Rural Hill SDT

Second weekend of November was the annual Rural Hill trial held in conjunction with a fall festival at a heritage farm.  It was sort of a "meh" trial for me...I hadn't worked Rae in maybe 2 weeks, I was up early the first run and did a bang up job of arriving 2 runs before mine.  And it was cold.  I hadn't really collected my thoughts before the run and it showed in my poor handling.  Rae was a little funny at the top, I think there was some weirdness going on with the set out.  They used 3 horses and no dogs for broke katahdins who have been set on just grain in the past.  Rae sliced the top of her OR and lifted crookedly, we got it back together and I think made all our panels, split and pen.  I do remember giving her a few wrong whistles, just wasn't focused, I guess.  Minus the sloppy start, our lines were good and the run was pretty decent.

Waiting for the horses to get in position

 At the pen; chilly

I left after my run to stop by a friend's to work Livy for a couple hours.  Returned the next morning to run in the 25ish slot.  Rae and I were sitting in a chair right next to the field entrance when some spectator walked right up to her, grabbed his toddler's hand and started trying to pet her.  Not that Rae would do anything, but I was shocked at the poor judgement on this man's part.  I get so aggravated by stupidity.  I have to deal with enough ill-behaved dogs and their irresponsible owners every day, I don't want to deal with that on my "fun" weekends.  Anyway, I was casually sitting around chatting instead of thinking about my run, and was feeling a head cold brewing...so again with the non-cerebral handling.  She ran out fine this time and we had a really nice go until the sheep decided to run the cross-drive.  Got them settled in the ring and thankfully Rae knows the task, because I was fumbling around in a mental fog, asking wrong flanks, not being able to figure out how to regather after the split, just generally not with it out there.  But we did pen to finish the course and the weekend.  Both runs were just so-so, and I don't know what our scores or places ended up, but I'd say middle of the pack or so.

Good flow coming to the post

Rae pushing them into the pen

The big news of the weekend was that Gabe had a successful day in PN.  Christine ran him for me and while I was sad not to see it, I eagerly awaited the text updates while I was at work.  His first run was a little sloppy due to his enthusiasm, but he got around and ended up 2nd.  His second run was apparently quite nice and the Baby got his first win!  I was suprised he was able to hold it together as these sheep were so light and prone to running, but he did it!  Of course, Christine is a much better handler than I, so that didn't hurt.

Rural Hill marked the end of the trialing season.  Since then, Rae has been enjoying some time off and Gabe and Livy have been a major focus.  Not sure that I'll be trialing much this winter, instead looking to get lots of good work in with the youngsters.

Photos courtesy of C. Koval

End of October: Water Cress and Fescue and Ivy SDT

Continuing on our relentless streak of trialing, we headed down to Jan's beautiful TN farm for the Water Cress SDT the weekend following the Trifecta.  Gabe was up first in the PN and it was, shockingly, another RT as I left the post when he failed to lie down after the lift.  Sigh.

Liv and brother Deuce sneak in a quick romp.

Rae was up early the next morning in the Open.  It was cold and the sheep were surprisingly light and pressure-sensitive.  They certainly knew where the set-out was from the previous day, and ran hard toward the former site of the pens en route to the exhaust.  I don't really remember the details of our run, but there was plenty of handler error to put her in a difficult situation.  Sending her left into the pressure has caused her to get sticky on the way out in the past, and the dog ahead of me had trouble with her eye when sent left.  So I sent right, and Rae surprised me by coming in tight and pushing them off toward the pressure.  They had the head start and she never quite got ahold of them, though we fumbled around til some point on the cross-drive when I finally gave in to the reality that things weren't going well.  RT.

For various reasons, I didn't go back to the trial the second day of Open, but instead had a friend over to work dogs at the airport.

Christine and Tess and a sun cross

The following weekend, the last in October, I had Dad ride along with me out to OH for his first dog trial experience.  And, it was his birthday, too!  This was a new trial to me.  After a long trip across snowy WV mountains in the dark, we arrived very late Friday night at our cute little cabin rental. 

