Working Pia

Pia had a pretty big weekend last weekend, and I was hoping I'd have a chance to sit down and get it written out. My thanks to http://www.wooddogcrate.com for making this post possible.

Pia - 17 months

While farm-sitting for Julie last weekend I went over to Robin's to walk dogs and work Pia. One of the road-blocks I've had is that Pia needs a smaller space still, and she needs some fairly quiet and forgiving sheep. I've worked her very little, and she's still rocking a bit of the yeehaw. So, I loaded up some big woolies into Robin's round pen, and set about the business of trying to get Pia's attention.

We did three or four short sessions spaced out over several hours. The sheep were being fair, but she wasn't really learning from them, and didn't seem remotely concerned about fixing her messes. She was basically going back and forth between orbiting at 100 mph and then diving in for a little grab. Corrections weren't helpful, though speaking to her quietly seemed to help some. On one level she was trying to figure out what I wanted, but she just couldn't seem to get to that place.

I realized quickly as the sheep kept going from corner to corner that this situation was not a good one. Things were deteriorating.  I was getting frustrated.  Pia was getting frustrated. The sheep were not happy. I was not happy. I tried bringing in Linc, and I also tried tying him in one of the corners. It didn't seem to change the situation much.

Finally after a nice walk I decided to take the dogs back to Julie's and think about it for a while and come up with a new plan. I KNEW that if I could get into the sheep I could help her. I just had to figure out how to do that.  I hatched a new plan, and the new plan looked nothing like the old plan.

Nick

I took Nick with me, and took Pia into the smallest of Julie's pastures with her lambs that have been worked a decent bit. I'd say the space was roughly 3 to 4 times bigger than the round pen.  Maybe more. There were a few moments of yeehaw.  However, because Nick was there I was finally able to get into the sheep, and able to gently influence Pia at her problem spots - 10:00 and 2:00 quite specifically.  I tried to be as in the moment as possible and see her thinking about a dive so that I could put myself in the right place and speak to her.

I don't even know where Nick was, but suddenly everything came together.  Pia, for the first time, settled in behind the sheep and started walking them up.  She went to balance (first time) and started wearing the sheep to me.  She tucked in a few of the edges.

I almost cried right there in the field.  Ok, maybe I did a little. I think that Pia and I (because of Nick) were both able to get where we needed to be. In that moment the picture made sense to Pia.  From there I was able to lie Nick down, and Pia worked by herself.  It was good.  Really good. 

I love that moment. That first time when a dog actually settles in behind the sheep.  Poetry in motion.

Then because I love this photo, here is Linc:

Sheep In Car

I thought today would be a good day for a Nick and sheep post.  My thanks to www.dogbarkcollar.com for making this possible. 

This morning I loaded up a couple of dogs and headed down the road to pick up some sheep to take to the processor. No trailer? No truck? No problem! Why not just load them into your minivan?

Famous last words, spoken by me...

"Oh, don't worry.  We'll just pop em right on up in there. I don't think we'll even need to touch them."

Hah. Hahahahaha.

Most of the time sheep I've loaded up into trailers seem to prefer to just hop in (as opposed to using a ramp). Well, let me just enlighten you, world. They don't prefer to hop right up into minivans. Minivans with Ex-Pens are instruments of sheepy death.Clearly.

There was screeching halting at the hatch. There was much shoving and cajoling. I even gave them a bucket of corn in the pen. Corn was not the secret weapon I'd expected.

So I had Nick hold the sheep while I (one by one) with the help of the friend who owns the sheep, hoisted them up in there like sacks of very heavy potatoes. I guess the best way to describe it would be one foot at a time. They weren't terribly inclined to help, but we worked it out. The very nice newspaper and shavings bedding got all  mushed around, but it actually wound up serving it's purpose well (see photo).

That photo, by the way, was what I could see in my rear view mirror. Sheep staring at me through the holes in the crate. That particular wether was the sniffiest thing.

Go figure that once we got down to the processor they were not having ANY of the whole getting out of the van thing. Oh but no. "No, thank you," said the sheep. The little unloader dude, who incidentally weighed less than the sheep,  hopped up in there to shove them out. Then he and I and Nick pushed them along the walk of doom, up the ramp, and into their holding cell.

They were Not. Impressed. They did NOT want to go up that ramp.

Nick on the other hand had a ball. He got to do some work on a single - as once I had two in there, the single tried to break and run away. We cured him of that notion, but it took some time and some really good work from my dog and I. It didn't take all that long to get the sheep loaded, or unloaded once we were there. But it certainly wasn't the idyllic lovely pop em in pop em out sort of walk through the flowery meadow that I'd pictured in my mind.

When I got to the processor and starting unloading, this (really hot) guy pulled up behind me to unload two steers.  He got out and came over to see my set up.  With big eyes he looked at me and said, "How did you get them IN there?"  Not missing a beat I answered, "Oh, my dog brought them up and popped them right up in there."

What can I say.  He was cute and I saw no need to mention belly-flopping on the back of a sheep hanging off of the back of my minivan. By that point my cool hairdo had flopped like a wilty flower, and I am pretty sure I was covered in all kinds of things. I had to save SOME face.

I've had two showers today. My hands still smell like sheep.  I am happy.

Nick is happy (photo by Dan King).

Linc is less happy since I didn't get him out, but he'll get his chance over the weekend (photo by Robin French). 

Revelation

Yesterday I went over to a friend's place to work dogs, spend some time, and play with my new puppy. Yep, you heard it, new puppy. Except... she won't be coming home for a few weeks yet. All of the puppies are freaking adorable... and at this point it really doesn't matter so much which one, because I love them all.

