Shedding: Not just for trials.

Pleased to say we Lucy and I had a very nice day today.

Diane had her 20 acre field mowed so it is just great for longer work right now. Lucy drove the full length of the field 4 times and did 4 big outruns. Her outruns were spot-on. No redirects required. I think that was very good for her confidence. I sent her from different/odd locations in the field, and in between setting the sheep took her to the holding area and worked her on a separate flock in between to diminish her memory of where the sheep were set.

We also practiced dog-leg fetches on both sides and she did just great. I was really expecting a tough practice today but Lucy was right on. Her confidence is coming back and it was really nice to have my regular partner again.

Just as we were finishing, the neighbor hollered over the fence...

Neighbor: "Hey... can you help me?"
Me: "Sure, what do you need?"
Neighbor: "Just need some sheep moved up the road."
Me: "Yes, I can do that. Which sheep are they?"

[Neighbor points down into his pasture.]

Neighbor: "The big white ones."

[I look down and frown. There are 40 or so sheep down there... and about 10 "big white ones"]

Me: "Oh, so you need those sheep sorted off of your other sheep, and then moved down the road....?"
Neighbor: "Yes. Thanks."

[I frown... thinking this might not go well.]

Me: "Um. Ok..."

I walk down into the pasture and have Lucy gather the sheep. Fortunately for me, the sheep he needs sorted off are from a separate flock, so they are a bit easier to shed off than they might be if all of the sheep were flockmates. (Is flockmates a word? Spell check says no.) There are no pens or gates to sort with in that pasture, so I maneuvered around a bit and decided to do an international style shed and hope to sort them in the middle of the field.

As I got to moving the sheep around, I had all the ones I wanted plus about 15 extra, so called Lucy in for a first cut. We then proceeded to sort off all the correct sheep on the first try! I am sure my smile was huge, I was beaming with pride for my little red dog.

Once we had the sheep sorted off, I drove off the flock that was staying into a corner, then we took the misfits up out of the pasture, down the road and to a new field. The whole process took perhaps 10 minutes.

Best part of the day:

(astonished) Neighbor: "How did you do that?!"
Me: "I have a really good dog."

Treasure each day you have together, friends.
Thanks for reading.

Update

Well, school is back in session. I'm still getting into the swing even though it's week 2, as my classes this semester have different weekly due days than previous semesters. I've spent a couple of days restructuring to figure out exactly how school will shake out.

On the dog trial front, Lacamas bested me. On Thursday I sent Lucy blind as she did not spot the sheep from the post. She got a bit lost on her outrun and rather than limp her along I decided to RT. If I had invested a few more minutes I could likely have gotten her to the sheep, but given that the trial was already 2 hours behind schedule and my dog was really listening well, I decided to call the run and left the post. She was quite happy when it was time to exhaust and she finally got some sheep time.

On Saturday, I got Lucy to her sheep. She still required redirection on the outrun as she was getting lost in the terrain. On either side of the outrun the dogs had to run a series of ridges and swales. Lucy got lost in the 3rd swale. I blew her out, which she took, went quite wide but not deep enough and obviously still did not know where to find her sheep. Finally I stopped her under the sheep and gave a look back. She saw the sheep, kicked herself out both wide and deep and lifted smartly. The sheep had been leaning hard on the dogs all afternoon and Lucy was no exception. I had used up a lot of dog during the outrun with the redirects. Her confidence was pretty much shot. I tried to stop her and open her up on the fetch to help her get better control of the sheep, but she ran through my stops. This is very unlike Lucy, so I just blew flanks on the fetch to keep her from unwinding and completely losing her sheep over the hill. Though it was quite offline she did get the sheep to my feet. Turning the post, she had 2 groups of sheep, and 1 particularly grouchy ewe lamb. She backed that ewe up 2 times, then the 3rd time she finally gripped so we were excused. I think Dee Marroni got the whole sequence on film.

So, Lacamas was Lucy's first RT and first DQ. Sheep 2, Monique 0. I have some new training goals. Our next trials are Vashon and Fire Ridge.

Terrain on outruns longer than about 400yds is a training hole for Lucy and I intend to close that hole as soon as possible. (She also struggled with running from bright sun into dark shade at the handling clinic.) It is a difficult hole to close in the places we have to train. Lucy has been sent 700yds with terrific outruns in the past, but never so far over terrain where the dog is blind several different times. Its a skill lacking but one I believe she can learn. She is normally a very good outrunner so this shook my confidence as well as hers.

