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 :)

Lesson Day

Last week I had my first Super Duper Big Hat lessons with none other than Alasdair.  I am very fortunate to work closely with plenty of immensely knowledgeable and successful handlers, but this was the first time I've gone to a lesson held in conjunction with a professional clinic.  There are others who must have much more time and money to invest than I, so this being my first time and possible only time for the year, I was pretty excited.

Alasdair knows of me through a close mutual friend, and we've chit-chatted a time or two, but I've never worked dogs in front of him.  I was kinda nervous, how dumb!  Anyway, Gabe was first up, and I went over my brief intro of what I wanted to work on with him: not feeling his sheep at the top end, tension after the lift, and not feeling his sheep on the fetch.  I sent him on a PN-ish sized outrun to pickup off his "other mother" and his real canine mother...and he was lovely.  Downed, took his flanks, walked on straight without flip-flopping, just a nice fetch.  We did a little driveaway and then had a timeout to talk.  Alasdair was quick to note that Gabe needs to take a "steady."  Ok, we sent him again, another textbook outrun and lift, and he was taking all of my down whistles (to my surprise).  We worked on him pacing himself and walking sheep down the fetch instead of bullying them on.  This was hard for Gabe, but after a few more fetches he was starting to get it.  At first, not knowing what "steady" meant, he actually *sped up* when I talked to him.  Alasdair thought he was just responding to my voice, my saying anything at all to him.  But he was getting it, and we will continue to work it at home. 

The other thing Alasdair noticed on Gabe was that he had a poor away flank.  This was actually rather shocking to me, as I'd not picked up on that before.  It is not that he slices it, just that it is uncomfortable to him and puts him in a bad place mentally.  So we worked some exercises to make him more comfortable.  Gabe can be super nice and fluid, but when he blows up, teeth come out, so we need to get that flank cleaned up now.  Additionally, his short flanks need work, as his fast-flanking style leads to big, sweeping flanks.  As Alasdair said, "Big flanks save you from trouble, but small flanks win trials."

Livy also had a turn, and honestly I was fairly worried about her being a wild child. 

Demonstrating a zoom-flank at home.

Prior to the clinic, the biggest thing I worked on with my dogs is "you better lie your butts down when I tell you to!"  I don't need to spend my lesson time and money on obedience issues, so I made sure those stinkers would listen :P

Well, again with the preamble: her outrun is not good, she is tight and slices because my sheep at home run and I have no one to hold...but in cases where sheep are standing still or being set, she does cast pretty well.  I also cautioned him that her away flank was going to be worse than Gabe's, seeing as for the last several months we've been in a funk where she dives and bites on almost every away flank at hand (it is better at a distance, but still not good).  Aaaand again, the squirt goes out to get her sheep very nicely, downs every time I ask her, never slices or grips, and takes off driving.  How about that.  She was a little keyed up, yes, and did like to hustle the light sheep, but it was a pretty good representation of what we normally see out of her (minus the outruns and away flanks).  He said at this point, she is like a brand new 1 ton truck with all the bells and whistles...but lacks steering!  It's true, when put in situations that tested her knowledge of verbal flank commands, she always responded with what made sense to her based on the context of me and the sheep.  So we worked some exercises to get her *thinking* instead of just reacting.  A bit mechanical, but I know it is absolutely needed to solidify her flanks.  He also showed me how he teaches driving, and I will be working on that in conjunction with just letting her get behind them and go.

It was a very productive morning for me and my dogs and we have lots to think about and practice.  Both of them made liars out of me, how nice, but maybe it means that the areas we've been focusing on for the last 2 months are improving.  Either that, or the magic of Alasdair's presence was in effect.

Not Going

To the trial.  It's not one that I'm overly disappointed in missing, but still, it would have been another chance to run my dogs.  I am staying home to work Saturday so that I can have 2 days off next week.  I have big plans:  lessons with Alasdair on Wednesday and company on Thursday.  My original dog friends are coming from PA and it will be the first time they've seen the farm.  I am very much looking forward to their visit!

