Take my pen, please.

So, yesterday I went to “Good Woman” Thursday and had one run with Rips in the round pen. More of the same of what you’ve been seeing. I really wish I could get her to down faster out there, but I really like her otherwise. She is great for me to learn on – I feel like I am really going to “get it” this time and maybe I’ll eventually have time to help Fury get to her potential before her little dog body breaks down (she’ll be nine this January).

The folks at the ranch yesterday and today were really cool, too. Saw some familiar faces and met some new people – I especially liked meeting a gal my age because you never see that.  

Anyway, so yesterday, Kathy’s like, “Let’s give the take pen a try next time, arm or no arm.”

So today, that is what we did.

We started with working on outruns and me getting back to paying attention to the sheep (I got heavy sheep today and my life is easier when I don’t have to worry about them). We worked on getting Rips to LIE down and to come to me instead of going for the sheepsies, and then it was round pen time at the end of the lesson (when she is good and tired).

So take pens – this is a different kind of work entirely from what we’ve been working on – which is getting the dog to work in an increasingly more open space in control. The take pen is much smaller than the round pen you start a dog in, and you really need to be able to keep them in control there. Dogs feel a lot of pressure in there so keeping them away from sheep and mitigating the pressure you put on them is important, too.

Kathy’s pen is set up so that you have a main gate into the arena that leads into a chute with different holding pens for different sheep (so she can select heavy, light, etc sheep for you). So Rippa’s job was to down in front of the gate while I open the gate and let the sheep into the round pen.

Of course, I guess the sheep weren’t too worried about Rippa because there she is, diligently lying down in front of the sheep with the open gate as I am tying it back so it doesn’t shut, and the damn sheep run right on past her to the take pen. Fury would NEVER have allowed that to happen. I guess that shows the kind of terror Rips gives these heavy sheep.

That doesn’t bother me too much, though. She’s got plenty of power when challenged and to move stock. I haven’t really seen her on cattle, but as I said, Yishai likes to “accidentally” let her get in contact with them sometimes and he always talks breathlessly about her performance, so we’ll see in the fall.

And then, once the sheep were in the take pen. We went in. Here is the video. No commentary necessary because you can hear us all talking.

 

So the idea is that you teach the dog to go in, not bugger (Kathy’s phrase, and it’s perfect) the sheep, and run right around the perimeter, stopping at the back corner (where you tell them to), and then using presence to push them into the arena.

We teach this by going in with them and having them run circles around the sheep and keep her wide to the fence. Then I am supposed to down her opposite the gate, Kathy opens the gate (because it’s a lot to ask an 18 month old puppy to hold her stay with that kind of pressure), and the sheep go out. Now, right here, Kathy says not to let her work the sheep, but use obedience, so I leave her in her down, go out to the arena gate, call her and down her. Eventually she will understand the plan and relax and just go to me while I close the gate and start working again when I say. This was a nuance I either forgot or didn’t remember from Fury. In fact, a lot of this stuff I forgot because it’s been aeons since Fury and I worked take pens. It was kind of funny.

Anyway, second take pen of the day was good, but Rippa was thinking maybe it would be better if she just got out into the arena if I wanted her out so bad. Oh well, Rips has her mother’s “If I am not doing it right, then why bother” trait. When she figures it out, it will be nice.

I am also having problems with stick location, and how it affects the dog, but we’ll worry about that next time and next time hopefully I won’t have the brace on.

Rippa says, “No worries, I luv mah sheep!”

People keep asking me how old she is for some reason. I answer, but I would feel weird going, “Why do you ask?” Maybe I should.

I also talked to Denise Creelman (who was up for lessons) about my silly aspiration to be a breeder judge with stockdogs. All the Junior handlers that I grew up with are getting their licenses to judge, but not me. She was like, “Yeah, she’s a nicely balanced little dog, maybe a little too long for my taste (true, me too), but the problem is she is so small.” Gets you every time! She is about 18” exactly, but in California that’s the kiss of death! :) Oh well. Next generation.