Dogs on the rag and trusting what you know

Rippa came into heat this week. People talk about how dogs go “off” or what have you because of this and you know, as a woman, I get it. Sometimes you just feel awful. And heat lasts a solid month – yup. Cranky.

This time last year, Rippa completely quit ducks, and almost quit sheep. People blamed her heat and I thought it was her and . . . soul searching and what not, I thought – no, it’s totally me.

Well, she’s in heat again and it’s not TOTALLY me.

She was great on cows yesterday though started to give up toward the end – but these are not short little sessions at this point. The dog is working a solid hour or so with short water breaks or what not most of the time.  I’m fairly tolerant of her getting over it because it’s not doing a chore for an hour, it’s being messed with for an hour. It’s cool.

But today, I went out to sheep and my friend Roland was there. Roland was as excited to see me as I was to see him so we kind of chatted with eachother while I worked Rippa. Rippa did NOT have patience for that. And I figured that out right away.

We also had a lamb that would break off and not stay with the group, and she had very little patience for that, too. Normally that would mean she would go harder on the lamb and teach it a lesson, but today?

Toss your paws up in the air and say “Eff that lamb, I’m not working it.”

We stopped trying to deal with said lamb and just went to fenceline fetching and take pens and holding pressure and such and that made Rippa happy. Gathering that errant lamb? KRISTIN, I HAVE CRAMPS. WHERE IS MY MIDOL?

I took her and the Fury over to sheep after, and The Fury is doing just awesome there. Her leg is great and she’s giving to the pressure of the ducks and taking flanks, it’s awesome.

Rippa, however? SCREW YOU, LAGGING DUCK.  Where she’d normally back off and be patient, she literally scooped the duck up and dragged it forty feet before I was able to stop her and let her know, “Heck no, we do not do that!” And quit her.

Looks like Rippa’s fuse is short today. She and the Fury got into a tussle twice in close quarters and now she’s laying on my bed groaning. Ehhhh . . . cramps, man, what you going to do?

In other news, I entered another trial in March. My husband says that despite me not liking to trial, he feels it’s a good investment to get me to stop freaking out and be good at it. The Woods might go for support and to check it out (and the huz, too) but I don’t expect anyone to.  I feel pretty good about this trial this time because ever since I stopped worrying about how it looked and her obedience, we’ve found our rhythm.

I have been doing not a lot with Rippa on cows aside from outruns and fetching and let her feel out how they work. She’s quit trying to take body shots and cheap shots and is pretty dang good at hitting the nose and poll to stop them. She’s also not taking shots at all and patiently waiting for them to move under pressure. Shannon says we both look a million times better and as Rippa gets to feel the cows out, she’s getting way better in the biddablity department, too.

Same with sheep. Roland was like, “Wow, night and day” (just like Maxine promised) and “Wow, I like that little dog.” She is balancing and working and being honest. No cheap shots because she has control.

It’ll be different in a trial situation for sure, but now I “get it” where I didn’t before. And by that, I get that “I know what is best” for my dog and I need to stay true to that. I think I’ve said it before, but this is a huge weakness for me in life. Other people trust their instincts, their guts, their feelings – I don’t. I completely mistrust them – I need to gather opinions and logic before I act a lot of time. It makes be a pretty good leader/team player because of that, but it paralyzes me in the face of adversity or accusation. Stockdogging is super good for your personality quirks.

And finally, I wish I had a video of it, but Roland was separating one lamb out and working just it with his border collie, Jessie. It was a thing of beauty. I don’t think I’ve seen anyone try to deliberately do what he was doing, or if I have (because I can think of a few times), it was never so impressive. Jess was working them like a person would. She’d work slowly, methodically, watch the sheep – try something – adjust to whatever it caused . . . and all Roland asked for was a “there” or a “bring her.” No commands, just pure thinking dog, and it was a thing of beauty to see her hold that lamb’s pathway despite a billion other draws.

It was just . . . stockdoggy perfection.

