Our first trial–miles to go!

Well, it’s done. And I feel like I need to work backward to get the most use out of this blog.

I am an emotional mess tonight and I don’t know why, exactly. Partly I’m sure it’s sleep: I was so worried that I would miss my alarm that I woke up a TON last night. Partly I think it’s relief that it’s over.

Prior to this experience I trialed a total of FOUR times and the last was seven years ago. I think, “Oh, I have been training forever,” but you know what? I’m a real beginner. FOUR times, seven years ago. I knew jack. I spent all of last week being like OH NO! There’s strategy! What do I do?

I started out the day with plenty of time to do all my little rituals and listened to power music on the way to the trial. I sat in my car before trials and tried to clear my mind. I took Rippa out and spoke softly to her.

All of things were good. Our first run was on cattle, which I had much confidence about because a – we weren’t going to get in trouble for biting them and b – we have a lot more mileage than most people there. We had some problems with taken pen (it wasn’t perfect) but I expected that, and while I expected to fetch the cattle, I just didn’t trust Rippa to do that nicely so we drove the whole way. On the way back to repen them after getting the panels, I decided to try fetching to get that control again, but the judge yelled for me to calm her down and so we quit that. She was just too amped to fetch the whole trial.

But I walked out of that run just . . . psyched. The crowd clapped and cheered for me (I think everyone knew how scary that first run was for me after all this time) and I felt great. The people at this trial were great. I’ve always been scared to trial on home turf because people make judgments about you and they stick – and I have a hard time with that, but I felt nothing but support. Love to you guys.

On to sheep – again, not a great take pen, but it happened. Then I drove them. I NEVER drive sheep. Ever. But I just didn’t feel like I could do anything else. We Q’d pretty low because I wouldn’t let her stay in contact (contact after I ramp her up from driving is bad).

Ducks were a no-go because they needed a dog to stay off them and Rippa wouldn’t. That’s okay. I don’t think anyone in started Q’d on ducks.

And that’s when I was feeling pretty good and stopped making it my business to watch myself and keep the zen thing going. I timed for Maxine, one of the judges, and asked her lots of questions about how she judges and what ideal stuff looks like and she told me I really need to trust my dog and let her work.

Have we heard this before?

So, I let myself get slightly cocky (thinking, oh boy! I am going to get my titles today) and I let myself lose focus, and in our final runs I tried pretty hard to be chill but . . . I stopped watching my stock and started yelling at my dog. And that is never good. No Qs there.

I was super nice to Rippa, though. I tried real hard to keep my voice quiet and supportive and I always made sure she got loves for her work after runs, and I never figured anything that was happening was her fault (and when I asked the judges, they confirmed it).

Nonattachment to outcome. Going into something just to learn. Treating it like a lesson. All things I need more practice doing.

Both judges were very supportive of her, telling me that if I got my team work with her solid and came back, she’d be the dog to watch. Like, wow. But I went from being cocky to being freaked out.

OH MY GOD – I HAVE BEEN TRAINING FOR SO LONG AND I MAKE ALL THESE MISTAKES HOW WILL I EVER BE ABLE TO BE THE HANDLER MY DOG NEEDS SO THAT WE CAN LIVE UP TO THIS?

Nonattachment to outcome, Kristin. Go into things just to learn. All of that.

I had to calm myself down on the drive home as I played back what happened, good and bad, and the things we need to work on, let’s be honest, I knew it. She needs to work on balancing up more. I got lazy. Nobody needed it out of me so I stopped worrying about it and worked on other details. My stick with the bottle on it is broken. I haven’t used it in SO LONG.

It’s coming back. After my last cattle run, while Maxine was judging, I sidled up next to the other judge who was just watching (John), and asked him what I needed to learn from that.

• Stockmanship – yeah, see, I know that by myself, but when Rippa’s involved, I lose it. This is because I watch my dog too much because I care about the outcome on paper and not the job of moving the animal.
• Trusting my dog. Maxine said that if I figured that out, I’d go back into the arena with a different experience altogether (positive).
• Fetching – he said, “If you haven’t worn out a pair of tennis shoes, you haven’t done enough of it.”
• Don’t get emotional – dang it, I clearly failed there. That was job #1.

And then he told me to read page 1-110 of Virgil Holland’s Herding Dogs and I have it on my desk as we type this. He said, “Read it 3x and then do it and if you don’t have it, keep reading it.”

Back to basics. I knew I should have been working on them, I really did. I can’t call Rippa off the top anymore and I can’t get her to hold sheep on a fetch to me, we still have to turn, turn, turn, or I have to rely on mechanics.

I KNEW BETTER – does this sound familiar?

And so, there you have it. I know this stuff, I just need to make it a habit.

As I was driving home, I kept thinking about this – if I have these bad habits that don’t work, it’s time to try something different. Unfortunately with stockdogs you can’t focus on one thing at a time, but I feel like keeping my notes, writing this blog, working on myself and my ability to stay calm and unreactive.

It seems like an insurmountable path to be able to be the handler I need to be so that Rippa can be what people saw in her at the trial – and I also have to be non-attached to that outcome to get there.

I guess awareness is the first step? If you’ve got ideas, I’m up for them.

And so when’s my next trial? When I fix this stuff and I enter it not “knowing better” that I have to put a band aid on something. I always hear this, “People enter started dogs way too trained stuff” and that’s why I did this. Rippa was trained, but I was right to hold out this long, and we’ll go back again when I don’t have to take her off contact to be comfortable running her at new places.

It’s Time to Trial (well, kinda of)

I only say this because I could trial tomorrow, but it’s not looking like I’ll actually MAKE a trial until after the new year. So, don’t get excited.

