. Then the drive to the first panels (two buckets). I was paralleling Rave. The sheep wanted to pull straight out to where Dianne was standing and Rave was not holding the pressure on that side to prevent it. So I had to keep repositioning to make the panels. Again I continued to make the same mistakes in handling her every time we tried. Gesh.
We would then cross drive to another set of panels. Which where actually a couple of plastic grocery bags tied to the irrigation pipe. This was good as you really had to be right to pass between them. There where no 'wings' of panels to help get you through. I tend to suck into Rave, not keeping my distance. It seems that every time I say something to her I move towards her. Before I know it I am only a few feet away. I am also micro managing her drive. I find I keep using flanks to straighten her out instead of corrections. And to make matters worse when I gave the flanks she didn't square and at times didn't respond and I did nothing. ;-( I really do need to let my little girl grow up and take on responsibility! I am still having trouble with Rave slowly pushing into the bubble until she has habituated the sheep to her presence and she looses her push.
Once through the 'panel' we turned and headed for the pen. This was a case of just trying to stay a head enough to beat the sheep to the pen which they where more than willing to go into. Rave does seem to really be catching on to the pen though and although she didn't need to she would move into the correct position to pen the sheep.
When we got home from lunch and coffee I sorted some sheep for my friend. I really enjoy doing this and Rave really excells at this chore. I had a bit of a tricky set up with small dead end alleyways on either side of the pen. If the sheep went in there Rave had to really soften up and hug the wall to get them out. She did great. We then would move the sheep to different pens to get just the right ones. Rave and I both had a good time doing this.
Accomplishments, Goals, and Plans
I need to really expect more from Rave's outrun. I am accepting her running much to narrowly. Works fine on these training sheep. Not so well if these sheep where not well use to dogs. So I place myself maybe 10 to 15 feet in front of her. Send. If she is not running out wide enough stop her, tell her to get back or out, let her go. If she again starts coming in repeat. I am still unsure of my judgement of when to stop her and insist on better. If I gain confidence in correcting she will gain confidence in what is expected. She did improve.
After the outrun she was to fetch them to me. Dianne was out holding the sheep with a dog. Rave did not want to go into the dog's 'space' so would not lift from the side that the dog was on. Which put her off line most of the time. She would bring the sheep to me. These sheep are quite fetchy so she had no problem presenting them to my knees even though I wanted them off to the left to make the turn around the post. So we had to reposition the sheep to make the turns. Every time. Then the drive to the first panels (two buckets). I was paralleling Rave. The sheep wanted to pull straight out to where Dianne was standing and Rave was not holding the pressure on that side to prevent it. So I had to keep repositioning to make the panels. Again I continued to make the same mistakes in handling her every time we tried. Gesh.
We would then cross drive to another set of panels. Which where actually a couple of plastic grocery bags tied to the irrigation pipe. This was good as you really had to be right to pass between them. There where no 'wings' of panels to help get you through. I tend to suck into Rave, not keeping my distance. It seems that every time I say something to her I move towards her. Before I know it I am only a few feet away. I am also micro managing her drive. I find I keep using flanks to straighten her out instead of corrections. And to make matters worse when I gave the flanks she didn't square and at times didn't respond and I did nothing. ;-( I really do need to let my little girl grow up and take on responsibility! I am still having trouble with Rave slowly pushing into the bubble until she has habituated the sheep to her presence and she looses her push.
Once through the 'panel' we turned and headed for the pen. This was a case of just trying to stay a head enough to beat the sheep to the pen which they where more than willing to go into. Rave does seem to really be catching on to the pen though and although she didn't need to she would move into the correct position to pen the sheep.
When we got home from lunch and coffee I sorted some sheep for my friend. I really enjoy doing this and Rave really excells at this chore. I had a bit of a tricky set up with small dead end alleyways on either side of the pen. If the sheep went in there Rave had to really soften up and hug the wall to get them out. She did great. We then would move the sheep to different pens to get just the right ones. Rave and I both had a good time doing this.
Accomplishments, Goals, and Plans
- Working on longer outruns, insist on them getting wider
- Stop mirco managing the drive, make Rave be more responsible
- Don't get drawn in, increase don't decrease my distance from Rave
- Make sure she squares
- Make sure she takes the command
- Rave did some great sorting work today
Thursday, March 18, 2010
March Winds
I grew up across the state from where I live now, in Idaho Falls. In Idaho Falls the wind rarely stops blowing. When it does it is considered a good day, regardless of what the rest of the weather is like. I hate the wind. Where I live now the wind rarely blows. You might get breezes but not a lot of wind. Today I thought I was back in Idaho Falls! It blew so hard that I actually staggered a bit at one point. But the sun was shinning and one good thing, wind dries up the mud quicker than you can blink an eye.
