The Joy of Herding

I'm still recovering from a nasty case of the flu.  Today I'll return to work but I still need to go slowly.  Hubby returned yesterday and is definately getting back to normal.  It's been great to rehash the weekend's events over and over in my mind, as it was an entirely pleasant weekend, darned near perfect even.    Trials in any venue very rarely have this good of a conclusion so I'm going to milk it for all it's worth.  I haven't done any herding trials since 2005 and I'd forgotten how wonderful it can be.  It's darned near as addicting - in a different way - as Obedience.  While Obedience is a showcase of what you've taught your dog, herding is in a way the complete opposite - it's what your dog has taught YOU.   When you enter the herding arena all bets are off and you need to trust your dog to do what it's been bred to do.  For me the control freak it's always been a real struggle.  However when we have good results in herding it's because I've let go of my agenda, made decisions on the fly, and let my dog be in control of the situation with me adding some guidence regarding where we should be on the course.
Moto with his new obedience training agenda (working for his meals) and my letting him control the sheep has let him blossom.  That PT run, with absolutely no training with panels and penning, was just beautiful.  We went around that course in three minutes and received lots of compliments about what a nice dog he was.  One person said they even thought he should be a B course dog!  (B course is a smaller version of what a course is at Border Collie trials - no arena, just wide open area.)  I'm excited an anxious to get him in to the Started class next year.
Pinch lacks the innate talent of rating stock but what he lacks in instinct he more than makes up with in confidence and "want to".  He's learning to listen to me (that "steady" command has been our saving grace with flighty stock) and I was impressed with that he did this weekend, too.  We had a ewe that escaped once and I told him to leave it and we'd herd the remaining four.  Pinch kept looking back and finally took off and rounded her up and brought her back.  When she tried to break again with no word from me he quickly went over and with a quick nip encouraged her to stay with her flock.
So for both of the boys we had one of those great herding moments where we are working quietly together and the stock is moving in a calm and orderly fashion.  It was so neat to see each of them exercise their completely different talents yet both achieve great results. 
The best part?  When I called them to come to me, their sweet brown eyes shining with pride, knowing it was a Job Well Done.
To quote from the movie "Babe":  That'll do, Pig.  That'll do.

More Ribbons for the Boyz

We had another GREAT weekend!  The weather was absolutely perfect - lows in the 50's and highs in the low 70's.  The sheep were a lot lighter than normal but hey, they had a bunch of strange dogs herding them so you can't blame 'em.  The Q rate for our class was really low (the Herding Test class) - 10 entries and only three Q's, and two of them were Pinch and Moto!  Neither run was pretty but I think the fact they had stops and were able to keep the sheep from escaping let our judge qualify us.  Moto titled on Saturday so I moved him up to the PT class (Pretrial Test).  The PT class went first on Sunday and instead of 3 head they changed it to five head per run and this upped the Q level significantly.  Yesterday NO ONE from the PT class qualified; on Sunday we had three, and Moto was one of them!  His Sunday run was particularly nice and stock were under control the entire time.  I was absolutely thrilled with him.  Pinch needed one more qualfier to title and he too was not as silly and went right to work.  He still needs a bit more instruction/maturity so our run wasn't as smooth as Moto's but he did hold the stock together for the most part (had one ewe that kept trying to escape).  So now it's on to the PT level for Mr. Pinch and Moto will finish his PT title hopefully at the November trial.

Unfortunately for me I now have my husband's case of the flu.  Both he and I are home from work today, sick as dogs, too sick to help each other and doing the minimum chores possible. Right now he's on the couch watching an old movie and I think I'll retire to bed and play a game of Angry Birds. 

The dogs are confused with all this lying around but for the most part are just being lazy with us.

Onward and upward, with a cup of tea in hand, I shall retire now.  So nice to have a happy weekend to reflect on!

Sometimes It's Just Not Fair

This is not one of my upbeat posts.  It's just been a real sad beginning of the day.  First, I learned my friend's husband passed away suddenly.  They've been married over 35 years, have three wonderful children (all grown now).  I worked with her for many years back in California.  We shared the same office suite.  When you face someone for 8+ hours a day, you get to know them pretty well, and I know she loved her husband and her family with all her heart and they were the centers of her life.  I just wish I was independently wealthy and could hop plane to be there for her, but a phone call, email, and other remote forms of contact will have to do.  Life is just too short - hug your loved ones and appreciate them.
Blitz's DM is back with a vengeance.  Yeah, it is not a surprise, but for some reason it hit me particularly hard this time.  Guess because he was doing unusually well.  I hadn't begun training him so there was nothing unusual/stressful to bring it back.  This time it's hitting his muscles - his rear and his jaw.  He's eating slower and with more difficulty and today he fell down the stairs.  He's such a bright, happy little guy and after startling after the fall (and me trying to act like it was nothing) just stood right back up, wagged his tail as if to say "now THAT was silly of me!"  I'm sure it's his upbeat attitude that has kept him going this long.
As I've often said Blitz could have been a great Obedience dog, as his temperament, work ethic and love of play could have taken him very far.  Life didn't deal him a fair deck of cards but he doesn't know that and thinks being alive every day is the best present ever! 
All our dogs come into our lives for a reason.  Even on this sad day, Blitz has shown me that as long as we're here we should smile, play, love and make the best of it because really, each day we are here IS the best present ever.
Good boy, Blitz.

