What's In There? and From the First Whistle

What's in there? What's in the dog that is natural, organic, essential? What's there that bubbles up to the surface when we leave the dog alone a bit to see what he's got? 

We had chore duties tonight so I let Ryme go out to bring the sheep in for sorting. He cast out and was relaxed in going into a tight corner to bring the sheep out, without a word from me. The sheep were munching happily near the fence on some green branches that the neighbor had pruned from a tree and tossed over, for the sheep to clean up. The sheep did not want to leave those lovely green branches. They haven't had anything green in a while--just grass hay and dry pasture. But Ryme simply convinced them without a word or whistle from me, to come on towards the barn for sorting, even scraping Scotties with horns, and silly lambs, out of a corner that they do not want to leave. Ryme can do a lot on his own in a familiar location with a chore that he knows. That is what's in there. The lambs get sorted from the others, so they can be fed extra. Ryme is handling the silly lambs very well. He seems much happier than a few days ago but I still sense some tentativeness.  I'm staying really quiet and just letting him work.

What's in there? Does Spot know the words "lie down"? I think he does. Our training assignment is to get a lie down on the sheep. Tonight I decided I was too tired from a Monday to do the "pasture aerobics" that we did yesterday, that is, working Spot in the open. So we took a break and went back to the small pen to work on his stop and some other things that will eventually make Spot more grown up in his work. No leash to go in and out of the pen. No long line on. Working on the lie down. I'm saying the flank words as he goes around but not forcing or commanding him to go one way or the other - still his choice pretty much at this point. Stop and walk up, and flank, and start over again. The stop is in there, when the pen keeps everything quiet. Good to know...it's in there. Even if it flies out the window when we go to the pasture! :-)

Coal's assignment (or mainly, mine) is to make sure he obeys commands correctly "from the first whistle". We're kind of in boot camp mode, right now. I'm working on getting Coal's stop back (I know it's in there!) and tuning his flanks back up, for starters. It's in there. Coal is already behaving better after our lesson Saturday, some tuneup on Sunday, and more tuneup this evening. I'll keep at it, just being really clear about what I am asking and what I will settle for (which is only the best). He can do it.

Coal fetching some sheep to me, earlier in July

Ryme Updates; and Sonoma County Fair

Sonoma County Fair sheepdog trial was last weekend. I had entered both dogs but it was not a good day for us. First of all as usual it was very difficult to get in the gate. The poor woman who was working at the security point at the gate we were supposed to come through, got really unhappy with me and some of the other folks in the club. There was plenty of space for us to park inside the arena area. I don't know why it is so difficult with this issue and this event. The other fairs make it so much easier for the sheepdog handlers. Sigh. I am not sure that I will enter this one again but we'll see when the time comes. It was not a real positive way for me to begin this annual event.

Coal ran in the third position but was too sticky-eyed (I have let him slide on his compliance with commands also) and we timed out at the second panel. I think that same thing has happened to us a couple of other times at Sonoma County Fair. The second panel is up top of the arena, near the letout, as with most RESDA arena trials. It is a tough spot for a dog to let go of the pressure enough to let the sheep pass in front of them (and between the handler and dog to complete that panel). It is really tough for a dog like Coal with such strong eye.  That said, I am not making excuses, he should have given up the pressure for two seconds anyway and we might have been able to complete the course. The sheep were harder than they were at the Sonoma-Marin Fair, where we did better. They were from the same sheep provider so I am not sure of what the difference was in their behavior.

Ryme ran late and by then there had been some nicer runs (the early runs were mostly tough goes). He did OK on his outrun, began the lift, and then one ewe broke back over him to the letout. That was enough for Ryme. He just doesn't handle it when things go wrong. He drove them to the fence and held them, looking over his shoulder for me as to what to do. When a few whistles didn't convince him to go around and fetch them, I retired and we fetched them to the exhaust. Not too fun for either of us.

Ryme is going to get some time off to just do simple chores, help me feed our sheep, run in the pastures, and so forth. I still have the goal of teaching him to set out, and hold sheep for other people. We've done that a few times and will try to find more chances to practice it with willing handlers. I just think that trialling with any type of consistency is likely beyond his scope.  He'll still have plenty of work to do if he wants it.

Chiefie's New Bed; and More Spot Updates.

Chiefie got a new bed last weekend when I went shopping at Costco. Normally I don't do any impulse purchases at Costco because it just gets too expensive if I don't stick strictly to my list. But in this case, I made an exception. Chiefie deserves a nice cushy bed! He is 11 years old and has his aches and pains. And these beds were a pretty good deal (under $30). I think he likes it!

Of course the other dogs had to try it out too.

Even Spot has taken a turn in the new bed: Spot has only dragged the pillow to the bed, out into the yard once. He got a speech from me about that. Phooey!!! It has not happened again (yet).

Coal moved too quickly for me to get his picture.

As for Spot's sheepdog training progress, we had a second working session in the pasture this week. It went OK. It felt a lot more "Western" to me but I think we accomplished a bit more. Our great backup person and her dog(s) were helping us again. Maybe we are confident enough to try it on our own next time? Maybe.

And, Spot had his first lesson with our sheepdog trainer today. It went OK. He did no worse than in our "home" pasture, and possibly a bit better. It would be nice to think that Spot will just get better and better. In reality we know that won't happen"; there will be ups and downs. But it's nice to think that the overall curve will continue in a positive direction. I have to start getting a down on Spot so that we can make some more progress.

Coal also had a lesson today; it was much overdue. We are sadly out of synch and he needs a major tuneup. I just hope it's not too late. I am going to do my best to try to re-tune him and get us back where we need to be. It's one of those things where the curve didn't continue endlessly in a positive direction. Life got in the way. I am hopeful we can fix it. The goal will be doing better at the Hopland trial in November. 

Changing Things Around; Moving to the Pasture

Sunday morning, I worked Spot again by myself in the small pen. This time I didn't use the long line. And, I added the silly Barbados ewe to Spot's working group. I was just thinking that I needed to make things more difficult even though I wouldn't be taking him out to the bigger pasture, by myself. 

Working him without the line on, in the small pen, was really no problem. I think we will need the line in the big pasture for a while. The little Barb ewe also works just fine in the pen. But you let her outside, and she just wants to RUN. Not good for a puppy. 

On our next outing during the week, we worked in the bigger pasture, with some help to make it happen. I didn't want to take Spot out into the pasture, by myself. Too many things could happen, such as a sheep could jump out of the pasture and I'd be stuck trying to get it back by myself...or worse...it could run out on the road and cause an accident. No, I wanted our first couple of pasture works to have a helper with a backup dog, on standby.

I don't have pictures of our pasture outing but we did finally get successful. Once we got the right arrangement of sheep figured out (no white ewe who is behind the Barb in the top photo) -- as she also wants to run off to her buds-- and the right places covered, Spot and I were finally able to do some walkabouts in the pasture. Yippee! It took some perseverence, and I am very grateful to my friend and her dog who helped us. What troopers they are! The key seemed to be for me to walk right through the sheep and then Spot would cover and go back to balance. It's so hard to pick up on what works and what doesn't, when you are working all by yourself. Having an observer is much faster and better! What's the old saying about two heads are better than one?

The sheep we're using for Spot that are working the best, are yearling white wethers that we bought last year, as lambs. They are a Dorset/Dorper cross that we have bought some of before, for dog training. They work out quite well for beginner/intermediate dogs. I'm glad we have them. I would not like it to have the horns on the Scottish Blackface powering towards me with a puppy behind them, right about now!

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