At any rate, on to revelations. I was out there working Linc on the whole flock. I'd had this little idea that we'd go out, work for about five easy minutes, switch dogs, repeat, and then be done with the dog working portion of the show. Unfortunately Linc needed something else.

He started blowing off my lie downs. Started getting a little tense. Normally this is where I get frustrated. Ok, mad. Add in PMS and it's not always the prettiest picture ever. But instead of getting mad I started thinking. Why is he refusing to lie down? Is he just being a jerk? Wait a minute! The sheep are getting unsettled. They're starting to run. Why are they starting to run? Because he's cranking in on the backside of his flanks. He's getting tighter in general, but he's also giving them a fair nudge between 10 and 11 o'clock. Duh, Laura.


So I went to my sheep, and quietly started to remind him to stay out on his flanks.

Lo' and behold, he started taking my lie downs again, even from a distance. He started taking appropriate flanks, and the sheep settled back down.

Score one for me for thinking like someone who occasionally actually manages to train her own dogs!



So we went back to the barn to cool off, and the sheep headed up the field to hang in the woods. After cooling down some, we thought it might be a good idea to see how he might do going out to pick them up. We estimated they were about 200 yards out. He's not gone out much further than that, and certainly not to pick up the sheep in the woods.

I sent him, and he pulled up about 50 yards later because he didn't see them. But as he was sort of sweeping he saw them. In subsequent attempts he was DETERMINED to cross over. He was right - the pressure was to the right, but because of the setup of the field and fence there wasn't sufficient room for him to go right without upsetting the sheep.

I finally let him cross over just to get out there, but in the next attempts he STILL was just bound and determined to cross. Nothing was working. He would either go out and forget what he was doing, or try to cross.

OK, FINE, I thought. I walked him up there until we were about, I dunno, 50 yards out, and sent him. Beautiful. Insert huge sigh here.

After another break for cooling down, I went back out to send him again. He went out about 50 yards, and again pulled up like he didn't know where he was going. I recalled him, and sling-shotted him. Darned if he didn't finally just run out. Not only did he run out, but he ran out BEAUTIFULLY, and with authority. Nice fetch, bu the failed to cover half of the flock and they broke off. I sent him back to pick them up, before gathering everyone to put them back in the trees again.

I set him up for one more outrun, and he went. This time not only did he go out right, but he also had learned the time before and actually covered his sheep. This is what I love about this part of the process - seeing them learn from the sheep. Anyway, not only was it a million degrees outside, but it seemed the perfect point to just... stop.

This is one of the holes I was afraid he'd have - not looking for sheep further out, not looking for sheep in different fields and so on. I'm not even sure this was the right method, basically just sending his royal fluffiness out there until he did it right. We were sort of laughing about it, but it was obvious he had a huge AHA! moment, and it was really, really exciting to see. It worked. Way back in another life I was once told, "Sometimes you have to find out who is more stubborn - you, or the horse" and I think this was one of those times.

Nick and Linc's Excellent Adventure - part 6 (the final installment)

... that a lamb was out. She was a teenie tiny little thing, and she was on the outside of the fence in the brambles... screaming her head off. She is the one that Julie and I refer to as the "princess pea lookalike" as she looks like Princess Pea from last year's lamb crop.

It turned out that my good lamb dog (Linc) was in the van sitting this last walk out as he was a hair tender footed, and had worked his fluffy little bustle butt off anyway. I had Nick, Ginger, and June with me. I thought, "No problem! I have my open dog, I'll just send Nick into the woods to get her." There was NO way I was bringing the flock out and risking losing either the guard dog (again) or the sheep (again). I thought, "How much trouble could one little lamb POSSIBLY be?"

Turns out... a lot.

I sent Nick into the woods and he immediately flanked all the way back around BEHIND the sheep pen... and the look on his face was "I DON'T SEE ANYTHING OUT HERE WOMAN!!!!" I kept calling him in and calling him in, and even when I'd get him right on top of the lamb it was obvious that he wasn't seeing her as something to be worked directly.

**insert gigantic sigh here**

So who went into the woods to catch the lamb I ask you? Me. I tromped in there, and started working the lamb up the fence line myself thinking I'd slowly drive her around and then slip her into the gate. Or better yet, call my dog in at the end of the fence and have him walk straight in and push her to me. Tried that, sucked bad. Firstly Nick was still doing his "I don't see anything" routine, and secondly I was somehow stuck in the briars and couldn't get out.

Many scratches later I was out, Nick was still flanking wildly around the pen, and the lamb was now running on the open area side of the pen... still screaming her head off.

I blocked one end of the fence line, and kept trying to flank Nick around... to no avail. I began to think that I might just have to pull the flock out after all, when to my amazement something really darned special happened.

June brought me the lamb. When I realized she was was taking my flanks and stops, and was going to bring it I got quiet. I watched as she just... did what I needed her to do. I caught the lamb, put her back in the pen, and took the dogs for a walk.

In case you missed it... June brought me the lamb!! On purpose!



It was a moment that made me want to weep. I still might.

I could tell you guys a rooster story, but I don't want it to get lost in my weepy moment.

So though there were some frustrating and terrifying moments, there were also some feel-good moments too. I know Nick and Linc particularly had a grand time, thus the title "Nick and Linc's Excellent Adventure".

The End.