Ella needs to patrol the scene from the high ground.

Though I was up second from last with Rae in a very small, 25 dog class, we got up early in the morning to head out to the trial site.  A very pretty farm that was mostly flatt-ish with some gentle rolls.  It was a cold, frosty morning with a substantial fog delay.

Walking the cross-drive.

Five hair sheep, 2 ewes and 3 lambs were used on a narrow field with an off-course wooded ravine bordering the left side of the fetch.  The drive away was on an obtuse angle away from the post (yes, nerdy geometry usage) and the cross-drive was nearly parallel to the fetch.  The sheep were quite light and very few managed pens.  Rae ran out perfectly until about 2:00 where she hitched up and stuck.  Annoyed, I whistled her on.  She came around to lift them neatly when suddenly a lamb shot off for the ravine.  I bet she knew something was up while she was coming around on her outrun.  Throughout the course of the weekend, this happened to a few other dogs (some caused by the dog, some not), and I feel pretty certain Rae didn't cause this, seeing as she is very settling and kind to her sheep.  Anyway, the runs that I saw where a single ran for the ravine ended in DQs, but darn if Rae didn't outsmart and outmanuever the single to catch it, but she also muscled it back to the group and continued on.  We fought like crazy with the uncooperative lamb who wanted nothing to do with the other 4 and made a heck of a go out of it up through the turn to start the cross-drive.  The lamb saw the barn and took off in the exact opposite direction as the other 4.  Rae caught it and held it, but while fighting the lamb the others drifted so far away that there was no hope for us to put things back together, so I walked.  Many asked me if I was getting a re-run because the lamb was noticeably sick and not acting right; I didn't expect one since we did half the course.  We did get lots of compliments on our work, just not in the form of a score.  Really proud of Rae that run and what we accomplished!!

Rae is ready.

Lamb who kept leaving

For Sunday's run, our sheep were flighty as could be for the first part of the fetch.  Rae actually listened too well and when I flanked her hard to catch them, she ended up almost heading them.  That's what I get for practicing too much on loosening up her flanks on her occasional reluctance to flank on the fetch.  After missing the fetch panels I was so emotionally deflated that my brain pretty much shut down.  She was working really well but I managed to miss both panels at literally the last split second, it probably looked like I *tried* to miss them it was so ridiculous!  One got a little spastic at the Y-chute so we gave up on that and did a half-hearted split to put an end to a disappointing weekend.

Seemed promising

Take two.

Gabe was supposed to run PN, but the class was canceled due to the fog delay.  He wasn't allowed to run Ranch NC, so we headed home. 

The leaves were outstanding in the WV mountains.

Last But Not Least: Lexington SDT

Lexington was the third of the VA fall series, my first time at this trial, and it was very enjoyable.  David and Cheryl's Montadales were quite nice to work and the field certainly has it's extra challenges due to the various horse obstacles strewn about.  Tom Wilson judged, a unique treat for all of us.

When sending your dog, the left outrun allows you to see your dog the whole way out, but the dog loses sight of it's sheep, whereas the right outrun, you lose sight of your dog until almost the lift, but the dog can spot it's sheep well en route.  In that situation, it was so nice to be able to feel confident sending Rae right and knowing that she'd be fine.  There's not a whole lot to say about our run.  It was a little tricky keeping one lamb with the group, she seemed a bit of an independent thinker, but Rae listened really well and we got the group around with good lines and made all of our panels.  It took me a minute to get a good shed set up, but she came through well and we continued on for a clean pen.  Turns out our run was good enough for an 87, which put us in 5th behind three-89s and an 88.  We were awarded the 6th place ribbon and check, but according to the trial host, the results on Sheepdog-L, and the local newsletter, we took 5th.  There was a three-way tie with 87s, so I guess it was a bit unclear how the tie was broken.  Whatever the placement, it was a good run for us, and luck would have it...I have it on video!  I have always been leary of video-taping my runs for fear of jinxing myself, but this time I just bit the bullet and had someone tape for me.  At 10.5 years, Rae isn't getting any younger, and I *really* wanted to have video of us.  So here it is!  (Thanks to Nancy S. for filming)