I went out to Roy's house today for a lesson. I have not been out there since the fall. I was hoping as it has been such a long time that Rave would view it as a new place. I don't think that happened. She seemed right at home. I told Roy I wanted to work on Rave staying calm in the face of unknown, erratic sheep. He had Rave and I hold the sheep to the gate while he sorted off a group of his lighter sheep. Then we started a fence line drive. Rave did well, holding the line, doing the cross drive, and not letting them break uphill back to the repen. So we tried taking a few out of the mix. Same thing. Next we tried having Rave drive into them. Now my usual chant is slow down, slow down. This time I speeded her up with excited pitched walk up, walk up. She got going at a very nice extended trot with the sheep running ahead, but still stayed in control. Next we went down to just 3 sheep. Two yearlings and one very nervous older sheep that is never the leader but was forced into in this situation. Rave still held her calm attitude!! I was so proud of her. Now if that will only happen in a trial where everything is new, sheep, location, and a nervous handler.
We took the sheep off the fence to the middle of the arena where we settled them. There was no pen set up so we just concentrated on getting them in the vicinity of where a pen would be. We also did a few take pens that went very well also.
Least you think all was sunshine, we did have some trouble getting her to follow my commands when I was at the top of the arena and she was at the bottom. I really need to get her to take the flanks from a longer distance. I again fell into just repeating the command without any response from her, continuing to repeat to no effect. Now the sheep and Rave ended up in the right spot so maybe she was right all along, but she still needs to take my command when given.
I plan to go out next week, weather permitting to work on the free standing pen. I really need to do this with some unfamiliar sheep.
I went out to Roy's house today for a lesson. I have not been out there since the fall. I was hoping as it has been such a long time that Rave would view it as a new place. I don't think that happened. She seemed right at home. I told Roy I wanted to work on Rave staying calm in the face of unknown, erratic sheep. He had Rave and I hold the sheep to the gate while he sorted off a group of his lighter sheep. Then we started a fence line drive. Rave did well, holding the line, doing the cross drive, and not letting them break uphill back to the repen. So we tried taking a few out of the mix. Same thing. Next we tried having Rave drive into them. Now my usual chant is slow down, slow down. This time I speeded her up with excited pitched walk up, walk up. She got going at a very nice extended trot with the sheep running ahead, but still stayed in control. Next we went down to just 3 sheep. Two yearlings and one very nervous older sheep that is never the leader but was forced into in this situation. Rave still held her calm attitude!! I was so proud of her. Now if that will only happen in a trial where everything is new, sheep, location, and a nervous handler.
We took the sheep off the fence to the middle of the arena where we settled them. There was no pen set up so we just concentrated on getting them in the vicinity of where a pen would be. We also did a few take pens that went very well also.
Least you think all was sunshine, we did have some trouble getting her to follow my commands when I was at the top of the arena and she was at the bottom. I really need to get her to take the flanks from a longer distance. I again fell into just repeating the command without any response from her, continuing to repeat to no effect. Now the sheep and Rave ended up in the right spot so maybe she was right all along, but she still needs to take my command when given.
I plan to go out next week, weather permitting to work on the free standing pen. I really need to do this with some unfamiliar sheep.
Sunday, March 14, 2010
Spring Rules!
Spring is such an interesting season. One day it is snow and wind, the next day it is sunshine and green grass showing with song birds declaring their territories in beautiful song.
Today we did make it out to Kelly's to work his sheep. I worked on outruns my first time. I was really wishing that I had a bit of grain to hold the sheep as they wanted to leave early. Rave was soft and as far to the fence as she could be but they still lifted a bit on the early side bringing Rave in before she hit balance. Also there is a pile of old branches and tree pieces near one of the fences. There is a small single sheep wide path between it and the fence. When we first worked this field Rave didn't realize the path was there so I had to show her. Well in the process she decided I wanted her to take that path whenever we go that way. So as she lifts the sheep to start the fetch she swings out to go behind the pile of branches which does not bring the sheep directly to me. I was able to correct that partly but it still was a problem. Fortunately it is a location specific problem and unless Rave patterns to that shape on a lift is shouldn't be a problem anywhere else.
