Just back from a day of training at K9Z&Ewe.
Piper had a difficult day. She probably needs to be reintroduced to Jesus.
Her driving on the driving drill portion of the day was actually reasonably good as we went back and forth on the cross drives. Not as serpentine as usual and kept sheep moving at a reasonable pace.
Outruns - usually her strong suit - but she was having some trouble flattening out at the top. So we set her up to do an extra deep outrun trying to get her up a road. It did not make sense to her as the sheep were more forward and she fought me all the way round. Finally got her to go where we wanted and she went on a tour of the neighboring ranch as if to say - you want wide - I'll show you wide. Eventually we got to a semblance of what we wanted but it was working.
Near the end we did some beginning shedding work. It is getting better - we have not done this in a couple months. She will come into the hole but getting her to turn on the sheep we want to take away without overrunning the hole was a bit tricky. Eventually she seemed to get it a little better and we got her coming through AND turning properly. The last two times - 1 shed and 1 single - she seemed to understand the job and moved on her own to prevent 1 sheep from regrouping. On the single she finally came in on the head and backed the single off facing the head down challenge. A big step for her.
Also while we were working on shedding and getting sheep back into the ring we had opportunity to work on our new "Hit it" command from 2 weeks ago. Sure could have used it at the trial last week. Anyway - several times she had sheep refusing to move and I gave her a "hit it" which resulted in her promptly and appropriately hitting the sheep. We even got some proper face hits and the sheep moved off her. Hopefully this will help with her confidence when we need to move some sheep that have dropped anchor.
We used the hit it again when putting the rambouilett's away. They had moved over near a trailer and appeared they would refuse to budge and were facing her down. I gave her a "walk up" and "hit it" and lo and behold Piper went for the nose and a very surprised rambouillet popped its head and front up, turned and went where Piper wanted her to go.
So a rough day but a good finish.
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Happy Adoption Day !!!
Pictures are Piper waiting her turn and The Trial Field at Suzy's.Not really sure what this should be called but today is my one year anniversary with Piper.
Exactly one year ago today I picked her up at the cargo depot at LAX.
I was told to expect a year to partner up with her and I have to say that 1 year later we are a much better partnership and seem to be continuing to make progress.
To celebrate 1 year together we went to Suzy Applegate's Pro Novice Trial in Plymouth, California yesterday. The trial had a few things going in advance to recommend it - (1) different field that neither Piper nor I had ever been on; (2) relatively long - for PN - outrun of 250 + yards; and (3) range ewes. The setup was for a challenging trial but if we want to move along we need to keep testing ourselves.
Well the trial was a lot of fun. There were 25 Pro Novice dogs with 2 runs each. The weather semi-broke - compared to the biblical storms all week - and we were only cold and wet till about noon.
Suzy reported that the Range Ewes were being cantankerous and she had experienced trouble working them with her open dogs so good luck to we Pro Novice folks. The field was a wide open rectangular grass field with a slight rise at the handlers post. The sheep were set about 250 yards out and slightly left of center but easy to see from the handlers post (which was a large tree), Generally not a complicated outrun - at least so it seemed.
Suzy and Buzz did a non-comp run to lead off to sort of show the way. Suzy sent Buzz to the come bye side (which was slightly more narrow) and Buzz did fine.
I think most of the PN handlers were influenced by Suzy's choice of side (well it is her field and Buzz was the National Nursery Champion so she clearly knows what she is doing on that field - on any field really) and most people sent to the Come Bye side. Several dogs seemed to start out and then hesitate about 30 yards or so from the post like they were having trouble finding the sheep. I think there were a couple slight elevation changes en route. Also the exhaust was way to the right of the field and -- if the sheep wanted to pull at all they pulled to the right.
I was running next to last and watching all of this thought the better outrun was actually to the Away side. So I set Piper up - pointed her straight at the sheep on my right side (someone asked me at Jennifer's trial if I set Piper up for the outrun by angling her out in the direction of the outrun. I said only if I want to retrieve her from the next county. She is usually PLENTY WIDE.). And I sent her. She was off like a shot for easily the widest outrun of the first go round and came up properly on balance. (Several people sent this way on their second run and I think watching Piper's outrun may have contributed to the decision.) The lift was nice and I thought the fetch was generally good although I think I may have been seeing the line a bit wrong and they were likely off line a bit (no fetch panels to judge by). The drive started well but -- as with MANY OTHER DOGS the sheep were very difficult to control on the drive. We managed to miss both panels but broke the plane and headed for the pen.