Our second run was pretty good, too, though I didn't think it felt as nice in the moment.  Nearly identical in score except that we didn't get our pen: I let them circle once and then took my sweet old time getting them in.  We timed out as I was closing the pen door.  We wouldn't have placed after the pen mishap, anyhow, but I still should've been more aware.

Rae keeps the line on the return leg.

Working the split

 Pen

Gabe put in some good work on the exhaust field.  There was a dog taking sheep off the field and then relaying them to us to drive away to put in a holding pen.  He worked a couple hours there over the course of the weekend, some tricky work plus you couldn't whistle or otherwise make much noise.  A good experience, but maybe not so good for his trial runs.  He was way overly excited and couldn't listen, a definite disappointment.  Both his PN runs were retires since he wasn't quite remembering that I was a part of the equation.

Gabe's no dummy: when I told him to "look" he first turned around to spot the sheep in the other field that he'd been working all weekend.  Good thing we've been working on spotting sheep,

I was able to get him going for the *correct* ones.

(All photos courtesy of M. Dobbs)

Round 2: Quiet Acres SDT

Mid-week brought a new trial hosted by Dan and Sylvia at their beautiful Quiet Acres Farm.  It got a little chillier and the rain showed up uninvited, but we (of course) still had a blast!  A nice rolling field with a few blind spots and lovely Katahdins.  The farm was in great shape and the catered handler's dinner was excellent!

Rae ran toward the end of the class and unfortunately drew a mature ewe who did not feel very inclined to participate.  Dog and sheep were out of sight on the fetch longer than expected, so I'm not sure what exactly was being discussed between Rae and that ewe.  She eventually got them up and going again around the post and onto the drive.  We tried hard to convince her to go, but we had some trouble moving her.  The work was extra tricky in that the other ewe and 2 lambs thought they'd like to run off, which worried Rae, so we alternated between pushing on the lagging ewe and racing ahead to catch the others, which of course stopped our progression on moving the lagger along.  We actually had pretty good lines, but ate up so much of our time pushing, then catching, then pushing again.  We got to the shed ring and either got a quick half-hearted shed or timed-out, I forget.  Not that memorable of a run, really.

Next day we ran in the pouring rain.  Had a decent run going until Rae hit the dip in front of the driveaway panel and couldn't hear me.  She didn't know what to do, so kept trying to bring me sheep, then one of my whistles or shouts would get through to her and she'd get them righted, only to lose contact with me and decide to bring them again.  We tried and tried and eventually turned the panel low to get out of that spot.  Good rest of the drive, shed, but timed out as I grabbed the pen rope.  I was really sad to see that she couldn't hear me, but it *was* raining really hard and she *was* in a spot on the field where other younger dogs showed that the hearing was poor.

So rainy...and I didn't have rain pants. 

(Photo by R. French who was toying with a new lens)

I'd been driving back and forth from home to get in a couple days of work in between the trials, and on Rae's day off between QA and Lexington, she developed a small swelling on her left cheek under her eye.  I started her on antibiotics and anti-inflammatories for a suspected tooth root abscess, but she seemed to be feeling OK and was eating fine.  Later her face blew up in a rather impressive way, so I wonder if she actually wasn't feeling herself for her runs.  Though I'm sure she wouldn't have asked to sit them out!

The VA Trifecta: Edgeworth

Mid-October provided a week of trialing in the central VA area with Edgeworth, Quiet Acres, and Lexington SDTs.  I had to run back-and-forth from home to squeeze in a couple days of work, so it was a busy week for me, but so worth it!