In which I create a stockdog rubric

The CVASC trial opened today and I got a call from Roland encouraging me to enter (love him). I know I said I was ready to trial again, but I think only if I am doing it for the experience rather than hoping to qualify.

But do you know how much it costs to trial for a weekend? A BOAT LOAD. And I am not with a lot of free cash right now (hey, my truck broke down last week . . .  wee!) for such things. Also, honestly? There’s a lot of other things I’d rather be doing on a weekend than trialing. That’s always been the case. I used to LOVE conformation showing, but I don’t think I’ve ever LOVED trialing, no matter what venue. I think being raised in dogs, for this long, whatever it was that was magical when I was younger is gone for me. That’s okay. Different strokes for different folks.

Speaking of that, all of this questioning of the “status quo” as it were that I’ve been doing has led me down a new train of thought to explore, and one of the things I did was open up my copy of The Traveling Herding Teacher (Bob Vest’s book) and read it for more than just a cursory overview today. Just what IS so different about his thoughts and what I’ve been taught?

Not a lot that I can see, aside from being more reliant on a line and on tying sheep to create scenarios. It seems like the order he trains in is a lot different than what I know. In the KW system, you work on the stop, sure, but mostly you let the dog work it out themselves while teaching an out, then the fetch, then flanks, then drive. If the dog doesn’t work it out him/herself, you start handling more. In his system, it’s broken down a lot more, and a lot more obedience and scenarios first before more complex things like fetch and drive. It reminds me a lot of the Woods’ style – which, like I said, seemed a lot to be based in KW’s methods but more expectation of dog obedience first and use of lines.

And, interestingly, using the Woods’ style seems to have created some holes for me in terms of Rippa and her feeling in control. I was wondering about this but then if I’m 1/2 the training doing it KW style and then switching to the other, that’s got to create holes because one depends on a totally different foundation to start.

And if I’m right about this, I understand why it’s taken me so long to get where I’m at – I thought I was loyal to one method that I know works but in wanting to be open to other ideas and not stubborn in the face of people who clearly know what they’re doing, I might have delayed the first style’s process and created a few problems (none of which I feel are unfixable).

And so, the teacher in me used Bob Vest’s book to make a rubric:

A completely finished  stockdog will have all the components below:

1. Call Off – The dog stops working and goes out of contact (“That’ll Do”)
2. Flanks
1. Come By
2. Way to Me
3. Dog can flank 360 degrees in both directions around handler
4. Dog can run 1.5 x around with both directions around handler
5. Dog can pass inside of handler (inside flank) on both sides
6. Short flanks both directions
7. Regular flanks both directions
8. Wide flanks both directions
3. 3. Walk up
1. Dog can push stock past handler for short distances
2. Dog can do this “around the clock” with handler in fixed position
3. Dog can walk up and hold pressure in a take pen
4. Dog can grip and release pressure in pen
5. Dog can move back (see “back”) in the face of pressure
4. Stop
1. Dog stands
2. Dog lays down
5. Back - Dog backs up or switches direction by taking pressure off
6. Out – Dog gets wider in relation to stock
7. Look Back – dog can leave stock in control and pick up other stock to bring to them
8. Outrun
1. Able to stop at any point in the outrun
2. Able to redirect dog at any point in the outrun
3. Walking up for the lift
9. 9. Fetch
1. Walks up on command to fetch
2. Holds the line to fetch (aka, straight to me, not all over)
3. Self-paces on the fetch (aka, not too much pressure or too little)
4. Stops on the fetch
5. Flanks on the fetch
6. Backs on the fetch
7. Out on the fetch
8. Can make a clean turn around a post
10. Drive
1. Can walk up away from handler balance
2. Holds the line on the drive
3. Paces the drive
4. Stops on the drive
5. Flanks on the drive
6. Backs and outs on the drive
7. Turns around gates

I bolded the ones I feel I have 100% down.  So that’s maybe half, and not in the right order that Bob Vest aligned them into. HOLES! Holes that I TOTALLY KNEW I WAS CHEATING WITH KW’S METHOD but ignored because I was trying to focus on other things. And because it’s not a solid foundation, it’s not going smooth.