Anyway, I hope to get some things done around the farm this weekend, get the dogs worked a few times, and catch up on some R and R.  I have been putting in so much time at work that a lot of things have been neglected as of lately. 

Random photo from awhile ago.  My sheep have admirers.

NC State SDT

We found ourselves back at Dr. Ben's for Memorial Day weekend and the NC State trial.  Hot and humid as always.  Same course with tricky terrain due to the terraced field.  Seemed that Rae developed a raging UTI that I only noticed as we were waiting to go on the field. That morning someone had peed in my bedroom, and she was fussing in her crate when we were about 15min away from the trial, but I didn't realize what the problem was til later. She wouldn't even look at sheep before our run, she was squatting and obsessively eating grass while we were on deck.

She ran out (right, as always) nicely, and everything went very well from there. She really likes those sheep and they feel comfortable with her behind them.  Good lines, made the first 2 panels, and just missed the crossdrive panel at the last second due to my mis-judgement.  I (and others) thought I was straight on the line. One of those DANGIT at the last minute as you see sheep go just beside the panel.  On to the shed ring, got our split, had a ewe who didn't want to cooperate at the pen. I tried to ease them in and twice we had 3 out of 4 all the way in, the last time with the lag ewe standing in the mouth, but we timed out. 71 without a pen, not far out of the placings had we gotten it.

She peed *very* bloody urine coming off the field and I was worried about her. She didn't appear to be feeling that well when I saw her in the shed ring, and she was running out of gas at the pen, too, but once I got some anti-inflammatories and antibiotics in her, and let her nap in the AC in the hotel room, she was back to normal bouncing around the campers trying to steal both dog and people food.

Sunday I planned on retiring. It was unbelievably hot and humid (still about 90 at 7pm when I left the field), we ran at about 4pm when it was brutal. I sent her left hoping she'd save some energy not having to climb those terraces...and the stinker ran the fenceline. I guess it was fine, though, as she got 0 off her OR and lift. Boy did she work smoothly for me. We only lost 8 around the course and through the split. Her split was quite impressive, especially for a hot, tired dog. One sheep tried to break back to the others, but with a quick extra flank command from me she whipped around like a cutting horse and got right in it's face to turn it back! Again we had a ewe who wouldn't pen, and again we had 3/4 sheep penned twice. That last bugger wasn't going to pen no matter what I or Rae did. She was trial-wise and knew that if Rae stayed on the pressure to the exhaust, she could bolt past me even though I was stretched to the end of the rope with my stick out and working her from my side. So we timed out at the pen and didn't get that or the single.  We ended up with an 82 without a pen or single, which would've put us as high as 4th had we gotten at least some of those points.

I don't care, I am so incredibly happy with our performance!! She was great! I don't think we've ever had 2 good runs in the same weekend, so that makes these runs extra special!  The "I'm not going in the pen, not no way, not no how" ewes pop up rather frequently at Dr. Ben's...last year I was fortunate to not draw any in 4 runs.  Not so, this year.  But that really doesn't disappoint me.  We didn't place, but I am so incredibly proud of our work.  AND in the heat, AND when she was sick.

I had my video camera along and really wanted to have someone video, but I felt like it would jinx my runs! Now I'm wishing I would have those runs on video, but oh well.

Gosh I love this dog.  I bought her an ice cream after her run Sunday to help her cool down. Some of the good ol' boys tease me about being a softy with my dogs.  It is true :)  At least they didn't see me giving Rae her ice cream, I'm sure I wouldn't have heard the end of it.

