Speak Softly and Carry a Shorter Stick

Today was my first day renting sheep unattended. I totally brought a video camera with me, but for some reason it only shot 12:52 of each time I turned it on, so it missed the good stuff toward the end and I think the bad stuff without the good stuff isn’t a good idea to show you.

Basically, today I learned how much *I* needed to apply all my spiritual zen and calming down practices in order to be successful.

When I arrived, Stephanie had a hard time getting the sheep to the round pen because one was fighting her dog but it happened. When I got in there, without supervision, I came in hard on Rippa, and it made her come in hard on sheep. I set up an outrun by doing the “z” obedience thing that Stephanie wants me to break away from and instead of starting out calm and trusting her, she started running hard on the top and I yelled at her.

This tanked Rip’s confidence and then I guess made me angry so then it was me yelling and sheep blowing past me. “Get out, get out, get out!” She wasn’t getting out. “Get out get out get out!” I start fighting her. Then, I’m watching this happen and I know pretty well that whatever’s going on is likely my fault. The sheep are kinda lighter and Rips is keyed up, but hold up.

We’re renting sheep so instead of trying to get the most out of the lesson, I call Rips to me and we time out. She gets some water and then we go back in, but I sit with her in the shade and look at the sheep.

“Okay, Kristin, what’s different between before and now?”

Stephanie’s not here to tell me what to do. I have to tell myself what to do. What do I know? I know that I’m loud and I’m scared that my dog is going to hurt sheep. I know that I’m scared I’m going to teach her something wrong.

What can I do about this?

1. I HAVE to be quieter. Rippa isn’t stubborn unless she doesn’t understand what you want. Then she will stop offering behaviors until she does. She’s not confident enough to keep trying. She’s bowling sheep because I’m freaking her out. But she’s not even bowling sheep that badly. It just feels like it.

2. Remember what Stephanie said, “She’s not an alligator. That dog doesn’t want or need to bite. She does it when you stress her out.” Zen, Kristin, zen. Even so, like I said, she’s not even biting. She’s just buzzing them and getting close to them before pulling out and trying again. Zen.

3. The only way you’re going to teach her something wrong right now is if you stop using what you know. You’ve been doing this a long time. You know what it’s supposed to look like and what it looks like getting there.

Kristin, I tell myself, calm the eff down. Everybody is fine. Work on outruns. Work on keeping Rippa calm. Work on your “out.”

Note on that, Stephanie thinks “out” is a throwaway command and that the dog will naturally get out when it learns what to do. I do get that, that’s what putting mileage on the dog like this does. But the thing is, it can help Rippa be right if she takes her outs. She is cutting her corners and blowing sheep past me, so  that’s the first step. Get the “out” better.

So I do some half moons. But I’m yelling at Rippa a lot. I wish I had the longer stick, but I know it’s a crutch. The last couple times on sheep, I can totally do this without a longer stick, in fact, it works better. That’s not it.

Time out, Kristin. We go back to the shade and sit in the round pen for a while, looking at the sheep. Maybe 20 minutes. I’m calm, Rippa’s used to being there, and the sheep have calmed down and started eating some weeds in the pen. Okay.

I slingshot Rippa out and whisper “away.” She gets away. Everyone’s okay. She comes in too hard, so I catch her as the sheep blow past and do some half moons. I whisper “Away” – just one time. Not like how we started. At first Rippa doesn’t get it, but all I need to do with the stock stick is kind of underhand it at her and she hits the far side of the round pen. Okay. We do it again. She gets out and and walk back and give her sheep. She balances up.

Yes!

“Go by” I tell her as I turn, so that she can get her flanks down. She fetches them. As she comes in I tell her “Steady . . . down.” She does. We sit there a minute.

I do another outrun and wait for her to bring them to me. “Down,” I whisper. She does it. We sit there for a bit. “Walk up,” I whisper. She does. “Way to”, she goes out.  We walk backward. “Go by,” and as she takes it I tell her that is exactly what I want. She comes in a little tight so I underhand the stick out at her with an out and she turns her shoulder out .  . . the sheep come toward me. “There.” She straightens out and watch them. Man, this little dog has some eye.

We do some more easy “steady . . . . down . . . walk up” to keep her balanced and calm, and then a few more turns and it’s over. I’m so tempted to work on preparing for a drive, but it’s pretty clear that Rippa doesn’t get the fetch perfectly, nor the outrun, and that’s stuff I can do in this round pen.

Once I can walk around without a lot of handling, we’ll get to the arena again. I just have to be sure she understands the game, and when she doesn’t she’ll have the confidence to play it on a bigger field.

It’s good. It’s peaceful. I really need to meditate before I go in next time.  Speak softly and carry a shorter stick.