The grass at Tommy and Florence Wilson's was pretty darn tall this year, and plenty of seasoned dogs did some odd things as they got disoriented and frequently lost site of their sheep even when hot on their tails.  Rae, who has always gone on a left outrun, showed me that she wanted to go right, and whaddyaknow...I still hadn't learned my lesson.  I made her go left and she proceeded to ignore my redirects and cross-over on her way out.  Yeah, it's a tough outrun over tricky terrain, it's almost 600yds I think, and the grass was taller than she, but still, she's been to the top plenty of times and I was totally surprised that she crossed.  Not listening at all, she even started coming back down the field on her original trajectory as I desperately tried to get her to turn back.  Then she was out of site behind some hills for a ridiculous amount of time, even ignored my recalls...I did think we were going to have to fire up the Mule to go find her.  Thought maybe she'd gone to a neighboring field looking for sheep.  Well, she turned out to be very clever, once she hit the fence she followed it to the top to find her sheep!

We had lost so much time that I tried to just hustle the sheep around the course.  I don't remember much about that trip around, made at least some panels, but only had about 2 minutes as we started the drive, so we just shoved them around and back to the pen where we timed out.

Second go, I gave her the desired right-hand outrun, she needed a get back about 2/3 of the way out as the terrain started to suck her in, and this time she took it perfectly.  A surprise to me since I hardly ever practice outruns with her, she is so natural.  Another suprise, she overflanked at the top, even being sent into the pressure of the set-out, so we had a poor start to the fetch.  Got things settled for a 25 point drive and on to the pen.  The sheep were difficult to pen all weekend and I got myself too excited when the first two went in and prematurely stepped in to put pressure on them...aaaand spooked the third on her way in.  We never did get the pen (or shed).

 "Don't you go wide around that post!"

(M. Dobbs photo)

So a bit of a disappointing weekend, especially since there is a good chance this was Rae's last fall Edgeworth.  Next year she'll be 11.5 and it may be just too big of a course for her.

So Gabe practiced spotting sheep from the sidelines for next year.

Taking it all in

(M. Dobbs)

Pipedream Farm SDT

The innagural Pipdream Farm SDT hosted by Mark and Renee was a huge success and went off without a hitch!  I arrived Friday for some last-minute help (aka socializing), then the Ranch class kicked off the weekend about midday Saturday.  I had considered running Gabe, but decided not to risk any backsliding of our current progress on a potentially tricky field.  Turned out the sheep behaved themselves beautifully all weekend, and became pleasantly difficult to pen by the time Open ran Sunday.

Saturday brought lovely weather (probably since we'd all planned for rain) and was a very fun day of hanging out with my northern friends and scribing a little for Robin.  That evening, two local handlers hosted a phenomenal dinner at their house.  Seriously good food and a good time!

We ran shortly after lunch Sunday.  It had gotten pretty hot and humid by then, and Rae had plenty of time all weekend getting herself worked up.  She knows the last mile of the trip to Renee's and always squeals with excitement once we turn off the highway!  She just couldn't imagine that we had come to the farm Friday and she hadn't gotten to work yet.

Of course she knows the field and the sheep, but something wasn't quite right for her. My group was difficult to set and, though they were fine when I sent her, as she approached the top end the setout had to work hard to hold them. Rae is really sensitive about that and *hates* being in that situation. She slowed up, looked back at me, and finally went around to pick them up, but there was never a smooth transition between setout dog working and Rae working. With the short course (outrun only 150ish?) we never really had the opportunity to get control of them. They ended up trying to turn the post the wrong way, so we had to work at unwinding and getting things going again, and then were still zig-zaggy on the first leg. Made the panels, fair line across the field but missed the cross-drive panel due to my miscalculations. Still kind of wobbly on the last leg and they managed to go around the pen twice. A lot of runs much better than mine ended with sheep refusing to be penned, but finally we got them in and went to shed with 30 seconds left. Rae was out of gas but I managed a good hole for her to come through. After the run she was absolutely exhausted. I can tell that the top end really bothered her mentally because the course was a very short 8 minutes that she should not have had such trouble with physically. So while not a stellar run, we did the best we could.  A long trip for us, but a very fun weekend!

