Slalom Practice

Piper has a naturally serpentine drive, so it was fun that we finally did a drill where the goal was to do a slalom drive through a straight line of orange cones. Not surprisingly our tendency to weave like a drunk driver finally came in handy. It was fun and actually a very tricky drill.

Also worked Rylee in an attempt to get ourselves partnered up before the New Years trial. She is getting more in tune with me each time but we will only get one more chance to work together before the trial. I will be surprised if we manage to get the driving together by then. Her outwork - where she can be on autopilot - looks really good though. She is completely different to handle than Piper. Thoughtful in her approach to sheep but not really hesitant. She needs me to check in with her occasionally but she does not need the hard intervention that I need with Piper.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas

from Ramsay, Maggie, Piper and Rylee.

We attended our first Christmas Party of the season yesterday at Canines - n - Ewe. It seems to have become a bit of a holiday tradition and after working dogs we enjoyed the wonderful Christmas spread put out by Ron and Jennifer. The party was fun, good friends, good cheer, and a fun gift exchange.

Not a lot to report on the dogs working. I worked Rylee for the second time and let's just say her outwork was wonderful while she could remain on autopilot. She was a little less sure once I entered the picture. The big thing seems to be right around the post she just is a little unsure who I am and why I need to be involved in this process. Once she gets the sheep off of me she actually was driving reasonably well. It's time to get a little extra work in to see how much we can partner up before the Snowbirds On the Border Trial New Years Weekend.

And today was our annual - Dog Pics with Santa Day. So Merry Christmas !

Coalinga - Excuse for Dinner @ Harris Ranch

Piper and I travelled North to compete @ Coalinga for the first time last weekend. Rylee came along for socialization. We stayed at the Motel 6 across the street from Harris Ranch. So Saturday night was a planned dinner at Harris Ranch.

The field at Coalinga is big enough to have a big outrun and fetch but as set it was about 300 yards or so for Open and maybe about 250 or so for Pro Novice. The field slopes up gradually from the post to set out and most people sent to the left. On the left outrun the wider running dogs went out of sight for a while in the rolling hills. Danger to the right was that the slope would kick the dogs in or they might go back to the set out pens. The sheep - for the most part - worked reasonably well. They did seem at times a bit difficult to shed but otherwise generally OK with a few runners (more on the runners later).

Before getting to our own runs a special congrats to Carolyn Crocker and Lyn who won the Open on Sunday in only their second ever open run together (Saturday was the first). Also congrats to Mike Burks and Mia who had tow beautiful runs in Pro-Novice to take first both days. Congrats also to Sally Douglas and Babe (2 good open runs) and Merle (2d in PN on Sunday). Some of the best work I have seen from Babe and Merle on a big field.

Piper had a generally pretty good run on Saturday although the drive was still a bit out of control. Score of 66 - good for third place and a check that was $0.02 short of my dinner bill Saturday night at Harris Ranch. Thanks for dinner Piper.

Anyway Piper's outrun to the left was her normal good outrun with 0 points off and she only lost 2 on the lift. On the fetch I over adjusted on the bottom third and had some difficulty at the turn - going wide and having to rewind a bit. Still she only lost 5 so it was not too bad. The drive had more problems and she was over flanking and not listening as well as she needs to. The sheep came into the pen mouth a bit hot from being harassed on the drive but I blocked them with my crook and body and Piper did some very nice work at the pen making small adjustments and walking the sheep reluctantly into the pen.

Sunday was a different story. Piper went wider on her outrun but since the last thing I saw before she disappeared over the hill was Piper looking for sheep I swallowed the whistle and waited. She reappeared on the right path - just a bit wide - and we lost 1 point on the outrun. I banged her down hard at the top and walked her in losing 1 point from the lift. From there it went to heck.

At the top of the fetch the sheep were mildly off line to my left. I gave Piper an away to get them back on line and I think she must have come too far to the heads because the sheep decided to turn back and go past on line and make a break back for the set out pens. A big come bye managed to catch them before the escape was completed but the damage was done and by the time we got them down to the post almost all of the fetch points were gone. From that point I actually thought the drive was a bit better than Saturday but we lost a lot more points. I think maybe the drive score was influenced by the atrocious fetch and generally poor feel to the run. At the pen the sheep managed to get around one time so we lost four points before tucking them in nicely. Overall the run just had the feel of Mr. Toad's Wild Ride.

Oh well - still need to get some consistency. But we still had fun.

Catching Up - A Bit of This and That

I have been a bit delinquent in getting these posts up so these will be fairly brief racaps of a number of items.

Starting with the Porterville Fall Trial at the beginning of November. Originally I was not going to run as I had a work committment for the Monday of Pro Novice. My work committment cancelled and I managed to beg my way into the trial. I would have been better off not getting in.

The sheep were very difficult, the field was muddy and the rains came heavy overnight forcing a nearly 4 hour delay in getting started. Piper ran out nicely and got behind her sheep. She even managed to move them about 20 feet the first run before they dropped anchor. The second run they would not budge. Two retires. We did work exhaust in between for several runs and she had no problems with them on exhaust.

The next week was Hopland. The only complaint I can have about this trial is that it is a LOOONG drive to get there. Beautiful field, beautiful weather, nice sheep, good wine tasting close by. Piper ran well although she had what seemed a mystery (to me anyway) 5 points off her outrun. She placed 13th in a pretty competitive group. More importantly - although the final leg of the drive suffered badly from a wide turn and the sheep escaping towards exhaust - her first two drive legs were some of the best she has given me at a trial. Since that has been our big trouble area I was very happy with her.

The big news is that I finally took possession (at least temporarily) of new dog Rylee last Saturday - one day before my birthday. That is Rylee in the picture below with Piper. I worked her for the first time on Saturday and while she was not real sure who I was she works nicely. There will be a get acquainted period and she will be a very different dog to work than Piper but I am excited about her and looking forward to it. Depending on how soon we team up we may make our trial debut in Nursery at the Snowbirds trial over New Years weekend at Jennifer's.

Poway Trial - Have A Plan and Enforce It

I almost called this post "accept ownership" for your run and your "bad sheep" because you probably caused or at least contributed to their badness.

Anyway we ran at Terry Parish's Poway Trial at John Doyle's Farm on last Sunday (Halloween) after going to Jennifer's for training on Saturday.

Training Saturday was a small group because most of the regulars were either at the Poway trial or Pt. Pleasant. But we did receive early morning reports that several dogs were having outrun troubles in Poway because there were some sheep housed in pens on the right side part way out on the outrun. So to practice against this we put some sheep in the pen right in front of the dogs and made them outrun past the full pen to get to the sheep at setout. It was tricky because all of the dogs wanted to go to the pen (some more than others) but with well timed corrections we got them all out where they were supposed to be. Piper actually did fairly well at this as I hit her with a timely flank direction just as she was starting to curl in toward the sheep in the pen.

Before I get to Sunday's runs congratulations are in order for Mike Burks and Sport for capturing their first ever Open Class first place on Saturday. I did not get there till it was over but I understand it was a lovely run. Good job guys.

As for our runs Sunday we had two chances - first a non-compete Open Course run and a compete PN run. Watching the 40 or so Open runs which preceded us and the topography of the field I decided in advance to send on the "Bye" side and to give a kick out whistle just as the field widened out. It seemed to me that most every dog that went away was getting drawn in by the slope of a hill to that side resulting in many sideways lefts and even a few cross in fronts. On the left side it seemed that many dogs were hitting the spot where the field widened out but instead of bending out they were accelerating toward the sheep also resulting in problems at the top. The dogs that bent out were doing well, There were also a large number of crossovers including from some top dogs for whom the crossover was very out of character.

Anyway I gave Piper the kick out whistle just as planned and she took it bending out as I had hoped. Terry Folsom - who was helping with set out while Piper ran and for several other dogs - later told me that Piper had one of the best approaches to the sheep she saw while she was up top. Even with my whistle redirect we lost only 2 points on the outrun.

Unfortunately I trusted her too much after that and our run started to disintegrate on the fetch. The sheep wanted to pull to my right and I kept having her cover but never fully turned the sheep back on line. At the time I was thinking she had a rogue group of sheep but after speaking to Jennifer between runs realized she had caused quite a bit of it by not taking calm control. Jennifer suggested we needed to slow our approach to the sheep after getting to the top of the outrun and not start the sheep off at a run. So I had a plan for the second run.

