Matchup Problems

Sports coaches and commentators often speak of a team creating "matchup problems" for another team. This does not always mean that the team creating "matchup problems" is necessarily better or tougher than other teams on the schedule -- its just that certain of their characteristics create particular difficulties for certain specific characteristics of the other team.

I think there are "matchup problems" for border collies with certain sheep and fields as well. I know in talking to Jennifer and some other top handlers that certain of their dogs just do better on certain fields with certain types of sheep. Certain sheep seem to "like" certain dogs or type of dogs. And certain dogs or types of dogs seem to like certain fields or types of field.

Knowing this I am at the stage where I am trying to learn as much as I can about my dogs and their likes/dislikes and which sheep like/dislike them. Also I want to be able to run my dogs effectively even on those sheep/fields which do not fit to their strengths. I think it is important to our development that our ability to get around a trial field reasonably well does not require a "perfect storm" combination of just the right circumstances.

So with that lead in -- it was off to Porterville for the "Fun Trials" with Piper and Maggie this weekend. The "Fun Trials" are always fun and they are one of the few places where I can currently take Maggie and give her a good chance for success as she is still having trouble driving and I can leave the post to go help her and offer some schooling.

For Piper it is a good set up because the field and the sheep are basically the opposite of everything she likes. The sheep are farm flock who like to run and want to have as little to do with Piper as possible so they are wont to take off at a full gallop whenever she gets within the same time zone. They also like to overreact to flanking adjustments so the slightest overflanking can result in a serpentine pattern either down the fetch line or on the driveaway. Plus the field is fairly small and the handlers post is very close to the fence so it is very hard for Piper to get far enough off the sheep to let them settle a bit. A formula set up to frustrate her but also one that if we can master will give us some confidence to handle sheep and fields more to her liking.

Maggie did about as expected and got a little bit further on the drive each run before I retired her. I tried to time my retirements so we got the maximum work for her without letting her frustration level get too high. Actually her outwork was some of the best of all the pro novice dogs and her fetches were very clean and straighter than almost all the other pro-novice dogs. In all a good trial for her but she still will not drive away far enough.

Piper did better than she did on the same field and sheep in June. Her outwork was its usual fine self and she stayed a little further off on the fetch than she did in June so we were able to control the pace and turn the post well. There was far too much serpentining on her drives and that is clearly where we need to put in the most work. For the most part her pen work was calm and fairly effective. All of her groups of sheep managed to slip about half their bodies past the opening of the pen to the side away form the gate but she uniformly got "away" and stopped them - one group completed one full circle before being brought in line and her last group (of 4) simply had no intention of going into the pen under any circumstances. Even with the last group though Piper was fairly calm and let them settle - they simply would not go in.

But it is sometimes true that we find our greatest successes amidst our failures. My first run on Sunday with Piper after we turned the post we learned that one of our four sheep seemed to have a socialization problem and wanted nothing to do with her three sister ewes. Piper took my lookback and directional commands and was walking in step by step and even showing some eye to this social misfit. Ah to no avail as the social outcast lowered her head and stamped her hoove at Piper. Piper continued to creep in and then "BAM" a completely righteous grip on the nose -- just a bit and she did not hang on. Well I gave her a "get out" and expected to hear a retirement request from the judge - but there was none so I had Piper creep in again. Same result - objecting ewe and a righteous nip on the nose. Expecting to hear a retirement request from the judge at any time we kept repeating the processs with slow results three or four times and finally the judge gave us a rerun (totally undeserved IMO but welcome as the judge noted it was the same sheep which had played possum the day before). I have to say that I was happier with this little exchange than I think I would have been if she had nailed her run for a high score. She did not back down and her grips were totally appropriate - not out of frustration -- and she did not hang on.

Her final run Sunday we got another social misfit who kept breaking from her sorority sisters for -- as far as I could tell - no fault of the dogs. This one started separating herself less than half way down the fetch and I kept having to readjust Piper's position to put the group back together. This continued all the way around the drive triangle and absolutely destroyed our score but I was so happy with how she worked that I did not care about the score. It was easily the toughest grouping of sheep that I saw anyone have during the day and I thought she handled it very well.

I must admit to slight disappointment with our scores but I need to keep reminding myself that we are still less than a year into our partnership. We are ahead of schedule for where I thought we would be by now when I got Piper in January. Sometimes she just progresses so well that I find myself being impatient. But then she does something like her little backing down that one social misfit one step at a time and escalating the pressure appropriately that I am so proud of her.