Sylvia at the post with Dexter

Lined-up for the cross-drive panels

Mark taking sheep upfield

Hanging out by the old dairy barns

World Trial Excitement

Last weekend was quite the busy weekend following tweets from the Nationals, but I was keeping a close watch on the World Trial tweets, as well.  I was BEYOND excited for Lyle and Livy's papa Shep who turned quite a few heads on the world scene, advancing all the way to the finals.  Lyle was the only woman handler in both the semis and finals, and she became the first American-born handler to advance to the finals.  I am so very happy for her!

And of course Tommy and Sly did the state of Virginia mighty proud, as well.

We are inspired.

How Sheepdog Trials Relate to Practical Farm Work: Our Internet Debut

Denise put together a very nice educational piece for the National Finals webcast audience: "How Sheepdog Trials Relate to Practical Farmwork."  Working on a very tight deadline, she used a lot of random stock footage that she happened to have...and guess who's in it?!! 

 Rae Rae and I!

We have a scene about penning where I poorly demonstrate how to load sheep.  It was unscripted and spur of the moment (before I even knew of the project, or maybe I'd have put myself together a little better), and so of course I had the two cull-for-behavioral-reasons thrown in there.  They're old and are totally over the dog thing, don't even act like normal sheep anymore, and are now at Denise's getting fat on persimmons and waiting to be processed for dog food.  So yeah, those two rascals are out there mucking things up and making me look stupid.  Oh well!!

My favorite part would be the ewe that falls out of the trailer.  Actually, the whole thing makes me laugh!  I'm not used to seeing myself on video :)

Gabe's father and grandfather show up in some Bluegrass runs, too.

Great job, Denise!

How Sheepdog Trials Relate to Practical Farm Work

Highland Occasional SDT - A Memorable Weekend

This was my first time at Donald McCaig's famous Yucatec Farm in Williamsville, VA.  Tough trial.  Commercial polypays never worked in small groups.  Big field, 500yd outrun, strong draws.  HOT and humid weather.  Not really promising circumstances for me and 10.5 year old Rae. 

Host Donald at the post.

We were ready to run right before lunch and were on deck spotting sheep when we learned that we were bumped to right *after* the lunch break.  Donald said to me something along the lines of "the best time to run is right after lunch."  To which I replied, "I'm gonna hold you to that!"  Then of course there were some jabs about him being a "fiction" writer, etc etc. 

After a looong lunch break which served only for me to get more nervous and the weather to get hotter, we were up.  At that point, only 2 dogs had gotten around the course and had received numbers instead of letters.  K.  I had mentallly gone through the course multiple times in my head, reminding myself of Rae's whistles (I keep getting them mixed up with Gabe's), and attempting to predict sheep draws.  Most ran hard to the barn on the right on the fetch with many dogs failing to cover, but then broke left toward the exhaust on the first drive leg.  They were getting hot and cranky, heavy but not necessarily flocking well.

At the post I could hear Donald explaining things to his spectators, could hear him say something about who I was, and then realized my dog was about to arrive at the top.  Good thing she's a strong outrunner because  a lot of times I sort of zone out while she's on her way.

Not us.  Renee and Bette look upfield.