The PN run the sheep were brought way down the hill and it was a relatively short outrun. But based on talking to Jennifer between runs I had a plan and this time the will power to stick to it. I sent Piper to the right and she started out like she was going to do the full Open Outrun. Just as I was about to give her blow in whistle Piper started to arc across the field toward her sheep. She was plenty deep - probably deeper than any other PN dog but she stopped short at about 1:30 or 2 on the clock face. I gave her a come bye whistle and she went right to 12 o'clock where I hit her with a hard lie down. I walked her up slowly with some there whistles and a lie down or two thrown in and continued the hard control throughout the fetch. It worked as we lost only 3 points on the fetch and 0 on the lift. I tried to keep the same level of control on her through the drive and mostly succeeded until the cross drive panels where we got most of them through but it turned a little wild. I thought I had the sheep settled on the return drive and turned my back to go to the pen after lying Piper down. Well she kept the lie down while the sheep made a mad dash for the exhaust about a 100 yards away. She got them back but they were pretty upset by then and while we got them in the pen we did lose most of the pen points.

The 2 runs with Piper showed the value and the need with Piper of having a plan and the will to enforce it. Piper is a dog that requires active handler involvement and when I gave it to her and insisted she follow instruction we did fairly well. When I relaxed the control it fell apart.

Sara Goodman - who has seen Piper a lot - told me that the 2d run was the best she has seen Piper right up until the sheep escaped. Sort of like the line from Top Gun "That was some of the best flying yet. Right up until you crashed and burned".

So we have a plan going forward. Make a plan, stick to it and have the will to enforce it.

Added note - I got to see Rylee on Saturday. She has been working with Jennifer for about a week and a half now. She looks like she is going to be a very nice dog and a very different dog style wise from Piper. I am really looking forward to working with her soon.

Willowside Fun Trial

We travelled to Willowside Ranch in Pescadero, California - just south of Half Moon Bay - for a fun trial this past weekend. It was indeed fun although it would have been more fun if the rain had held off as Sunday was run under very wet and windy conditions. Actually the weather was even more troublesome on the drive along the coast highway home.

The trial was a two day affair and we ran in Open Ranch - which was basically a short - 220 yard set out - ISDS course with pen and then shed. The sheep were set out in a "setting vee" - basically a pen at set out with an opening on one side - a contraption which I dislike because I believe it allows sloppy outruns and makes it very difficult for a dog to get a good lift as they tend to go on one side or the other of the fence.

Anyway Piper had a rough Saturday essentially where we have been struggling on the drive. She also had one ewe who simply refused to pen - not uncommon on Saturday so we never got to the shed. Disappointing as that was one of the main reasons we made the trek North.

After our run Saturday we did exhaust for about 10 of the Pro-Novice runs. Piper was a champ at this task and I literally never had to move from the post I was leaning against as she went out and retrieved and put away sheep in a very workmanlike manner.

Sunday we ran better although I betrayed her with some over handling at the panels on the drive. I especially blew the cross drive panels as I thought the sheep were already through and gave the flank whistle only to see Piper execute a lovely flank and turn the sheep right in front of the panels. Oh well. Piper got her pen and we had about 2 1/2 minutes left to try our first ever shed in competition. One failed call through lost us 5 points but she came through nicely on the second attempt and our judge called the shed. Yay. She finished in 3d place in a small Open Ranch Class on the day.

On the drive home we stopped for an hour in Los Olivos for a little lunch and wine tasting. It was a very cute town and the highlight of the stop was Carhartt Vineyards (yes a relative of that family) where owners Mike and Brooke were very gracious, We left with a couple bottles of wine and a souvenir hat.

Audition

I have a new (almost) 2 year old that I picked up at the airport yesterday that is on audition. Her name is Rylee and she is half sister on the father's side to Tricia Guidry's Tipper (E. Baker's Rye) and half sister on the other side to Nina Fox's Jed (E. Baker's Mist).

She is a fairly small mostly black - white on the tip of nose and under the chin and chest. One white foot. She arrived at Orange County last night very in doubt about the whole travel experience but quickly warmed up to me and later to Diana. I think Diana fell in love with her within about 30 minutes. She really is a sweetheart.

Well we took her down for a test drive today at Jennifer's and the early returns are very promising. She looked good enough in the small arena that Jennifer decided to venture out onto the field. Quickly Jennifer had her doing outruns of about 100 yards with some nice controlled fetches. She actually has a lie down which can be applied without slamming hard on the brake pedal. Her flanks looked nice and kept a constant distance from the sheep without spiralling inwards.

On her second outrun she went to where the sheep had been and upon discovering the sheep had exited before she even started onthe outrun but she looked around on her own and cast out after them.

She will be a very different dog to handle than Piper. Just a way different style.

Waiting for the official test drive decision but right now it is looking very promising.

Another Day @ Training

Yesterday was a crowded day at Canines - n - Ewe. Handlers included Ron, Jeff, Tricia, Hiroko, Mike Burks, Sally Douglas and me. Allowing for multiple handlers with multiple dogs and also Jennifer getting some work in with Callie it was a crowded day. But a good one and I think everyone seemed to enjoy it.

Mike Burks young 13 month Mia is looking pretty nice. Haven't seen her in a while and she has progressed well. Sally had a bit of an up and down day but Trapper sure showed well on the difficult get the sheep in the pen while another dog is tied inside the pen drill. It was being done to simulate the anticipated difficult to pen ewes expected for the Porterville Fall Trial.

Jeff and Dusk were their usual impressive team having the best go in all three rounds we did, followed very closely by Tricia and Tipper, and Mike Burks and Sport.

Hiroko and Dusty did some nice tune up for Willowside PN Trial next weekend.

On our Outrun Practice Piper was flattening a bit on the top after going plenty wide. This resulted in slightly rough lifts. Then the rambouillets we used for this exercise wanted to pull hard to the handlers left and the first time or two we were slow to get them back on line (In fairness they did this to pretty much all of the dogs except I think Dusk). But we managed to get it straightened out and she did a fairly nice job her last go on this exercise.

We also worked on shedding and it was easier than last week but I am still standing too close to the sheep and not setting it up well. Piper would not come in the first couple times when I was in the wrong position but she did start coming through for me as we worked on it. She was also turning on the right group but not immediately taking control of them so Jennifer made us wall them off until Piper clearly took control.

Our final exercise was a driving triangle followed by a pen with a dog inside the pen to discourage easy penning. Apart from my own overflanking and being late on my turns Piper did fairly well on the drive. I noticed that the smoother the first leg the better the flowing leg was. Our first leg was a struggle as the sheep wanted to tip heavy to the left and we eventually pushed them back on, But then when we made the turn the wanted to escape toward the middle panel but not exactly on line. They did not require pushing. It was more of a controlled escape. But Piper took a nice flank - which for once I timed correctly - and hook turned them right trough the middle panel. I was late on my flank on the third panel and missed.

But the line to the pen was clean and controlled. I had one ewe that kept trying to escape the mouth but every time I asked her to, Piper covered it well. She actually seems to work nicely for me once we get to the mouth of the pen and seems to understand the job. It was nice to get this practice because it is something we rarely work on.

Getting Back In The Saddle

Well I have been a little delinquent in keeping up this little training journal for the past few weeks.

Partially it was because our September training schedule has been somewhat sporadic due to Jennifer judging at Soldier Hollow and then the Nationals wiping out three weekends of training availability. But we have been back the last two weekends and will be back tomorrow for more.

So what did we learn. Piper did not magically correct all her faults by lying around for two weeks thinking about sheep. But she did not forget all her training from two weeks of inactivity either. And Diana seemed to like having us around a bit more.

One thing that did seem to be very nice is that when we got back on the field and Piper started to go way wide she took the call in whistle very nicely. I think my timing on t got a little better also.

Also If I stayed right on top of her with there and down whistles I was able to get a reasonably straight drive line in drills.

She still has trouble covering the draw with sheep that want to run on her although she will get over - she just takes an extra wide flank to get there sometimes letting it all go on for longer than it should.