Nick and Linc's Excellent Adventure - part 5 (sheep... and dogs)

Sunday afternoon I relented, and decided to go ahead and let the sheep out to graze again. I decided it would make good sense to use both dogs - Nick and Linc - and lie Nick down over where he could hold the pressure for the driveway and the garden (for the most part) and then I would pull the sheep out with Linc. The long and the short of it is that every time I would send Linc in the pen Nick would start flanking. So I would boom out "LIE DOWN" at Nick. Nick would keep going, but poor Linc would come running cowering at my feet. Brilliant plan, eh?

After pulling Linc out, and taking Nick by the collar back to where I'd originally laid him down like... fifty times... I finally managed to sort of get them to do what I wanted. Nick had crept a bit, but was still in a position to hold the pressure (mostly). We got the sheep out, and though they started creeping towards the garden I was in position, as were the dogs, to head them off. So the dogs and I settled down near the back porch (we were fanned out) to guard against insurgents.



As we sat quietly, the Ram was mounting his attack. There he was trying to lead his fan club on an end run around the quarterback. Oh yes. They were trying to sneakies through the woods to go to the angry neighbor lady's house. But this time I was ready. I sent Nick over there to stop them. I think they actually had looks of disgust on their faces. It was a major sheep FAIL moment. I was pleasantly surprised that I was able to flank Nick come bye and have Linc stay where he was, and then was able to flank Linc away to cover a small group of ewes and lambs trying to make a break for it up the driveway. Good dogs.

Then as I was putting the sheep back away, I turned my back on Maia for a milisecond(guard dog, remember her?) and she dashed out the gate screaming JAILBREAK!!!!

My heart hit the floor. Maia was, for all intents and purposes, basically feral for a while, and it took them months to catch her (this is life before-Julie). This was bad. Really bad. I thought, "Great. First I let the sheep go to the angry neighbor's yard, and now I have lost Julie's guard dog. This is fabulous. I am SO fired. I'm probably fired from BFF status too. What am I going to do?"

I had options. #1 - Voice of doom at Maia. #2 - use my dogs to take the sheep over to her, and then hope she comes back with them. #3 - talk nicely to Maia and hope she comes back. #4 - Go get dog food and try to lure her back.

I went with #3 and #4.

I put the sheep, Nick, and Linc away (separately, obviously) and went to the house to get Maia's dinner, all the while talking nicey nice to her, and keeping an eye out as I went.

The door-knob fell off. I knew it did sometimes, but it hadn't failed me until this moment. I felt like picking it up and throwing it out into the yard, but I didn't. I put it back on (ok, more like crammed it on), and stomped through the house muttering about animals who don't do what they're supposed to do. I filled up a bowl with kibble, and ran back out the front door.

I went around the side and finally spotted Maia wandering in the woods. I walked parallel to her rattling the bowl of kibble, and talking all nicey-nice-I'm-not-going-to-kill-you to her. My heart just kept sinking as she kept wandering. She took lots of dumps. I didn't know a dog could poo that much. She peed lots too. I'm guessing she was marking her territory. Sounds reasonable to me. If I had made a jailbreak I'd be all about some marking some things too! Then suddenly, her head came up, and she came running.

I turned and ran, laughing like a lunatic, and flung the gate open, all while rattling the bowl and calling her nicely. I almost lost the sheep out the gate, but Maia was cranking through it, and they turned.

Whew. Crisis averted. I went back inside and played Cityville until my hands stopped shaking. At this point I thought to myself, "Maybe I shouldn't tell anyone about ANY of this. Ever."

A little while later I would decide to take the dogs on one last walk to the river. Unfortunately, I would find...

Nick and Linc's Excellent Adventure - part 4 (a dog installment)

(photo by Dan King)

Ok, funny time is over. I didn't want to risk boring anyone (hah, if I've not already lost everyone) to tears by scary-to-me chicken stories ad nauseum. So I thought I'd do an update on some of the really amazing work my dogs did this past weekend.

Nick actually didn't get a whole lot of work as I thought this would be a good chance to give Linc as much practical work as possible. Linc was my go-to dog for everything, with the minor exception of rounding up the renegade sheep in part 2. However, on Saturday Lauren and I met over at Robin's to work dogs, and she held out for me some. I have been working with Nick on the concept of "you can go around objects like ponds and such on your outruns". It took a bit of reminding, but I had him going around Robin's pond nicely. I was quite proud. I also worked on reinforcing him taking his whistles a little further out. He's been stonewalling me (all, "I can't hear you!!!" and though we have learned at a BAER test that he doesn't hear normally in one of his ears, at this distance I KNOW he can hear me). It was good!

Nick also got lessons on... not being #1 all the time. It was a lesson for me too. It is SO hard to do that... leave my best dog up while I slog through chores that take longer because I'm teaching a young dog to do them.


(photo by Robin French)

Linc... was a superstar this past weekend. We worked on cross-driving (Robin's hill is great for that) and I had a MAJOR epiphany on Sunday. Here it is: He's danged fast. I thought I was having trouble on the cross drive because he was overflanking. Nope. Turns out I've been under-stopping. Or over-stopping. Whatever. My timing has SUCKED, and I wasn't stopping him soon enough. He was overflanking, and it was my fault. As a result things kept getting squirrelly, and then he would barrel in there because we're both frustrated with each other.

Duh Laura.

I gave him the whole flock up on the hill, and stood there READY to do my part. It was amazing. We freaking cross-drove. As I had previously reminded him to stay out, and was stopping him sooner on his walk ups (creating more distance between him and the sheep), stopping him correctly on his flanks, AND because he was keeping nice pace and not cranking on his sheep... it was lovely.