I whistled her on to pre-emptively cover a sheep break, she flanked off the pressure well to cover, but we still needed to correct the line on the first part of the fetch.  She was listening beautifully and we got them back and through the panels.  On the second part of the fetch we started having 1 and 3 sheep, the single trying to break for the exhaust.  We pressed on around the post and on to the first leg.  I tried hard to keep her on the inside of the drive line and away from the exhaust, but at a key moment I did a great job of giving her Gabe's away flank, which she took as her own comebye flank.  She stopped them from getting to the nearby exhaust fenceline, but we really struggled to get them up and moving again.  Lots of encouragement, flank whistles to relieve pressure, walk ups to apply it, good girl good girl good girl, and after what seemed like an eternity, we got them going again.  Made the drive panels and started the crossdrive a little high.  There was a large brush pile just above the line after the panel, and for a split second, I lost Rae behind the brush.  I whistled her blindly and my good girl reappeared and brought them back online.  Good flow across the field and made the cross drive panels.  Into the shed ring where we got our split without much trouble.  After regathering, I looked at my watch to see that I had plenty of my 15 minutes left for the pen and single, so I lied her down on the pressure to the exhaust and let her and the sheep catch their breath.  We got them to the pen smoothly and carefully put them in.  Back to the shed ring, lied her down again for a moment to rest, and then called her in for a single.  Tadaa!!  Not only a completed run, but good enough for first place and our first Open win!  Only 6 scores out of 30 some dogs...and we won?!!

Photo by P Kallen.

GO RAE RAE!

"I did go!"

The blue ribbon was really just icing on the cake, I was already so unbelievably proud of us!  But boy did it feel good :)

That evening, Donald provided a phenomenal handler's dinner with the best ribs and strawberry rhubarb pie that I've ever had, as well as some delightful live music from a local band.

A couple of the band members.

Our run Sunday was equally as spectacular, at least on Rae's part, though we didn't score nearly as well.  We had a set of 2 and 2 sheep, each group determined to do it's own thing.  I don't remember details of the run as I've never had to work so hard to keep sheep together, keep them moving, and get around the course.  Part of me wanted to sit back to see how Rae handled the situation, but I could see she was looking to me for input.  A very, very good experience for the two of us and darn if we didn't get around the course again.  I think we missed the fetch panels, made the driveaway, then the sheep got to running across the crossdrive for the exhaust.  Rae stopped them just in time to make an attempt at the panel, which we got 2 through, I think.  Had to work like crazy to get them to the ring, work for the split, work for the pen, and then I started running out of dog.  I tried to call her through on some poorly setup sheds and the sheep ended up folding around me.  So instead of saving her work, I created more :(  The sheep got out of the ring and headed for the exhaust, and with 9 seconds left Rae caught them and started bringing them back.  I went for a hail mary and called her through...she had come in and was at my feet when time was called.  Didn't count as she had not quite gotten control of the single.  We ended up just out of the placings in 10th and I was so, SO proud of her efforts!

Starting the drive.

We were a true team that weekend and it was such a special feeling.  She filled in my holes and I filled in hers.  I never would've thought that we could pull off that kind of work, but we did it!  I'd been focused lately on working her on very heavy sheep and on the ram, and while I know that it often makes her uncomfortable, she has hung in there and tried her absolute hardest for me.  What a girl.  It is nice to think that our work paid off, but who knows, maybe she was just feeling especially full of herself that weekend?!  Mark and Renee were there, so surely there were some good vibes in the air!

Working the pen.  Photo by M. Billadeau.

Gabe got his turn on Monday in the PN.  It was a tough setup for the baby dogs.  Sheep set about 300?yds on a flat field.  I really thought he spotted his sheep being set, and he ran out with his normal extreme enthusiasm, but came up short.  I was able to get him down but he was too wound up to take his redirects.  Eventually he crossed and I fiddled with getting him to look upfield, but that is beyond what we're capable of right now, so I walked.  Donald let us go get our sheep after retiring, and after a bonehead lift, he got himself under control and brought them so smartly.  They were not easy sheep and he handled them very nicely.  We exhausted them as well as the next set of sheep and I was pleased with how he kept his head.  At the end of the novice trial, Donald had us turn out the entire group that was down in the exhaust.  About 80 head of angry ewes were crammed into a wooded and swampy area, crammed so tightly in brush so thick that I literally had no room for Gabe to get in behind them.  I walked him into the ewes, a bunch stomped and stared at him, and he just walked steady, steady, and got the front ones turned and trickling out of the woods.  When enough room was freed up I was able to send him in and he scooped them right out.  We drove them through the muck and out into the trial field.  I was very pleased with his work, flanking freely, listening, pushing (well, no suprise there).  So we ended on a good note for the Gaby Baby!

