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.