We also did some shedding work with the whole group, some flanking between groups, and some catching sheep when they're trying to get back together type stuff. Boy did he LOVE that. In the past I've not been able to do these kinds of things with him much 'cuz all he'd want to do was bite stuff when he'd come through. But wow. He had a cool head, and was trying really hard.

Dink-man managed to do Open length outruns, blind outruns (though he was a tad uncertain on this, but he did it!) and for the first time lifted carefully and thoughtfully. He was just working thoughtfully in general, which was a huge epiphany for him I think! He worked at a distance navigating sheep around the pond, and I was putting a LOT of pressure on him there and he not only took it but seemed SO proud of himself. I was proud of him too.

He worked *with* me all weekend - putting ewes and lambs in and out of the pen at Julie's, helping to get up the lambs that got stalled out... and helped tend as we let them graze (Sunday was a much better deal) and he did a fabulous job teaming up with Nick to hold sheep off of the feed bunks twice a day.

My little silly black dog is growing up, and all three of us were happy.

Nick and Linc's Excellent Adventure - part 3 (a chicken installment)

Did you know that in order to collect eggs from the chicken coop one must actually physically go into the chicken coop?

Saturday afternoon I found myself in the chicken coop with what seemed to be a million chickens milling around my feet. It had taken me all afternoon to work my nerve up to go back in there (after the morning chicken/back belly flop episode) but I was determined to collect eggs. Spoils of war, baby! Nevermind that I had about four or five false starts where I'd almost go in there and then turn around and walk away (quickly, of course).

I finally went in, and thought to myself, "I know! I'll give them more food so they'll stay away from me!" While this did work to keep the ones that were in the coop already away from me, it also worked to bring all of their little friends flapping and squawking in through the door to get in on the action. I hadn't really counted on that. I also hadn't counted on the fact that Nick was out there and he was doing his part to bring me chickens.

I tried to explain to Nick that it wasn't really necessary to bring me more chickens, but mostly I was only able to stand in place (uh... frozen in fear?) and squeal... and scream out "No flapping! NO flapping!!", though I don't think the chickens were listening. I didn't even have the breath to bring out a voice of doom "LIE DOWN"... I mostly just concentrated on not having a coronary. It occurred to me that if I actually died in there the chickens probably would eat my body. Can't have that.

That ba&%ard dog of mine just kept bringing chickens. Those ba$&ard chickens just kept flapping. I realized I was cornered, and to try to walk through the see of bodies would mean more ruckus. So I did the only thing a girl could do... I started collecting eggs. In my shirt. 'Cuz I'd forgotten the egg basket.

I had this strange - and admittedly unreasonable - fear that a chicken would somehow peck my belly. I know, it makes no sense, but I couldn't help it. I kept my shirt sort of over my tum while still holding eggs... but not crushing them. I'm special like that. I sang a little song in my head about collecting eggs, only occasionally punctuated by a squeal when a chicken would flap.

I got to the last nest box and there was a chicken in it. No way was I putting my hand in there. Ever. She even looked pissed off. Like she was some sort of... devil chicken. No, not really, but give me some credit... I'd been wading in a sea of chickens and hadn't run yet (or wet my pants).

I walked slowly, quietly out of the coop, with my spoils of war quietly nestled in my shirt. I took them in the house and carefully put them in egg cartons. I then danced up and down while screaming "EW EW EW" and spinning in tiny circles. Then it occurred to me that I would have to do this again the next day.

I figured I would need a new plan if I was going to avoid death and having my body pecked over.

Nick and Linc's Excellent Adventure (part 2 - a sheep installment)

There aren't a whole lot of seriously major rules in farm-sitting. However, one of them would be "don't let the sheep run away". You know, don't let em in the road to get killed, that sort of thing. One of the things Julie said to me, before she left, was "Don't let the sheep go to the neighbor's house." Apparently this neighbor doesn't like sheep in her yard. Why ever not? I cannot even fathom. At any rate, to give you guys a mental image, this is the general area:

After the "great chicken adventure of certain Laura death" I went over to Robin's and worked Nick and Linc. I got back to Julie's, and as she'd requested that the sheep be let out of their pen to graze if I felt like it, I decided to let them out. I was basically just to not let the sheep run away, and not let them go to the neighbor's house. Easy peasy. I'm the farm-sitting queen. I'm on it. Whatever.

I put Nick away, and took Linc over to scoop them out of the pen (the blue box, with a sheep next to it in the picture above). I was also charged with not letting Maia out of the pen... as SHE would run away. Maia is the Guard Dog, whom I could not catch to tie up, by the way. At any rate, Linc brought the sheep out just as pretty as you please. I learned something very exciting in this... Linc works lambs.

Unfortunately I had one lone lamb that didn't make it out the gate with the rest of the flock. The flock was running around the yard all willy nilly, screaming JAILBREAK!!!!!!!!! The lamb was running around the paddock all willy nilly screaming, MOOOOOOMMMM! I was in the pen with Linc with my back turned to the flock trying to let the lamb out but keep the guard dog in (a delicate balance to be sure). I thought maybe we could just... pop it out. Yeah right.

I just happened to turn around to see that the troublemakers were in the little garden. Julie had warned me that they like to graze the garden, which is but a few steps away from the angry neighbor lady's house. Bad. Grazing the garden is bad. Garden leads to angry neighbor lady, so no garden grazing. So I pulled Linc out of the pen, shut the gate (oblivious to the lamb screams in this moment) and sent Linc over to bring back the troublemakers.

