The New Guy

There's another new addition to the family:

Fieldstone Gabe

Gabe was bred and started by my friend Christine Henry. He is 1 1/2 years old, out of her good dogs Bess and Tweed. This winter, I was fortunate to have the opportunity to bring Gabe home with me for a couple months to gain some experience bringing along a young dog. She was feeling over-dogged, and since Ella was on the disabled list, I jumped at the chance to work with another dog.

Gabe working at home

Gabe was raised in the kennel and was not used to living in the house. He was a little unsettled at first, but always re-oriented to me when he was feeling uneasy. From day 1 the dog wanted nothing more than to please me. On sheep, he was pushy but very responsive. He got some good grips in early on, as in the take-sheep-down and-chew-on-them variety. Yet he never completely lost his head and always called off without much trouble.

Within no time he fit right in to the routine here. He visited the clinic, rode to town for errands, traveled with me and the girls, and played with his girlfriend Ella. At night, if he was crated anywhere *other* than right next to my bed, he howled all.night.long. He needed to be a part of the family.

Play time with his Merlefriend

Before the terrible snows came, we were lucky to be able to train just about every day. During my lunch I'd take him and Rae over to the sheep and each would get two turns. I was able to put some good mileage on him, and he was really coming on strong.

After a couple months I decided to send Gabe back to Christine. The only thing I didn't like about him was that he was not for sale. I had been looking for a youngster to train and trial while waiting for Livy to grow up, and one became available to me. As it turned out, that dog and I just didn't click. And I was sorely missing Gabe. While he was with me, I tried so hard to not become too attached to him. I always reminded myself that he was not my dog but I was just borrowing him. In the days following his return to Fieldstone Farm, I was surprised to find out how badly I missed that dog. I really had a tough time. Somewhere along the way that big hunk of a dog weasled his way deep into my heart.

"You know you love me"

After the other dog didn't work out, Christine suggested I take him back to work with again. I desperately wanted to, but baby Livy had just come home and I needed to devote myself 100% to her. Well, to make a long story not *as* long, fast-forward a couple weeks and Christine found herself spread too thin amongst young dogs, and she reluctantly decided to offer him to me permanently!! It was a no-brainer...of course I wanted that dog!

So that is the story of Gaby Baby. He has the sweetest personality and is just what I'm looking for in a trial dog. Not to mention that he and Ella are bestest friends and Rae doesn't try to bite him. Gabe is still with Christine while I get Livy settled in, but I'm really looking forward to bringing him home again, this time as a new family member!

YAY!

Big Bend Trial: First Open Run

Last weekend Rae returned to the Open field as I made my Open debut at Barbara Ray's trial. Due to terrible rain and flooding in the days prior to the trial, a number of handlers didn't show up, leaving me there with literally not a single person that I knew! Dan evenutally did come for his run, but his was a few hours after mine had finished.

The field was tough and the sheep were tricky (ewes who had been weaned within the last couple days). We were up 12th, and when I went to the post, there had been only 1 complete run! Sheep left for the set out pens, wouldn't lift, broke apart and squirted everywhere, or headed for the river. If you pushed too hard, sheep were gone; not enough and they turned to face the dog. A few dogs stalled out, a few gripped off. A vast majority sent left, but I sent right along the river to prevent her from running too wide, and she ran out very well. I gave her the top to manage on her own, since everyone before me tried to micromanage it and ended up in big trouble. Took her downs well on the fetch but didn't flank as freely as I'd like. Got a little off-line but corrected after a bit of an effort convincing the sheep to move. Just missed the panels. Clockwise turn around the post was wide...she took off and was going to run way wide, I was a second late in noticing it before reigning her in. I didn't expect her to run wide there and wasn't ready for it. Good first leg with one of our best turns to start the cross drive...I managed it with downs instead of "theres" since she hasn't snapped into place as neatly as I'd like on her "theres". A little bobble on the cross-drive where we got high, but we got them back online WITHOUT her going into fetch mode! They stalled once, but she got them going again. Made the second panels, but I flanked her too late and they thought they'd head up field. She got them stopped, but then I needed her to take a difficult away flank that she just wouldn't give me. It was at a tough spot on the field due to the draws upfield, to the exhaust, and to the river. I tried and tried, but she eventually went come bye and thus we crossed our course. We were having trouble settling the sheep and regaining control, but I didn't want to give up. Eventually I stopped whistling and just encouraged her to bring me sheep any way she could. They were facing her and standing her down, but she hung in there and was very brave and got them to me at the pen. They tried to bolt once at the mouth, but she had a clean and calm flank to stop them. We had to really work for it, but got them in for a 9 point pen.