At least, that’s the theory. It’s ALWAYS the theory.

AND SO, my new goal is to evaluate where I’m at so I can see measurable (and small) goals to get where I want to be.

Gratitude and Getting There

So I haven’t written in a while because I needed some processing time. After the trial, I was SUPER sore. Like I had an epic workout. I was also emotionally drained. The husband was like, “Well, duh. I expected you to stress and you did. You put a lot into this.”

We went on a big work trip scouting for a race we put on right after. The dogs LOVED it. The Fury was about 5 weeks post her big surgery to fix her leg and, you know what, I admit it, we let it ride. She was able to come along on hikes with us and we watched it carefully but no issues. We got cleared a week later and he said she looked phenomenal, especially for her age, so I don’t feel bad. I happen to think my huz and I are pretty good at understanding our dogs’ health.

Plus, they got to see snow. Rippa spent a lot of time post-holing in it, both of them eating it, and the Fury, well . . .

In the middle of the week, I had a lot of time on my hands because I was shuttling my husband on his bike because the dogs couldn’t come and sitting in the car a lot. I kept thinking about that trial. About how I couldn’t qualify after all this time and it didn’t seem right and really, if that’s the case, whose fault is that? Maybe Aussies really are crap after all and I should give it up. I mean, really, what I really thought was that I was probably crap and things weren’t ever going to get better because I KNEW what to do but I couldn’t seem to grasp it.

So I asked about it on the Internet and my friends helpfully suggested lots of things, but when the people at the trial chimed in, the message was “You did good. It takes practice to trial well. Calm down.”

I have been talking to a friend fairly new to the breed and she was saying she wish she’d gotten into it when she was as young as me (I was 12) but getting into it that young also messed me up a bit – I REALLY care about stuff. And as much as I get annoyed with “dog fanciers” and their competing to know more intellectually without actually knowing it common-sense/experience-wise, I’m one too. I have to stop WORRYING about what it all means and trust myself that I probably know things are fine.

So, I couldn’t WAIT to get back to stockdogging after the trip. I took everyone’s advice to heart. Maxine said that I needed to let her take control to start and then trust my dog and she’d be night and day. At the time I literally couldn’t understand that. Couldn’t put it into practice. A couple people who agree with her (okay, EVERYONE agrees with her), suggested I muzzle her when I work so I can relax because I just HATE it when she hurts the stock. I looked around for my muzzle but couldn’t find it in the move and decided that I could do what Maxine (and everyone else) said without it.




Wait for it . . .

 

Wait for it . . .

 

HOLY CRAP, IT WORKED! I stopped worrying about what Rippa looked like doing things and just went about my business. I put her into the take pen with the sheep, didn’t care how it looked, let her bring them out, didn’t look to see what was happening behind me and closed the gate. Rippa had gone out, collected them, and brought them to me. No cheap shots.

I walked out to the alley-way across Stephanie’s field, opened that gate, walked the sheep through, when they tried to run, Rippa stopped them, held them . . .

And then we worked on just getting out in tight quarters a bit, and every time I said “No” she would back off.

We opened the gate to the bigger field, did some fetching (heeding John’s advice that I just do fetching until my shoes wear out) and worked on “out” and outruns, then put them through another fence with a HUGE draw to a gate, and the Rippa bear caught them, brought them back. I walked toward the gate while Rippa went to head and then behind and head, behind, then figured out where to be to hold them along with me and stayed there.

Ladies and gentlemen, there she was. That was it.

No cheap shots, no handling by me . . . Rippa just taking care of business and being cool about it. I understood what Maxine said about kicking her out and letting her get control now. She can do it, and so can I. I get it. For some reason I just didn’t.

Don’t believe me? Here’s a little clip I made to show friends what the heck I do.

Pretty nice, yeah?