There were only a handful of successful pens all day and we did not join that club. Her sheep wanted to escape to exhaust but she kept that route blocked and we managed to slowly work the sheep into the mouth of the pen despite their desire to keep trying breakouts. Piper successfully blocked all breakouts but the closest we could get was three ewes partially in the pen when one decided to make a break for freedom. Piper worked well for me at the pen but the sheep just would not go in.
Final score 49 out of 90 but good for 6th best score out of 25. (The sheep were tough on everybody - well with a couple exceptions).
Second run I decided I would follow my practice of sending to the opposite side whenever I have two runs. This is part of my philosophy that - yes we want to win whenever we go to the post - but the more important part of PN is experience and training. Jack Mathieson (nice man) warned me I might regret it since we were in contention for the overall win and already knew Piper could nail the away. But I thought training on a strange field was more important so stuck with my decision.
I set Piper up on my left, sent her come bye, and held my breath as she approached the area where several other dogs had slowed and needed either redirect or encouragement. Not Piper. She ran through the swales like it was her home field and went nice and deep and came up on balance. The lift was nice and the sheep wanted to go right towards the exhaust. A slight come by whistle and Piper got in the pocket and pretty much stayed there. Sheep came straight and to my feet at a nice controlled pace. It is SO nice to have fetch stearing (on both runs actually).
Sara Goodman told me afterwards that the OR/Lift/Fetch on the second run was the best she has ever seen Piper work. Since Sara also trains at Jennifer's she has seen Piper a lot and so this has some meaning. And these were some tough sheep that thought nothing of just running over several other dogs as they wanted to go way right on the fetch.
Anyway we got past the post and I swung Piper around to start the drive. That's when the sheep dropped anchor and simply refused to move. Piper walked in when I asked. Took small flanks as asked and basically did everything except grip to get them to move (we'll work some more on that in the coming weeks). They simply would not move and we timed out right there.
But after basically forfeiting 40 out of 90 possible points (30 drive points and 10 pen points) Piper had a possible score of 50 remaining if the judge thought she was PERFECT on her outwork. Well - she scored 45 out of those 50 points so she was pretty darn good. Her score was good enough for 6th place in the second run - even without getting the drive started. Fifth place overall combined.
BTW - Piper was not the only dog that the sheep dropped anchor on. There were several packets of sheep that dropped anchor and refused to move for (including Carolyn Crocker's Lyn that Suzy ran at the USBCHA Open nationals) so while I was not happy that she was stared down I am not going to get too upset at this point. But we know what we need to work on.
On the drive back I stopped at Harris Ranch to break up the drive and to enjoy a nice steak. I cut the last bit of my ribeye up into small pieces and mixed it with some kibble. Wow did Piper like that doggie bag.
Overall a good 1 year milestone and adoption day.
I was told to expect a year to partner up with her and I have to say that 1 year later we are a much better partnership and seem to be continuing to make progress.
To celebrate 1 year together we went to Suzy Applegate's Pro Novice Trial in Plymouth, California yesterday. The trial had a few things going in advance to recommend it - (1) different field that neither Piper nor I had ever been on; (2) relatively long - for PN - outrun of 250 + yards; and (3) range ewes. The setup was for a challenging trial but if we want to move along we need to keep testing ourselves.
Well the trial was a lot of fun. There were 25 Pro Novice dogs with 2 runs each. The weather semi-broke - compared to the biblical storms all week - and we were only cold and wet till about noon.
Suzy reported that the Range Ewes were being cantankerous and she had experienced trouble working them with her open dogs so good luck to we Pro Novice folks. The field was a wide open rectangular grass field with a slight rise at the handlers post. The sheep were set about 250 yards out and slightly left of center but easy to see from the handlers post (which was a large tree), Generally not a complicated outrun - at least so it seemed.