On our second turn we put 4 sheep into the round corral and worked on take pen skills. The round pen opens into the small upper arena. These where the 4 sheep who did not volunteer to go out into the bigger arena so where the ones that where not quite as cooperative. All their buddies where out in the larger arena gathered at the gate watching the show. When I first opened the gate one of the sheep busted before Rave even got a chance to enter. So we put it back and then worked on hugging the wall and taking slow careful steps to push the sheep back out of the gate and then lift them nicely. Now to make it interesting, these sheep did not want to be repened. So we got to work on the cover at the pen mouth. I really liked working on both of these exercises and had to remind myself to not overdo it. So we did it about 4 times and called it good.
My friend and I then returned to Meridian and had lunch. We went back to my house and rolled up most of the temporary fence that I have in my arena protecting the small area of grass and closing off one of the panels. I took the sheep around the arena and penned them. Yahoo! These are my sheep and they know Rave very well so they let her work closer than strange sheep probably would. And my timing was off a bit which made us have to make several retries but after my pen troubles of last year it feels really good to be able to do it at home at least. After that we took the sheep once around the other way and put them away. A great day.
Today we did make it out to Kelly's to work his sheep. I worked on outruns my first time. I was really wishing that I had a bit of grain to hold the sheep as they wanted to leave early. Rave was soft and as far to the fence as she could be but they still lifted a bit on the early side bringing Rave in before she hit balance. Also there is a pile of old branches and tree pieces near one of the fences. There is a small single sheep wide path between it and the fence. When we first worked this field Rave didn't realize the path was there so I had to show her. Well in the process she decided I wanted her to take that path whenever we go that way. So as she lifts the sheep to start the fetch she swings out to go behind the pile of branches which does not bring the sheep directly to me. I was able to correct that partly but it still was a problem. Fortunately it is a location specific problem and unless Rave patterns to that shape on a lift is shouldn't be a problem anywhere else.
On our second turn we put 4 sheep into the round corral and worked on take pen skills. The round pen opens into the small upper arena. These where the 4 sheep who did not volunteer to go out into the bigger arena so where the ones that where not quite as cooperative. All their buddies where out in the larger arena gathered at the gate watching the show. When I first opened the gate one of the sheep busted before Rave even got a chance to enter. So we put it back and then worked on hugging the wall and taking slow careful steps to push the sheep back out of the gate and then lift them nicely. Now to make it interesting, these sheep did not want to be repened. So we got to work on the cover at the pen mouth. I really liked working on both of these exercises and had to remind myself to not overdo it. So we did it about 4 times and called it good.
My friend and I then returned to Meridian and had lunch. We went back to my house and rolled up most of the temporary fence that I have in my arena protecting the small area of grass and closing off one of the panels. I took the sheep around the arena and penned them. Yahoo! These are my sheep and they know Rave very well so they let her work closer than strange sheep probably would. And my timing was off a bit which made us have to make several retries but after my pen troubles of last year it feels really good to be able to do it at home at least. After that we took the sheep once around the other way and put them away. A great day.
Saturday, March 13, 2010
One Little Duck Went Out to Play
Worked the ducks a little this week. Had a great experience with one of the little quakers. This one separated out from the group and then refused to move. We have never had opportunity to work on this scenario before. I thought about teaching the leave it and have Rave leave it and go work the rest of the group. But that just felt all wrong. It may be right for points in a trial but not for working stock at home when you want all of the stock. So I had Rave try to move that singleton. Why the hen wouldn't move I don't know. The ducks haven't been spoiled. Hardly worked at all. They are starting to lay so she may have been about to 'give birth' in which case I can't blame her for not wanting to move! So Rave got behind her and a little timidly gave her a nudge. After all she has been told to not touch the ducks. So nudge, nudge. Rave tried to flip around to head when nudging but I stopped that. Then Rave deiced what this little duck really and truly needed was a face washing. So to work she goes and washes that duck's face right up. And you know it worked. The duck moved off and joined the rest of the group across the pen. And she didn't bog down again. ;-) We where able to pen them although it was the high pressure flanking style and not the step by step finesse style. Rave really seems to be catching on that the name of the game is putting them in the pen! I can almost see the thought bubble over her head telling me to get my act together and do my part right! After the penning we put them away.