Anyway we are training this weekend and then the following weekend we get back on the trial trail for the first time since Vista in June. Hoping the training put in during the hiatus in trials shows up on the trial field.

Teaming Up and Making Corrections

We made it down to Jennifer's Saturday for what is likely to be our only lesson during the month of September due to Jennifer's judging schedule.

Anyway it was our first time back after our frustratingly bad performance at the Wed - Saturday Class Challenge Fun Trial. I was hoping we would get some of the same bad manoeuvres so we would get a chance to work on the mistakes. My fear was that it would turn out like when you take your car to the mechanic but it performs perfectly so you can't diagnose and repair. As it turned out I did get some of the same extra wide running on the outrun so we did get a chance to work on our call in.

We started out in the lower field with at hand flanking/driving drills. For the most part - after some early pace problems - Piper settled in and did a pretty nice job on keeping a straighter line and staying off. The sheep were the kind that sometimes give her trouble resulting in overflanking and a zig - zag drive. As long as I engaged in active dog control with a Flank/Time whistle almost combined into one she managed to stay in the right spot. If I was a bit slow on the time whistle Piper would go a bit too far to the head and we would have our familiar serpentine thread. I commented afterwards that I needed to give her the immediate there whistle and Jennifer and Jeff both told me "DUH!" - "How long have we been telling you that !!!???" Anyway it was good to know that if I stay active that Piper will pay attention. I also need to remember that Piper will always require active handling on her drives - at least until proven otherwise over a long time.

Outrun practice I was hoping she would go extra wide so I could work on Piper's call in whistle. She did not disappoint. Because of the trees the away outrun was blind and I was unable to see Piper her first Outrun but she did take my first call in and then went wide again. So we did a recall and sent again. This time she started to go wide - ""tweet-tweet-tweet" - She came in and off again, She took multiple call ins which were partially because she was actually wide and partially because I wanted her to pay attention to me on the outrun. I was very happy with her paying attention.

Then Jennifer asked for volunteers wanting to work on shedding. Tricia, Jeff and I were the only volunteers. We brought out some Rambouillets and they were actually fairly cooperative in creating gaps. Piper and I went second and it was probably our best shedding session as a team. We managed to keep things fairly settled and opened gaps reasonably well. Except for one or two times when I blocked the hole and once when things were too on the move Piper came in very well and took control of the sheep I asked her to. She even came back into the gap to stop a couple attempted regroupings. We must have been doing something better because Jennifer jokingly asked if I had been watching a shedding video as my body language was much improved.

Overall it was a very good working session because I managed to get in Piper's head without upsetting her and we worked pretty well together.

The test will come at the end of October when we head into 4 weeks straight of trialing starting October 23.

Smacked Down at the Throwdown

Jennifer's Wednesday training class issued a throwdown challenge to the Saturday class for a dog trial. High combined score wins. Winners get bragging rights. Losers buy lunch.

The trial was run as an Open trial on a tricky layout at Canines-N-Ewe, with a combination setting of two ewes and two lambs. The stock trailer substituted for the pen and the lambs especially were reluctant to go in. It was difficult but doable.

Oh and we brought in the same judge who will be judging the Soldier Hollow and the USBCHA Nationals all the way from her house on the edge of the trial field.

In a close competition - the Wednesday's - after adding an extra dog to make their total number of dogs 9 to Saturday's 6, managed to eke out a combined 6 point win So congrats and we Saturday people will have to eat crow and serve lunch.

It was a great deal of fun even though our runs were somewhat disappointing. Both the one that counted and the afternoon extra runs.

On Piper's morning run I sent her right and she took the wide road which I was trying to get her to take the week before. Problem was that for the fun trial this road dumped her off a hill right at the set out pens which were conveniently filled with very distracting sheep. As our judge reminded me I should have blown her in as soon as I saw where she was heading but she has spoiled me on her outruns and I fell victim to overconfidence. Lost nearly 4 minutes before blowing a recall to get her off the set out pens and bringing her part way back. Then sent her off on her way and she found the right sheep. Fetch was off line at least for the top half as the lambs wanted to pull the group to the handler's right. We had a pretty nice driveaway and some back and forth on the cross-drive. Overall we were set to lose 14 points on the drive except we timed out about five feet from the shedding ring due to time wasted at the set out pen. These points were critical as Saturday could have won if we had just made it into the ring. Despite the low score and outrun adventure I was actually fairly pleased that Piper did call off the set out pens and then listened to me fairly well afterwards. The drive - while not great - was actually an improvement given the difficult ewe/lamb combination.

After a wonderful pot-luck lunch some of us (mostly the defeated Saturday crew plus Lasoya) headed back out to do it again. This time I sent left but Piper came up a bit short at about 11 o'clock and we had a bit of an off line lift. Problems at the top end of the fetch again but got it together at the bottom. Our drive was slightly worse than the morning drive but I made a point of looking at my watch as time was running down and just encouraged Piper to "walk up. walk up" to make sure we got into the shedding ring and saved our drive points. We had less than 30 seconds left for the shed and with these sheep that simply was not happening.

Then we did a third run where we reversed the course since so few had managed to actually get to the finish work. The third run was Shed - Trailer - Single - Drive - Push sheep back to set out cone - recall dog most of the way - turn back - and fetch. Only one dog managed to do the course and that was Jennifer with Soot who got her fetch back into the shedding ring with about 1 second to spare. Sharon Roman and Nick went second and after working hard Sharon managed to get a shed with some very good body positioning, got her trailer and single, and got started on the first leg of the drive before timing out.

Piper was the only other dog to get out of the single ring and started on the drive. We managed to get a gap for the shed fairly early and Piper came in through the gap and turned the right direction. I did not think she really took control but Jennifer called it a shed and we gratefully moved on to the trailer. We got three in fairly easily (at least for sheep that did not want to go in) and the fourth tried to escape. Piper was having none of that and retrieved our escapee and we got the trailer fairly quickly. Then to send Piper into a small crowded trailer - something I have never asked her to do. But she went in with just a little encouragement took a quick nose bite and convinced those sheep to just explode out of the trailer. We worked hard on the single and I managed to get a gap three or four times but could not get Piper to come through. Finally I got another gap with her in good position and she came through and took control of the single. We did not have much time left so we tried to hustle through the drive and timed out on a poor effort at the cross drive. For practice, Jennifer let me do the partial recall and look back since we needed the sheep back in the ring. She took it like a champ even though we had never practiced this.

Overall - a really fun day.

A debt that cannot be repaid

I have three border collies. In order of when I got them, Ramsay, Maggie and Piper. Not coincidentally that is also in ascending order of their herding skills. That is why this blog - which is devoted to our herding adventures - is mostly about my training and trialing with Piper.

But I owe a debt to all three dogs - and especially Ramsay and Maggie that can never be repaid. I purchased Ramsay out of an ad in the Orange County Register just before my birthday 6 years ago. At the time I knew almost nothing about Border Collies except I had seen them on TV in agility trials and they looked to be a fun breed. Little did I know at the time how that would change my life. By sheer coincidence Ramsay came into my life about 3 - 4 months before the beginning of some difficult times. Sometimes I wonder if I would have made it through emotionally without Ramsay. He may never have amounted to much as a herder but he got me into it, got me through some tough times, and is a total sweetheart around the house. But I can never repay Ramsay for the help getting through some very tough times.

Maggie joined us a little less than a year later. She had a very rough start to life being sold out of a pet shop and going through four or five homes in her first thirteen months. We were probably her last chance. Although she can still embody the definition of bitch she has come a long way and is now a sweet little girl. She got me further in herding and is probably the reason I am now addicted. But she never seemed to be able to master the concept of driving sheep away. She is mostly retired from herding now and while she enjoys an occasional outing she is perfectly happy being Princess Margaret. But, as with Ramsay, she got me through some tough times emotionally.

I can never fully repay either of them but I can give them a loving and caring home.

Back in the Saddle

Well two weeks off and back to work.

The two weeks does not seem to have radically impacted our herding ability or willingness to listen to commands - either adversely or positively. Pretty much picked up where we left off.

There were some good moments and there were some bad moments. There were moments when I felt the need to simply leave and ignore the sheep and re-introduce Piper to that old time religion. She did not like those but she did pay more attention afterwards.

