Getting Back on the Bicycle

I remember when I was a kid being told that if I fell off my bicycle the best thing to do was to get right back on. The idea was that any lingering fear from falling off was best met by immediately facing it and conquering it.

In a mixed training session yesterday Piper had a "get back on the bicycle" moment near the end of a long (4+ hrs) day in the rain working sheep and watching other dogs work sheep. She had a hungry and reluctant ewe turn on her, lower its head and charge. Piper turned tail and then refused to walk back on. I trtied to get her to hit the offending ewe with a good bite to the nose but she was clearly spooked and was having none of it.

But I was not leaving the field until she reengaged as I did not want her thinking she could give in to fear. Jeff Blackstone and Dusk came out to help with the drive and provide some muscle while Piper semi-reengaged and provided some assistance. Shortly Piper took back over and continued the drive away on her own.

Then we finished the session by sending her out on a final outrun to bring in the sheep and she had no problem moving them. Hopefully she is back on the bicycle.

Before that end of the day event Piper was doing well on a day of challenges.

We started with dificult and tricky outruns with the sheep set at the top of a ridge so that the dogs had to go on the other side of the slope where they were hidden from the handler's sight. This was my first time with a totally blind approach to the lift and it was a little nerve wracking. The "away" outrun also required some traffic direction to get Piper between two rock outcroppings instead of either too wide or too narrow. Our first attempt resulted in a confused Piper and ended in a recall whistle. The second time she took the direction and went blind for what seemed an eternity. I kept asking "Do you see her ?". The answer was no until suddenly the sheep turned and started down the fetch line followed by a small black blur. Piper had come up in the proper position although maybe a bit fast but she took my down and we re3ceived the ultimate "nice fetch" compliment from Jennifer.

The "come bye" outrun was so deep I could not see it but again she came up in the proper position. Our later outruns were in such severe weather and fog that I literally could not see the sheep but Piper generally did well on her outruns. She really is a pretty smart little outrunner.

For the most part our drives were not as good as our prior session last week but better than they have been. We were having a bit of trouble turning the post too tight and a slight overflank leading to the sheep crossing the line at the start. Jennifer advised making a wider turn and not crossing the line. Eventually we managed this and finally got a "nice drive" but with the modifier "for Piper".

Overall it was still a good day but decidedly mixed due to the lost face off with the one ewe at the end of the day.


Prior to that

The Sound Of Silence

We were working today mainly in the rain and mainly on driving but we did try something new on our last outrun of the day.

As Piper went out come bye Jennifer said to "let her have her sheep" and "see what she does." So I let her finish the outrun with no whistle or shouted command. She came up behind in the proper position for a calm controlled lift. Followed by a clam controlled fetch where Piper was adjusting herself properly to hold the pressure, adjusting her own pace and WALKING.

Nary a word or whistle until the sheep were about 10 yards from my feet and then I flanked Piper to get the sheep around the post the right way and started on the drive. Then it was minimal handling - mostly a little "take time" and very slight flank to hold the pressure resulting in one of Piper's best drive aways ever. Followed by a nice cross drive and Jennifer suggesting we "quit on that one."

Actually Piper's drives were generally better today than usual. This was true all day and not just on the last drive. Maybe she s starting to get this driving thing down. If so YIPPEE !!

Also the silent gather suggested I need to trust her more and let her work - only interposing whistles or spoken commands when needed. She responded well to the minimalist handling on our final run. Again, hopefuly not a one time thing.

Zamora !!!

Tricia Guidry on Sunday in Open. Look at the top in the picture to the right and you ca barely see the biplane.

Well that was a lot of fun !!

We just got back from our first trip to Zamora where Piper ran in Pro Novice.

The Zamora Hills course is somewhat legendary in California and now that we have been there I understand why.

This is the view from the post for the open. Send across the small ditch along the ridge line some 600- yards or so to the saddle between the two hills where the sheep are set out. Then the fetch is down the valley between the hills on either side with various blind spots along the way. To make it more fun use range ewes who are difficult to steer. THIS IS WHAT A SHEEPDOG TRIAL IS SUPPOSED TO BE !

For the Pro - Novice the sheep were brought down into the valley between the two hills but still 250 - 300 yards out. The particular spot where they were set was kind of tucked in so it would be very easy to run wide behind a hill and get lost on the outrun.

We were up 2nd in Pro Novice and followed nursery (about 10 dogs). Because the Open dogs had difficulties with the drive away panel all weekend the course was changed to a "push bye - then pull through" on the drive away. Push the sheep by the panels to the left and then pull back through. Everything else was normal.

I decided to send Piper "come bye". Suicide in the open it was a viable option for PN because the sheep were set lower. She took off beautifully and was making her way up the hill on the left when she started to kick in and slow down. She was obviously wondering where the sheep were and coming in to investigate. I was a fraction of a second from blowing a redirect whistle when I noticed Piper seemed to catch sigh of the sheep, turned her head "bye" and redirected herself out and well behind the sheep. Outrun loss of 1 point.

Piper came up on the sheep well but in my view a little hard and lifted straight. Zero points deducted.

The fetch seemed a trouble spot for many of the dogs we had watched but - except for being a little hard headed and fast for the top quarter or so - Piper handled it well. The sheep wanted to pull to my right and a little come bye flank and lie down got them back on direction before they got too far. We must have stayed pretty well om line because we only lost 5 points for the fetch. Most that I saw were losing many more on the fetch. Anyway this was very encouraging because this is the second trial in a row where Piper has been very good on her outwork (5 points lost at Hoof and Paw and 6 points lost at Zamora).

On to the drive. It has been our bugaboo and it was again but for different reasons. Our tendency has been to over flank and cause a serpentine drunk driving pattern with Piper acting like a windshield wiper going from side to side behind the sheep. Here the sheep wanted to lean to the left and so I had Piper come bye and stop. Then a little walk up and the sheep would push back to the right. Stop and let them come a bit left and another come bye. Here is the good thing. Piper was taking the flanks and the stops and we were progressing in a more or less stacked banana motion toward the panel. Mostly straight but always tending in the right direction. But we were not doing the windshield wiper serpentine approach. The other good thing is that Piper was taking my "lie down" commands where they were given and not moving off pressure then lying down as she did last week in practice.

When we got to the drive away panel I had trouble telling when we had passed the plane to the left and walked Piper in too much. The sheep made an escape high because I waited to flank too long. Anyway they were up on a plateau where I had no sight of my dog and could barely see the tops of the sheep heads. This is where I think we lost most of our points but I also think it is somewhat course and run specific.

We finally got the sheep turned back and by this time I abandoned trying to get the pull through. Piper brought the sheep down to the cross drive line - probably a bit low but it looked good to me at the time. Then from there the cross drive was actually pretty good. The sheep wanted to go low beneath the panel so I flanked Piper to cover and they tipped back towards the panel opening. Unfortunately I released the pressure a little early and they tipped back low again and almost broke the plane. Another flank away and we covered that before they broke the plane. A short walk up and the sheep were nicely positioned in the middle of the panel opening but with their sides to the opening facing uphill. A quick come bye and stop aligned with the middle of the opening and the sheep went through.

On to the pen. Almost nobody was getting the pen and we were no different. Piper did work calmly and we managed to get the sheep almost into the mouth. One ewe tried to stamp Piper down but she held her ground and was calm about the whole thing.

Final score 53 with a high degree of difficulty. Overall I was very happy with Piper.

EDIT TO ADD. Piper's score held up for 8th place out of 32 actual runs. So top 25%. And she beat some dogs that have been regularly beating us. So improvement is showing.

Spectators on the Hill across the road.