Overnight and into the morning it snowed. I drove my mother to the airport for her return journey home after a very nice week long visit. When I returned most of the snow had melted and the sun was breaking through the clouds. Of course the reason the sun could break through the clouds was the wind was howling and pushed the clouds right away. It was very cold. I HATE the wind. But the dogs don't seem to mind and so we worked the sheep in my small arena. First go I worked on the stop a little. Should have done more as once again I have been letting the stop slip as I work on other aspects of training. Then I worked on her 'out'. I had her get out even though she was pretty good in her position. I want to be able to tell her out anywhere and have her move out. On my second go we worked a singleton to work on the cover and push. I was pretty pleased. Had to remind Rave that we weren’t just playing cow pony and keeping the sheep from returning to the take pens where the other sheep where, but that she was to prevent the break back and drive her down to the other end of the arena. Got a couple of real nice successes and then did a take pen just to make sure that Rave wouldn't decide it was much more fun to single one off. Called it a day.
Hopefully we will be able to go out to Kelly's to work sheep tomorrow. Put in the request real late so he may not be available. If not I will take down the temporary fence in my arena that I have up to protect a small area that grows grass. The sheep are eager to eat but the pasture has not recovered enough to allow it so I have fenced this area off. Makes for a very odd shaped working area and cuts down on an already minimal size arena. It’s very difficult to get an outrun in that isn't cramped in one way or another. And I don't want Rave to start thinking the game is to take them through a panel and then turn around and take them back through it. That’s okay if you can mix it up so that they are listening to where you want to go. But do it that way every time and they go Aha, I know what the chore is just let me do it.
Overnight and into the morning it snowed. I drove my mother to the airport for her return journey home after a very nice week long visit. When I returned most of the snow had melted and the sun was breaking through the clouds. Of course the reason the sun could break through the clouds was the wind was howling and pushed the clouds right away. It was very cold. I HATE the wind. But the dogs don't seem to mind and so we worked the sheep in my small arena. First go I worked on the stop a little. Should have done more as once again I have been letting the stop slip as I work on other aspects of training. Then I worked on her 'out'. I had her get out even though she was pretty good in her position. I want to be able to tell her out anywhere and have her move out. On my second go we worked a singleton to work on the cover and push. I was pretty pleased. Had to remind Rave that we weren’t just playing cow pony and keeping the sheep from returning to the take pens where the other sheep where, but that she was to prevent the break back and drive her down to the other end of the arena. Got a couple of real nice successes and then did a take pen just to make sure that Rave wouldn't decide it was much more fun to single one off. Called it a day.
Hopefully we will be able to go out to Kelly's to work sheep tomorrow. Put in the request real late so he may not be available. If not I will take down the temporary fence in my arena that I have up to protect a small area that grows grass. The sheep are eager to eat but the pasture has not recovered enough to allow it so I have fenced this area off. Makes for a very odd shaped working area and cuts down on an already minimal size arena. It’s very difficult to get an outrun in that isn't cramped in one way or another. And I don't want Rave to start thinking the game is to take them through a panel and then turn around and take them back through it. That’s okay if you can mix it up so that they are listening to where you want to go. But do it that way every time and they go Aha, I know what the chore is just let me do it.
Sunday, March 7, 2010
Blue Skies Shinning Above
Wow what a great week. Wonderful weather and working my dog.
Thurs. I worked the ducks at my house. After very many attempts I was able to pen the little buggers! Whoopee. They are not the easiest ducks to pen and I am not the best at penning by a long shot. No way would we have made time if this was a trial but just penning them was a huge success in my book!
Friday I worked a large group of cattle at Dianne's. I do believe cattle are Rave's favorite stock. I won't say that cattle are her best stock but they are the ones that put the biggest sparkle in her eyes. We took them out of their living quarters. As usual in a cattle area there is one end that is a bit mucky. The rest was pretty dry. Of course the cattle where in the mucky end. So Rave had to go into the muck. Yuck. She did not like it one bit. And I was watching her instead of the stock as she sunk in to her chest. Yuck, yuck! So the lead cattle circle back and we had to do a re-gather. Rave did, with a bit of encouragement, face down a head of one of the calves. That was cool. We got them out and into the arena, which had been freshly worked up so was deep and 'fluffy'. I was pretty pleased with Rave's work. I was having trouble holding her out on the pressure point. She wanted to pull in behind to give those heels a little nip so we spent a good amount of time playing 'tug of war' on her position. I would call her out-here, here-she would move out-then she would start to fall back behind again and the process would start over. I was slow on stopping her fade in so she would get self rewarded by getting to do what she wanted. So I would then have to verbally tug her back out again. I need to watch carefully and stop her as she makes the first fade and get her to hold the pressure point on the head steers shoulder. She did not do any fly byes and did a couple of real nice covers. On one of her drives down the fencelin I mistakenly let her go to far forward at a run thinking that she needed to catch the eye to slow the trotting cattle, but by that time she was going to head with all her concentration and not able to 'hear' me try to stop her. That was my mistake on the proper way to handle the situation. Once our turns where done she took a dip in the little pool to clean up.
