One Foot...

.... in front of the other...is how it seems the past few weeks and months...

Chiefie turned twelve on Saturday - his birthday is October 5th. He did not get a birthday party but we enjoyed having a weekend together. He is just the best dog...the last of the dogs remaining from when my folks were alive; he was my mother's favorite of my dogs, as he would sit with her by the hour while she patted him on the head. He never lost interest in her and she loved to find animal shows on television that would make him interact with the TV. PBS nature shows, African safaris, sheepdog trials, they were all the same to those two! Chiefie has made me a lot of friends and he seems to have his own little fan club. Rock on Chiefie! We love ya...

This is an old photo but I have always liked the connection that it shows between us. Ah for some green grass, I say!

Coal and I are still chipping away at his work for the Open. We are now entered in two trials. It is so frustrating that all the trials in our area occur on back to back weekends in late October/November. There is no chance to go to all of them due to money and time off work constraints. But I am trying to tell myself that I am grateful to go to a couple of them. I just wanna run... I hope Coal and I will be up to the task. His attitude is good. I have to work on mine!

Just putting the work in, on Ryme. I am insisting that he do proper work even though he is not going to trial. It's good for me to work another dog, even if he just does farm work. In between farm chores I try to take him out at least once a week just for him...so that he gets a training/work session where I pay full attention to his work and not just which sheep we are sorting. When money allows, Ryme will get "tutored" but it's expensive, like everything else. Sigh.

Spot is now about 13 1/2 months. Coal is smaller but Spot is sort of Coal's mini me.

The National Finals has started so it's hard not to stay glued to updates of the scores. It will be a long week, with one foot in front of the other.......

Almost October

It's almost October and time has been blazing by in a blur, kind of like this photo:

Coal and I have been working hard to sharpen ourselves back up and I am looking forward to a little bit of trialling again. He's working well and we are dotting those is and crossing those ts, as best we can. Today we had an enjoyable workout with two other friends holding sheep for one another, and got to practice the turnback/double lift scenario. Fun!  

Spot and I have hit some speed bumps in our work so we are getting some help. He is super keen now. Poor boy tore his dew claw yesterday. Ouch! I'm very grateful for the friends who are helping us by observation and brainstorming though.

The days are getting shorter, and we've had a few drips and drops of rain. Can the little green shoots of grass be far behind? It is almost October...

That Pesky Clipboard Again

Unexpectedly I found myself on the other side of the clipboard again. The person who was supposed to judge Saturday's RESDA trial wanted to trade assignments at the last minute (almost). I was previously supposed to judge the last RESDA trial of the season, in October. It was great for me to trade since the earlier trial was a lot closer to home. And now I have completed my judging duties for the year.

I enjoy judging in small doses. Judging really makes you examine your own handling and training.

It was a lovely field with crossbred wool sheep who worked great for the Open dogs. These sheep have been in a trial before and are managed in a large group at home by a dog and handler. So they are dog-aware but certainly not dog-broke. They tested the Open dogs quite well. There were quite a few nice runs. I was hard pressed at times to find places to critique but I did my best.

There were of course a few runs that didn't go so well. I encouraged those handlers to go help their dogs. Sometimes it seems the handlers have grown roots and don't walk when they should - or so it seems at least...

There was also an old saying in other dog events that I thought of: "don't make the judge think!" It's meant in a joking manner but really, if the handler is doing something that is so different from the norm, then that handler is taking a chance of losing a lot of points that they needn't lose.

Being on the other side of the clipboard reminds me that etiquette goes a long way. The thank-yous received are much, much appreciated by the trial hosts, work crew, club staff, and clerk. It's those little things that keep sheepdog trials happening.

Speaking of which: lots of big trials have been running: Soldier Hollow, Meeker, the International in the UK, and so forth. It has been hard to stay focused anywhere but on the various websites that offered updates.

In our little part of the world, there will be a RESDA-style sheepdog trial at Lambtown. Details can be found on the RESDA website.

As for my guys, we are just plugging away. The temperatures have been really much hotter than I prefer so some training opportunities are getting either significantly shortened, or skipped altogether. I am hoping to get more training time in soon. But for now it feels like we are having the heat of summer all over again. 

Labor Day Fun

Labor Day is here! Time to store all those straw hats, white sandals and white linen slacks...oh wait, I forgot !! I'm in California...and the midwestern strict rules of apparel etiquette do not apply here. I am not sure I will ever get used to that. :-) Seeing straw hats here in November and March just goes against the grain. My grain, anyway...




Labor Day for we sheepdoggers now means one thing: Soldier Hollow double lift finals. I have been watching the scores since the qualifying started. I was happy to see our trainer get into the final round. They didn't make the medals but had a respectable score. On, to Meeker. Someday I want to go to Soldier Hollow  and Meeker as a spectator....wishful thinking! But we can dream!

Labor Day in reality was a fun dog-work day. With two other handlers we set up our own "mini version" of a double lift and Coal got to try his first turn back in that situation. It was really fun. He took the turn back after a few whistles and verbal coaxing. Not too shabby for a first attempt! We all had fun. Nice to do something different. I thought it might be a good litmus test of where we are, and I'm happy with the result.

Spot had one fast cheviot ewe in his training group today, that I don't think we have used before. She was too fast for him and in the heat we did not try to attempt keeping her under control, for very long. We will try again next time.

