Brave

The other night I got brave and took the iPhone out to the training area with Spot and me and snapped a few photos of him working. The last photo is Spot cooling off in the water bucket, after his sheepdog training session.

The next time I took him out to work, a couple of days later, I took the rope off and worked him without that bit of a crutch...it went OK. I think when we go out to a bigger area I will put some kind of a long line back on him but for now I need to get more comfortable without having the line on him.

It's going OK...we are learning a lot together! And I tentatively have a lesson scheduled for us with our trainer coming up so that all the things I am missing can get pointed out to me, to work on. :-)

Spot's Progress

This is the top of Spot's head.

The photo above shows the top of Spot's head (taken several months ago, but it is still his head). Why am I featuring the top of Spot's head? The answer is, because he has been doing a lot of thinking lately. He's been doing a lot more thinking about his favorite topic....sheep. So far I don't have any actual photos of Spot working sheep. I need somebody else to take some and I'm sure that will happen, eventually. I have my hands full at this point! :-)

Spot and I are back to working on the sheep. He is making some progress. I am also making some progress of thinking through where I need to be and what I need to do, to give him good situations to learn about sheep. Right now I am not trying too hard to get into that head pictured above. I want him to figure out feeling his own influence on the sheep and gaining confidence to be around them on his own without me telling him a lot of what to do. Certain things, obviously, I am not going to allow him to do, which I am attempting to show him by my positioning and tone of voice. So we're learning it together. My brother calls the current sessions, "magic moments". Cool! You can tell that Spot is thinking. Any time in our work sessions where I feel he has slipped over to not thinking or if he is getting too tired, we quit.

Meanwhile, we went to the Bill Slaven funeral in Zamora this week. It was sad but very appropriate and extremely well done. I am so thankful to have known Bill and I treasure the times spent running my dogs in trials at the Slaven ranch over the past several years. I'm sad...and I know many others are, too...

Ryme's shoulder was really messed up when the boys had their monthly chiropractic adjustment this week. So while I'm working Ryme, I'm sort of taking it easy with him for now. He doesn't show any lameness or discomfort but I want to be careful with him. As a result I am using Coal more for sorting chores; which is a good opportunity to insist that Coal does as he is told - a common issue between he and I!! :-) Chiefie seems good...his weight is much more where it should be versus early in the year when I allowed him to get too heavy.  Even though it is not August yet, and although I am somewhat sad at times, we are enjoying the dog days of summer. It's nice to be able to work the dogs again.

Beach Fun July 2013

The boys and I bugged out for a while to escape the Fourth of July firecrackers in our neighborhood. We were extremely fortunate to spend part of that time at a place where there is beach access. Pure enjoyment!

Spot and Ryme - Spot's first trip to the beach

A seal monitors our movements on the beach, from out in the water

Coal and Chief in a rare moment of quiet

Ryme loves the waves

Spot and Chief

The Gang of Four

Hardly any paws on the sand!

Chiefie - so happy at the beach!

Ryme doin' his thing

A Chewy Review

A little over a year ago I did a review of dog food and service from (then Mr) Chewy.com. You can find that blog entry here 

Since then I put the boys back on raw food until January of this year and then we started using half raw and half kibble. With the addition of Spot and coinciding with more self-imposed budget cuts and the ever-skyrocketing price of food, we are using probably two-thirds kibble now. Much of it has been purchased online from Chewy. I have been really happy with their service. It takes about a week for the product to arrive from PA but if I planned for that it was no problem. They had great prices on the foods I am using, Fromm and Nutrisource grain-free.

A couple of weeks ago, Chewy asked me if I would review some treats for them on my blog. I said, "sure". They sent me a bag of Orijen duck dog treats. I don't use many dog treats any more since I am not training agility or obedience any more. The boys get a biscuit (normally a lowly Milk-Bone) when they get into their crates at bed time and other times rarely, just because. Ryme is really picky and won't eat fancy organic treats. So I just buy Milk Bones-- I figure everyone needs a little junk food treat now and then! But, I have several friends who feed Orijen dog food; I know it is the Cadillac of dog foods right now...I would use it if not for the high cost. I know they make good products and I have used them in the past. So the boys got to try the Orijen duck dog treats as soon as they arrived.

Ryme would be the ultimate test of the Orijen duck treats. The other three dogs inhaled them. Ryme took his and chewed and swallowed. He liked them. Everyone liked them. Bedtime was a very happy time for the dogs!

