The Good and The Bad

First, The Bad: Last weekend we were at Hop Bottom. Bad weekend on many levels. 'Nuff said.

The Good: This weekend we were back at Dr. Ben's for a Finals benefit trial. Freaking hot and humid (again). The first part of the course was the same as the Memorial Day trial, except we were running 5 sheep; 3 uncollared, 2 collared. Rae and I argued a little on the first part of the fetch, we got it together to make the panels and continue on line. Tight turn, good driveaway. Turn to set up the crossdrive was a little high, we got them back online without any sillyness (ie going into auto-pilot fetch mode). Finished up the drive well then into the shedding ring. We were to take to 2 uncollared sheep. Unfortunately we had 2 failed attempts. I had good holes for her, but she's was hot and tired (physically and mentally) and didn't come through. Instead she flanked around the whole group. She was showing me some wideness in the ring which tells me she was running out of gas. We got it together and she came in nicely on the third attempt. Regathered for a full point pen, but ran out of time trying to shed off a collared single. In retrospect, I should've run one off the front since we were short on time and I couldn't get it set up. The run was good enough for 6th place, but due to the heat, only 25 dogs ran, meaning that only 5 dogs pointed. Oh well, I was very, very happy with Rae.

Sunday's course was the same except for a reversed drive. At the Memorial Day trial we fell apart on the driveaway, so I was mentally prepared for it this time. Rae gave me a gorgeous OLF...0 points off!! We were cruising right along, had to fiddle with the line ever so slightly down the driveaway, super turn at the crossdrive, dead on crossdrive line. Crossdrive panel turn was slightly wide, probably lost a point there. I didn't pay close enough attention to the line to the shed ring, I was very concerned with getting some pace on her so that the sheep didn't run me over in the ring en route to the exhaust. It was very straight but a little off line. We only lost a total of 5 on the drive. Again in the ring we had some issues with taking 2 uncollareds, again 2 failed attempts. Got it on the third try and with about a minute left, I rushed the pen and put a little too much pressure on the sheep, forcing one to slip around. Rae was so tired, but she gave me her all, and we got them penned with less than 5 seconds left. I just let her lie down til we timed out.

That was some of our best work EVER! I was so so soooo proud of our teamwork and how well she listened to me. Looking back, I think what happened in the ring was this: I knew that she'd worked her butt off on the steep hill in the sweltering heat, so I did more than my fair share to hold her sheep to come in on. I know that Rae doesn't want to fly in if she feels that I'm crowding her, so that in combination with her physical and mental exhaustion likely caused the missed attempts. Frustrating as the holes were there, but regardless I'm so very happy with our weekend :)

In other news, Livy reached the 6 month milestone today. Yay, Liver!

Don't let this photo fool you, she is still a very bad puppy!!!

Whistle For A Cure

Last weekend we headed down to Robin's for her benefit trial in support of ovarian cancer research. One word: hot. We drew up early in the order Saturday and the field was wide open at the time. The sheep were tricky and the field is small with lots of pressure and difficult terrain. Rae gave me a gorgeous OLF, I barely said anything to her other than to adjust the line near a pond and to mind her manners around the post. Right hand drive headed toward the exhaust which housed the bawling, recently-weaned lambs. For whatever reason, I had a major brain fart and my handling went down the shitter. I had Rae guarding the pressure to the exhaust, but I kept downing her again and again and again. And for once, she took every single one. I don't know what I was thinking, maybe I was trying to place her so that we could let them drift down the line to the panel? Two went on ahead, and when I flanked her ever so slightly to get the slacker, the other two excused themselves toward the exhaust. I felt like it happened in slow motion. It was awfully stupid handling on my part. Rae was lying there and looked back at me like "Um, do you see they're getting away, dumbass?!" With such close quarters we weren't able to get them before the "out of bounds" area, so we were done. I was so freaking mad at myself. My dog was brilliant and I was a major sped. A number of other people had trouble and there were very few scores for the day, so we were not alone in the losing-your-sheep department. Still I was extremely disappointed in myself.

Sunday we drew up right before lunch. It was about 90 degrees and super humid then, I wasn't sure Rae would be physically able to finish. The course, including post and pen, was different. Rae again gave me a great outrun uphill and into the pressure (I'd practiced exactly that during the week), but something funny happened at the lift. The ewes were being held with grain, and Rae calmly walked into them and was eyeing them for a couple seconds while they had their heads down, stufing their faces. All of a sudden, 2 bolted downfield and Rae followed trying to cover. I did a double-take, doubting myself about a gazillion times, but there was still one ewe at the feed. I'm not sure if those 2 might have responded to the 4-wheeler that turned on just at the time or what, but she surely didn't goose them or do anything else I could see to make 2 take off. I got her downed and the 2 stopped about 1/3 way to the fetch panel. She refused a look-back, which was smart on her part because she knew that if she let up on the lead 2 that they'd be gone. I held her downed for maybe 10 seconds until all of a sudden the last ewe looked up from its buffet and realized it was alone...she scooted down the field to join the others. Made the fetch panels, good line, turn, one little bobble on the driveaway near a pond. One of our best turns ever at the crossdrive, nice line but a little slow. I held her back as the sheep really looked unsettled..at the post 2 of them were repeatedly head butting each other, on the crossdrive one started mounting the others (what the heck?!!). At the last minute 1 ewe drifted high towards setout, the other 2 low. I had to send her to save the single, but in the process we sacrificed putting the other 2 through the panel. Got it back together, good line to the pen despite a tricky draw toward the exhaust. Took some time penning...there was no gate and the pen was very small, you got to choose your side. Rae listened well but had a moment of wideness when she thought she was going to lose them to the exhuast. Finally got them penned. We were running groups that had a red collar, blue collar, and a naked ewe, and while penned we had to call out which we were going to single. We headed to the shed with about 40 seconds left, and the one I thought would lag behind ended up being stuck in the middle the whole time. This seemed to happen to everyone! We worked and worked and I finally called her through in desperation with just a few seconds left. It was a hideous setup for her, calling her in on the butt and asking her to give up the pressure toward the exhuast. I didn't really expect her to take it, but with an extra flank command she came through. GOOD GIRL RAE RAE!