I last left you pretty frustrated but trying to make the most of it with Rippa. I keep saying it’s not linear but we so want it to be! Rippa refusing to work ducks and turning off on Stephanie’s sheep made me take a step back and re evaluate my goals, my dog, and, most importantly, my beliefs.

You don’t get into dog training unless you’re a control freak in one way or another, and that can make it really hard to believe in something because EVERYONE believes in something and if you’re not lock-step behind them, you’re going to have some trouble with it.

As I get older and get better at being me (aka, living in my own skin), I’m doing a lot better on the realizing this earlier and making calls. Same with Rippa. After talking to Joey Judd about what his dogs were/are like, I have to remember that it was never my goal to have perfect trial dogs. There are plenty of those. I don’t need perfect family dogs. There are scads of those. What I need is a dog that I can say to a rancher – this dog will take minimal training and help you. These things can include the others, but they don’t have to.

And so, I backed off all the fine tuning stuff, no circling around the stock and me to set up drives, no hard flank work, none of it. Just fetching and setting up chores. And, taking advantage of the fact that I have all the time in the world, not letting the dogs actually work.

Rippa hasn’t been on ducks for a while now, but she’s got to watch Fury do it and it’s driving her nuts. Good. Be bummed about missing out. We’re taking a break because I’m deep in my work season right now anyway, but when I go out again, it will be to torture Rippa by working Fury again. Muahahaha.

I realized I had some holes in Rippa’s training and have started taking Stephanie’s sheep out to a big alley way to work on driving, control, etc in tight spaces. She is learning that she can drive easy and still control (rather than chase because they’re running away) and she can’t get out wide enough to go to their heads at a full run, but she’s able to do it in the narrow chute if she approaches slowly and easily. I’m keeping sessions short and positive and Rippa is happy.

Sooooo happy. She’s tired.

We’ve been working on obstacle stuff with Shannon’s help, too. She’s learning that non-takepen/holding pen obstacles don’t mean she has to lose her stock and she’s figuring out to make that happen, as well as negotiate obstacles in general (aka, in her way). Shannon and Dustin’s setup is a lot tighter than Stephanie’s because their training goals are different. I really like the balance because we can work on distance and outruns at Stephanie’s and work on all the nitty gritty stuff at the Woods and come up with  a balance.

Rippa’s mom Fury is coming along, too. Today I actually had a thought that I might be able to finish her WTCh in her old age if I pick my cattle well. (I don’t need her getting hurt to do it.) We’ve been working short sessions with her on sheep and she’s learning to balance and that I hold my end now.  The difference between when she started with Stephanie's sheep to today is night and day. I’m definitely going to finish her started sheep title (she needs a leg) and ducks when I’m ready to go out there. It’ll take more mellow control on her part to get to open, but I’m feeling like its possible. Stephanie thinks it’s much to do with her getting older, and that might be it, but I like to not think like that. Fury isn’t much different at almost 12 as she was at 4 in temperament or physical ability – I’ve noticed it’s harder for her to climb stuff, but she still does it – what’s changing is MY attitude and MY handling more than her aging.

One of the things I’ve started doing before working is taking my time with that. I lay the dog down outside the gate and give flanks until they stop thinking STOCK STOCK and start listening to my commands. When they ease up and take them, I go to the gate, drop them, and walk in, leaving them. I might move the stock around a bit until the dog eases up and lets it be my job before I let the dog in. This is working brilliantly to get soft, easy starts at the first go.

So, no, it’s not linear. I went back to basics with Fury and Rippa, but it’s going well and I’m getting more out of them both. Fun fact: I was a college professor for almost a decade and occasionally I would substitute for junior high and high school. What I taught at the college level was the SAME thing being taught in lower levels.

It’s not linear. We learn, we use, we stop using, we forget. One must always go back and work on the basics to get advanced work, even if it’s just a tune up. ESPECIALLY if you don’t use it very often or consistently.

The Naked Fury

Mileage is definitely key–and coming into heat is a problem

Last week, Rippa was super flirty with the Woods’ dogs and sure enough, she’s coming into heat. Not standing or anything, just flirty . . . I hadn’t thought much about it until Dustin asked me last night about how I felt I was doing and what my goals were.

I told her about the ram incident and how I was pleased with her, but maybe her confidence was bad. The last work I had on ducks and sheep before going there, she was a mess. She stopped wanting to take flank and Way To suddenly meant WAY AWAY OVER THERE. She was doing great on sheep and our driving was going well, but then her mind just seems to drift.

I mentioned she was in heat.

“Well, that could be some of it?” It’s true –I forget. Cranky pets and cramps can affect it all.

So yesterday we did some exercises. Dustin had me work on getting her outrun cleaner and just thinking and slowing down. He also put a big emphasis on me working on my own stockmanship. I did a couple send outs, but then I had to make Rippa stay while I moved the cattle. They aren’t as light to me so it was a lot harder. Then he had me do some obstacle work – get them around trees or hold them. You’ll see me trying here, but Rippa’s not precise enough (or I am not timing it early enough) to get them to settle right where they need to. He says it shows me holes in training, and it did.

Something I’m noticing from watching these videos (there are a lot of them, you’re just getting parts that illustrate a thought) is that Rippa is doing a lot better than I think she is.

I told him that I thought she was lacking confidence. She seems slow and not engaged to me. This, ha ha, is what Rippa thinking and working seriously looks like. I don’t see the Woods dogs working like that (they’re typically fast moving and responding) and Fury doesn’t work like that (I broke her, plus she’s just a lot more intense naturally), so it’s hard to watch Rippa go about things slowly and not in a “snappy” way and think she’s working. But watching it third person like this – uh, yeah, she is. She isn’t even that slow to respond. It just feels like it handling.