These treats are expensive though. $7.99 for 2 ounces.  But if you are into that sort of thing... I suppose they are worth it because they seem to be extremely palatable.

Overall I think Chewy gives great service and has competitive prices on dog foods. I don't know if their prices on treats are competitive. But my dogs sure did like those duck treats. Too bad the boys won't be getting more...unless Chewy sends us some more to review! Humm maybe I should email and say we need more raw data to make a decision......

Sonoma Marin Fair - 2013 "The Dog Days of Summer"

The Sonoma Marin Fair in Petaluma was a surprising success for us this year. The sheep were crossbred whitefaced ewes from the Hagemann Ranch near Bodega Bay. Someone mentioned they were Dorset-Corriedale but I don't know if that is correct. They certainly fit that description if that is right. They were definitely fun to work! It was an overcast, cool day, just perfect for working dogs and sheep.

Ryme and I had to go first in the running order. I knew that everyone was watching because they wanted to see how these sheep would move and work (RESDA has not used this flock this year for a trial--this was their first outing). My goal for Ryme was to gather the sheep even if I had to leave the post and retire, fetching them to the exhaust. This was Ryme's first time in RESDA Open at a Fair.  My plan was to leave the post immediately if he had trouble with anything at all. Entirely amazing was the fact that Ryme not only brought them to me but once we got them going they were "his sheep" and he controlled them without tension throughout the run...which turned out really pretty! We got all the obstacles on the first try, and smoothly, including chute and pen. What a shocker!

Ryme received 2nd place and Reserve Champion Sheepdog!!

Coal ran late in the order. By then the sheep were getting a bit cranky. Coal had one ewe who did not play well with the others. We did our best to keep three sheep together through the course. We made several good tries at the chute but finally moved on, and penned them. I was mostly happy with Coal's work. He had a bit too much eye on these sheep but it was not impossible to work with. We have not had much chance to practice in the last month or two. It's only recently that we've had a good place to train, again. Coal's work was good and he received 6th place!

Overall results can be found here on the RESDA website.

A pictorial slideshow of some of the event can be found here: Sonoma Marin Fair Slideshow.

Yeah! What a nice confidence booster for all of us. Thank you Sonoma Marin Fair and thank you to Adobe Animal Hospital in Petaluma, who sponsored Ryme's nice plaque, showing the theme for this year's fair, "The Dog Days of Summer".

The Answer is Yes

I am getting asked a lot of versions of this question lately.

"Have you started your pup?"
"Has Spot been on the sheep yet?"
"Do you like him?"

The answer is Yes. I have started Spot on the sheep. He is only a little over nine months old, though, so "starting" him hardly seems like the right word to use. I have exposed him to interacting with sheep, I guess would be more precise. He and the sheep and I, doing the dance. Oh my. It's fun. I am enjoying every minute of it. It's hard to not like Spot. He's happy, he's friendly, he likes everyone, 2-legged and 4-legged. This is his happy face:

Spot June 2013

Obviously the above picture is NOT of Spot working with the sheep. Are you kidding? These people who can balance an iPhone, a keen puppy, a group of sheep and themselves (and stay upright and not get killed) really have my respect! Pictures of Spot on the sheep are going to have to wait until someone else takes them! :-)

Right now I'm not drawing any conclusions. I'm not giving him any real commands, but just not letting him harass the sheep. The lesson learned right now is to have the appropriate sheep and facilities for starting your dog. I tried to start him on the sheep that we use for our advanced dogs and that did not go well. I am so fortunate to have some place to take Spot to get a few beginner sessions in, on broke sheep. Nice happy broke sheep who are used to doing this dance with beginner dogs. They know the ropes. Whew. Speaking of ropes, today we added a long line. Oh my did that help. Just a little power steering for me, not controlling his method but being able to stop the action when necessary.

What is he like? It's hard for me to say. He's a keen puppy who has a lot of want-to. He has some really nice moves. It's really too soon and I am keeping my mind as open as possible to let his instinct develop.

That said, we are going to take a couple weeks off of working, so that his maturity can develop some more. I think it will only benefit the both of us. We've gotten our start, and we'll pick it up again soon.

'Til then...the answer is YES.

Mother's Day Photos 2013

Coal 5th place Open - loved these sheep! They were so fun to work.

Ryme in Pro-Novice.

Photos by Patti S.; used with permission.