The issues in the dog-pack seem to have been settled, at least for now. I am so much more aware of what is happening here though. I thought I was pretty dog-savvy, but not enough. I am very grateful for friends who are much more well versed in canine behavior than I. I'm so grateful that the dogs are back together, under supervision, and we have had no more incidents. You don't know what you've got til it's (almost) gone is the old saying and when you suddenly face that it is a very stressful time. Spot's "puppy card" now has all twelve holes punched in it though. He may be getting a free deli sandwich but not much else! Just lots more work. Keeps me out of trouble, I say.

Giving thanks on this Labor Day for many things! Enjoy...

A Birthday, A Holiday, and More

Coal gives me the border collie eye from the vantage point of his swim tank

Coal's birthday was last week on August 29th. I didn't get a post on the blog for him due to other things that happened that day. Still I wanted to post something about Coal's birthday even if it's belated. He is now seven. It is hard to believe he's that old. Time flies when you are having fun. Coal has always been a bundle of fun. He is a jolly fellow who enjoys life. I try to take a lesson from him daily in that regard!

One thing our trainer said about Coal last weekend has stuck with me. As any know who watch us run in a trial, Coal has a lot more eye than most folks want in their sheepdogs. I have stuck with it because he is my dog and he has lots of other talents; he's not going anywhere. But what our trainer noted was that "there is nothing wrong with that kind of eye." "You just have to have obedience from the dog to go with it" (or something to that effect). In other words if the dog is obedient you can use the good parts of that amount of eye yet still get around a trial course in good fashion. That's my goal. When things are flowing it is a lovely sight, Coal and the sheep on the course. I'm not drilling him as such, but every day when we work I am running through some exercises to promote obedience, making sure he listens.

Coal is getting tuned back up. I am hopeful that we can put in a respectable showing at the nearby November USBCHA-style trials. I have more things to work on, and need to also put time into his fitness. But it's all coming along. Some of our sheep went on walkabout the other night; I found two of them enjoying irrigated lawn. I was glad I had Coal with me to put them back into the (dry as a bone) pasture. Oh my.

It's Labor Day weekend, so we have some holiday time off. Some down time is much welcomed and appreciated by me this year. A lot of the sheepdog folks are out of town at the various trials: the Scottish Games in Pleasanton, of course Soldier Hollow in Utah, and there is a small fun trial on Monday at the Gibson Ranch Park near Sacramento. I'm staying home. The holiday weekend traffic, the Bay Bridge closure and more factors were enough to make that choice. We have work to do at home, I have training and practicing to accomplish with the dogs and just some rest and chore time to put in here.  I am watching the Soldier Hollow scores online though, and it looks tough especially at certain times of the day.

Spot is doing well too. We're working on our assignments from last weekend's lesson. I would like to have a little bit cooler weather so that we could work a few minutes longer each session. Right now it's been pretty hot though so the sessions are really short. Some would say that short duration is a good constraint right now. Perhaps! :-)

We had a problem at home on Coal's birthday which is the main reason why I didn't blog that day. I'm still processing it and working out a plan to deal with it. Ryme has suddenly (at least to me) revealed animosity for Spot. If the signs were there before, with a fermenting issue, I did not see them. Spot has a great temperament and just wants to get along with everyone - which is one of the main reasons he is here. But we had a bad altercation early Thursday morning. Ryme would not give it up even though Spot was completely submissive. So they are separated for now at home, although walking them together out in the open still seems to be a possibility. To be determined. I continue to learn.

Happy Labor Day weekend, all!

The Good Stuff

Chewy.com gave us the opportunity to review some more dog food. This time they sent us the really good stuff!  When they emailed and asked if we could review the new Orijen freeze dried food I said yes! 

This food would be great for traveling with raw-fed dogs. The food is in the shape of little patties very similar to the size of a store-bought chocolate chip cookie. You soak the patties in warm water for a little bit and then serve. It's different from the other dehydrated dog foods I have used that are more of a powder or a meal that you mix with water and/or other ingredients.

All of the dogs gave this food a big thumbs up. It's pricey, but it seems like a very good food.

We had a visiting dog staying with us for a few days and I thought he might be the ultimate taste-tester for the Orijen freeze-dried. Angus was not eating too well being away from home and missing his dad. But when offered this food, he ate it right up and some of his other food as well. 

The adult food is based on chicken, turkey, and fish. They also have a red-meat flavor that is other proteins including beef, boar, lamb, herring and bison.

Orijen is a really good dog food company and if their dry food were not so expensive, I would use it. But this freeze dried seems like a good option to add in here and there. Chewy gives great service so again I highly recommend them if you want to online order your dog food. Thanks Chewy for asking us to guest-blog again!

School Day

We were fortunate enough to get in for sheepdog lessons so even though it was a Saturday, it was a School Day for Coal and Spot. Coal and I are doing much better together than we were three weeks ago, so that is very encouraging. His work is more free and flowing and he's taking command well...which makes it all the more fun to do. Now I need to resume practice on our shedding, which I have neglected in favor of more basic stuff; and also to find a way to get Coal more fit. I think I will be looking for a really cheap used, simple bicycle and give that a go. I think Coal is sensible enough to run with me slowly on a bicycle although we will find out if I can find one that is affordable.

Spot and I had our third session of coaching while working on the sheep. Spot changes all the time so I will have to be really observant and roll with those changes. He is making good progress though and it's time to move on with some of his work. I was making one mistake with my own positioning, which I hadn't realized and I will fix that immediately our next time out. This is why it's so crucial to get expert help. I would have kept doing that one thing which was making our work harder and less effective.  My challenge will be to bring Spot on for the next two months without that expert help as our trainer will be gone to all the big trials.

It's hard to believe it is almost time for Soldier Hollow and Meeker. Summer is truly over!