So here I am trying to get Rippa to get the cattle in the area between the two feed buckets up by the camera. It’s not super smooth because I’ve got to put some training on her where she doesn’t take things.

There’s parts in this video where I think she’s blowing off a flank, and she’s not. It just doesn’t look wide enough from my perspective. At the very beginning, I lie her down and she takes a step to turn and face the cattle – staying in contact with them – which in hindsight looks like good instinct against my bad instinct. I need to command her earlier so she can do things like that and stay in control if I’m going to obedience the commands out of her.

I haven’t been using obstacles in training much because I’m working on commands and instinct, but he added some goals and it did indeed show me things to work on for both of us.

Today we went to ducks and sheep and Rippa did a perfect started B course with me.  That’s all I asked for today and that’s what we got. Fury did a decent one, but the ducks were hot (I used the whole flock, which is currently down to 7 since one died mysteriously, two wouldn’t work so I sold them, and one is in my backyard with pins in her leg). I had them hang out in the kiddy pool for a bit and started over: golden success.

Went over to Stephanies and did sheep with Rippa – sorting is a real challenge these days, so that was good. Rippa had a hard time keeping them all together for sorting, but we got it done, and then practiced driving again – going really well. I’m not sure what changed but I think both of us are getting it (and off the fence, too).

Fury had to sit out sheep this time because someone else came to rent and I was in the middle of business calls so figured it was a good time to bounce.

Really happy with how things are coming together and really, really glad I video taped the works so I could see where I needed to fix things.

And now: your moment of happy family zen.

The line between instinct and self control: we have found it.

My view on the way to Stephanie’s.

An interesting thing has happened with Rippa that hasn’t happened with Fury. When I started training Fury again on sheep and ducks, Rippa and Fury worked a lot a like in terms of how they were reading and the control that was happening. Granted, I was giving Fury slack for bad handling mistakes of the past and not working in a few years, but I felt like they were kind of in the same spot with training.

Rippa has utterly surpassed Fury in the last few weeks and the contrast is making it really obvious to me. It may be mileage, but I think it’s more to credit our work on cows than anything.

My dogs have a lot of drive and instinct to DO SOMETHING with animals. It has felt, with both of them, that I have a lot of raw energy that I have to keep under control with my handling, but something has definitely shifted with Rippa.

We’d been working roping steers the last few weeks and they have a way different dynamic than the older cows and the calves the Woods now have. There was this one steer that was a bully to the other one and made it really hard to control the whole herd. Rippa quickly ID’d that steer and wanted to work him and sacrifice the group because she was so annoyed with him (I assume – I felt the same way handing him). But with the careful, patient prodding of what to do with that situation from Shannon, I’ve been handling Rippa different and putting more obedience on things. When she goes to pick them up, I drop her just before her adrenaline takes control and she goes too hard to control them. I call her off the steer, etc.

It, in turn, has given her space to make decisions and think, finally. Our last session on cattle was really nice because she was doing that. A lot of the reason we’re not killing it at this point is that I’m still bad at handling and reading the situation, but Shannon had a nice thought on that: “You’re worried about what your dog is going to do. Keep worrying about her until you don’t have to, then you can worry about what you’re doing.”

But this all really came together on Stephanie’s sheep last time.

She has a LOT more sheep than when we started now because lambing season’s over (though there are some late lambs in the mix) and everyone’s all together again instead of separated out. That means I have a bigger herd to sort from and it’s a little harder because if I try to sort out of the pen she keeps them in, the light ones stay to the front and the heavy ones to the back, so I have to let them all out and then go over to this small, weird shaped pen with a point at the back and sort them into there because the leader sheep go first.

But, never overfill your pen, ESPECIALLY if it has a point at the back that they can get stuffed in.

It’s happened before and it happened again, I had one of the rams in there and when Rippa went to move them out of the pen, he wasn’t having it. Backed up and faced her, stamping, ready to charge. That kind of thing in a little pen isn’t good so I tried a couple things to fix the situation (like sending her on the outside of the pen, but he just rammed the fence), so I ended up putting her on a down and dragging him out by his horns. He was still being a jerk and backed himself into a corner and wouldn’t move. I tried backing Rippa’s pressure up with my stick but he wasn’t having it.

Rippa’s frustrated, but patiently waiting for me to do something. She doesn’t want to walk up on him because he’s going to charge her so she wants help. She literally says, “I don’t want to start a fight with him, but I don’t know what to do.” This, the dog that was bite first, ask questions later six months ago.

So, I told her she could hit him. She did a lot of yelling and feinting to try to make her point, but finally decided he needed some hits, so she would hit, reasses, hit again, reassess. This happened a few times, great shots to the poll until he still wouldn’t move and she hit him in the ear. That worked. For a bit. 

We had to have a couple gos with him, and I got some sheep out to get him moving nicely again (she had to heel the sheep to get them to move out of that little point, which was a bummer – not what I want her take pen experience to be like)– putting him away quickly, but the key was that even with Rippa hitting him, she didn’t let her instinct and stress get the best of her. It was hit, reassess, warn, hit, reassess.  She didn’t get him fixed with the hits, but I really don’t know what she was going to do because he would rather get bit by her than just run and give to the pressure.

Moreover, that would have had her all emotionally charged for her work the rest of the time, but she settled into the basic working jobs just fine . . . penning, working on calling off the top, driving.

I’m still sucking at the driving thing still – I can do fine with it along fencelines, but neither I nor Rippa feel like she’s got control on the drive away from them. It’s fine. I’ve been working on getting better responsiveness before we move on to that seriously.

And talk about giving to pressure – we have a cat who hates the dogs. Fury cannot help herself but to growl on back and charge the cat, but Rippa? She just turns her head away and gives the cat her space.