Gabriel...well.  The PN course was a weird setup.  The entire course was in the dead zone on the field, so hearing was certainly questionable.  There were 2 setout people (no dogs were used), 2 vehicles parked right behind where the sheep were set, and a busy road just behind the top end.  Gabe ran out beautifully, came on like a freight train, ignored lie down whistles and shouts...and gripped off.  After he'd singled the one off to bite, he then proceeded to bring it down the field to me, proud as can be.  I suppose he's had a little too much practice on singles at home.  Seriously, I've been working him only on a single for almost 2 weeks.  Oops.

He definitely is in an outrun-lift-grip funk.  We need to break that.  I have gotten some good advice on how to handle him so that doesn't happen, but I'd still like to experiment with ways to address the root of the problem as opposed to handle around it.

We did have a long time off til the next trial, but I may squeeze in the VBCA trial at the end of June.  I am having such fun running Rae (who isn't getting any younger), and a small field would be a good opportunity to keep my thumb on Gabe.

Belle Grove SDT

A few weekends ago we attended a brand new trial that was held on the Belle Grove Plantation in Middletown, VA.  This was the same site as the National Finals, but the fields were different than the Finals' field.  When the trial outgrew it's capacity, hosts Dave Clark and Cheryl Branibar went the extra mile (or 500 miles!) to run 2 fields at once with 3 days of Open competition.  The Open sheep were their flock of impressive Montadales and the young dog sheep were Barbara Ray's hair crosses.  Rae and I had the privilege of drawing up first on the Open field on Friday.  Hmm.  New field, sheep like I've never worked a dog on before, and being out of the trial scene since last November?  The outrun was difficult with rolling to hilly terrain, and the dog lost sight of it's sheep on several occasions for long periods.  As the first go played out, a number didn't find their sheep or had much difficulty getting to the top.  So bringing them down the field was no small victory for us, though it didn't seem that great at the time!  The fetch had a massive portion that was out of sight, and the panels were positioned directly on the crest of the hill giving you almost no chance to correct your line.  Rae got into a dead zone, I whistled, I yelled, we were way offline but she got them down and around the post.  Hit another dead zone at the driveaway panel and I retired.  I didn't think that she was not listening, but rather not hearing.  Plenty of dogs ended up having trouble at that spot, so in hindsight maybe I should've kept at it longer.

Spotting sheep with Rae (no that's not a hat)

Little Rae, big sheep

That afternoon I went over to the Novice field to run Gabe for the first time.  The two of us have had some issues getting re-acquainted, and I wasn't really sure whether I'd run him or not.  I decided to just go for it.  He ran out gorgeously (as expected), was a little rough at the top and likely grabbed a hock after the lift, then did his flip-flopping behind sheep at breakneck speed down the fetch.  Got the drive set up and he was calm, controlled, and listening great.  The sheep took off on a little trot near the panel and he felt he needed to catch them, so he headed them and brought them back to me.  I didn't fight him for that, it was just too much for his excitement level at the time.  Since he was being so pushy during his run, the sheep were not very settled and we ringed the pen.  He was still getting himself hyped up so once we regained control I called it quits.  Not a bad first run for us.

First trip to the post (gosh he's big)

First trip to the pen

Saturday I was off all day, and was fortunate enough to go to a nearby farm to get a lesson in with Lyle.  It was mostly for Livy, but Gabe had a quick turn so I could get her opinion on his frantic flip-flopping and lack of feel on the fetch.

Sunday we ran a second PN class and Gabe was a very good boy!  He ran out well again, his lack of experience with a setout showed and he ended up ringing the sheep once, then brought them down again flip-flopping-away, turned the post, nice and steady on his drive though I sacrificed the panel in order to maintain a good flow, excellent turn to set up the  newly-added cross drive (a pull-through of the fetch panels) but was one away flank short of making those.  Since the line was not straight across the field, when he entered fetch mode, I didn't think there was much chance on him taking that flank and so didn't fight him for it.  He remembered his brain as they approached me and he had a very pretty pen!  We ended up placing 3rd and I was very pleased with him!  Granted, a number of people used the class as a training run, but I was so happy that we got around and happy with his work.