On a positive note, Jorgen and I took our dogs to help a friend who needed to work his 1200 recalcitrant Romneys through the chutes for treatment. Lucy and Merckx thoroughly enjoyed themselves and it was good, practical, confidence building work for both of them.

Looking ahead, I have a trip to Las Vegas next weekend to give lectures at the SVBT CE Conference. Then 2 weeks later, a long trip to NADAC Championships with Zora. Lucy will ride along, as well as a friend and her Border collie.

So, that's what you missed. Nothing to write home about. Just a lot of work to be done.

Gems from the Scott Glen Clinic

(photos by C. Harwell at a separate event, photos were not taken at the clinic)

The 4 day open handlers clinic at Fido's Farm with Scott Glen was a great experience. I really enjoyed having a chance to get feedback about me and my dog and to watch the other teams make such great progress over the 4 days.



I know that I am my dog's biggest liability. Anyone who reads this blog is familiar with that. As my dog's biggest liability, I took the time to take about 13 pages of notes during the clinic. While I don't intend to get into deep detail here (if you want that, sign up for a clinic!!), I figured I'd pass along some of the gems from the weekend. Scott has a lot of helpful one-liners and brief quips that we can all learn from, if we just remember them. Some of them are, of course, things well all know but forget!

Many thanks to Scott for permission to post these, and to Fido's Farm for hosting this great clinic.

Lucy penning sheep who have never been in the pen before

Gems from Scott

"You don't have to stop your dog, you just have to be ABLE to stop your dog." (We've all heard that one, I bet)

"If a whistle will keep points, then use it. If it wont, be quiet."

"If you're going to talk to your dog, then you'd better talk sense."

"We (handlers/trainers) have the responsibility to make a dog better, and the ability to make him worse."

"Make sure you are able to be helpful to your dog."

"The opposite of mechanical is zero commands."

"When walking the course, look for lines, draws, blind spots and geographical landmarks. Devise a strategy for each."

"A young dog should have to be controlled so they don't learn too much caution."

"You'll have 3 stops: the normal/quiet stop, a medium stop and a hard, emergency stop. Use them accordingly."



"The best runs are when the dog is off the sheep as much as possible while remaining in contact, not the runs where the dog is as close as possible without splitting the sheep."

"Flow must come before line. You can't make a line out of something that's not moving."

"At the end of the fetch, pay attention to where you put your dog to plan a good turn well in advance."

"Don't bother to keep blowing walk-ups the dog isn't taking."

"Don't bother to keep blowing stops the dog isn't taking."

"You can't fix a broken stop on the drive, fix it on the fetch."

"Constant whistling should reserved for times you need it to keep points or keep the sheep happy."

"Balance is where the dog is most comfortable. The closer they are to it, the more attractive it becomes."

"Stay calm when you can, be loud when you need to ... soft whistles leave room for louder ones if needed."

"A dog unwinding a flank has too much freedom to be wrong."




"If you have the opportunity to keep the dog out of trouble with a command, then do so, before he gets into trouble on his own."

"Stop and take time to observe the effects of every whistle."

"Don't let inside flanks sound angry."

"Sheep who are spread out and knocking into one another is always a symptom of too much pressure."

"Work less keen dogs at dusk, it can keen them up."

"Look back means let go of the sheep you have, not go to the sheep you don't."

"A lively set of sheep will not fix itself."

"The handler stopping the dog allows development of a more powerful dog. The sheep stopping the dog weakens it."

"Remember, the pulls on course can change at any time. Pay attention!"

And, again, the one that bears repeating over and over...
"If you're going to talk to your dog, then you'd better talk sense."

I always learn so much from Scott. Sometimes it is confirmation of what I already know but can't express so succinctly. Other times it's completely new information. Either way, lessons and clinics with Scott always end with me a better handler than I was at the start.

Enjoy your journey: no one else can take your journey for you.

On the road again

Leaving 6am tomorrow morning for the Lacamas Valley Stock Dog Trial. This will be the largest sheepdog trial I have attended or run in by far. 100 dogs will run in Open. The largest group I've run in til tomorrow was 64.

While I always hope to do well when I go to the post with my dog, I am really looking forward to watching some of the top teams in the region and in North America. It will be a learning experience and I plan to take lots of notes!

For those who are going, see ya tomorrow.