It’s very cool. I feel like we’ve hit a milestone in maturity with her. I had been wondering if it would ever be a natural, easy fetch and plain work without a lot of me having to watch her – the answer is yes, it is.

Good dog.

Kathy Warren Clinic and the Impact It Had on Us

If you’ve been following along with us – you’ll know that I signed up for a KW clinic as part of a drawn out “empowerment” move  that also caused me to go get Rippa cleared for breeding to know how much of an investment I was looking at with this. People were telling me to start trialing but I didn’t feel like it was a good idea – but this farm trial came up and it was a lot of pen work – something Rippa and I really excel at, so I was like, “Maybe.” The thought of my first trial in years, with Rippa, being under KW, my mentor, made me a little sick, so I called the person I knew who felt like that – Trish Alexander – and she said lay off trialing and take a clinic with KW instead. So I wrote my check that night and sent it in.

It gave me some concrete things to work on, too. I wanted to fix our outruns and be ready to start the driving process because I kind of stopped right at that point when I retired Fury.

I have tons of notes I need to get down at some point here, but I’ve been slammed with work and having an awesome time so it hasn’t happened yet.

Here’s the basic gist, though:

1. I started the clinic horribly. It was like taking a million steps backward and Kathy razzed me that I didn’t start out the way I did at home, and she was right – I, for whatever reason, checked my senses at the door and handled like crap. One session of working on that, though, and we had it back together.

2. I buggered the sheep by working them wearing a skirt. Yes – I do work on occasion in skirts with shorts built in – it was hot. Big lesson learned that when going to a trial, you really need to be looking like something the stock are used to seeing.

3. I got to see some border collies start – and they look like Aussie starting. You’ll remember I had a bit of an existential crisis a few months back about this. It made me feel a lot better about everything – especially watching Trish tune Rook up after her litter and not seeing them work for two years since the California ASCA Nationals. Rook, friends, looked amazing, and so did Trish. Every bit as good as the Woods’ dogs. Time + talent = a good dog, no matter what the breed.

4. I basically got reinforced that I need to be more aggressive with Rippa’s outs and basic commands. By the end of the weekend, she was doing pretty well and Kathy started having me call her off the top and apparently I’d broken the system there – the last work of the clinic found me working Kathy – stopping her with the stick and learning new body English. She chastized me, “I knew you had to have broken somewhere down the line, this is it – you could do it before!” But after a few repeats of that, I got a “Good girl” for putting the stick and myself in the right place and I called it good.

The proof of this clinic is in the pudding, though. As I said, I have scads of notes and Kathy did some drawings to show me the next steps for driving – I spent as much time as I could watching the more advanced dogs and trying to “get” those problems, too, since I’d not really paid attention in the past because I wasn’t there.

And then I took Rippa to Stephanie’s on Monday – four days on, yeah? But that’s what I had. She did great – our sorting work was great. Stephanie has weaned her lambs so there were new mammas in there I wasn’t supposed to work, so I had to do a lot of sorting into different pens to get the sheep I wanted (and two sets, one for Fury and one for Rippa) – no problem. I really love how helpful Rippa is with that stuff. I’m not sure why but the functional chores make me really happy – especially because she’s so good about it.

Worked Fury – and I actually got her to slow down and balance up a bit, so that was awesome. Neither dog made it very long compared to usual – but it was a pretty draining weekend.

Tuesday, I went to go work on the duck management and the Best family said I could totally saddle up their horse and take her for a ride. I thought that was a good time to try the dogs out (they’ve been encouraging me to take them for rides, but I didn’t want them to mess up the horses and get people bucked). It went pretty well. I tried to bring a rope to toss at them if they were bad, but my horse was scared of the rope so gave up on that idea. Just kind of yelled at the dogs and when they were really bad with the horse following us (no rider, so more stock-like), I’d just chase them off from my horse. They need some more work to stop trying stuff, but I think it went well.  Living the dream, right?

At least, I think so. I am feeling pretty blessed to have these rich opportunities and I am starting to feel like I’m living totally according to what I’ve been wired to do – feeling the flow, seriously.

And then finally, I went up to the Woods’ today for a session and they kept me on goats – after watching me on that cattle video, I was like, “I give up – I don’t know anything – do with me what you will.” And so they put me there to work back on fundamentals instead of teach her that she can do whatever she wants to get the cattle to me. Rippa absolutely killed it compared to any other work she literally has ever had. She got out, did nice out runs, stayed off the goats . . . it was like both of us clicked.

Dustin had me give some driving a try and I was like, “We’re not going to get much, I’m just warning you.” But, between the both of us, we did pretty great – Rippa took her little finessy mechanics commands to fix her inside flank and stop when I asked and I got out of the way most of the time.

More notes there, too, and I got to watch them start a 2.5 month old puppy and get a sense of that, but that’s for a later time.

I think the goal is to start going to some of the cattle trials around here, learn a thing or two, and hopefully be good enough to go with the Woods to a trial in October and give it a whirl.

So, on track to start thinking about trialing in the fall – and really hitting that goal of helping be an emissary for Aussies in the cattle ranching world if this keeps up.

I’m feeling pretty blessed that Rippa seems to be able to do whatever I want with her now. We’ve got our relationship worked out and her confidence is really getting there. 

SPARKLE!

Cattle and record breaking temps

We took the dogs to the beach today because it was 85 at 9 am and waited until 6 to visit the Woods today. The entire area broke heat wave records (it’s always pretty hot around this time of year, and then hot in September), and our area doesn’t really have A/C because it’s not usual to get that high. Toasty! But that doesn’t stop good cow dogs!