He brought them back (good dog), and I finally got a little smarter and had him bring some of the flock up to the gate. I then sent him back into the pen to lay quietly, and he and I made it so that the best choice for the lamb was just to go out the gate and hang with his friends. Good lamb. Good for my ears too. I almost lost Maia out the gate, but I managed to push her back and shut the gate at the last second. Whew.

Sheep were out to graze, Maia was in the pen, and Linc and I could go chill and watch. So the first picture I took up top was when Linc and I were peacefully watching the sheep graze from the back porch. The wind was blowing, the sun was shining, and we were both in our happy Zen place until.... until I realized I was short some sheep. I had been sitting there for probably 10 minutes or so, and I didn't actually know how many sheep I had for sure, but it didn't look like enough.

I figured I'd best go count, go look, whatever. I counted eleven. I felt sure I had more than eleven adults (and a ton of lambs). As I started to walk around the house towards the front I ran almost headlong into a woman... a neighbor from across the street. She'd come over to tell me that there were sheep out... and they were near the angry neighbor's yard and headed for the road. In a panic (and more than a little bit PO'd) I turned and hauled buggy back to the van.

I put Linc away in a rush and grabbed Nick out (I wasn't really feeling like risking a training moment). The neighbor lady (very nice, very pretty, but she startled me and I almost had to go change my drawers again) was following along yammering something about coming to watch as she'd never seen this before. I was on a mission, though, and couldn't tell you what she actually said. She seemed nice.

As far as I was concerned both the sheep and I were in BIG trouble. I was playing the Imperial Death March in my head. Yes, really. I was going to get those naughty sheep. They were going to come home, and they would LIKE IT.

I came around the corner, and sure as shootin' they were in the neighbor's yard - or close to it. They were on the other side of the gardenish thing on the edge there, just skirting the trees. They didn't appear to be really headed for the road... they appeared to be more like kids in a candy store. They were running amok, and it was my fault. The ram was the ring leader, and I KNEW he'd been in the garden crashers group, just as I knew I'd brought him back. So somehow or another he'd made an end run around the quarterback, and had ended up over there. He'd taken friends to the party.

I was irate.

I sent Nick out there, and didn't say a word when he gripped one of the ewes who turned to look at him, and then proceeded to bring them just a bit faster than necessary.

After the nice neighbor lady left, I turned to the sheep, and said, "That's IT! Grazing privileges are LOST."

All I could keep thinking was how the ONLY directive about the sheep Julie gave me was don't let them go to the angry neighbor's yard. And what did I do? I let them go to the angry neighbor's yard. They probably pooped in it. A lot. Yeah, making friends here. Not only that but I was terrified that maybe I hadn't gotten them all back. Turns out I did (get them all back) but it was worrisome.

The next day I would think long and hard about whether or not I'd even let them out again. They don't do what they're told, and they don't stay where they're supposed to stay, even when I'm right there! Sheep that don't do what they're told get grounded. I would relent, eventually, and then I would find out on Sunday the level of sneakiness involved. Oh yeah. Very sneaky sheep. But I fear they underestimated MY sneakiness.

Nick and Linc's Excellent Adventure (part 1 - a chicken installment)

This past weekend I loaded up all of the dogs and headed out to farm-sit for Julie while she was setting sheep at a dog trial. We had so many adventures that I'm intending to break this down in parts. My apologies in advance as I don't have pictures (maybe one) to illustrate, so words will just have to do.

I know this is the part you've all been waiting for, so I'm making part 1 the first of my chicken installments.

Friday night when I got there I closed the chicken coop with no issues. Saturday morning my first job was to open the chicken coop. Most who know me (at least in a farming context anyhow) pretty much know that I'm a little afraid of chickens - quite specifically the squawking and flapping. Ok, terrified. Phobic. Freaked out. Skeered. Pall of death. You get the idea.

If they'd just sit there quietly and not move or squawk I'd probably be able to touch them. Maybe.

But I digress. Julie had warned me that they'd come flapping and squawking out, so I was armed with a plan. I took a bucket of corn (she'd told me this was part of the routine) and sprinkled it NOT in front of the coop, but slightly up the hill... in the opposite direction of where I was going to stand. I steeled myself while standing behind the door (down the hill) as I slid open the latch. I took a deep breath, grabbed the rope handle, and pulled.

Chickens everywhere. But that's OK. I was ready for them, and they were flying AWAY from me. I patted myself on the back for my ingenuity and resolve in such a potentially harrowing situation. Surely I had escaped certain death. Or at least certain scream.

I waited... and waited... and I when no more poured out I went to remove the baby gate that was wedged in the doorway (an additional measure to keep dogs out during the day) so that I could put out feed and change the water (uh... the feed and water bucket were in the coop, with an additional water pan outside). As I leaned over to unlatch the freakin frackin stuck baby gate the last chicken on earth squawked, and flew over me - hitting my back and thumping me with her wings on her way out. She was big, loud, and literally I think she belly-flopped across my back.

I screamed, danced in place for a second, and then fell back on an old favorite... I ran like a little girl. I almost fell over a stump, and I think I wet my pants a little. This was definitely NOT one of my finer moments.

In fact, I'm pretty sure I actually died for a few seconds.

I eventually worked up my nerve to walk back over there, and peered cautiously inside (one eyeball at a time). I completed my mission - fed and watered, and then got the heck out of Dodge.

THAT was my early morning wake up call. I looked over at the sheep and said, "You girls will have to wait. I need a drink." I stomped back in the house, made coffee, and played "Cityville" on Facebook while waiting for my heart to stop racing and for my hands to stop shaking. Good morning to me!