When it came to cattle – I had been thinking long and hard about this because I thought I had handled well at the trial and then didn’t qualify because of control points. People ALWAYS think that Rippa is stubborn but time and time she proves me right that she’s more of a thinking dog. If she doesn’t get something, she gets sullen and will quit working hard until she figures it out. It can be frustrating and easy to judge, but I specifically wanted more thinking when I picked her site to breed to the Fury who is like, “GO HARD ALL THE TIME!” and sometimes can’t think because she’s too committed to just doing something.

With Shannon and Dustin, we’d been working on responsiveness and tweaking. Putting her in the right place and getting the job done. And that’s what I did at the trial mostly (not all of it was pretty, as I said). But now I think I understand where the BC/Aussie difference is. Rippa doesn’t need to be put somewhere, she just needs to understand the job. So, I told Shan when I came back that I would rather just work on fundamentals because she clearly felt out of control during the trial. I needed to stop telling her what to do and let her “feel” her stock out like she was doing with the sheep (and ducks).

What we have been working on is outruns and fetching.

The Woods have two places for cattle to go in their backyard. One is a smallish arena with obstacles set up and then there’s this “L” shaped alley way that’s wider up top and on a hill.  Shannon and I work on her outruns up there. It’s a little annoying sometimes because the cows will go down the leg of the L we don’t want them to if the pressure’s not right, but the exercise is neat and it works.

Here’s the setup:

Cows                       Me                                               Shannon                Rippa

Shannon generally has to place Rippa because her pressure is sometimes too much for the dog. Boss lady intimidates her. So what we do is lay her down, and both of us post up by the fence line but letting Rippa still see the cows (not blocking her view).

And then:

So, we send Rippa away (Shannon says it), and then walks toward the other fenceline to keep her out. When/if she cuts in, I am then there to walk forward to kick her out and then she’s nice and out when she comes into the cows. Then we fetch backward.

It’s working really well, but the fetching needs a lot of work. We moved to the arena and the job changed from just this exercise to navigating around the obstacles and just much harder so Rippa got slower and crankier and wanted to quit. We got her to do some stuff and left it. I get really frustrated with that, but I also think with time she’ll get it so I need to stop judging one go like that. She just doesn’t feel in control on cattle yet, and I was taking what control she did have away by worrying more about her obedience.

So anyway, that’s where we’re at. Pretty happy. Definitely planning on entering the next trial – even though I thought I wanted more mileage. I think this time I understand it.

I thanked Stephanie today for having faith in me and letting me make all these mistakes so I could eventually figure it out. It takes a brave, trusting woman to let my dog take cheap shots on her sheep and know that it will come out okay eventually.

When I get my own stock someday, I’m definitely going to remember the value of working stock away from a watchful eye and trusting people to figure it out on their own. I’m also just SO grateful to the people that made sure that Rippa’s ancestors had all the instinct they needed. Being able to sit back and let her work and make the right decisions is so key in MY development and if she were missing something somewhere, I couldn’t be in this phase of learning.

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.

Gratitude and we’re trial ready.

I have to start this out by sending some public love. It’s 2015 in a few days and the perfect opportunity to bask in the achievements of the year. For 2014, there were many, and not just in dog stuff, but we’ll stick to that because that is what this blog is for.

I will continue to shout it to the heavens, but we are never solely responsible for our own successes, ever. When I look at where I was last year, and where Rippa and Fury both were, I’m just floored.  And this is not because I’m awesome (in fact, in many ways we’d be even better if I was more awesome), but because people found it in their hearts to take me.

First, to Kathy Warren for recommending me go to Stephanie to rent sheep. Had I not known about her, the rest of this would not have happened.

To my husband, who was a massively supportive champion. He told me to get over my insecurity about contacting Stephanie and try again, his efforts prior to that in finding me land to get sheep, his efforts to find me cattle when I decided it was time, his building the duck pen with me, and his blessing of us financially and time-wise because both have been major sucks when I could have been doing a million other things with both.