Rae's second run was toward the end of the trial and I was absolutely exhausted.  I have a hard time focusing when I'm tired and I worried poor timing or wrong flanks would be the result.  She ran out nicely, a little tighter than the first time out but perhaps she was conserving energy on that difficult outrun.  I was proactive about flanking her immediately after the lift to guard against a strong draw that was showing up during a number of runs.  She entered the Bermuda Triangle on a fairly decent line and looked to be holding her side well.  I maintained contact with her by periodically calling her name; some dogs took so much as 25-30 seconds before reappearing.  As I waited and waited, starting to panic, sheep heads popped up just to the right of the panel.  So close!  Rae was very stressed on the second part of the fetch.  The sheep were starting to intimidate her, being slow and stopping to challenge her.  I even saw her sniff the ground, which is something I've NEVER seen her do EVER.  She hung in there, walked into them several times and got them down and around the post.  The first drive leg was parallel to the exhaust, and Rae summoned up all her courage to keep them from making a break for it.  Nice line to the panel and through.  Went a little deep behind the panel but got them back for a nice cross drive line that was managed with a million "walk up, gooood giiirrrllll" cheers from me.  Just missed the second panel due to some poor hearing (with the reversed course, it was the same area we had trouble the first run).  Came to the shed ring and needed to work some to settle the sheep and get it set up.  The sheep left the ring for the exhaust and Rae again brought them back.  I could see I was really running out of dog both physically and mentally.  I ended up calling her in to the lead ewe.  When regathering she AGAIN had to fight them from the exhaust draw.  With 1:21 left I decided to let her lie down and hold them in place for a few seconds.  We had a neat, slow line coming to the pen, as I could see the sheep getting a little antsy, and just as I had all 3 literally halfway in the pen, I heard my watch go off.  That last 1:21 went so much faster than I'd planned, arrggh!

We got a 67 without a pen; an 80 placed.  I have never been so proud of us.  Score-wise we have had considerably better runs, but the work that we accomplished as a team was something special.  Rae reached down deep within herself while she was so far out of her comfort zone and gave me her absolute all.  It was a very memorable experience and a great feeling.  Yeah Rae!



Photos by C. Koval

Checking In

Now that Spring is here I'm finding more time for the farm and less time for the computer!  My place isn't big, but having a more-than-full-time job makes for never enough hours in the day to get stuff done.  Plus, I have to do everything by hand...seeding fields, spreading fertilizer, mucking the barn, hauling hay and water...no big equipment here.  When Dad visits he is a tremendous help, but there is always a project or two we just can't quite keep up with.

I got Gabe back a few weeks ago and he is looking great.  He's essentially trained minus a shed, just needs mileage and to firm up his whistles.  His driving has really blossomed and he transforms into his mother when he gets behind his sheep: point him in the right direction and keep in touch with some steady whistles.  He is smooth, confident, and relaxed when driving, which is in 100% contrast to his fetching where he is excited, excited, excited!  Gabe's outrun came built-in with his breeding, he knows how to properly lift and pace, but his enthusiasm makes for a bullish lift and mindless flip-flopping behind sheep to bring them at breakneck speed.  So my goal is to make him feel his sheep while fetching like he does while driving.  I'd rather he did this then to always down him at the top and run him stop and go all the time.  I have many excercises I'm using to improve this and I can see that he *can* do it, so I'm not too concerned.  We'll just have to work on it.

He'd rather look at sheep than the camera.

When Livy first came back, I was working her twice daily as suggested by her trainer.  She is so incredibly keen to sheep that we thought that the work would settle her.  Well, I'm no Lyle, and I think I had a bad combination of bad sheep on bad terrain with bad pressure.  It became too much for her and she morphed into Jaws.  I was really upset and concerned about her, but when I took her to two different friends' places she made a liar out of me and looked fine!  So at home I took a week of teaching her to be a farm dog.  She needed to learn that just because we are out with sheep does not mean that she gets to work them.  The two of us hung out while they ate so she learned to relax around sheep that were also relaxed.  One sunny afternoon I took a blanket out and had a nap in the sun with her tethered to me.  I need to keep up with this, but I did see a difference in her after doing this.