 No photos of Gabe, so here's one of Livy doing her own Livy-puppy thing.

So that was our special weekend.  Rae and I have come a long, long way since first getting together 2 years ago, and she continues to teach me something everytime we are out there.  I am so fortunate to have her and love her dearly.

An appropriate present I got for myself at the trial. 

Good reading material in the back of the Suburban during the storms.

Fall Trial Season

Not much time for blogging lately.  Seeing as we're off to the first trial in ages tomorrow, I thought I'd do a quick post.

Two weekends ago I went back for another Sister Working Weekend.  Well, all the dogs got a lot of good time in amongst helping my friends get ready for the trial.  Rae got to practice big blind outruns...pretty cool when the person setting sheep radios to you about where your dog is on her outrun and fetch.  I also got to try an international shed where Rae and I worked to get out a handful of woolies from a flock of nearly 100 katahdins.  Both new experiences for me, and it's so nice having a good dog who will help you through new things.

Gabe had some up and down moments, which pretty much sums up both of the youngsters these days.  One week he or Livy will look spectacular, the next they're back to doing naughty baby dog shenanigans.  I was happy to get the chance to work Gabe on the whole flock as he and I have never worked that many before.  As always...wish I had more space, more sheep, and more time.  Though I was a little disappointed with how Gabe's steering seemed to have fallen apart, he did show some mental maturity in situations that otherwise would've caused a mental (ahem, tooth) explosion in the not-so-distant past. 

Gabe at home, late-July

Livy gave a pretty accurate demonstration of where she is right now: outruns tight and casts at the last minute, occasionally dives in for no perceivable reason on the fetch (hard to stop it when you don't see it coming), and slices her flanks terribly at hand, particularly that away flank.  But likes driving!  I've been struggling as she wants to fight me and I have not been able to get her to bend to my pressure.  When I am less a part of the picture due to distance and she is in a good place mentally, she shows some very natural and pretty moves out in the field.  Something has just not been jiving between the two of us. 

Livy at home

Livy driving

I did get a new exercise to try with regard to her slicey flanks.  Instead of trying to push her out and picking a fight with her, I lie her down and body block her to keep her from going around her sheep.  We slowly work our way back off the sheep to a more appropriate position and I let her go around.  Seems to keep me calm, keep her calm, and keep her from ramping up so much momentum and mental excitement due to her speed and proximity to the sheep.  She's a fast little bugger, even faster than Ella at a dead sprint. 

Anyway, we've been at this exercise for a few works, we'll see how it goes.  So far I am liking it.

Gabe, the dog who we thought had no eye, now has too much eye on the drive.  He takes any flank as "walk up" and is particularly slicey on the away side.  He gets in this mental zone where he just...keeps...walking...sheep.  He loves to drive and has an awesome ability to settle sheep with his eye while driving.  I've seen him catch running sheep by doing nothing more than continuing to walk on.  Good thing he can hold a line and is nice and steady, but seriously Gabe, I do need some steering on ya! 

Gabe driving

He is also having trouble with off-balance flanks.  I really thought he was further along than that, but it is just sooooo darn hard for him to do something different than what feels right to him.  He is quite natural and not nearly as flexible mentally as Livy is.  Liv is so biddable (other than her grippage issues, she can't help herself!) that I can place her anywhere.  I think Gabe will be this way in the future, he has been moreso that way in the past, we are just having a little hiccup.  He has gained a lot of confidence and matured in other ways that I suppose it is not surprising that he is getting a little opinionated.

What can I say about Rae?  It is so comfortable and smooth to work with her and I really love our partnership.  I can trust her and find myself still choosing to use her when I'm in a hurry or doing something that may be a little hairy.  Like after-dark chores: no way I could trust the youngsters without seeing them!