Last Practice

The herding trial is next weekend.  It's at my trainer's facility, so you'd think I'd be feeling confident, right?  WRONG!  Granted, it may be our best chance for a Q because we know the facility and the stock, and hopefully the stock will remember us.  However I've come to discover weather has to do a lot with it, the particular grouping of sheep has a lot to do with it, and the dog and human's state of mind have a lot to do with it.  Throw all those factors into a ring and that's a lot to deal with for the maximum ten minutes we're allowed to qualify.  Add to that I haven't trained in years, haven't trialed since 2005 and hoo boy it could be a wild ride. 
Last week's practice was so bad a friend and I told each other we might as well just take our entry fees and have a bonfire and would have the same result.  But yesterday's practice was pretty darned good.  If only our trainer would put a special marking on those sheep and make sure I got those when it was my dogs' turns, I think I'd feel pretty cocky about right now.
The weather next weekend looks to be great.  There's going to be a lot of hard work next weekend (I'm helping out when I'm not showing) but there should be some good times to be had as well.  I always enjoy watching the advanced dogs work.  It's always thrilling to see a beautiful run.  Maybe someday, one or both of my boys will join those ranks.
But until next weekend, we wait, think about what we've learned, and hope for the best.
EEK!

Gosh, We Have a Show Schedule!

Pinch and Moto are entered in the Open class at our club's obedience fun match tomorrow.  Pinch really isn't ready for Open work so we'll do heeling on leash, a straight recall, and recalls over the broad and high jumps.  No dumbbell as we are still resolving his chomping issue.  Good progress is being made and I need to not be greedy.
I'm curious to see if Moto's working for meals will translate into his Open work.  To simulate what we are doing, I'll put treats in a bowl, show it to him, and we'll go into the ring.  Cross your fingers.
He's also failing his drop on recall.  He is such an interesting dog.  He was doing it just fine when it was ALWAYS a drop on recall.  I know I'd mentioned this earlier.  But silly me, I forgot that, and had him do some straight recalls the other day.  Now he's completely confused.  So we are doing lots of drop on recalls and it seems his confidence is restored.  So funny the way their minds work!
For Pinch tomorrow's goal is more of a getting him exposed to different situations and adding a bit more pressure.  The "pressure" for tomorrow is I'll ask the judge to be one of those close-following judges, and ask him to be able to pay attention and keep working.  Could very likely happen some day in the ring.
Next weekend is our herding trial.  I hope Moto can complete his HT and of course I'd also like Pinch to title that weekend too, but that means he'd have to qualify twice.  It COULD happen but I'm not holding my breath.  No matter what, it will be wonderful to be back at herding trials again, it's been several years since I've competed in this venue.  I do hope Moto really takes hold and can advance in this area, he's capable of brilliant work when he puts his mind to it.
After that it's a Springfield Obedience trial to finish Moto's Graduate Novice title and Pinch's Beginner Novice title, then a 1-day seminar with the great Sylvia Bishop, and last but certainly not least, a pre-Thanksgiving herding trial down south.  I haven't entered this many shows since I campaigned my Shiloh and it feels great to kind of be back in the swing of showing regularly again. Hooray!

Visits are like Christmas

My friend Laurie just left after a wonderful week-long visit.  Saying good-bye to my dear friend until next year always brings a bit of sadness and reflection.  It DOES seem a lot like Christmas as in first there's the anticipation of the event, the event itself with much enjoyment, and the letdown once the event is over with.  So here I am in Letdown Phase.  But as always, it was a good visit.
She is an accomplished Obedience trainer and is willing to share what she's learned with me which I greatly appreciate.  And being a good friend, she is honest with me which is the most valuable thing a friend can be.
The first hole exposed in my training was with Pinch.  She asked if I'd ever done much work with him away from me (like go-outs).  Well yeah a little but I'd pretty much back shelved it for quite awhile.  So we tried and quickly discovered Pinch does not understand what a correction means.  As was much discussed in Melinda's blog, so much negative connotation is attached to that word.  When I say "correction" the dog is not punished and no one is angry.  The dog is made to understand that it wasn't right and needs to find another solution.  Pinch - with the mildest light scruff - completely freaked out, so much so he couldn't focus enough to find a solution (i.e. The Right Way).  This is basic foundation stuff  and I'm so glad this was discovered before we entered the Real Obedience ring.  The wheels would have fallen off big-time once we got out of Novice.We are backchaining on lots of stuff while moving forward in other areas.  He will start the Beginning Utility class at Renee's to help build his self confidence and get him used to working away from me.  Heeling needs to almost go back to square one.  That, and I need to make more effort to expose him to different sights and sounds.  Pinch will come to work with me one day a week to help with this.
Moto was the biggest and most wonderful surprise of all.  Laurie has seen his sloppy obedience work and came up with the idea of having him work for ALL his meals.  The turnaround was amazing.  I have an up and happy dog that is putting great effort into his work.  It's translating to other areas of his life also:  he was pushy in herding - a first - and is beginning to stand up for himself in the still evolving new pack order.  We hope to slowly translate this over into ring work.  If so, there most likely still will not be an OTCH in progress, but I will have a dog that enjoys being with me in the ring, where I am the cookie, and that is the most important thing of all.  If I have that, and a dog who gives me effort, then it's been a good day at the show.
Then of course there was all the fun we had.  So many restaurants, so little time!  And we got caught up in the feather craze, thanks to Steve Tyler (of American Idol fame).  We each got one, then it turned into several.  I feel like quite the fashionista now. 
Between rounds of eating there was shopping, seeing "The Help" (which I highly recommend) and of course training.
But now it's back to the Real World of two jobs, volunteering, and, upon putting a pair of jeans which were shockingly tight, a diet.  It was SO worth it.