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| The Squees and Rippa watch the ducks. |
Because I was pregnant with twins. And then I had twins. And then I went once to sheep at Stephanie's and realized that the sheep stopped being used to my dogs and were too light for me to work without being consistent.
Which left the ducks. But even then, I haven't given up my day jobs and I added twins. So . . . not a ton of work going on here. Rippa's been really cute on ducks except when I brought the woods out to test their puppies and she was like, "People, watching? HAHAHAHAH!" I'm working on getting access to sheep again, but they're "on hold" for the moment.
And all I've done is think about getting back into it. Stuff just isn't working out with time and stock availability. I don't even really want to try too hard because even if I get stock RIGHT now, my ability to be consistent is gone.
Whining to some friends yielded an idea - what if you sent Rippa off for finishing? In my world this wasn't okay. You do it yourself, you slacker.
And then people are like, "But Kristin. Twins. Work. People are going to understand. And you'll be a better handler because you'll learn to worry about that more than what the dog's doing." It's true. Before kids, I spent easily 10 hours a week on stuff and still it wasn't ideal. Now it's like . . . 1 hour a week if I'm lucky. Why miss out on the experience when I could have the best of all worlds?
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| The Fury's face when I told her Rippa was going away for a while. |
I'm pretty excited about this. I think Rippa will like it, all the structure and clear handling from someone who knows what she's doing (I'd argue the best handler in the country for Aussies). And I'm excited to see what she gets out of her. I've been thinking seriously about breeding her, but I really want to be in a place of KNOWING what she can do and not promising something I can't back up to the people buying pups. This is a great way to find out because it's none of that, "if only I was a better handler" crap. Obviously, she has tons of baggage from bad handling and inconsistency through the years, and she's old and has bad habits, but I still think it's gonna be great.
Anyway, so she goes to Sherry's tomorrow. We're loading up the clown car with two dogs, two babies, me and the huz and our nanny who's never been to the snow so we invited her along for fun.
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| Added bonus - Rippa's just growing back in her coat after blowing it. She's gonna be SOOOOO pretty when we see her next. |
Rippa’s Working Commands
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Come
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Down: lay down and stay down
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Stay
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Stand
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No: stop what you’re doing
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Yes/good: keep doing what you’re doing
·
Okay: do whatever it is you think you should be
doing instead of what I just told you (a release that lets her do what she
thinks she should do)
·
Get or get behind: stay behind your stock or me
depending on who she’s behind
·
With me: stay with you but don’t worry about “heeling”
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Find heel: worry about heeling
·
Get around: get around which ever direction you
want and bring them to me – she cuts pretty tight and fast at the top
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Way to
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Go by
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Out: keep circling but get wider around the
stock
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Back: switch directions on your circle (also
works as a “get” on cattle)
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Walk up
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There: turn into the stock and walk up on them
·
Easy or “hey”: slow down
·
Beat it: get out of contact with the stock or
leave
·
That’ll do: stop working and come to me or get
off the stock
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Hup – jump up into my arms
·
Load – get in the truck/quad
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Crate – get in crate
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Kennel – get in kennel
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Leash – present your neck for leash on or off
·
Find your spot – put her somewhere on a stay and
if she gets up, tell her to find her spot and she’ll go back to it
·
Squirrel – go kill the squirrels J
M
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