There were some moments when she did me proud. Like when the sheep were first brought onto the field and I sent Piper on a completely blind (both to me and her) outrun sweep of the field in search of sheep. She never saw them the first time but kept casting in the given direction as I walked forward trying to find them myself. By the time I learned where they were and Piper appeared she had WAY overrun. But she took the reverse direction, came around and found them, and pretty soon I had sheep at my feet.

Then at the end of the day we were practicing shedding (I think Jennifer is trying to get me ready to move up despite our inconsistent and often DUI like driving). I was having trouble getting the sheep to make any hole. On the first of our three sheds I got a decent size hole and brought Piper in but she turned briefly on the wrong group and the shed group tried to rejoin. Piper turned on them and took them off but Jennifer told me she would not have called the shed. The second one took a while to set up but when Piper came through she took the proper group off. Finally on our third shed I was getting very frustrated because while I could get a single I was having big trouble getting a gap to take the rear two off at the head. Finally while everything was still in motion, sheep, Piper and me I saw a small gap and called Piper in. She came in and took the rear two on the head beautifully in the smallest gap I have ever asked her to come in on. It was too small for my confidence level but I realized it was all I was going to get when I asked her in. Piper handled it much better than I did.

Driving - now that is another story. Our drive aways seem to be much better and fairly consistent but we are still slaughtering the cross drives. Not sure if it is because of her feeling pressure she needs to guard against on the field or what because she actually seems to do better away from her home field. But anyway it remains our biggest bugaboo and we are working hard on it. I started walking out to be closer to her so I could instill discipline as needed and she got a little better.

The Sweep - Jesse puppies were about 8 days old and MY GOD ARE THEY CUTE !

Suffering Withdrawal Symptoms

I don't know how I got this addicted but due to a combination of circumstances I have not been able to get Piper out on livestock for two weeks. I am really looking forward to getting back to work with her on Saturday at Jennifer's. Amazing how much we miss it.

But the circumstances keeping us away were well worth it. First, I missed two Saturdays ago (July 31) due to my son's wedding. Although it was ane evening wedding and I theoretically could have done morning training I think my wife would have castrated me if I tried. Anyway it was well worth it and everyone had a lovely time. See Picture. (Now if I Diana sees the pics of Sweep - Jesse pups she may start pushing the new daughter in law for some human pups. Over/Under on the mothers wanting grandbaby probably at about 12 months.) BTW - we both absolutely love our new Daughter- In - Law (or "Dilly" as Diana now calls her.)

The following week there was no training because Jennifer was judging at Amanda Milliken's Kingston trial. This is really Jennifer's year to judge at some big trials (Kingston, Soldier Hollow, and USBCHA Nationals) and it is going to seriously mess with our training schedule in August and September. But- well worth it and well deserved. I'm sure she will do a great job.

San Diego Vista Highland Games

Against all advice and common wisdom I ran Piper at the San Diego Highland Games at Brengle Terrace Park in Vista, California this weekend. The trial is infamously difficult for a small trial due to the unique layout of the field and the local knowledge that the sheep possess of the field. It is - as some say - a trial set up for the sheep to win.

Knowing this we have not entered in the past. This year, however, Jennifer Clark Ewers was holding a 50th birthday party for hubby Ron and our regular Saturday training was not available. (We went to the party Saturday night between trial runs). So reasoning that even tricky sheep work was better than no sheep work I decided to enter Piper.

General consensus of opinion going in was that this would not be Piper's type of trial - tight field and sheep that want to escape. A bad combination which has defeated many dogs and even caused injury to at least one of Jennifer's dogs a few years ago when the sheep decided to escape through the woods.

Saturday ran pretty much true to form. Piper did a nice outrun but in my view came in a little tight (although in fairness there really isn't much room at the top) and lifted nicely. The sheep wanted to break for the escape slightly on the fetch but she held the line reasonably well. The drive away was going well until we over adjusted at the first panel and missed.

Then on to a Maltese Cross in the middle of the cross drive. Piper's sheep simply did not want to go in and it took a great deal of persuasion to convince them. Then they exited from the Maltese Cross and made a break for the exhaust behind the cross drive panel. Initially we got them back and then they broke again and this time they were making the right hand turn intent on escaping up the hill. This was a favorite sheep tactic over the weekend and once they made the turn to go up the hill they were pretty much history. Only a handful of dogs managed to retrieve them from this point.

Piper was one (actually two) of the handful. She was off like a shot with announcer Joe Williams ready to proclaim the run over but asking the crowd "can she get them ! Can she get them !". Sure enough - after only a few out of sight seconds three sheep heads came back around the corner their escape plans obviously thwarted and Piper in pursuit.

Then it was on to the pen and these three ewes simply did not want to go in. Finally one ewe gave Piper two foot stomps and tried a feint to escape. Piper had had enough and she gave it a well deserved grip for a DQ.

Sunday, the sheep were, if anything, even more difficult. Piper gave me what a I thought was a nicer outrun and took the lie down whistle right at 11:30 at the top. Exactly where I wanted her given the heavy draw to that side. She lifted well but one black sheep decided to break off on its own away from the normal draw side. Piper went to regroup them and it gave them a chance to make a mad dash for the escape to my left and attempt to round the hill. An away flank and some Piper speed and that attempt was successfully thwarted.

Then they fought Piper all the way down the fetch line but she was very responsive to my commands and we got them down. More points off than Saturday but better work

The drive away just missed the panel to the right and then the sheep tried another mad dash. Piper was equal to the task turning them before the reached true sheep freedom and brought them down to the Maltese Cross. Although she had to stay way off we learned our lessons from Saturday and navigated the cross.

Then the great escape was on again and the sheep were truly determined to make it to freedom this time. Again - as few other dogs were able to do over the weekend - Piper managed to cut off the escape attempt and bring them back but in the effort we missed the cross drive panels.

So it was onto penning and although they gave one or two objections Piper moved herself perfectly and we penned with a loss of only 1 point.

Sunday's run had a whole different feel to it as Piper seemed very responsive. Although she does little to calm sheep I don't think she created the problems Sunday - at least not mostly. Sometimes you just get tough sheep and they are a true test. Piper passed the test on Sunday.

Meanwhile Piper was a true crowd favorite as the crowd watched multiple groups of sheep beat dogs to the escape around the corner and up the hill. Possibly the largest cheer form the crowd on both days occurred when Piper brought the sheep back down from around the corner after they had reached apparent escape velocity. The crowd loved it. And while I did not love that they escaped I was very proud that I had one of the only dogs that was able to handle it when it happened.

The picture is of Piper in front of a Piper at the Highland Games. Just seemed appropriate somehow.

Sometimes the Grass is Greener in Your Own Backyard

You know who they are. The handlers that you stop whatever you are doing to watch their runs. The handlers that other top handlers stop whatever they are doing to watch their runs.

It does not seem to matter what dog they are running. They seem to always get the best out of their dog on that day. As they used to say of Bear Bryant "He could take his and beat you with yours, and then trade and take yours and beat you with his". Or they are always the ones accused of "getting the good sheep."

At a trial I like to watch my friends runs for support. I like to watch the top handlers to learn - about the draws and sheep behavior for that day and about general handling for instruction.

I am fortunate that one of those handlers is my trainer, Jennifer Clark Ewers. She may not win every trial that she enters but she is sure to be one of the "dangerous" handler/dog teams. And you can do a lot worse than watch how Jennifer handles a dog. You can learn a lot just by watching. Having the benefit of working with Jennifer and discussing runs with her you can learn even more.

Sometimes we less gifted or experienced handlers have a tendency to chase clinics with the famous clinicians - Bobby Dalziel, Jack Knox, Derek Scrimgeour - just to name a few who have recently offered clinics in California. The tendency is to think the famous clinician will have some "magic" piece of advice that can fix our dogs over a weekend. A friend of mine compares it to the golfer who goes out to buy a new driver to fix his slice instead of putting the time in to work on fundamentals. I also think part of the motivation is to hear a famous clinician say good things about your dog. How many times have you heard a friend come back from a clinic and say (or post on a message board) "[insert famous name] really liked my dog".

I have been guilty of this at times and I confess it is nice to hear someone well known say nice things about your dog. But a few things I have noticed recently have made me realize that we are often guilty of not appreciating what we have.

