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.