To Stephanie (Operation Sheepdog) for being a good friend. Moreover, for trusting me and teaching me to relax about hurting her stock. For her patience when they did get hurt – she’s never yelled or nagged, she’s just simply told me about it and trusted me to take care of it going forward and I am so appreciative of that.

For the million other things she’s done for me from book recommendations on stock handling  to taking time to talk to me about finance, wealth, and utterly changing my mindset about that. It’s not necessarily stockdog stuff, but I think because of her setting me in the right direction, the huz and I will take our unique ability to handle risk and do some incredible things in the future. And I’m also grateful to her for not being disappointed in me buying a house instead of investing it like the plan. A lot of mentors would see that as an apprentice failure, but she’s great specifically with taking you where you are and realizing you have to make your own mistakes and forge your own path (or build your own life because I don’t think the house was a mistake, and I doubt she does either). 

Stephanie also enabled me to stop stressing about stockdog resources because her setup is great, affordable, and a beautiful (if not a bit of a drive) location. Instead of needing land RIGHT now and taking what was good enough, I was able to make other choices that are more right for my husband and I (I’m glad we couldn’t get the house with the land that I at first wanted – I am enjoying my new Los Osos house a lot more).

To Jennifer (Best Family Farm), who again, has been an amazing, loyal friend and to V, her daughter, who is as well. Jennifer supporting my having ducks on her property enabled me to learn so much more about them and make leaps and bounds in handling because of it. It also reminded me how much I love animal husbandry and while I’m not the one that takes primary care of them, it’s a taste of it. The fact that I’m not is also SUCH a big gift on the part of their family. To both Jennifer and V for letting me ride Lady and Maddie, because I haven’t done so in years and that reminded me of that part of me that’s been dormant for years. I LOVE working with the horses and my friends and I especially love riding with the dogs because I feel like I’m fulfilling something in my heart and in the dogs’ hearts about being a part of the west and that experience.  I only hope that in the future I’ll be able to give back to them as much as they are giving to me.

And to Shannon and Dustin (DSW Stockdogs) – I know when I showed up at their place I was nervous and stupid and stressed out because I didn’t want to look like a fool when I showed up. My friend Dom kindly pointed me in their direction and he gets a shout out too. Along with Stephanie and the Bests, they’ve become some of my best friends (I see them way more than any other circle of friends so it seems natural) because it’s not just about dogs or what kind of dog I have or anything. It’s because they're good people, fun, and so hospitable that they’ve opened up their world to me – with patience and smiles and OMG their adorable son (also, I must say that Shannon is a fantastic baker).

I think the Woods have given me back the original reason I’ve gotten into this stuff in the beginning. They’re pretty urban where they live but they’re ranchers, too. Things make sense because they make money doing it, because the relationships are worth it, and because the life they want is there for the taking. There’s no need to prove oneself or get into fights about anything because they’re just doing their thing and they’re good at it. From parenting to stockmanship, to just living – seriously, guys, you’re amazing – and they’re younger than I am. Infinite potential for joy, success, and abundance and you can literally feel it emanating from the trio of them.

As I was driving from sheep to ducks today, this combination of people and their allowing me into their life has me thinking big thoughts – not about winning trials – but about what I want for the future and how to get there, and if you know my huz and I, it’s not a far-fetched dream.

Deep gratitude for you all for sharing your worlds with me this year. I cannot begin to tell you how much I have profited from it on so many levels. Hope this doesn’t embarrass you.

So, now that I’ve gotten the love and sap out of the way, we’ve got about a week until the first trial I’ve entered in something like 7 years (Sunday, Jan 4). Stephanie has been encouraging me to enter sooner, and the Woods are shocked that I think I’m ready – of course, the Woods are used to cattle dog trials where the beginning ranks are still very experienced, in my opinion – close to finished, dogs. I just need to get stock out of a pen and get through two panels and put them back in the pen.