Recently there was a thread on one of the boards asking about lessons being offered by a "big hat" in a different state. Multiple people were expressing how lucky the handler was to get a chance to work with a well known handler. It made me realize how lucky I am because I get to work with Jennifer almost every week - and I think most people would consider Jennifer a better handler than the person people were so "lucky" to get a chance to work with one time if they were being objective.

I also had some friends attend a clinic with a very famous handler from Britain recently held in Southern California. I have previously audited a clinic with this gentleman so I had an expectation of what they would come back with. No surprises. Most importantly - exactly the same advice I am getting on a weekly basis at Canines n Ewe. I guess sometimes people just need to hear it from a different source.

Following another clinic recently in Northern California with another famous British handler a friend posted that she had received an amazing simple tip for bringing in her wide running dog. In an email I asked about the tip. When it came back it was exactly what Jennifer already had me doing with Piper except that we were taking it a step or two farther and getting even better results. Again we were getting the same quality advice at home so to speak.

Finally I have a friend in Northern California who is a fairly new but talented handler. Her young dog - her first BC - is qualified for the nursery nationals. A few weeks ago she decided to come to Jennifer's to work on our regular Saturday group training session. After the day she commented that her dog had never worked so hard or been required to perform so well in her life.

So - since we often take what is nearby or available - it is time to say "Thank You Jennifer for all your help."

My Life As A Dog

Yesterday at Canines & Ewe I became a dog for a short while. We were working on shedding with a medium sized group and Jennifer was trying to demonstrate positioning to Nina Fox who was having a bit of trouble getting the shed easily with her Open Dog Jed. So I was enlisted to play the role of the dog and instructed to follow instructions precisely. The idea was to help both of us get a bit more of a read on how the sheep react and learn to set up the shed. I am glad Nina did not send me on any long outruns. And frankly the sheep did not respect me as much as an actual dog. But it was a very helpful exercise.

As is apparent from the above - one of the things we were working on yesterday was the shed. Initially Piper and I were having some trouble as I could not seem to get the sheep to settle. Then Jennifer demonstrated and instructed me to be a bit more aggressive with my step in - really more of a feint. The move is similar to the first false step in one direction in a football counter play where the back takes one false step to the left (or right) to freeze the defenders before going to the right (or left). The idea is to take a half step into the sheep's faces - right at the point of the ones you want to separate - just enough to make them hesitate and create a hole. Then get the dog into the hole and turn on the group you want. Once I got this idea Piper actually did very well and we had several successful sheds. The mixed group included some agile young lambs so they were a little tricky to hold off from the main group. Piper did a very nice job of understanding the job once I created the hole and called her through.

We also worked on a couple tricky outruns by placing the sheep in a corner of the field to the handler's right and sending on an angle. There was not a lot of room on the right and all of the dogs were a little tight on the top. Piper's first outrun to the left was way wide and deep but she came up on the sheep in proper position and the lift and fetch were good. Then we started to work on managing her outrun and bringing her in. First I did it with a stop - walk up - and come bye series of whistles. Then Jennifer suggested we needed a "come in" whistle because then we would not have to lose points for multiple whistles at a trial if we need the come in. We settled on a rapid trio "tweet-tweet-tweet" and I sent Piper again and waited for her to turn out wide and "tweet-tweet-tweet". Wonder of wonders, miracle of miracles - she took the whistle for its proper meaning the first time and narrowed her outrun but was still properly wide and deep. I let her bring me sheep on a mostly silent fetch and she was even rating herself.

We also worked on driving and while it was mostly good Piper is still giving me a flank and bounce back if she has sheep she needs to be close to. This is mostly on the cross drive and it is very frustrating as it is hard to get out to her to give a correction since this is so quick. Basically if she is feeling pressure to one side and I flank her to that side she will take the flank but then immediately bounce back to where she wants to be. A couple "HEY WHAT ARE YOU DOING"s and it got a little better but this is still a definite tendency and it is holding back her progress. She is not as bad with it as she has been in the past but we still need to get it cured.

Old Friends in New Places

This weekend we managed to get a double dip of herding work.

Saturday Piper and I went to Canines N Ewe for our regular Saturday lesson. Sunday we went to Stockdog Ranch to visit Anna Guthrie at her new place almost across the street from the Pala Casino.

There was a lot going on at Canines N Ewe as there was a movie crew filming a biblical themed short subject at Jennifer’s last week and making use of her sheep and field. The film crew was working on Saturday and we had to stop a couple times to wait while they were filming a scene so they would not have whistles or shouts of “lie down. LIE DOWN!” captured on film for eternity. Also they were driving in and out in vehicles and it was necessary to keep an eye open for trucks and other moving vehicles when sending on outruns or driving sheep. At least one dog wisely altered its outrun to avoid being run over by the film crew.

There was most of the usual crew with Jennifer, Gayle, and Tricia along with special guest appearances by Sally Douglas and her FOUR dogs and new participant Dr. Bob (Schooley) and his dog Spike purchased at the November Norm Close Clinic. Tierney Graham also stopped by on her way back from Mexico to retrieve Briscoe from boarding. Tricia’s Tipper and Piper were the long outrunners for the day and everyone else was working a little shorter. Piper’s outruns were – as usual – good – although one of her aways was way away and around the film crew but she eventually came up behind the sheep. The steering on the fetches was not the best and she was banging her sheep down the fetchline a little harder than Tipper but not a wild chase. Main problem was the fetchline steering was not working.

We did a driving exercise driving in a rectangle and also a quarter flank drill. The flanks were a little sloppy at first but got better and she did a pretty good job on the rectangular drive. She still has a tendency to either drop her shoulder in at the beginning of the flank or to give an outrun size flank requiring a call in. When I insist on it and we drill she does a nice flank. I just need to insist on it every time.

Valuable insight from the day from Jennifer – we have a tendency to give a correction and not stick with it long enough. Example, “Get Out” and then resuming the flank as soon as we get the first give on the get out instead of either giving the correction again or waiting until we have a real get out.

Sunday we went to Anna Guthrie’s new place near the Pala Casino. My very first herding experience and start was with Anna about five years ago and while I do not train with her regularly at this point I still enjoy going by occasionally, visiting and working dogs. Plus she has a new place and I wanted to see it.

The new place is a nice upgrade with about ten different training areas ranging from small arena to big hill field. We worked mainly in a medium size field and then did some work on shedding in the cutting horse arena under roof cover and shade. Sally Douglas also went and we held sheep for her to work on outruns with her dogs. On our own outruns we ended up needing to fetch over the top of Sally’s dog as it wanted to try to head the sheep at set out. We were really working quarter flank drills and shedding in the covered arena today so it did not really matter. Piper was doing a nice job on the shed and coming in nicely and turning on the sheep that wanted badly to get back to their friends. We will work Anna’s new place into a rotation of different places to work.

The Cutting Horse Arena. Nice to get in under the shade and work.

Competitive Outrunning

It was a very fun group for lessons today and slightly smaller than expected. Piper and I were joined by Jeff Blackstone & Dusk, Tricia Guidry with Tipper & Tara, Gayle Cory with Milo and a special guest appearance by Tierney Graham with Brisco.

Tierney is trying to tune up Brisco for the Nursery National Finals and Jeff and Tricia are both running very successfully in Open so it could have been expected to be a competitive day of lessons. And it was ! But not necessarily how one would have expected.

Near the end of the day - just for the fun of it - we decided to send the dogs on a blind outrun to pick up the sheep from the other side of the canines n ewe field. That's right dogS. As in plural. As in four of them at once. Brisco and Tara went away and Piper and Dusk went come bye. Soon we had a very confused group of sheep who are used to outnumbering the dog coming over the hill in a controlled fetch with four dogs on their rears. It was actually quite amusing and fun.

We also worked early in the day on driving some runners and Piper struggled mightily at this although it got better as the day went on. Basically she was over flanking from what was necessary and sending the sheep on a serpentine pattern. She did get better as we worked on getting her to just walk in at a controlled pace and eliminate much of the flanking.

We also did some shedding practice and I had serious trouble getting the home flock sheep to stay still. We eventually got it ad managed a couple sheds.