Once again, Dustin ended the lesson by telling me that Rippa was way better than the last time she was there (two weeks ago) and I’ve only worked her once on sheep since then. Really interesting how she is learning is a really clear progression. Usually I’d expect one step forward, two back, at least once in a while, but she seems to “get it” pretty well now.

I feel like it’s time for me to “get it” on cattle, though. Granted, I’m battling Death Allergies right now and it took two Allegra and two Dayquil to get me upright after three days, but as I write this, I feel like I’m drunk. So, I felt better when I was out there, but I wouldn’t say I’m handling at my finest.

We started, as usual, with the goats, and Rippa did pretty well. My new homework is:

a – learn that when I throw the dog into an outrun and want her to change directions, I need to stop her brain (or, as Dustin put it, throw her into neutral) with a down or a there before I switch her. I’m sure I probably learned that a while back because it makes sense, but I certainly unlearned it.

b – it’s definitely time to start over flanking her and preparing her for driving. She’s AMPED on the goats still (far more interesting than sheep), but I’ll work on it harder on sheep.

They had me handle their dog, Cat, who is pretty much finished and I got a feel for how to drive, but man, it’s a thing. I have that clinic with Kathy Warren coming up and I really want to be ready to start that with her because I haven’t gotten there with the Fury so it’s not in my bag of tricks body-English-wise (intellectually, yes, but that means jack most of the time).

They also had the huz handle their dogs – he’s pretty good at it. He’s been paying attention to the commands so I’m very impressed at what he does have going on. I suspect he has no interest, but they want him to get involved, too, so I think he humors them.

We then went over to cattle and I think my main thing is to help Rippa learn to read them. She gets really excited in the beginning and stops thinking, but once she is thinking, it’s all good. I lose a lot of the control I have on her with smaller stock, but for now, like I said, better to let her learn to read her cattle. Again, some good things today. I can’t get her to heel the cattle, but she tends to want to wait them out to make them move and I’m up for her not being too rowdy if she doesn’t have to be. She’s a heading fool, though – but she does take my command to stay back so that’s getting better. It’s fun watching her think. It fries her little brain, though, and the works aren’t very long before she gets tired and starts looking for Yishai. This annoys me a little because Fury never quit, but I do know that once her brain stops frying, she’ll be good.

Interesting thing, when I tell her she’s good, she quits. I don’t know how it happened, but it’s her release word (I definitely didn’t train that – the huz noticed it and says she’s like that for lots of things so he never tells her she’s good). So, now I have to break myself of praising in that way. Oops.

So, that’s that. I’ll have video to show you (it’s not wonderful, but hey) soon, but I’m too “drunk” to focus on editing it to something useful right now. I think I’m going to lay down . . .

Sheep and ducks tomorrow.

Goats and Cattle and Bar WD

Well, that didn’t take long. I’m a firm believer in the concept that things will come together when it’s time for them to come together (though I do let myself get disappointed when it’s not on my timeline), and this week has been an example of just that.

Once I decided to go for it, I talked to Jennifer, and ducks have been ordered. The huz and I are trucking out to Creston to build out the duck living area tomorrow, and in a few days the ducklings should arrive and be ready to raised by Jennifer’s teenage daughters.

In the same day, I asked my husband to ask his acquaintance about cattle, but it didn’t work out so he asked a mutual friend of ours that grew up on a cattle ranch here if he had any leads and . . . of course he did!

We went up the grade to north county today to do some agility warming up (the owner there, Eileen, is kind enough to let me work my dogs in her field without taking lessons  - we saw her there and she razzed me for my tendency to only train the weekend before a trial – this time it’s three weeks away so I’m doing good!)

And then, we headed a few minutes out to meet Shannon and Dustin Wood of Bar WD. I didn’t know much what to expect except that she was in a couple Facebook groups other dog people I knew were in . . . but let me just say that I was impressed.

The Woods run cattle out of Parkfield, an area more in the central valley, but they have a training setup in town. Sheep, goats, and cattle. Eileen said she’d heard they had puppies, so one of the first things I said was, “I hear you have puppies!” and was ushered in. Eeeeeeeeeee. I like puppies, what can I say?

The Woods were happy to just let me do my thing, encouraging me to try goats first, but I took a cue from Kathy on this and asked them to work their dogs first so I could see what they expected. This works really well because I get an idea of their expectations, where they are coming from with their dogs and handling, and whether I’m getting into trouble.  It also helps me figure out if they’re going to be cool with the power I’ve got on the dog with grip and such or just know if I’m in a situation I shouldn’t be. But nope, this was more than fine: it appears to be perfect.

The Woods dogs are NICE. A couple of them fetched a big purse at the Red Bluff stock sale auction ($5000 and another at $10000). And, they’re all red dogs. I laughed because Stephanie told me that the BC people who trial on sheep all think red dogs can’t work. He was like, “Show her a picture of my dogs!” I agree. Being biased and all . . .

Moreover the Woods “get it” from a stockhandling perspective. Low stress, efficient, replace the work of ten men with one dog doing good work. “I don’t need dogs that bark because my dogs will just bring them back to me – I don’t care where they were, but they got here, so what do I need barking for?” Dustin had me watch the cattle closely, and as he said, “Watch the beginning, not the end.” See the beginning of movement of both dog and cattle and I’d respond faster and be more effective. And I totally, totally get it. I’m also glad to be working with somebody that’s not just trialing as a hobby – I really want to make practical use out of my dogs (and recognize it if I can’t get that for any reason) so staying with people who do it will help me keep that perspective.