I was stressing it last week because of what COULD happen, and so have been practicing the take pen since I don’t do that a lot. Stephanie, if you will remember last time, told me to chill in there and Rippa would relax. Well, she did. I really liked her advice about not stressing that her take pen was so tight – that means at the trial Rippa will be LESS stressed because it will be a bigger pen. Of course! Another duh moment.

On cattle this week, we basically just ran some practice stuff. Shannon told me to do two things:
1 – I yell my commands like they’re corrections so stop doing that. Give the command like I want to give the command, and THEN verbally correct if I have to.
2 – Make sure I have Rippa’s attention and anticipate trouble before it happens.
Both are duh, but I needed it.

Long story short on #2, there was a discussion on a cattle dog group about the difference between BCs and Aussies and one thing that was pointed out that I don’t think I’ve ever noticed before was that Aussies break contact with the stock for a second and look back at the handler for (or to confirm) commands. I will say not ALL the time, but watching videos of Rippa, sure enough that happens. It made me realize that many times, Rippa’s not blowing me off, she’s just so intent on the stock she’s not hearing me – so I should be patient and figure that’s it.

And I did. The runs went pretty well – a couple things I liked:
- Rippa heeled appropriately again. I wondered where it had gone because she’s a strong heading dog and when she loses control she tends to grab body shots, but I know she heels too. The cattle got balled up in a corner and she had enough control to walk up, look at me for help, and when I told her to hit them, she hit tentatively  - it worked, and then she hit for herself when she needed more and we were out f there. Nice and low on the hock and not getting excited after.
- I lost the cows in one corner because of the draw of the gate. I totally wasn’t THINKING about that and I was like, “DUH! Bad Kristin!” So the second time we pulled a parallel drive to get them through the corner they were drawing away from. I held them at the eye and Rippa pushed the rear. Worked great and reminded me how to handle again.

I left with a pretty solid strategy there for the cows.
I was stressing sheep and ducks, though, because Rippa has power and take pens aren’t always clean.
So my husband wrote on my hand:

And that was the plan today.
Guess what? It worked. We sorted sheep at Stephanie’s in record time, got them into the take pen, and worked on being quiet there first. Rippa, remembering how cool cattle heeling was, would do it to the sheep a bit in the tight spots but really easy. Even if a sheep turned to face her, she would hit it on the poll or nose, but really gentle – HUGE EVIDENCE THAT IF I AM CHILL, RIPPA IS CHILL.

We did a couple laps of her field and went to ducks.
Same thing with ducks. Only a couple issues with Lucky Duck when I worked her back in with everyone (the first tries were with my most happy 3 black ducks) because she’s more tolerant of the dog from being a backyard duck at my house for a while. As long as Lucky isn’t in the draw, no issues (even then, all I need to do is not let Rippa get too much pressure on her and she’ll be easy).

Rippa’s attitude these days is if I will calm down and shut up, she will happily do her job. Over handle or get angry or confuse her and it’s over. She’ll either quit and come suck up to me or she’ll take it out on the stock.

This forces the Kristin to become very zen. WHich is something Kristin should do anyway and is a major life goal for 2015 (to specifically work on that) – it will benefit my dog and the stock, as well as everyone else who deals with me.

Stockdogging for a better life.

Final thought – everyone keeps talking about me wanting to win it. This is something I’m going to guard very carefully for any time I exhibit in the future. I do not want to win. I do not care to win. I care to qualify and I care that my dog makes Aussies look good. That’s why I waited this long to trial and that’s why I’ll wait longer for the cattle trials. My goal here is to show people that Aussies are legitimate stockdogs and not just for hobbists. In ASCA, there’s no money, and often no real trophy, so all the standings and merit in the world doesn’t matter. I need the titles for legitimacy, but even then, working cow-calf pairs in the field works, too. That’s the goal. Eff winning. I will not get into that mindset because then my ego’s stuck and I’ll get stressed out.

No. My goal is to make my dog’s heritage proud.
I’ll write again after the trial. See ya!

Playing with the toys and it takes a village

So, in the last two weeks – it’s been raining a lot.