Then we did outruns and partial fetches before turning the sheep around. Unlike the last two weeks we largely left the dogs alone. Piper did well at this and then we moved the sheep to the other side of the hill where they were not visible. Piper's come bye outrun then was way wide (almost to the junkyard) and deep. But soon enough sheep heads popped up over the hill and headed only somewhat off line. On the away side Piper (and the others) needed to go behind one set of boulders and then bend out along the side of a hill. I used a redirect whistle on the fly to help with this and she took it very well. Although I obviously could not see either lift on the other side of the hill Leon (set out person) told me that Piper was appropriately deep and hit the right spot for controlled and proper lifts.

It really was a fun lesson today and a very good group.

Back to Work - Managing the Outrun

It was back to work at Canines N Ewe yesterday.

We had a pretty good group of dogs working yesterday and Jennifer even worked two of her Open Dogs with us. Our Saturday class is very supportive of each other and very competitive at the same time. Just trying to catch up to the handlers and dogs in our regular Saturday class can be very challenging. Piper and I are not at the level of the top dogs in the class but we are trying hard to get there. If we can do that we can go to most any trial and expect to be competitive.

Yesterday's class included Jeff Blackstone and his Open dog Dusk, Tricia Guidry and Open Dogs Tara and Tipper, Jennifer and her Open Dogs Sly and Soot (known in Ione as "Scott" due to mispronunciation"), Gayle Cory and Milo (my buddy), and Hiroko Komori and Dusty along with Piper and me. All of these Open Dogs are either already qualified for this year's Nationals or have qualified in the past.

We started in the lower field with some driving drills. Piper was cutting her flanks a bit looking in on the sheep and dropping her shoulder. So we went back to drilling. If she cut the flank at all or started to drop the shoulder or look in, I stepped toward her with the training whip until she reacted appropriately. It did not take much pressure. We also worked on getting quarter flanks instead of always getting big flanks.

This was all part of our goal of hopefully moving her up to Open sometime in the next trialing season. Based on her results running Non-Compete at Dunnigan she could probably move up soon and occasionally be competitive but Jennifer has high standards (and we have adopted them as well) for dogs running Open and consistency. As Jennifer said we can not have days like last Saturday at Ione when Piper basically blew me off and expect to run in Open. Piper has the ability and she demonstrates it on occasion but we need to get the consistency out of her.

When we moved to the upper field we first ran from the lower end up the hill. Piper's outruns in this direction were there usual good outruns and she was bringing the sheep nicely on the fetch line and through the panels. Then we changed it up trying to get a dogleg fetch and we failed miserably. I simply could not get her to come in at what she considered to be off balance and fetch on a diagonal. (We were not the only one to struggle with this as at least one of the Open dogs also did not want to fetch off line although another did quite well. Identification omitted to protect the other dog that struggled.)

Then we switched directions and ran from the top of the hill down toward where the handler's post is normally set for the Snowbirds Trial. This always seems to be a trickier outrun and creates more difficulties for us as the line of trees tends to kick Piper in on the right side and the rocky hill kicks her in on the left side. The sheep were set way back and in some shade so they were difficult to see.

Jennifer wanted all of the Open dogs to run left and go up on the rocky hill - there is actually a golf cart wide path which the dogs can follow. Piper was included with the Open dogs for this exercise. And IT WAS DIFFICULT. None of the dogs (including Jennifer's) managed to get it the first time. There was a LOT of handler-to-dog communication and direction going on.

Our first outrun Piper stayed below the hill and we let her have her sheep. Her fetch was good and we did a right hand turn around the post and drove the panel before pushing the sheep back to Leon for set out. It was a nice long drive and we received kudos for that. But we were working on getting the outrun where we wanted and it was back to work.

So it was "Come Bye". Whistle redirect "Come Bye" - still not going around. "GET OUT." Lie down whistle. Recall part way and try again. Repeat. Then Repeat. Then Repeat Again. Several times it seemed Piper was out wide enough and was going to go around but she simply would not go up the rocky outcropping. Finally after about eight unsuccessful attempts it was rest time and watch the others.

All of the Open Dogs struggled with the task but they eventually got it. A few started to sulk and not want to start out their outrun enthusiastically.

Then we had another chance. Jennifer told me I needed a big "GET OUT" timed correctly and after a couple more failed attempts Piper got it and cut up the rocky terrain reaching the path. She came around and gave me a pretty nice fetch (something some of the others were struggling with yesterday.) We tried it one more time and Piper did the slowest outrun I think I remember her having but she went plenty wide and found the path along the ridge from the start this time. Good work !! Unfortunately she was favoring her right front paw on the fetch and although she was probably done anyway - examination showed a torn paw pad - the second dog of the day to suffer one - and we finished for the day.

A final note - while we were struggling to get the managed outrun, Piper NEVER QUIT ON ME. She kept recalling and trying to figure out what I wanted, She never sulked or copped an attitude. I actually overheard Jennifer saying to Tricia that Jennifer preferred working with a dog with Piper's attitude because she never sulked and kept trying.

Well, it looks like we still have a lot of work to do if we are going to successfully navigate our way to Open Class. But if the journey was easy it would not be nearly as much fun. I am confident we will make it and happy that we have such quality handler/dog teams to gauge our progress at our weekly training session. Truly, if we can get to where we would be competitive with our training class we can compete anywhere.

Oh and if it sounds like I am being overly hard on Piper it is simply that she has come so far (6 months ago her work yesterday would have amazed me) that I have full confidence in her abilities. I have seen her on occasion do everything we are asking of her and know she has the ability to do these things. We just need to refine the skills (hers and mine) and get consistency from her.

Perils of Point Pleasant and Field Observations

We have now run two trials on the field at Point Pleasant with two different groups of sheep - range ewes in October and home farm flock this past weekend (Mothers Day). Theoretically the home flock should have behaved differently (in some ways they did - they were much easier to move and turn) but the draws and features of the field combined to make for the same danger points.

Please understand this is NOT to make excuses because there were some danger spots that we simply did not handle as well as we should. But the spots were consistent enough that - watching all the runs before us we should have been better prepared to deal with them. Some we were, and some we were not.

First, the trial field is a big flat rectangle which should NOT be complicated. The field is probably a little over 300 yards to set out (from in front of the fence - open outrun in the fall has to go through the fence which is an added complication.)

The outrun should not be difficult but for a relatively large number of dogs it was both in October and Mothers Day. Piper had no trouble with the outrun at either trial but several dogs did. The only thing I can think of is that because the field is sooo flat and the grass is fairly high, that the dogs have trouble seeing the sheep at the end of the field. Anyway, several dogs at both trials went out about 1/3 to 1/2 way and either crossed over or wanted to come back. Some eventually found their sheep and some never did.

The sheep are set out from a pen near the top of the field and to the handler's right of the set out post. The pen is pretty close to the set out and there is a hard draw back to the set out pen. Therefore it is an almost must send right field when the sheep are set out for the open. Otherwise if the dog comes in at all flat on the bye side the sheep are on a fast escape back to the set out pen, usually with the set out dog trying to help and it quickly becomes a mess. Proper outrun is away and ends at about 1 o'clock to hold against the draw.

For Nursery and Pro Novice, the sheep are brought far enough forward that there is room for the dog to go deep behind set out and control the sheep. Thus, both outrun sides are opened as possibilities. But if you go bye, your dog had better go deep and get behind the sheep or else they are going to go hard to your right and maybe back to set out. Piper went bye and deep and did not have this problem. In fact, she was one of the few dogs who was bringing her sheep along the fetch to the handler's left (and then I messed her up - see below). For most dogs it was necessary to guard the right hand pull on the fetch (this was definitely true for us in October).

The other danger on the fetch is that if the dog comes too far forward on the left of the sheep (away flank) they will take the opportunity to turn back and escape towards set out. This is what happened to Piper on the fetch. We were about to miss the fetch panel to my left and so I flanked her away - but too far. Instead of simply turning toward the panel opening, the sheep took advantage of the opportunity to turn back toward set out and attempt to escape that direction. Piper came around and caught them but crossed the course in doing so and we lost major points. But it was OUR MISTAKE which opened up the escape route. And we should have known that was the danger point. I should have been more subtle with the adjustment or simply let them miss the fetch panel.