Suzy and Buzz did a non-comp run to lead off to sort of show the way. Suzy sent Buzz to the come bye side (which was slightly more narrow) and Buzz did fine.
I think most of the PN handlers were influenced by Suzy's choice of side (well it is her field and Buzz was the National Nursery Champion so she clearly knows what she is doing on that field - on any field really) and most people sent to the Come Bye side. Several dogs seemed to start out and then hesitate about 30 yards or so from the post like they were having trouble finding the sheep. I think there were a couple slight elevation changes en route. Also the exhaust was way to the right of the field and -- if the sheep wanted to pull at all they pulled to the right.
I was running next to last and watching all of this thought the better outrun was actually to the Away side. So I set Piper up - pointed her straight at the sheep on my right side (someone asked me at Jennifer's trial if I set Piper up for the outrun by angling her out in the direction of the outrun. I said only if I want to retrieve her from the next county. She is usually PLENTY WIDE.). And I sent her. She was off like a shot for easily the widest outrun of the first go round and came up properly on balance. (Several people sent this way on their second run and I think watching Piper's outrun may have contributed to the decision.) The lift was nice and I thought the fetch was generally good although I think I may have been seeing the line a bit wrong and they were likely off line a bit (no fetch panels to judge by). The drive started well but -- as with MANY OTHER DOGS the sheep were very difficult to control on the drive. We managed to miss both panels but broke the plane and headed for the pen.
There were only a handful of successful pens all day and we did not join that club. Her sheep wanted to escape to exhaust but she kept that route blocked and we managed to slowly work the sheep into the mouth of the pen despite their desire to keep trying breakouts. Piper successfully blocked all breakouts but the closest we could get was three ewes partially in the pen when one decided to make a break for freedom. Piper worked well for me at the pen but the sheep just would not go in.
Final score 49 out of 90 but good for 6th best score out of 25. (The sheep were tough on everybody - well with a couple exceptions).
Second run I decided I would follow my practice of sending to the opposite side whenever I have two runs. This is part of my philosophy that - yes we want to win whenever we go to the post - but the more important part of PN is experience and training. Jack Mathieson (nice man) warned me I might regret it since we were in contention for the overall win and already knew Piper could nail the away. But I thought training on a strange field was more important so stuck with my decision.
I set Piper up on my left, sent her come bye, and held my breath as she approached the area where several other dogs had slowed and needed either redirect or encouragement. Not Piper. She ran through the swales like it was her home field and went nice and deep and came up on balance. The lift was nice and the sheep wanted to go right towards the exhaust. A slight come by whistle and Piper got in the pocket and pretty much stayed there. Sheep came straight and to my feet at a nice controlled pace. It is SO nice to have fetch stearing (on both runs actually).
Sara Goodman told me afterwards that the OR/Lift/Fetch on the second run was the best she has ever seen Piper work. Since Sara also trains at Jennifer's she has seen Piper a lot and so this has some meaning. And these were some tough sheep that thought nothing of just running over several other dogs as they wanted to go way right on the fetch.
Anyway we got past the post and I swung Piper around to start the drive. That's when the sheep dropped anchor and simply refused to move. Piper walked in when I asked. Took small flanks as asked and basically did everything except grip to get them to move (we'll work some more on that in the coming weeks). They simply would not move and we timed out right there.
But after basically forfeiting 40 out of 90 possible points (30 drive points and 10 pen points) Piper had a possible score of 50 remaining if the judge thought she was PERFECT on her outwork. Well - she scored 45 out of those 50 points so she was pretty darn good. Her score was good enough for 6th place in the second run - even without getting the drive started. Fifth place overall combined.
BTW - Piper was not the only dog that the sheep dropped anchor on. There were several packets of sheep that dropped anchor and refused to move for (including Carolyn Crocker's Lyn that Suzy ran at the USBCHA Open nationals) so while I was not happy that she was stared down I am not going to get too upset at this point. But we know what we need to work on.
On the drive back I stopped at Harris Ranch to break up the drive and to enjoy a nice steak. I cut the last bit of my ribeye up into small pieces and mixed it with some kibble. Wow did Piper like that doggie bag.