One time, the Woods forgot I had lessons with them in the morning and when I showed up (I usually check, but Shannon was totally like WE’LL SEE YOU WEDNESDAY, so I didn’t) they were gone. Happily they trust me enough to just go work the cows myself. We got them off the hill and into the arena and I didn’t really have too many goals with her except to just let her work cattle. We’ve been working on tweaking a lot of finite stuff so I basically just wanted her to have some mileage on them and get more and more confidence. About a quarter of the way into the work, I started trying to pen them in the middle and MAN that was hard.

These are calves and not SUPER human/dog broke so they’re not super happy about fetching to me or my pressure OR Rippa’s, so getting in the right spot to get them in was rough. Rippa’s not super sharp so hitting the sweet spot where she’s right AND I’m right was rough.

I was pretty happy because she’s working quiet now and without a lot of commands, she’ll read the stock and do whatever. Got some good hits in there (both ends – and more excitedly, she hit low where she needed to on the heels, which makes me feel pretty good about the body shots being an insecurity thing and not her real toolbox).

And then we finished up with just putting them back:

Pretty good – some stuff I’d like to go different for both of us, but as Shannon said last time – leaps and bounds! You like my angry batman voice? Hey, it works. I have to wean myself off it, though.

It’s been raining a lot here (yay) so this week it was just sheep and goats. I worked the round pen with Rippa and the goats to refresh her mind and get her a little sharper on commands as well as going to the fenceline to stay off them. My handling’s getting better, but definitely needs some improvement.

Took CA Sharp and Kira to sheep at Stephanies and Roland was there (remember him from my ducks) working through. When it came to my turn, I was stressing because when people watch me, stuff falls apart. Moreover . . .

TWO WEEKS TO TRIAL TIME.

We spent some time working on fetching and outruns and commands and then turned to the take pen. In the trial, I’ll need to send Rippa in to get her stock. I’m not worried about trialing on cattle at all – but sheep and ducks I am. She tends to bite (aka, THANK YOU – end of the show) in stress situations (aka, if I am stress or she’s feeling out of control) and I do NOT want that to be what happens first off. I’m in there trying to get that worked out and Stephanie’s telling me to get out of my side, stand up straight, and then Roland comes over and physically shows me like, STAND UP STRAIGHT and that works. I’m so busy standing up straight and not intimidating Rippa that she’s not stressed. So if I trial like I have a stick up my butt, you know what.

We’ll need to work a bit more on this before the trial for sure.

I’ll also need to start reading some more sports psychology stuff and staying with the meditation practice I have. And, if all else fails, there’s always shots.

I kid.

Kind of.

Here's everyone and their dogs.

Dustin sent me home with toys to work on, too, and it’s been fun. I build a little pen, shake them up, and then set them up as they end up:

In this case, I think a (counter clockwise) Way To is a good idea because the leader stock (cow and sheep are already facing that way, they just need a push.

In this case? A go by (Clockwise).

And then this one made me talk to my buddy Amy Bradley and look up the stockdog rules. If I left the dog there and stood behind the gate, they’d just pop out. Can I do that?

The answer is, yes, I can do that. it might not be ideal, but starting nice is better than not and then having drama the rest of the time.

I’m going to spend the next two weeks working on being the most quiet, trusting handler I can be. I watch videos of myself and cringe. I could get so much more if I just chilled.

Duck Husbandry and Philosophy

I have ALWAYS loved taking care of animals. I’m not sure what it is about me, but people feel hardwired to be a certain way, and my way is – without a shred of doubt – super agrarian, and moreover, shepherdy, not farmy.

I  do garden, but I don’t spend a lot of time REALLY caring about the garden. I water, I weed, I see what comes up, I work slowly to get better at it, but I’m not 100% there.

But animals? Yes, I am. Growing up we didn’t have 4-H or anything like that, but had we? I’d have filled my backyard with all the things I have now and moreso. Mom, can I have a goat? PLEASE? PLEASE? PLEASE? I kind of feel like that now, but with a balance of wanting freedom to leave and go on adventures without being saddled to the animals.