The next danger point is at the post. If the sheep come around too quickly or the dog does not come around to tuck them in they want to run for the House which is to the handler's left. This can lead to wide turns and starting the drive off line. On the other hand if the dog comes around too far they will start back off line to the right and headed toward set out at the top of the field. (This happened to a couple top open handler and dog teams).

On the drive away, most of the groups wanted to lean slightly to the right (leaning toward an escape to exhaust) and needed to be held from that tendency. A small minority of sheep wanted to lean the other way just to keep handlers honest. But the biggest problem with the drive away was keeping the pace controlled. If the sheep managed to accelerate as they approached the panel they would just go on through, make a slight angle turn, and high tail it for the exhaust. This either resulted in a very wide turn with a cross drive starting way off line or a complete escape of sheep. It is absolutely critical on this field to keep the drive away at a controlled pace and too time the come bye flank correctly for a tight turn. If this was good the rest of the cross drive was good. Fortunately we managed this part of the course well.

Final danger point was at the cross drive panels. If given a chance to turn up field towards exhaust the sheep will take it. A tight turn is essential here. And this is another spot where we blew it this weekend throwing away a beautiful cross drive with a total mess at the cross drive panels.

Mothers Day Weekend Trials

We went North (again) for a pair of Sheepdog Trials over the weekend.

It was interesting to get the perspective of a couple folks just moving up from Novice who were a bit overwhelmed by the size of the fields (esp Sunday)considering we found both (esp Saturday) to be small. Small, however, brings its own challenges.

Piper ran Pro Novice both days and although the scores were similar Sunday at Pt Pleasant just had a much better feel to it.

Saturday the field was tight, the sheep were runners and Piper had no brakes. We finished the course with over 3 minutes left. The run was not one that made me happy although I realized this was a gauge of how far she has come. Six months ago I would have been thrilled with the Saturday run.

Sunday the field was a bit bigger, the sheep slightly heavier and Piper listened to me. My best shorthand description is that it was a very good run punctuated by two moments of absolute disaster. Possibly the best most controlled drive Piper has ever given me completely blown at the cross drive panel.

Maggie Day

Today was Maggie Day.

It does not come often enough.

Maggie has not been on sheep since the Norm Close Clinic last November - slightly over 5 months. And she did not seem terribly interested on the clinic - that's why she hasn't been out in a while.

Well today we went to a ranch trial at our friend Ted Ondrak's place (Rancho Vistoso) out in Antelope Valley. I thought it would be a good opportunity to get Maggie back on sheep in a relatively controlled environment. And it was.

I can't say we did well but Maggie showed interest again and seemed to thoroughly enjoy being back working. We need to get out more often.

Running with the Big Dogs in Dunnigan Hills

This weekend Piper and I travelled north (again) to run at Bill Berhow’s Dunnigan Hills Sheep Dog Trial. Somewhat unusually the trial accepted Open “Non – Comp” runs to run after the competitive Open runs on Saturday and again on Sunday. We stayed Monday for competitive Pro-Novice Runs. Bill Orr from Oregon was the judge.

THE OPEN FIELD AND RUNS

There were 50 – 51 competitive Open Runs each day and 12 non-comp runs each day for a total of about 60 dogs each day.

The Dunnigan Hills field is literally just down the road from the Zamora trial field and is a fabulous rolling hills trial field. The distance from handler’s post to set out was 385 yards (Bill measured it by Radar). The Handler’s post was at the top of a hill and there were hills to either side on the outrun. Sheep were set at the top of a rise but with plenty of space behind them. Whichever outrun direction chosen was likely to result in a wide running dog going blind behind a ridge for a while. To the left the dog could have stayed below the ridge and visible but this tended to kick the dogs in and resulted in some flat top ends and off line lifts.

The draw on the fetch was to the handler’s right. If the sheep were lifted reasonably straight they were not terribly hard to keep on line but if the lift was off line – especially pushing sheep to the right – there were plenty of trouble spots. Some groups decided to go over the ridge to the right and disappeared resulting in a number of retires. At the post the sheep wanted to turn in front of the post and you had to wait until they had crossed the plane of the post before sending the dog around. Either they wanted to run you over at the turn or they wanted to escape way down the field to the exhaust pasture (not a pen just an extra pasture – in fact one dog that lost its sheep on the fetch ended up bringing the prior group back from the exhaust pasture.)
The drive away was almost 200 yards down into a valley and slightly back up on the end. For the most part the sheep were cooperative on the drive away although they had a tendency to speed up as they went through the panels leading to some wide turns.

The cross drive was another 250 yards and the line was more difficult on the side of the hill and then down through a swale. The sheep wanted to start out high and then when they got to the swale the tendency was to drop low off line. As they approached the panels they wanted to escape over the ridge and go graze so there were a few escapes and a lot of wide turns.
The last leg of the drive was down into the valley so you needed to stay by the handlers post to see what was going on. The sheep were very pennable with many (including my first set) just walking straight in.

I had several good friends running at the trial and before I get to Piper I promised to mention some. Unfortunately self focus being what it is I only remember some of their scores. Plus I slept in Sunday so I missed several of their runs. But based on reports and some eyewitness here goes.

Mike Burks and Sport had a very nice run on Sunday and ended up with a 73 good for seventh place. The turns were a bit wide and some very minor bobbles but in all a very nice run. Sport followed up with another nice run on Sunday with a little bit of trouble on the fetch (a stall and missed panels). I thought his Saturday run was better but the Judge liked the Sunday run better and Sport ended up 6th on Sunday with a 77.

Sally Douglas ran two dogs – Babe compete and Merle non-compete and I think she had a good experience. She was very happy with getting numbers with Babe in only her second open trial. Merle actually scored higher than Babe both days – including a very good 70 on Sunday (good for 2d among the non-compete dogs). Merle was very nice on his drive and seemed to deal better with the presence of a set out person than he sometimes does. I think Sally probably came away with a good feeling about, and more confidence in, both her dogs. Plus she got a chance to run them both on a big field under competitive conditions.

Jean Singer and Tug also ran both days and got around the course nicely on Saturday after a bit of adventure starting the outrun. I did not see their run Sunday but heard it was nice.
Erin Swanson had a good weekend with Lark (although she lost her drive pts Saturday due to time on what was going to be a nice run). She also took delivery of a new dog – 20 month old Cooper. Also she had a nice sampling of some crook handles for crooks her husband Brian is now making – and selling at a very reasonable price.

Piper’s Saturday run was our first time ever running with the big dogs. She did not disappoint and did better than I had expected and even than I had hoped.

I sent her come bye and she disappeared behind the ridge line for what seemed an eternity. Actually it was only 31 seconds before I panicked and whistled her on. Another 15 seconds and I whistled again. Immediately I then spotted her and she was in proper position and coming toward the sheep. Four points off the outrun due to my panic.

Lift was good and the fetch started on the muscle but straight. She started to slow the pace about 1/3 of the way down and we made the fetch panels cleanly. The remainder of the fetch was clean and we only lost 3 points on the long fetch.

Around the post and a very clean driveaway. At the turn she went through the panels on the flank for a reasonable turn where she has been going wide of the panels and losing sheep for a wide turn.

We struggled a bit with the line on the cross drive but were approaching the panel only a little high. This is where I blew the run, I should have just let the sheep slide by and take my deduction but I thought I could save it so sent her come bye --- TOO FAR. The sheep tipped sharply back down and Piper did not take my away flank to tuck them through the panel. It was a mess and we never got them back up to the panel. Finally as I decided to just bring the sheep down she crossed the course and got behind for the last leg. We lost 17 on the drive and most of it was right here.

At the pen I opened the gate and the sheep just walked in. For the rest of the trial Patti Sowell teased me whenever other sheep did the same calling them “Piper Sheep.”

Final score Saturday = 63 out of 90 (no shed). Good to win the non-compete side betting pool of $13 and would have placed 17th out of 52 (63 including non competes) if I ran her compete.

Sunday the question was whether I could repeat the performance or maybe even correct some of the flaws caught on tape Saturday. There were some good runs ahead of us among the non-compete including Tierney Graham and Brisco and Sally Douglas and Babe.

Well Piper gave me the run of our life so far. Not perfect by any means but the most complete run we have ever put together as a team.