Weekend Dog Working and Vertigo

Weekend Dog Working

Last weekend I went out to Robin's to hang and work dogs (and to do some trial prep, but I was off helping Julie unload Ewes with newborn lambs that she'd taken back to her place and I missed the work part). I took everyone with and Zippy was quite the wildman - having zoomies all over the place. He almost face planted into the fence a few times... he just doesn't see all that well these days. He tickles me.

Anyway, I worked both Nick and Linc. Linc managed to actually do the Open outrun, and had his good boy listening ears on. He was working really nicely - we worked on his cross driving skills a bit, and I was pleased to find myself in my happy zen place working him. Even better was with the pressure I was putting on him he only had one little minor blow up. All in all it was very good!

Nicky learned a big lesson too. He learned that he COULD GO AROUND the pond off to the right to do an appropriate outrun to the away side. Then we switched ends of the field and he learned that he COULD GO AROUND the pond to do an appropriate outrun to the come bye side. I put quite a bit of pressure on him and he took it well - and figured out what I wanted of him. He kept wanting to eek around to the inside of the pond (and I'm sure he would have kicked out on the other side) but then once he figured it out he actually ran a bit wider and landed a bit deeper than he has been lately - which was precisely where he should have been.

It was a good weekend with friends - Pam came along and worked Rogue (little Linc) and Rachel and her daughter Gwynneth came up for the day. It was good to see them!

Vertigo

Last night, in my attempt to lose weight, I was doing some crunches. Just to tell how long it's been since I've done crunches I don't think I've done them since Linc was a baby puppy. Anyway, so I'm crunching away, and he's lying on the floor next to me... and he's licking my elbow as it goes past his face. Ew. I hate elbow lickies. Bleurgh. So finally I stopped, rolled my head to the left, and told him to knock it off.

Wrong move. It set off my vertigo.

I finished up my crunches (yeah, I am that tough) and I went to the kitchen to start dinner. The room spun. I almost barfed in the kitchen sink. Yes really. Not that I let a silly little thing like the room spinning wildly and crazy bad nausea stop me... I took my Meclizine and ate dinner anyway.

This morning, I got up, and the room is still all wobbly on me.

Crunches are banned.

That is all.

Dogs Update

I think I'm very much overdue on the dog updates. There have been some recent changes here. I finally came to the very difficult decision to send Moon back to Robin. The biggest reason for this is that she just needs more than the casual sort of work I can give her. Now that Julie has moved away I certainly won't be able to work my dogs at much, at least not until I can change my circumstances. So I've cried a lot of tears, and feel like I've done the right thing.

Linc... Linc is growing up. He's in a place now where he's still a bit rash, and a tiny bit silly, but finally at least on the trial field willing to listen. I've been working on opening his flanks back up some, letting him be a bit more natural (now that he's less of a bonehead) and reinforcing his stop. Well... more like sort of trying to reinforce his stop. I really appreciate the motor in this dog - and really appreciate his stamina, but dang if he would just STOP when I tell him to... we'd have a lot less of a mess to clean up sometimes. He managed to place at Montpelier in Pro-Novice, and I'm toying with the idea of moving him up to Ranch if I can get enough work on him to make it reasonable. He's getting his whistles, and growing a brain. Good boy Linc.

Then, there is Nick. I can't remember what I've updated but he placed fourth in Open both days at Montpelier. This was our first time placing in open, and our first points for the finals. Neither of those runs were our best, but they were good, solid runs. On the second day we sat in first place ALL day... but there were a few really great runs in the last 7 or so runs. They were really nice runs, and ours was only good. It worked out the right way!

At Rural Hill the first day he crossed over at my feet, thus DQ'ing us. He had set himself up to go left... but right as I was about to send him he started leaning to the right, HARD. So I flipped him around to my right side. Then, the second I sent him, he crossed over to the left at my feet.ARGH! I could have choked him. I was trying SO hard to set him up right, knowing beforehand he might have issues with the horses at setout. Well... he did.

The second day had issues again on his outrun. He *really* didn't want to go around the horses. After a couple of redirects (which he ignored) he ran out to the left STRAIGHT up the side of the field - no real bend, so that he could squeak in between the horses and the sheep. He then proceeded to bugger the sheep all of the way down the field - straight as an arrow, about 50 yards off line, despite my very ardent protesting. Did I mention that it sometimes makes me happy when he flips me the doggie bird? This was not really one of those times.


I gave him an earful as he went around the post, and we got it together on the drive - to a point. I was surprised that the sheep pretty much forgave him. Then we had a little shedding lesson. I do a pretty good job of setting it up, but sometimes have trouble closing the deal. I need Robin's shedding lesson #2. BUT, we got it, with 9 seconds left on the clock. I don't even know why I did it, but I ran laughing like a lunatic to the pen. The entire crowd was roaring with laughter. I ran to the pen not saying a word to Nick, and as I turned with the gate open he was cramming those sheep in the pen... right as the timer went off. I'm guessing the sheep were just grateful. So yeah, we sucked it up bigtime at Rural Hill, but we at least offered some sort of crowd entertainment.

One of the conclusions I've come to is that part of our problems are just me being a new Open handler, and Nick being a new Open dog (with an inexperienced handler). The other big problem is that my dogs are just not getting enough work to make any of us happy. The housing market still sucks so much I don't want to sell my house yet, so I'm going to look into the possibility of renting some pasture.

In other dog news, June is good, Ginger is good and Zippy is getting old and doddery.