I worked a bit on the whistles on sheep this week. Euwww. I don't think that is going to well. Not Rave at all, my inability to get the dang thing to work properly. One time it is high and squeaky, one time it is slow soft. And sometimes it isn't anything at all! Rave sometimes stops on my stop whistle but that is the only one she seems to be putting together. And of course it is the easiest of the whistles to sound. I may have to be content with just having a stop whistle. Time will tell. I have to also watch letting her get sloppy on her flanks. I notice I am so happy I got her to go the right direction on the whistle that I am not correcting her for slicing in. She isn't doing it much but a little will soon become a lot if I let it continue.
Had a sheep lesson with Dianne today. It went very well for Rave and I which was very nice. Rave was responsive and stayed soft. I didn't fear any break aways. She has decided that the slow refers to the flank also so we worked on speeding her up on those. When I would make swishing noises to try to speed her up she would turn her head to look at me with an expression of 'are you okay, what’s that funny sound you are making?' She had a nice outrun although it could be a bit wider and she did get back at the top when I told her too. We penned the sheep which isn't to hard as these sheep are pretty well pen trained. However one didn't go in so we had to ease it back around to the front of the pen without disturbing the rest of the sheep. Rave did very well with one step and lean and very slow movements.
So a fun week. Nice to have one once in a while to make up for all those frustrating ones ;-)
Thurs. I worked the ducks at my house. After very many attempts I was able to pen the little buggers! Whoopee. They are not the easiest ducks to pen and I am not the best at penning by a long shot. No way would we have made time if this was a trial but just penning them was a huge success in my book!
Friday I worked a large group of cattle at Dianne's. I do believe cattle are Rave's favorite stock. I won't say that cattle are her best stock but they are the ones that put the biggest sparkle in her eyes. We took them out of their living quarters. As usual in a cattle area there is one end that is a bit mucky. The rest was pretty dry. Of course the cattle where in the mucky end. So Rave had to go into the muck. Yuck. She did not like it one bit. And I was watching her instead of the stock as she sunk in to her chest. Yuck, yuck! So the lead cattle circle back and we had to do a re-gather. Rave did, with a bit of encouragement, face down a head of one of the calves. That was cool. We got them out and into the arena, which had been freshly worked up so was deep and 'fluffy'. I was pretty pleased with Rave's work. I was having trouble holding her out on the pressure point. She wanted to pull in behind to give those heels a little nip so we spent a good amount of time playing 'tug of war' on her position. I would call her out-here, here-she would move out-then she would start to fall back behind again and the process would start over. I was slow on stopping her fade in so she would get self rewarded by getting to do what she wanted. So I would then have to verbally tug her back out again. I need to watch carefully and stop her as she makes the first fade and get her to hold the pressure point on the head steers shoulder. She did not do any fly byes and did a couple of real nice covers. On one of her drives down the fencelin I mistakenly let her go to far forward at a run thinking that she needed to catch the eye to slow the trotting cattle, but by that time she was going to head with all her concentration and not able to 'hear' me try to stop her. That was my mistake on the proper way to handle the situation. Once our turns where done she took a dip in the little pool to clean up.
I worked a bit on the whistles on sheep this week. Euwww. I don't think that is going to well. Not Rave at all, my inability to get the dang thing to work properly. One time it is high and squeaky, one time it is slow soft. And sometimes it isn't anything at all! Rave sometimes stops on my stop whistle but that is the only one she seems to be putting together. And of course it is the easiest of the whistles to sound. I may have to be content with just having a stop whistle. Time will tell. I have to also watch letting her get sloppy on her flanks. I notice I am so happy I got her to go the right direction on the whistle that I am not correcting her for slicing in. She isn't doing it much but a little will soon become a lot if I let it continue.