Following my training philosophy I sent her the opposite direction (away) on her outrun. I thought she sighted her sheep before dropping over the ridge and out of sight. But I learned my lesson from the day before and kept hearing Jennifer’s voice tell me “She’s a good outrunner – don’t panic”. So I swallowed the whistle and watched a minute tick off the watch with no Piper in sight. Just as panic was about to take over and blow a flank whistle I saw sheep start to run straight at me with a small black and white blur in pursuit. Zero off the outrun and only 1 on the lift.

The fetch started on the muscle but calmed down and it was straight. Only slightly off for just a moment. Four points off the fetch.

The drive was an exercise in small movements. Slight positional adjustments and we avoided overflanking. Controlling the pace and walking up. No real serpentining but slight adjustments.

Made the first panels and a nice turn. Little bit on and offline on the cross drive but generally pretty good line. Slightly low at the swale and slightly over adjusted as they approached the panel. My adjustment was better timed and with more finesse. Then drive toward the pen holding the line well. Only 7 points off the drive – a big improvement for us.

Then the pen and a near disaster. I lifted the latch locking the pen shut and went to open the gate ahead of the sheep arriving. Everything seemed fine until the gate partially opened and the rope got caught in the pen preventing the gate from opening all the way and blocking the sheep from entering. As Tierney commented – my sheep patiently waited for me to get the rope unentangeled and then walked politely into the pen. We lost 2 points on the pen.

Final score = 76 making us the winners of the noncompetition competition. A that’s a “good dog” from the judge and you “had a competitive run” as we walked off. Overall we would have placed 7th if we had been running competitively – top 14%.

Pretty darn good for our first time “running with the big dogs”.

PRO NOVICE RUNS

The Pro Novice and Nursery runs were held Monday. Nursery was combined score or you could choose to have your score count for Nursery only with a young dog (Bill Berhow chose this option and it worked to my benefit).

The Course was about half the size of the Open Course and angled to a different part of the field. This actually created some issues for a couple dogs who had run non compete Open and were surprised to learn the sheep were not where they had been on previous days. It also brought the small pond at the bottom of the valley into play as the straight fetch would actually have been right through the middle of the pond. The line for the last leg of the drive was about five feet to the right of the pond.

Tierney Graham was up second with her dog Brisco. Tierney got her first qualifying leg back in October at Tom and LisAnn Spencer’s trial and has been tantalizingly close to the second leg several times since. Well she laid down possibly the best run I have seen from her so far with Brisco with a lovely outrun lift and fetch. But the real beauty was on her drive where I think she only lost 5 points. Total score was 11 points off for a 79. As I filmed for her I was thinking “that’s going to be hard to beat”. And it was, the score held up for first in both Nursery and Pro Novice so Tierney is qualified for the finals and off to Belle Grove.

Piper was up 10th and there were a couple quick retires right before us so I almost was surprised when it was our turn to run. On her first run I sent her bye and she was wider than most of the Pro Novice dogs – I think she was remembering the outrun from open – but she came up right, lifted well and exhibited more consistent control through the fetch than she had in Open. Outrun – 1, Lift - 2, and Fetch – 3. We completed a remarkable for Piper 3d good drive in row although we missed the cross drive panel just low. This time I realized we were going to miss the panel too late but unlike Open run 1 I accepted the point hit and let them slide by without making it worse. 9 points off the drive. The pen was lrgely uneventful although I did have to do a little jump move to prevent the sheep from going wide to the gate side before Piper calmly walked them in.

Total Score = 75. Three way tie with Bill Berhow and Karen Kollgard. We would have lost the tiebreaker with Bill (no shame in that !) but since he was running Nursery only we took second place – good for a Starbucks gift card.

Our second Pro Novice Run showed the dangers of hubris. It was a little too much to ask for four good runs in a row. Plus we had a group of wild sheep that broke for the exhaust while they were being set. So it was a tough combo.

I sent Piper away and she went way away. Judge Bill Orr standing behind me said “I think Piper says that’s where the sheep were for Open” and he was right. In this limited instance I think prior local knowledge was a disadvantage. But she went behind the ridge and kept going eventually coming up in proper position but WAY deep. Zero off the outrun and she walked up nicely for a reasonable lift – 2 points. From there the sheep wanted to escape home and Piper went too wide on her flanks. The sheep soon reached escaped velocity and we retired.

A good weekend and a wonderful trial.

Videos can be seen at www.youtube.com/magrammedia

Hold That Line !!!!

We had a week in between trials to get some training in. If the early training runs were an indication we sure needed it.

After a relatively decent bit of training in the lower field on heavier sheep, Jennifer brought out the runners to test us. At first we failed miserably. I could not get Piper within twenty feet without the sheep taking off to escape. We almost had to buy Subway for class a couple times.

It seems Piper was getting up from her lie down straight into a flank instead of walking up. With these sheep as soon as she would catch their eye they were GONE. So we needed to get her to stay behind and in the pocket. She was doing this fine on the fetch but the drive was a mess.

So we tried driving toward the lower field and the fence which created a natural end to the runaway sheep. Also if she got up so much as a half step to the side instead of straight on I downed her immediately. If the sheep escaped well so be it but she was not going to turn it into a flank and retrieve game. It took some micro-managing and being on full alert but it actually worked. As long as I made her walk straight in and controlled the pace she actually managed to hold a line and looked pretty good doing it. So we know she CAN do it. I just need to stay on her and not let her get away with either flank or fast get ups.

Next week Bill Berhow's trial at Dunnigan Hills.

Deer Creek

Piper Rounds The Post @ Deer Creek

We are back from Deer Creek which is the San Joaquin Valley Border Collie Spring Trial and one of the longest continuous annual sheep dog trials in California. Deer Creek has a reputation as one of the more difficult trials in California with cranky and difficult range ewes. Scores are historically low. This was our first time at Deer Creek and it was definitely mixed bag.

The Bad:

Piper came up a bit short on the first outrun and the lift was off line leading to . . .

The sheep pushed over Piper on the fetch on her first run and she would not come bye and walk into the pressure;

The first drive was still a serpentine route;

On the second fetch Piper ringed the sheep about halfway down;

She also crossed the course once on the drive;

We managed to basically throw away a decent drive on the 2d run at the cross drive panel missing high and then turning right back through the panel the wrong way.

The Bizarre:

Turning the drive away panel on our first run one sheep decided to lay down and play possum resulting in a re-run starting at the mid point of the cross drive.

The Good:

Piper's second outrun was wide and proper leading to a good lift;

The second fetch Piper held the pressure better although we missed the panels and she crossed the course once so the score was not good;

Our turn at the post was much improved on the second run;

Piper worked very well at the pen with a group of ewes that simply did NOT WANT TO GO INTO THE PEN including running down a breakaway ewe that wanted to escape on its own at least three times;

After our first run was called and we started to exhaust the sheep turned to face her down and Piper took the "hit it" command to get them moving again;

Piper refused to take any crap from some very difficult ewes when working exhaust.

Results:

9th out of 22 in Round 1.

4th out of 17 in Round 2 for a Ribbon and check.

Back to Work

Well the celebration from a good job at Sonoma is over.

It is back to work cleaning up those things that still need cleaning and polishing those that need polishing. Plus learning a new thing or two.

The wind was howling in Campo today making it hard to be heard at a distance. Perfect for practicing at a distance.

We started with outruns and fetch on a tricky group of rambouillet's that wanted to pull heavy to one side trading with Sally Douglas and Trapper. Piper took her first couple outruns nice and wide and deep and her fetches were generally pretty good even though the sheep kept trying to push over her and off line. After a few outruns she got a bit lazy and started to flatten out so I set her up and got the timing right on a good "get out" on the away side and this was better.

Driving was generally OK today but not great. She did some good stuff and some not so good stuff. The cross driving was generally better and the driving generally got better during the day. On our last cross drive the sheep wanted to drop anchor. This was the same group that made her turn tail a few weeks ago and she was not walking on. She wasn't turning like before but still not walking on. I gave her a "hit it. hit it. hit it." and she did. YEAH !! Moving sheep again.

We also snuck in a bit of shedding practice today. Piper is getting the concept pretty well. It's me that has the problem of getting in her way and not leading the drive off. I think by the time we need a shed we should have one.

Anyway only 2 weeks til Deer Creek and I want to have her ready.