It came our turn to do it and Rippa has never worked goats in her life and she LOVED them. Way too amped to do much thinking and I tried to wait her out with half moons, but she was ready to MOVE THOSE GOATS by all her power. Eventually I called her off and we moved to the cattle. Shannon quips, “They work like cattle, right?” I didn’t really feel that – like light sheep/lambs, but I think Rippa did. The enthusiasm was sky high compared to the sheep.

They have a couple Holstein calves, which he said he likes because they are better for working – the meat cattle will just sit (I think is what he said). I know a lot of people who don’t like dairy cattle because they aren’t as gregarious (don’t group) because of how they’re raised, but I did like them when I trialed them in Idaho, so to each his own. I’d be more interested to learn about cattle breeds and stockdogs – it seems I know enough about sheep, and even ducks, but not cattle.

I started Rippa like I have been taught to do at Kathy’s, just seeing what she does and trying to keep it easy and keep myself out of it and Rippa definitely dropped any semblance of hesitation about cattle – heads, heels, it was all good to her. Dustin and Shannon called  me in and asked me to put some more control on it and push her back like I did at Betty’s and in no time she was driving them up and down the fence line and turning them quietly. I was very proud of her for taking her flanks and commands like a champ.

When we tried to lift them off the fence, however, she got less confident and started trying to do stuff on the inside flank.  She doesn’t do a real good job of staying back on the fetch, instead over flanking and coming to the cow’s head and getting it mucked up and scary for the cows – not releasing enough pressure. I’m not worried about it  - Rippa spends most of her life EXTREMELY EXCITED by the sight of cattle but unable to work them (we do a lot of off leash hikes and rides in the hills here) so her brain probably freaks when she’s finally allowed to do stuff and wants to just turn them in circles for the sheer adrenaline of it. I’m sure it will settle with time.

Dustin had me handle the cattle myself and start reading the cows rather than worrying about the dog. Simple stuff, stuff I know intellectually but not instinctually. I spend a lot more time worrying about the dog on cattle, and that’s what made me a bad handler on sheep – worrying about the dog on sheep – so it should make sense, right?

Then he showed me a couple ways to get Rippa to not slice the top on her outrun on cattle – setting her up and using the panels to kick her out and balance at  the top. She did this a few times really nicely, a few times not. I wasn’t intending to do real work with her today – just see where we were at but I figured it was a good sign they were pressing me to improve and work her, so I was really happy with what we got.

He observed she’s got a side, for sure, “she’s left handed” (meaning she takes the go-by –clockwise- command better and will choose it, given the option). Kind of interesting because in early training I felt like she was the opposite. I used to have to urge the go by (if you remember that from a few months ago) . . . anyway, you fix that by just working the weak flank a little more, so we will.

When Rippa wouldn’t go to the outside flank against the fence (when she had plenty of room), I employed Betty’s method of me manually getting the cattle off the fence and then sending the dog – doing it once fixed that pretty well, so . . . tools in the toolbox!

All of that went pretty well and by the end we had pretty good control of the calves, enough to direct where we needed to go. The sheep training definitely helped her solidify “the point” compared to when we were at Betty’s.

Then he suggested we go back to the goats because she’s been drained of all that initial energy. Shannon showed me some stuff with her dog about how to train Rips – off stock – to move off the stick (something I don’t do but have thought about) and suggested we do some obedience off-stock work before we work to take the edge off (I agree, you’ll remember I did do this in earlier training days . . . I think I just got so lazy on my own).  And then she had me do some half-moons with Rippa, but this time really paying attention to my “out” and reinforcing it as a real command. Again, I definitely got lazy.

By the end there, we were working goats pretty well.

The Woods definitely have put the time in and understand it. Shannon says they’ve been at this five years only, but they’re quite successful, and as I said – I’m very, very impressed. I feel like a relationship with them is going to skyrocket my stock handling skills and goals. They go to all kinds of associations to trial as they figure being well rounded will make them have the best dogs and I love that. I’d never even considered other venues because I’m such an ASCA person, but that door just got flung wide open as a possibility.

I’m super grateful that everything appears to be working out. The Beez worked for like two hours without quitting, on different livestock, and I was quite proud of her. I saw some really good dogs work, too. And some really talented and knowledgeable handlers.

Just so much good rolling down the road – I’m really getting an education and so grateful to all these people for being willing to provide it.  There is a Jewish teaching that you should not learn from only one great scholar, but from many. Maybe not at all once, but over the period of your lifetime. I’m definitely feeling that happening now – there is so much out there to learn and I’m ready for it.

My huz was with me, and he’s been a casual observer of all this stuff for a long while – he timed Finals in Bakersfield and comes along periodically to clinics and lessons. At one point I asked him to video some and he said, “But then I can’t see what’s going on.” That’s a first – he actually cared. On the way home, he was actually excited, talking about how we’re going to go out there and kill it in trials now with the help of these two, what good trainers they were, how well the explained things, how well they handled, how awesome their dogs were, about their trucks, their nice setup, and just . . . I think he finally got it.

Yeah, feeling quite blessed and excited.

The Chain of Positive Thinking

Well, I think that the chat with Stephanie and my huz worked. Today, Rippa and I did our thing and it was mostly glorious. She’s getting out when I ask and not shaving the top off like she was. She pens spectacularly. We did some arena obstacles (free standing pen and some panel work), she fetched for me and kept pretty balanced up, she drove a couple feet, and her outruns are getting better – I’ve actually gone back to standing in between her and the sheep (which I couldn’t do for a long time because she’d dive in and fight me) so that front looks like it’s going to progress. And all with the stock stick and not my big ol’ bottle pole.

But, yeah, I definitely can handle a started class in ASCA at this point, so long as I hold it together and the sheep aren’t awful.

I’ll talk about my driving technique next time probably, but I wanted to muse on this a bit.