Had a sheep lesson with Dianne today. It went very well for Rave and I which was very nice. Rave was responsive and stayed soft. I didn't fear any break aways. She has decided that the slow refers to the flank also so we worked on speeding her up on those. When I would make swishing noises to try to speed her up she would turn her head to look at me with an expression of 'are you okay, what’s that funny sound you are making?' She had a nice outrun although it could be a bit wider and she did get back at the top when I told her too. We penned the sheep which isn't to hard as these sheep are pretty well pen trained. However one didn't go in so we had to ease it back around to the front of the pen without disturbing the rest of the sheep. Rave did very well with one step and lean and very slow movements.
So a fun week. Nice to have one once in a while to make up for all those frustrating ones ;-)
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Can You Teach an Old Dog New Tricks?
So is it possible to teach a 5 year old dog and a 55 year old woman new skills? Today I decided to introduce Rave to whistles. Now this is a truly amazing decision. First off I have absolutely no musical talent. Second I produce a generous quantity of saliva. Even my dentist tells me so. Lots of saliva makes the little hole in the whistle plug up. Third it took me absolutely forever to get 'come bye' and 'away to me' straight. It is highly doubtful that I have it right even yet. So now to do it in whistles is a real challenge. I have been doing the whistle in the car bit to try to hone my skills. Well they have gone from truly unintelligible to only downright bad. I think this is as good as its going to get. So whistle in hand Rave and I went to the field. I do have a beautiful lanyard and corian whistle that my good friend gave to me. It is time I start using it!
I decided to try to teach come bye, away, and stop at first. My friend audited a clinic and at it learned not to introduce only one whistle command at a time as the dog may learn that a whistle, any whistle, means the first thing you taught. By introducing 3 different whistles the dog understands from the start to pay attention to the sounds. I set it up with my calmest sheep so that I would not be trying to control the sheep but could concentrate on the command. I was pretty good at away, which happens to be Rave's worst side. Ironic isn't it? Stop was easy as it is just a single blast. And I had a horrible time getting the come bye out. Gesh. I didn't want to work to long on it as the exercises themselves, easy flanks and stops would become a bit boring. I would whistle and then command. After one session I don't think Rave was putting the whistle means the command together. I will do the whistle and then command for a few days and if she doesn't start picking it up I will drop the command and just do the whistle, using body language like I did to teach the original commands and see how that goes. I have a 'stop', 'walk up', 'away', 'come bye', 'slow down', and 'that'll do' whistle figured out. As I worked her I realized I might need a 'there' whistle. I will have to think on what that should be. Maybe just the stop with the follow-up command right after?
It will be a bit hard to stay with this. Easy to fall back into using voice commands. And there are many things we need to work on and refine in just handling the sheep. I don't want to be working on learning the whistles and working on another item at the same time. Trialing season is coming soon and there are many things to practice. But my voice doesn't carry and even in an arena if there is wind or it is a larger arena then my voice is lost. So I plan to whistle while I work by the end of the summer!
I decided to try to teach come bye, away, and stop at first. My friend audited a clinic and at it learned not to introduce only one whistle command at a time as the dog may learn that a whistle, any whistle, means the first thing you taught. By introducing 3 different whistles the dog understands from the start to pay attention to the sounds. I set it up with my calmest sheep so that I would not be trying to control the sheep but could concentrate on the command. I was pretty good at away, which happens to be Rave's worst side. Ironic isn't it? Stop was easy as it is just a single blast. And I had a horrible time getting the come bye out. Gesh. I didn't want to work to long on it as the exercises themselves, easy flanks and stops would become a bit boring. I would whistle and then command. After one session I don't think Rave was putting the whistle means the command together. I will do the whistle and then command for a few days and if she doesn't start picking it up I will drop the command and just do the whistle, using body language like I did to teach the original commands and see how that goes. I have a 'stop', 'walk up', 'away', 'come bye', 'slow down', and 'that'll do' whistle figured out. As I worked her I realized I might need a 'there' whistle. I will have to think on what that should be. Maybe just the stop with the follow-up command right after?
It will be a bit hard to stay with this. Easy to fall back into using voice commands. And there are many things we need to work on and refine in just handling the sheep. I don't want to be working on learning the whistles and working on another item at the same time. Trialing season is coming soon and there are many things to practice. But my voice doesn't carry and even in an arena if there is wind or it is a larger arena then my voice is lost. So I plan to whistle while I work by the end of the summer!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)