So far, for this year, I'm planning to work at Robin's March and April trials, but beyond that I don't know. I do know that the CrazyMobile is probably going to have to be replaced soon. But I plan to drive her until her wheels fall off! Rattletrap Power!

So that's it. Back down to my five dogs, and I think at this point I'm going to wait before I have another pup. At the moment I am really enjoying just having five. I wouldn't even mind getting down to four. Yeah, I'm sure that's going to happen.

Katie Bar the Door!

So I promised dog working updates, no? The dogs and I farm-sat for Mary & Tony Weds-Sat, and had just an absolute ball. She has a few katahdins and some tunis, so between her place and Julie's right up the road we got a lot of good working in over the span of the week.

Lets see... Spottie is just working nicer and nicer for me. It appears that the Bad Sunday was quite possibly just a minor blip on the screen. She's being quite enthusiastic (increasingly so) and nice and sharp. She's starting to take my whistles - which are quite different from Robin's. She's also been really good (and really patient) with helping me with the shedding. I feel like we're really starting to connect - like we're having a conversation out there... working together. She's a lot of fun, and I'm grateful for the opportunity to learn from her.

Nick... Nick is an alien. I'm probably going to have to make him a tinfoil testicle holder thingie so that he can get his brain back. Between Spottie coming in, and the very inclined to run sheep at Mary's... he's gone ape on me. Stop? We don't need no stinkin stop! Friday at Julie's he was rather wild and crazy when we walked out on the field (totally out of character for him), and despite the orange fire shooting out of my eye sockets he's not been very inclined to get his feelings hurt either. In some instances I'd be determined before a trial to try to get his attention a tad more, but I'm almost inclined to leave things be. I have a suspicion he may need his push in certain situations. I just hope his brain comes back a little.

I did, however, remind him that he does have to stop - giving him a stop command and then enthusiastically getting him back up as soon as he thought about giving it. That seemed to mostly straighten him up, but left a little of the push in there (as per Robin's suggestion, technique wise). I'm beginning to wonder, though, if he's not going to get tougher and bolder as he ages. I wouldn't complain about that.

Additionally, between processing what Robin has been telling me, working with Spottie, and watching Alasdair MacRae's shedding video, something has clicked for me shedding-wise. We went down to Julie's and twice used an almost perfect group of sheep. I changed several things about my body position... I got closer to the group I wanted him to take, made the hole a bit bigger, and made sure that I turned completely sideways (presenting my hip to him) when I called him in. As he would get almost to me I'd give him a short flank command, and then stop him after he went behind me and walked him on up. Finally my mental understanding and physical ability to carry it out are starting to merge.

One huge gaping maw of a problem I'd been having was standing smack in the middle of the hole, putting pressure on him AND the sheep by leaning face on towards him. I was standing there in the way, and it was just not working. He'd start to come in, then he'd slam on brakes and try to put everything back together. Then I'd fuss at him, or flank him around endlessly, ending in a not very happy dog. Well, he was definately happy dog when I got my act together!

We'll probably do this a while longer, and then start progressing. As it is now he's coming through nice and enthusiastically - and taking good confident control of his shed off sheep.

That being said, on Saturday morning I got the bright idea (after our progress) to try to do this on some completely inappropriate sheep. Lesson learned. I wound up going back down to Julie's to fix the mess I'd made, but to my relief the damage was quickly reversible. However, I think I mentally beat myself to a bloody pulp first. *sigh* I'm quite grateful for Nick's forgiving nature.

While at Mary's we basically worked on stopping running sheep (mostly damage control) and I was pleased to see Nick getting more comfortable coming off to the side and catching the eye of the lead sheep... and he was also much more inclined to stay on contact. Many times when sheep run he gets wider and wider to try to release the pressure. While sometimes that's appropriate, sometimes it's not, and I'm trying to help him to distinguish the difference.

The other side to that, however, was that he was also quite gee'd up by this whole process. Thus, Katie Bar the Door!!

Linc is still just being a puppy. I'm thinking to pull him back out around Christmas and see where he is. If I feel like he's mature enough I'll enter him in the Jack Knox clinic. If not, I may put Nick in instead. A lot of my January plans, however, will hinge on whether the company I work for does what they normally do at Christmas. Some prayers that they will would be much appreciated.

This coming weekend I'm running Nick in Nursery down in SC. Should be interesting, and a fun time. He'll get two runs - and while I'm nervous I'm also very much looking forward to it. I feel like he's made a lot of progress on some things recently, and provided I remember the tinfoil testicle holder thingie so that the aliens won't steal his brain we might just have a good time!

This pic is from about a year or so ago, but it seems rather appropriate at the moment.

photos by Julie Poudrier

Dogs All Day

That's what a friend on a dog board calls that particular board - "Dogs All Day". I think it's a pretty appropriate title for my weekend though... because that's pretty much what I did all day Saturday and all day Sunday. Saturday a bunch of us descended upon Robin (and I took a monster pot of my chili) and we worked a lot of dogs, and enjoyed a lot of good times with friends. It actually wasn't quite as cold as I thought it would be, but it was quite chilly. Colder up top, that's for sure. Sunday Julie, Mary and Tony came over to Chuck's to work dogs, and we finished up that chili. Good times!

