So . . . almost accidentally, we bought a house by the sea and moved in. It is a fixer upper, and being people who don’t rest on our laurels, that’s pretty much all we’ve been doing with it since we took possession of it. The very first day I put plants in the ground because the previous owner never did. Then there was scraping and painting and reinstalling. We’re still working on the inside and will be for a few months, I think. And then there’s the backyard.
Oh, and my husband and I decided to open up a second location for our non profit climbing gym, in the midst of the busiest season for our for-profit event business.
What I’m trying to say is I haven’t been working dogs that much.
Aww, but she’s a time suck. I never expected that to be the case because I’ve been taking care of rentals like they’re my own forever. But now I can’t blame the landlord for it looking bad. It’s a compulsion. It must be fixed up. Much more to come in the front yard, but this is it for now.
Anyhow, that’s not to say I haven’t been working. I’ve gotten out a handful of times since then. And probably for good, too.
Remember my problem with Rippa and the ducks? Still no good. She won’t even do chores now. She’ll give it one half-hearted go and it’s over. The ducks still move off her so I can grab her and move them but she will just come over, suck up, and ask to do anything but that. Unless I let her go crazy on them. So, Rippa is on duck-time-out.
She was showing hints of doing this with sheep, too, at Stephanie’s place. But not at the Woods’.
I was so upset about it that I ended up deciding to go on a heritage search and contact anyone I knew that had her bloodlines too and figure it out. Tracey, of C-Me, reminded me that Fury’s mother (Rippa’s grandmother) didn’t like ducks, either. I started talking to more people about dogs just plain not interested in working ducks and sometimes sheep and wanting to give up, and it seemed to be coming from Spike. But then, someone didn’t have Spike, but they had Judd’s Chickasaw Dan.
And, lo and behold, I suddenly am on the phone with Joey Judd – which was pretty exciting. He talked to me for a solid hour about people, about dogs, about all of it. What I realized from that conversation is that Rippa is working exactly how you’d expect for me linebreeding on Dan. She’s got serious power with the cattle, and she’s getting frustrated on sheep and ducks as Joey mentioned his dogs were wont to do.
So, check it out, what happened? It’s probably that I’ve been working way more interesting stock at the Woods: goats and cattle, and she’s like, “Eff this other stuff.” She does work sheep fine at the Woods, so I’m wondering if there’s something about Stephanie’s sheep or the stuff I do there because it’s so much bigger of a space. I guess we’ll see!
And should I get upset about the fact that Rippa’s not amped on the little beasties? No. I wanted to breed cattle dogs. I got a cattle dog. If I keep wanting to breed for cattle dogs, she’s awesome. She’ll still work my chickens happily, too, but she’s getting a massive break from the ducks.
Actually, last time I was out there, she got to do nothing but cry as the Fury did her thing, and another guest was out working, too. I met this guy Roland and his red border collie at Stephanie’s. He trials ASCA and needed ducks to warm up on, and I said sure. Well, he comes out and his dog is great. He’s all apologetic about how she’s too hard on them, but man, my dogs are way harder (of course, they’re at the started level and his bitch is trying to finish a WTCh). It’s all about perspective.
I was supposed to trial with the Woods this fall but we’ve not put enough time in (and now I have no time with work and house), so they are off killing it on the cattle circuits in California and Oregon right now.
I posted to the California ASCA trial and show list about upcoming trials and so now it’s time to sort through them and pick one or two and just suck it up and go. I’m terrified we’ll do badly, but I guess I have to get over it. We’ll be fine. Let my dog work and me just concentration on the job and get ‘er done.
When I know my dates, I’ll post them here so there’s no backing out (unless I don’t get in).
Until next time . . .
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