Overall a good 1 year milestone and adoption day.
Monday, January 4, 2010
Snowbirds On the Border
Subtitle - "A View from the Top"
It sounds so much better than the "Walk of Shame"
Both apply to the weekend. First the "View from the Top".
Piper and I spent the two days of the Open Trial at the top end assisting with the set out relay from the set out pens to the set out dog (Leon and Blade). It is an entirely different perspective on a dog trial.
From the top it is easy to see which outruns are tight and which are wide and deep. It is easy to see which lifts are smooth and which came at the urging of a grip (sometimes well deserved).
It is also obvious from the top that a good outrun sets up a good lift. And a good lift sets up a good start to the fetch and so on.
Having seen what happens from the top I will never complain about drilling a correct top end to the outrun again.
Also from the viewpoint of set out there are different concerns. Good set out is like a referee or offensive lineman - it is best not to be noticed. If there are disasters at the set out pens it is best they remain hidden. Set out -like sausage -is best enjoyed when complete - the ingredients and process are not important - just the end result.
And the end result is supposed to be the right number of sheep arriving at the set out spot without being unduly disturbed. The concern from set out is (1) getting the right number of sheep (2) making sure no lame sheep are set out (3) clearing any emergencies or wrecks which may come back our way and (4) making sure no one has to wait for their sheep to be set - except following a corrected emergency. Hopefully #4 is the only one that is visible to the handlers.
For the most part I think we got the job done this weekend for Open. It was a good group with people Gayle, Nicko, Zack, and myself at the pens and Leon at the set out. Canine help was provided by Piper at the pen on standby for emergencies and Blade at set out doing yeoman's work at set out.
After two days of set out we got our shot at competing in Pro-Novice.
Out of 34 dogs in the first go round 33 sent on the come bye side and only 1 on the away side. We ran 22nd and I sent Piper away - the only dog sent that direction all day. I think most people avoided the away because to be right the dog has to go behind a rock outcropping near the top and give up sight of the sheep temporarily. If the dog cuts in front of the rock it will be either VERY tight or cross over. Piper took the away exactly as I expected - kicking wide and deep behind the rock and coming up pretty much spot on. She did not give me the lie down but she did give me a stand and then came on nicely for a lovely smooth lift. 0 points off the outrun and 0 point off the lift.
The last time she was on range ewes was Pt. Pleasant and the fetch was more of a wild uncontrolled chase. (See earlier Blog Post about Pt. Pleasant). Anyway the lift was slightly off line to the panels but relatively controlled. Piper took my directions and lie downs on the bottom part of the fetch and we actually had a pretty nice pace coming down. I thought the sheep were drifting to the wrong side of the post and gave Piper an away command which she took giving the sheep the opportunity they were looking for and they escaped wide to the right of the post. Piper's come bye was too wide and by the time she got around in their faces they had meandered out of bounds for a DQ. Even so I was generally happy with how she worked.
On the second run we apparently had angered the sheep gods. I deliberately sent Piper the opposite way so as not to let her pattern. She did a beautiful come bye outrun stopping on balance. This time she gave me the lie down and started to walk up on command. She walked up and . . . NOTHING. The sheep would not budge. We tried everything - slight flanks - both sides - walk ups and NOTHING. Finally Piper got the sheep to turn and they got about 10 yards down the fetch before turning back and going to the hay. A few more tries and it was obvious they were not going to move so I turned, thanked the judge and took the Walk of Shame. I think it was the right time because I did not want to frustrate her anymore. We scored 0 points off the outrun and 7 off the lift (I guess we got a lift score because they left then came back.)
Speaking to Leon (set out) afterwards he told me it was only one sheep stomping and refusing to move. Piper initially held her ground but simply could not get that one sheep to move. It is the first time we have ever failed to lift so I am not going to worry about it unless it becomes a pattern. As Jennifer would say the "Sheep Gods were not kind to me".
We will get her back on range ewes at Suzy Applegate's trial in three weeks. Overall she did a good job handling the range ewes all weekend - up top helping with set out and disaster control - and her first run in Pro Novice.
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