I have a Kindle and it comes loaded up with a book called “The Flinch” – its premise is simple: we wait for our showers to warm up before getting in them to avoid “the flinch” – being uncomfortable. He says, “No! Get in right away! Get used to the flinch. Embrace the flinch!”

The flinch is that tiny push out of your comfort zone, that, if you do it enough, becomes within your comfort zone. I tend to live my life this way in general, but the dog stuff had me stagnating. I finally got my sheep, and then when I got into the arena, I was like, “No way can I do this, these sheep!” and then today, it all came together.

Our sorting wasn’t great to start, but we got ‘er done. We had mistakes and hiccups in training and handling, but yeah. And I realized that I’d pushed out enough by going to Doug and reminding myself that I have to get out of the comfort zone and work to HANDLE that dog and it came together. This made me realize that my comfort zone of “we’re just learning, not yet” isn’t cool.

It’s why I haven’t actively tried to get my duck setup and look for cattle to work. Yesterday I went out to the Best Family Farm and we looked over the setup and got a plan together – I think the huz is looking at next week to build out the duck housing area and it’s time to order my little runners.

On the drive home, I realized I should also probably act on another thing in my head – getting Rippa on some cattle. With all the cow-calf pairs out there, it’s soon to be weaning time and  that’s when I get some nice calves to work. I had my husband write an email to a friend of his that does rodeo work, and I have a couple other ideas for that, too. But better to line it up now than sit on it.

Because sitting on it avoids “the flinch.”

That’ll do, reader. That’ll do.

Arena Video Footage–I need to calm down

Thinking I was going to fly to Canada today, it turns out I’m going on Thursday. So, I thought, why not one more lesson in the arena? There was some neat stuff I saw here that people learning about this might like to see so I roped my husband into video taping it for me. Boy howdy, did I need to see the tape. I am really lucky I have tough dogs, guys. I need dogs who keep going even though I’m being hard on them, because I really, really need to work on that.

As I said, last time was the first time in the big arena for us and she showed me a lot of really neat stuff, but I was having a hard time with outruns and such. Watching the video, I’m pretty sure someone needs to put a shock collar on me. I am so freaked out that the dog is going to be bad, I don’t set her up to be good.

Case in point – when I start her, I start her maybe twenty feet from the sheep in an arena. Watching the video, she’s totally being responsive to me, but she’s excited to go and I’m worried so I don’t send her, and we amp up. It’s not until I get way back and give everyone space that everything goes mostly well for newbs in an arena. Watching Rippa like this reminds me this is how Fury used to be before I put too much pressure on her when she came into contact with me. Sigh.

Anyway, things I am learning from working in the arena: I need to take advantage of that space because Rippa and I both ease off if we give eachother room to make mistakes without being harsh. With the sheep close in on the initial outruns, they have a whole arena to run at, so they do, and I’m making Rippa work close under real pressure from me instead of JUST GO. So I need to JUST go when we start and stop stressing if it’s not perfect. This is the stage where Rippa and I have to learn to read our sheep and control them without fencelines, not worry about perfection.

So, here’s the video. It’s pretty long but it’s because I wanted to include a couple things: how hard I start Rippa and where it’s really obviously I need to stop doing that. Working on teaching her to pick the sheep up off the fence and bring them to me without too much help – you’ll see her fail a couple times, and do her customary “shut down” I talk about, but then it gets it together. And then, in the end, we have a nice lift off the fence and I take the sheep for a jog. I don’t know why I felt like jogging, but I did, and she kept them balanced even then.

I did take the time to start a little drive on her that doesn’t show. I’d noticed that she was really taking commands from me so a little “it’s okay to drive the sheep” in there wouldn’t fry her. It lasted like two minutes. I decided I shouldn’t add too much new stuff. Now that I’m getting used to being my own guide, I’m quite liking how it’s making me feel. I sense myself relaxing into everything I’ve learned over the years and finally taking ownership of it.

So now I really am off for a month and we’ll come back on work on my crappy starts on sheep and just letting Rippa learn to handle her sheep (including that damned red one that flips out all the time).  Oh and the #1 thing: Trust your dog, Kristin . . . TRUST YOUR DOG. It’s when you’re a jerk that she freaks out.

Starting the Drive

Well, I went for three lessons in the past two days and didn’t bring a camera because I didn’t anything but a tune-up would happen as we haven’t been to lessons in a few months due to wedding, honeymoon, and lack of funds. Should have brought a camera. The cool think about Rippa, and my current stage in stockdog handling, is that we still keep learning even though we have a lot of time off.

I am resolved that I really need to get on stock more regularly and it looks like my only option’s going to be cows. Should be an interesting experience when that pans out, as I am used to training on sheep primarily (for good reason – they’re not as dangerous and hard to manage).

Anyway, so, I was handling really good first day and fell apart today. I’m not sure why. Maybe because I had things to worry about today. Rippa dove into the sheep when I handled her poorly and nearly killed one, running it into the fence. Horrifying. I hear stories and I am sure it happens more than people admit, but I like animals and hurting and scaring the sheep bummed me out. So, I think my nerves ruined my handling the first work of the day today.

The first work, of the three lessons this weekend, was on light sheep in the duck pen. We're staying in the duck pen to get the kind of control and consistency we want. When I first started, I was SO eager to get into the arena because it "meant something." But the reality is, the arena is good for trial practice, but it's also great for losing good habits. So we stay inside the littler pen for now. Kathy has us on light sheep because Rippa gets bored and stops working on heavier sheep - she needs something to do. She told me "be careful, you're essentially dog breaking these sheep" and I have to say, that felt night. I don't know that I've ever done that with hot-and-heavy Fury, and it's good to know that when/if I get access to sheep off the ranch, I'll be able to handle them.