Our score wasn't high enough to place (finished in about top 1/3) but I was very happy with our work. I'm sure the lift killed us. It was a trying course and we certainly held our own. Lots of teams lost their sheep, so I'm glad we got around once. Rae listened so well and I was so proud of her!

Next up is the PA State Champs this weekend. It sure would be nice if we got a break in the weather, this recent heat and humidity has been unbearable. Hard on the dogs, sheep, and handlers, too.

Livy's keen!

It's official. My baby puppy had her first go with sheep yesterday at 5 1/2 months old. Well, her first legitimate session. She'd squeezed through the fence once when she was only about 12 weeks old, but that was because she was jealous of me working Ella, she showed no interest in the sheep at that time!

Anyway, we had a group of ewes and lambs, maybe about a dozen in all, put up in the feedlot. I'm not skilled enough to work an experienced dog while trying to turn a pup on, so Christine was out with one of her youngsters who was more than willing to get in there and mix things up. First Liv sort of floated around the outskirts of the group, having a look, sniffing the ground, watching the dog, etc. We encouraged her for any sheep interaction, and then the funniest thing happened: she walked up to the group and started whining and dancing in place! I could see the wheels turning, she wanted to do SOMETHING, she just didn't quite know what. And just like that, she kicked into working mode. Tail down, eyes locked, and circling. She mostly preferred to go away but did manage to switch directions. There were times when things got a little yeehaw due to the other dog being super into the "lets jazz up the puppy game", but Liv showed no fear. If a lamb squirted off from the group, she got it and put it back in. If a ewe looked at her, she walked directly in and once even nipped one right on the nose! And when there was a lull in the action, she went looking for hocks to nip. She didn't show any inclination to dive in and bust them up, instead her main focus was to keep them together. I did nothing other than let her have fun, and boy did she have fun!

I wish I had some photos, but we weren't adequately prepared. Bummer.

But as you can see in this most recent shot, she has some admirers.

Gaby Baby

Is growing up!

I've recently realized that I've been slacking in his training. During the last couple months I've been very focused on getting together with Rae for the spring trials. Add to that the fact that I've had a major sheep makeover at home where I got rid of a few rotten apples and brought in undogged Katahdin ewes/lambs and undogged Suffolk yearlings. So I didn't really have anything appropriate to work him on at home. After the KY trials, a buddy came over to help break in the newbies, and after a bit of rodeo-ing that day, most of them have been working very nicely. Emphasis on most. So now I have fresh sheep for the boy dog! Time to get serious!

At the beginning of last week he was still in the very beginning stages of driving. He was fine as long as I was walking along beside him, though he still really wanted to get around to their heads. This week I started using him in "real" situations that I'd usually get Rae out just to get it done easily and quickly. One example: after sorting sheep in the barn, I need to move them from the small lower paddock to the big field on the hill. I startied using Gabe to push them across the paddock and up to the hill. He has no trouble wearing them up there since we've spent so much time doing walkabouts, so I decided to up the ante and use it as some driving experience. The first couple days I walked with him, but soon he caught on to the work and figured it out on his own. He doesn't really have any driving flanks, but he's fairly natural at holding a line, so he can get it done. All of a sudden he really seems to understand driving, and instead of being hesitant, he now takes charge of his sheep with confidence. He continues to push them for a good 50 yards before looking back to check in with me.

Our next step will be to put some driving flanks on him. With all this driving practice, I took him out yesterday to be sure his outrun wasn't broken. Well, it's not :) He is a little tight when he senses that the sheep may try to get away, but when there isn't much draw he is wide and deep, checking himself often on the way out. He comes in like a freight train at the top, but I'd rather have that than have him too hesitant. Today will be his third session picking up off someone. Unfortunately the "somone" is his former owner/trainer, so he's still a little unsure. Christine does such an excellent job setting with no movement on her or Bess' part, no talking, no eye contact, that I'm sure it won't take him long to get it.

Now that I've got my rear in gear, I plan on getting him out daily, sometimes twice daily, as he's showing me that he is ready to get going!