So, lots of stuff happened dog working wise, so I'll start with Nick. Saturday I used him to hold out for a while (and to sort, and so on). By the time we went back down to the bottom he pretty much had the bit in his teeth, and his fingers in his ears (figuratively speaking). I'm starting to think that he just might be getting tougher as he gets older, too, because he didn't seem to be sensitive to the fact that I was on him about stopping. Turned out he was right first time out actually - if he stopped this ewe lamb in our first group would try to run away. At any rate, later I finally got a chance to run him around the course that was still set up - using his whistles. He's not only taking them nicely, but REALLY seems to like them. He still had his fingers in his ears, though. Here we are waiting for our sheep to be set:

Picture by Darci Gunter. Did I mention it was rather chilly? Nothing like overalls and three layers of clothing to make one look like they're wearing one of those huge blow-up sumo wrestler suits, right?

Anyway, Sunday I used Nick to bring Chuck's calves in (only 5), sort them out, and do the same with the sheep. He still had the bit in his teeth some, but worked both the calves and sheep nicely. He did run into some trouble on the calves because his handler would stand in the gate and wonder why they wouldn't come through. Duh. Needless to say I'm learning a whole lot about how cattle react and think. Not. Like. Sheep. And they're big. Pretty... but big. At any rate, I didn't work him much on Sunday other than to use him to hold out some, and shuffle stock around for everyone (and he digs that stuff).

I worked Linc at Robin's and I think he liked the slightly larger area. He was really nice - but slightly hesitant in a few spots. There was some really good stuff there, but I didn't like those hesitant moments. It was enough for Robin and I to agree that probably he needs more time to grow up, so I'm going to put him away for a month.

I pulled Spottie out at Robin's, too. I was worried she might not work for me on her home turf, but she actually worked pretty nicely. I chickened out on shedding with her (then), but we had a pretty nice go and I was really happy with her and the progress we'd made. After we finished Robin came out and gave me some thoughts that I think will help. Then, Sunday I pulled her out over at Chuck's, and things did not go so well. We just were not making the same kind of connection as we did on Saturday. It wasn't a total bust though! Spottie and I managed to shed our sheep! Surprisingly with a dog that knew what she was doing (and was digging it, too) and sheep that were settled and happy it was much easier for me to think. I remembered what Robin's been teaching me, and we did it. I could feel where I was going wrong with Nick, too.

I went on and scratched her from the trial in two weeks. I didn't want to - but logic tells me that even though it's possible we might get it together between now and then it's not together enough for me to be comfortable NOW (and today's the pull date). I feel like maybe I'll be inclined to put too much pressure on both of us with a two week deadline, and may be doing so already. I know I'm feeling sort of under the gun, and maybe not having the fun I'm supposed to be having with her. So. I'm going to aim for running her in January, which feels more reasonable to me. This coming week I'll be farm-sitting, and will get ample opportunity for some good dog working, and I'm looking forward to it! I'll still run Nick in two weeks though (Nursery).

So that was our weekend. I'm pretty wiped out today. Socializing and dog working sometimes takes a lot out of a girl.

Dogs and Unrelated Thoughts

Dogs

Saturday I met Julie and Robin for lunch at this neat little place down in Randleman, and we then went back to Julie's to work dogs and do some switching dogs around. I handed Raven back off to Julie, and Robin handed Spottie off to me.

Spottie is going to be staying with me for a little while to teach me some things and I'm pretty darned excited. I hope I'll be able to run her in Open soon (and though the very thought makes me want to throw up on my shoes I'll deal with it) - and I really think this will take some of the pressure off of Nick. I think working with her is going to make the picture more clear for me - not only the where I'm going with Nick part, but the how to get there too. I think she has a lot to teach me, and I'm pretty stoked about it.

So far she's not quite ready to work for me, yet, but she will be. Shoot, it's only been two days. Hah! We're mostly getting to know each other right now which is proving to be quite fun. She's a hoot - a very funny and sweet dog, and I think we're going to have a lot of fun together. To see a picture or two of her go visit Robin's blog on the sidebar (Shoofly Farm). I'm sure over the next few weeks I'll be taking some pics of the dogs in general, though!

So far Spottie is fitting right in with the resident dogs. I suppose they're reasonably used to dogs coming and going a bit - and that certainly makes transitions like this easier.

Unrelated Thoughts

If June had her own blog, it would be entitled, "Armpit Love".

I finished the last of the Sex and the City seasons last night. I sniveled and cried, and alternately snorted and laughed. Oh, and they FINALLY show you what Big's real name is at the end of the last show! All of the characters finally sort of "get" to the place I was hoping they would - and it's just the perfect way to end up, IMO. I can't wait for us to all get together and watch the movie. I think I've enjoyed the episodes enough that I wouldn't mind actually having them on DVD.

This getting dark early thing is for the birds. I am going to try to get the bosslady to let me take my remaining vacation days in half-day increments so I can manage to get my dogs worked some during the week. I've been feeling rather frustrated and encouraged to unload my house as soon as it will be financially responsible to do so. With the current housing market and economy as it is it wouldn't make sense to try to sell, but as soon as things start looking up I am SO out of there.

Fleecy winter pajamas here I come. It's going to be a cold one this week - and the weekend should be as well. I'm not sure if I'm ready for winter, but ready or not it's coming. Brrrr!

Today is day two of being back on plan - WW - in loss mode. I'm feeling like I've finally got it under control. I've learned that I have trouble with letting myself run amock when I try to be less rigid about counting my points. Once I get to running amock, amock, amock I find that it's awful hard to get myself back under control. I think the answer for me is that I just cannot relax by much when it comes to what I eat. I will say it feels GOOD to have things back together again. CR is coming over for dinner Tuesday night, and I think maybe I'll treat us to some Shepherd's Pie ala WW recipe.

Happy Monday!

PS - PW has put up two new chapters in "Black Heels to Tractor Wheels".