But, as I said, my first work the second day was kind of weak. Rippa wasn't covering her "go by" side and was overreaching her "way to" side, so Kathy put me back on heavy sheep, but we began the drive exercises that she does to prime you for this.

First, I do want to note that Rippa's down is a lot better. She doesn't slam on the brakes, but she is downing when I ask so that's good. That's step one in being ready to teach the drive the Kathy Warren way.

So what about the drive?

Well, first, the drive is pretty key for when you need a dog to push animals away from you, and the way that Kathy teaches it, it's key to teaching the dog to handle its stock without your directions. You kind of wait until your dog is fetching with good balance and control and taking commands. Then you start throwing flank commands whenever you can ("go by" and "way to"). And, of course, you need a solid stop on your dog.

So I don't think Rippa knows her flanks yet, but I'm working on it. We have the rest, and this first step should help Rippa stop coming up short on one side.

What Kathy does to teach the drive is teaches the dog to "pull off the top" - that is, stop fetching and circle the stock and the handler on command - keeping out of the flight zone. This is what we practiced.

Once a dog can do that with finesse, you lay the dog down next to you as it comes around and then you hit the dog with a "there." "There" means to walk up directly into the stock and keep them going that direction.

Oh. My. God. This totally blows the dog's mind. They are so used to you being up front to control that they only want to get around and when the animals start leaning or bending a certain direction, the dog wants to run around the outside and bring them back. Nope. The dog has to learn to watch the inside flank - the side they normally don't watch - where you would normally be. Their little brains explode here.

Kathy usually starts dogs on the drive in a big open field with no fences so the sheep can just keep going straight and the dog has time to just watch the sheep without other interference. This only works because she has seasoned chore dogs that fetch lost sheep when the baby dogs' brains fry and they lose them in the hills.

Anyway, so we're going along with our heavy sheep and I carefully position myself out of the flight zone, get my stick to a place where it will push Rippa past where she wants to flip back, and give her a "go by."

And darn it if she doesn't totally get around like she's supposed to, except she does it with her ears pinned back and a snarl on her face. Rippa is so weird. When she doesn't get something or is frustrated, she is definitely angry. I have to watch her and keep her going so she doesn't take it out on a sheep, but once she gets stuff, she mellows out. She's like that with everything. We're taking agility lessons, and you'd swear I was bringing Eeyore into the class, but once she figures out what I'm trying to teach her, she's perky and waggy. Same thing here. I miss Fury's spunky can-do attitude, but Rippa definitely gets it done.

I have to admit, though, it still makes me grin to see this snarling little dog taking her flank and going all the way around me. I like quirks. I got quirks.

How cattle and ducks are different from sheep.

So we got rained out of lessons, and there was an interesting discussion prompted on one of the discussion boards I frequent that made me think, hey, this is a great opportunity to discuss flight zone and dog safety. So, here we are.

Some of you may be wondering why everyone always trains on sheep. Or perhaps not, but if you live in California, the ratio of cattle to sheep has got to be something like 100:1. Now, it didn’t always used to be this way – I learned in my animal science courses in college that the sheep industry tanked after WWII because the soldiers were fed mutton all the time and it was nasty and reminded them of war. When you get home, you don’t want to eat sheep. And don’t get me started on how expensive it is to have wool sheep around these days.

And while this breed was developed for stock versatility (they even used to have a “hog” trialing division), nowadays, your real ranch dog is going to be working cattle. So why sheep?

For one, they’re cheaper to maintain, buy, and need less space. Two, they are not very dangerous for people or dogs compared to cattle (or not likely to get easily squashed like a duck would).

Definitely folks on ranches start their dogs on cattle, but most of us in this little world are hobbyists and it makes sense to start on sheep. It’s also WAY easier to train.

You cannot reach over a group of cattle with your stick to get your dog to take pressure off. You can’t walk through a group and get your dog and stop him when he’s bad. If he’s really bad and he’s fetching, you have a herd of cattle headed straight for you. Capice?

Now, with ducks, as I said, they get sqaushed pretty easy, but there’s another reason why sheep are still better.

Sheep are the ideal stock to teach your dog to fetch on, and, as I said before, your dog probably mostly wants to fetch to start anyway.  And you want to fetch a nice, manageable sheep.

The other interesting thing is that many times, your cattle will be a lot less tame than your sheep. What this means is that they will fight your dog less, need less overall space, and be able to handle you fetching. Many times, unless you use lesson cattle, in trials or in real life, you’re getting cattle pulled off the hills or from some dairy operation that have never seen dogs. That’s part of the reason why in ASCA, the advanced dogs go first – so they can break in the animals for the beginner dogs/handlers.

Ducks are like cattle in this way in that they’re mostly just terrified of what’s happening so, like cattle, you as a handler do best staying way out of the way and letting your dog read the animals and work accordingly. In trials, you’ll see dogs mostly driving both cattle and ducks, whereas you can fetch some sheep.

I’ll get into this later when I get Rips on cattle and sheep, but it’s just a good point of reference to understand. It’s all about your flight zone affecting your dog.

The other thing that’s important to note that’s different in cattle than the other stock is that your dog doesn’t have to concentrate on the stock as much. With sheep, there’s some forgiveness. They aren’t as sensitive as ducks (you’ll see some dogs get lots of eye when they usually work pretty upright because of this concentration), and your dog can see you like she can’t with cattle (often times, when you’re starting your cattle out on a fetch, the dog will overrun the flanks to check to see where you are).

But, like sheep, you want to teach your dog how to work those animals with a fetch, first. If you spend your time directing them on what to do, the dog doesn’t learn the nuances he needs to keep him, and you, and the livestock safe.