Shannon and Dustin (along with meeting Brad and Alana Holstein) are showing me I can have my animals and my freedom and not necessarily live on a ranch to do it. Both of this couples manage land and stock off their own property and despite everyone telling me it couldn’t be done around here, it is. It’s all a very good education and whether it comes to fruition or not, I am working quietly on learning how to “farm out” livestock for fun and profit. Funny how I went to school for this and yet the animal science classes taught me nothing and made me feel like it was hopeless. School, clearly, isn’t the best avenue for all things you want in life, right?

One of the first steps to this was getting the never to ask my good friend Jennifer if she’d be up for housing my ducks on her property. I don’t go out every day, so I’m definitely adding to her chore list. She gets duck eggs out of the deal, but it’s not 100% a fair trade, though I suspect her motivations are much like mine, and I think the whole family appreciates them, too.

So I’m not taking care of them day in and day out, though I feed them and whatever when I do visit (I try for at least once a week, but lately with work and guests it’s been hard), but they’re still a good learning opportunity for me.

When I first got them, I really didn’t know if or when to work them, and they would get really stuck in the house and not want to leave. Kathy told me to feed them in the field and put a pool out there, which I did and it helped.

Since then, I guess I spend a lot more time wondering how to get the most out of them – and sitting in the field just watching them do their thing is about as good as praying or meditation has ever been for me. It’s as good as sitting on the top of a mountain with a friend after a big climb (I’m into rock climbing). But it’s effortless. The choice to sit in a field with ducks in the morning is a stronger draw than anything else in my life right now.

So, as I sat there letting the duckies play in their mid-field pool with Rippa on a downstay for a half hour or so to make sure they ENJOYED being outside their pen before we moved them, I got to thinking.

If I ever give lessons, I’m going to force people to spend time with the stock themselves. I feel like all this time working on my own has made be understand them better and empathize with them. Having my own ducks makes me understand their motivations and how to move them (sometimes just removing pressure is all you need), and also what they want out of life aside from not getting trampled by dogs. Some of the more valuable stockmanship I got from Kathy was her asking me to feed her animals when she was gone and moving around in there just interacting with them. Moreso with Stephanie’s sheep when I have to sort my own – I learn personalities, motivations, and reactions.

The more you work with an animal the more it becomes part of the equation for you. It’s not just about you and the dog, it’s about the lives that come between you in the moment. Their fears and hopes and what you can do to entice them. A good quiet work helps them achieve their own goals (of not getting eaten, left behind, or starving) just as it can your own.

(Here, the ducks want back in their home and away from the squeeze job of both me and Rippa. I’m PSYCHIC.)

The longer I do this, the less I want to be a part of the “dog” culture and more I want to be just in the fields tending my animals. Everybody gets into stockdogs for their own reasons – but I’m pretty sure I know why I’m here, and it has nothing to do with the breed or my ego or the dog club or the people – but just because I like finding ways of interacting with the animals under my charge and getting better and better at that. I loved conformation, I loved agility, and I loved training in general, but not enough to spend time doing it every day, taking lessons, spending money. But here, I do, and I think it’s because there’s something inside of me that wants to be around as much life as possible – and the kind of life that relies on human care.

Here’s a little video of us working them prior to the trial coming up. I’m working on being quiet and calm to model it for Rippa. You’ll hear me sucking in periodically – it’s a weird little tic I got from training long ago that warns a dog they are on thin ice: and it works. And it looks real quiet to the casual observer.

Oh, and PS, the Fury is doing awesome. It’s hard to keep her quiet, but she’s using her leg to walk around and only pulls it up if she’s moving fast (she’s not supposed to, but . . . she’s Fury sometimes you can’t stop it in time).

Here’s my almost-12-year-old dog, a little less than two weeks post traumatic orthopedic surgery . . . on my flipping desk. NOT OKAY. Back in the ex pen she goes. But, it’s funny, you have to admit.