Two weekends ago I took her back up to her breeder's for a puppy working weekend with her sisters.  Working their whole flock of very heavy ewes and lambs (80ish in number?) got her thinking.  Trimming them down to a more workable 20ish produced some nice work out of her where she was thinking on her way out and lifting nicely.  When she gets behind her sheep she is quite nice, feeling them, coming on directly, covering pretty well.  I am always riding the brakes with her but I am happy to see that.

Back home, Dad and I made some improvements to the back field so that it can be her main training field for now.  Where there were stones in front of the barn, we put down wood chips that are much easier on dog and sheep feet.  We also put up a temporary fenceline so that the sheep can not escape behind the barn or the burn pile while she's working.  The field has turned out to be a big success and I'm working her there almost daily.

Rae had a scary spell where she suffered a bad corneal ulcer.  It was almost a centimeter in length and I suspect that something got kicked up into her eye while she was working in the barn.  Or maybe Livy smacked her with one of the big sticks she likes to carry around while we're out walking the fields!  I had her on topical pain meds, antibiotics, and serum in hopes of healing it in time for the first trial of the season.  Serum (her own) is a common horse therapeutic in corneal ulcers because there are many healing factors that prevent further damage to the eye, so I figured why not pull out all the stops and try everything?!  Her injury happened 2 weeks before the trial, and for awhile I wasn't sure that I'd be able to run her.  She wasn't even allowed out for exercise for fear that something would poke her in the eye.  I re-stained her eye a few days before the trial and saw that the ulcer had healed, so got her out for one brief work before leaving.

I'm down to a more manageable number of sheep these days.  I sent a group to New Holland  before Easter and they did well for me.  The last group has just been weaned, so I think the endless lambing season is now over!  The grass is coming on thanks to the rain and sun we've been having.  Last night I did have to cover the vegetable garden as it was unseasonably cold.  Hopefully that was the last of the frost.

Oh, how could I forget that Rae celebrated her 10th birthday!

"Show me the cake!"

Back

Where did I go?  For awhile, precisely nowhere.  Being stuck in bed with the flu for a week is not fun and I do not recommend it.  Yes, I did get my flu shot in early winter, but apparently it was not protective.  So, for 4 days straight I didn't leave bed except to care for the dogs and sheep.

Nurse Merlefriend is bored.

That weekend, I had to drive to Ohio to pick up Livy.  The two of us continued on to Knoxville, where I spent the week at the UT Vet School attending 50 hours of continuing education.  I am in the process of becoming certified in canine rehabilitation (the name "physical therapist" is owned by the human PTs in some states, therefore the all-encompassing politcally-correct phrase would be canine rehabilitation therapist).  Very cool program, I'll have to highlight that in another post.

Just a taste.

And now I'm back, and Livy is back, but several farm members are away.  Here was the first to go:

Ella's buddy

This little Aussie mix pup was running from the cops when one of the vets picked him up as she was returning from a farm call.  No one claimed the little delinquent, so we vetted him and I held onto him for a while before passing him on to rescue.  The great folks at Blue Ridge Border Collie Rescue (hooray for Sylvia!) had a super home lined up for him before he even made the trip up I-81!

In an attempt to downsize ruminant mouths (I'm seriously running a dirt farm here), I sent a group of sheep back to my friend who had needed to overwinter them here.

Then, I sent the bottle babies to their new home with another friend.

And Gabe is also away, but just temporarily!  His "other mother" took him for a little training while I was sick and away at CE.  Sounds like he's doing well, and I'm excited to get him back as soon as I can get down there.