At this point I realized I forgot to set my watch (I'd never worn one before), so had no idea how much time I had left. I was SO EXCITED to get to the shedding ring, I momentarily forgot my flanks! I had to shush Rae to send her for them! I regained my composure and we worked for maybe 10 seconds before I had them lined out. There wasn't a hole, but just as I was about to call her in anyhow, the sheep rearranged themselves. We gathered them up and started over, I got a hole and she came right in! She was funny, I had to call her off quickly because it looked like she was going to take that single down! Good enough for an 8 point shed...I'm not sure if I lost points on our scenic route from the pen to the ring, or from the shed itself. But I was SO HAPPY!!

Rae is happy, too

Sunday I again sent right, she looked even nicer than yesterday at the top, but then didn't cover as I'd liked. She never flanked enough to turn them, just sort of rode them down the fetch off-line and eventually to the river fence, which wasn't that far off-line, but you were called off there due to sheep jumping the fence and falling in the river (no joke, lots of handlers got called off in this exact scenario, and there were a number of sheep that needed to be retrieved downstream on the opposite bank). I tried long flanks, short flanks, verbals, LOTS OF CORRECTIONS, even tried to down her, but nothing worked. Another handler told me the sheep were just faster than my dog, I thought she was not taking her flanks. Too bad there's no video.

One thing that was very cool was that I could see where our work has paid off. Her downs were pretty good, her flanks at the pen and shed were very nice. When the sheep stalled, she hung in there, and I was so proud that she got them up when they turned to face her. We have worked specifically on all of those skills. Need to keep on top of these things, get the shed solid, and really get her freely flanking...but we're getting there!

Our run Saturday was good enough for 12th place out of 39 dogs. Sunday we joined some good company on the DQ list. Disappointing, but I am super happy to have gotten around one day, especially on such a difficult field. I haven't seen the official results, but there easily could've been a 50% DQ/RT rate.

Not from the trial, just a random Rae picture by the river at home

So all things considered, a great weekend for us! I learned a lot and had lots of fun!

She's here!

I've been busy lately...with this little squirt:

Meet Liv, Renee Billadeau's Bette x Lyle Lad's Shep. Right now she's a fluffy bundle of good looks and teeth, but I'm sure hoping she turns out to be my next great trial dog. I'd been wanting a relation to Joni Swanke's Lew dog for years, and I've admired Bette since I first saw her on the trial field a couple years ago. Coincidentally, that was the first I saw Rae, and she and Renee won that day :) Anyhow, Bette is a Lew daughter, and not only is she a very talented dog, she's as sweet as can be. I've not seen Shep in person, but word is he's a fine trial dog. I have seen 2 of his pups work. Both Bette and Shep ran in the Nursery and Open Finals as 3 year olds, so I'm hoping that means that Livy will be ready to start sooner rather than later. For now, she gets to enjoy being a puppy while learning how to be a good girl. I met Livy the day after she was born, but I didn't know that she would be the one coming home with me until she was 8 weeks old. Here are some photos (a few by Mark):

Happy Birthday!

The 9 of them at 1 day old

The females, day 1

Livy, day 1

Livy at 4 weeks during my visit

5 weeks

7 weeks, Livy on the left, Mark's Eve on the right, and Renee's Tally in the back

Livy and Tally

10 weeks

She's a spitfire, for sure, and I just love her. We're off to the Big Bend trial this weekend. More on Livy later!