Here Rae kindly pushes sheep out for Gabe and Livy.

Waiting their turn.

So with that update, we are off to Donald's Highland Occasional Trial tomorrow.  I've never been there but hear it is a great time.

Sister Working Day

Last week I took a day trip up to MD for a little sister reunion.  I've seen plenty of her two sisters Tally and Eve over the last year, but have only kept in touch via email with sister Nym in OH.  Her owner wanted to have a get-together one time this summer, and even though it turned out to be a ridiculously HOT day that we chose, we all had a fantastic time visiting and working dogs!

I got up at 4am to arrive in time to get a little work in with Gabe and Rae before it got too terribly hot.  Gabe did a very nice job and I was so pleased with him.  He has really matured since the last time I had him working up there (late this spring?).  Rae was her normal perfect self.  She ended up getting a lot of work in throughout the day as we held for the various puppies.  It was so unbelievably hot that we had to switch dogs out VERY frequently.

Ok, onto the (three-out-of-four) sisters.  It was so interesting to see their similarities and differences both on and off of sheep.

Nym was very level-headed, a serious worker with a great attitude.  She was all business and was quite nice to her sheep.

Nym on an outrun, mama Bette in the background.

That'll do, Nym.

Nym

Eve did a fine job, as well.  Alternated between being very thoughtful and calculating...to getting a little rodeo!

Eve feeling her sheep.

Eve checking in.

Eve

Tally did great, too.  A very natural worker, pretty steady with an occasional wild hair.

Tally fetching.

 

Tally pushing.

Tally

These three were all doing great outwork and just getting started on their driving.

Livy seems to have the most fire in her belly (and wool in her teeth).  Maybe it just feels that way since I'm the one trying to work her and not the spectator!  She is a flashy, edgy worker, often moving faster than her brain allows.  Her outrun is in there, I know it is, but when she's wound up, she races out to her sheep and blows into them at the top.  Yep, that's just what she did.  Her driving is much better than her outwork at this point, which was pretty much the opposite of her sisters.  I'm going to write more on her in another post.  This trip was a nice reminder of our progress, even though it feels slow at times, because last time we were there she hadn't even taken her first step driving.  Now it is her strength.

All of them look to have what it takes to train up well.  They have the best personalities and it is pretty obvious they're sisters!

I was due to go to a trial in OH last weekend where I would've seen brother Deuce and sister Floss in action, but as it turned out, the trial was canceled due to the heat.  Bummer, I was really looking forward to seeing those two, as well.

Visitors

Over the weekend of the 4th, my friends from PA came down for a visit.  Well, a visit and a Bea puppy:

Bea is a half-sister to my Livy by way of the sire, and if I didn't already have two promising youngsters, I'd have snatched one of these pups up in a heartbeat.  The mother is one of my personal favorites as both a farm and trial dog.

We went sight-seeing, we worked dogs, we played with the puppy...

Rae says, if I ignore the puppy it will go away, right?

We went to a bluegrass concert, in honor of the local culture.

Outdoor stage at the Blue Ridge Music Center.  Loved the flat-footing!

Oh, and we got chickens! 

I love them, especially the Angry Roo!

One of the places we worked dogs was an airport-turned-hayfield.  I've recently gotten the go-ahead to haul sheep out there, and this was the maiden voyage. 

Big field.  This is one of two runways.

We worked double lifts for the seasoned dogs and stretching outruns for the youngsters.

 Rae holding a few in our corner.  We had the second packet.

May takes charge of her second group.

 Moss brings his second group home to join the first.

Annie on her second lift.

Brook starting her second fetch.

Jed gets them going after a big outrun.

Rae and Gabe did a lot of the dirty work, and Livy had a pretty good session out in the big field, too.  It was a successful and FUN trip on all accounts, but we were all worn out after a busy weekend.  So great to see my original dog friends :)