Time To Start Getting Nervous...

 

 

Yep, it's herding trial time again!

 

And this time it's Stout!

 

I'm really surprised I'm nervous. It didn't hit me until today. Normally, with Porter, I would have been freaking out for days. But I wasn't nervous when Stout did his PT or JHD...

 

Unfortunately I had to scratch Porter. He was going to make his Intermediate Sheep debut, until his iliopsoas injury  :(

 

So I was told I should enter Stout. I had no intention of doing so until we ran a practice course. I had no idea A course could be that easy!  :) And now here I am, feeling all barfy...



Herding Sheep & Breaking Arms

Yep, it was pretty eventful last weekend!  :)

First, the good news: Stout earned his 2nd herding title! Stout JHD! 

I'll say it again, it was not this easy when I started with Porter... Our JHD looked NOTHING like this:

But of course, I was a beginner back then. We have a come a LONG way!

For instance, this was Porter's first trial beyond a beginner level. He had to drive. In public. 

And he didn't too badly. At least on Saturday:  

He actually earned a leg in HTAD II & HRD II. He had to drive in both, and while they weren't perfect, they were better than I had thought they'd be.

Sunday was a whole 'nother story...

For some reason he couldn't push them out into the field in HRD. It had begun with trouble in the chute, I should have helped him sooner. So when he kept failing to cover, I waited for him to blow a "drop" then removed him (it wasn't a long wait...)  :)

Then in HTAD, he was a real jackass. I sent him on an outrun, he came charging up the middle. I tried pushing him out, he barely gave. When I asked for the "drop" after the lift, he didn't even break stride  :)  Jackass. So I called our run, took him straight to the xpen & got Stout out. He was pissed. But so was I.

Then on Sunday, Stout's JHD run was the very last run of the trial. John showed up to watch, he has never saw Stout herd. Just as we were fetching the sheep through the last panel, I stumbled and fell backwards. I hit the ground, but not before I tried to catch myself...

Yep, broke my arm :(  Well, I didn't know that at the time, but I had a pretty good feeling.

I stood up, went to pick up my stick to finish the run, and my hand wouldn't work. So I just grabbed it with the other & finished  :)

On the way back to the barn, my ears started ringing. I told John that I should go to the hospital. Just like last time I broke something, he told me it wasn't broken since I wasn't screaming on the ground. He always underestimates how tough I am!

That afternoon they told me it was only a sprain. By Monday afternoon they had finally looked at the xrays & confirmed it was a radial fracture. Tuesday afternoon I acquired the bright orange cast  :)

This is not the summer I was planning on...

Herding Photos - Porter!

This weekend Porter, Stout, & I will be doing a little AHBA herding trial.

 

This will be Stout's second herding trial EVER! And this will be Porter's first trial working at above a beginner level. Yes, we will have to DRIVE :) 

 

Ok, now I'm nervous.

 

Anyway, in honor of that, I am finally going to post the herding photos from the Cardigan Specialty!

 

Can anyone spot the theme in the sheep photos?  :)

 

 

Herding Clinic - Stout

The dogs & I attended another Tenley Dexter herding clinic the first weekend of August. This one was held at the farm where we regularly take lessons, Fair Wether.

 

Probably due to the fact that it is where we train, we had a much better outcome than last time!  :)



 

"Walk up, Stout"

It was a 3 day seminar, so we worked a total of 6 times. After working Porter the first 5 times, I was persuaded to give my last slot to Stout...

Porter had proven himself (more on that in Porter's update later), so I figured "eh, what the hell."

"Out"

 

Stout is still a little hard for me to figure out when it comes to herding. I am under the impression that he is lackadaisical. Like, the sheep are there, but he's not really cognizant of that fact. He's just running around, having a good time.

 

But then, suddenly, he darts in for a piece of the action. I assume he just noticed them.

 

Nope. Tenley confirmed (the same as Dana & Wendy) that he is very clever. He pretends to not care, setting up his opportunity for mayhem during my brief lack of attention  :)

 

That Stouters, he is nothing if not manipulative!



 

 

So yes, Stout has plenty of herding instinct & capability. We even progressed to dropping the line as he "got around." (The next step after what is shown in these photos). Unfortunately, the camera battery died  :(

 

I don't remember being so afraid of dropping the line with Porter. Of course, Porter started herding training in a vastly different way.

 

But the fact that I am slightly afraid to turn Stout loose with sheep, does make me realize that I am aware that he has some power. Deep down, I do know that he isn't a bumbling fool out there just snacking on sheep poo. So once again, I am underestimating the little guy...  :)



The sheep know Stout means business. Even if I don't!

I have been toying with the idea of entering Stout in the HT or PT at the CWCCA specialty this spring... If I start giving him some lesson time...

Herding Seminar

Last weekend, the boys & I attended a herding seminar right here at Fair Wether Farm in Versailles, KY.

 

The weather was beautiful, the seminar was informational, and for the first time, Porter was not a total jackass! (unlike last time...) Finally! We may be having a breakthrough!  :)

 



 

We are headed to an agility trial this weekend, so I will give a full recap on both next week!

At Least I Didn't Cry...

Yeah, anyone who knows me & herding, knows that there is a likelihood that I will break into tears while doing it  :)

Why?

I wish I knew. Because then I could stop myself from doing it! It’s freaking embarrassing!

The seminar went well. I learned a lot. I wish I could say that Porter & I did a lot. But once again, all our time was spent on fixing things that we should already have perfected by now.

And the reason we continue to need to work on these things?

Well, I think it’s because Porter is too stubborn. But in reality, I’m too soft. Or I let too many little things slide until they are a big heap of crap that we can no longer work around  :) 

Every time we move forward, we find even more holes in our foundation.

Is it the curse of a newcomer to herding? Yes.

Will I do better with my next dog? Yes.

Will my next dog have as much natural talent as Porter? I don’t know.

I think that’s what makes it even harder (and emotional) on me – knowing how good Porter is, and the fact that he would absolutely shine with anyone else but me.

But I’m going to do this, damn it! And eventually, maybe, I’ll finally get it right  :)

Porter the Ranch Dog

Last weekend, Porter & I competed in an AHBA herding trial at one of  the places where we take herding lessons.

We have had a lot of mixed results at herding trials. Wait, I take that back. We've had very poor results at herding trials, with one exception.

Anyway, I thought this would be a great test to see just where & why we fail at trials. Is it my nerves? Is it the new place? Is it the new stock? Is it Porter's amped up attitude? Is it our training? I figured half of these things would be eliminated. I mean, Porter knows the stock. He knows the location. And we even practiced certain bits of the course at our last lesson. And my nerves were considerably less due to those things  :)

But before I go on, let me state how we did: We did pretty darn good! At least results-wise  :)

Was his work up to my standards? No. Was he as good as in practice? No. Was he better than most trials? Yes!

We qualified in 3 out of 4 runs. The one we didn't qualify in we missed by a half-point.

And I even have video! My friends Megan, Matt, & Jodi came out to see Porter in action and offered to film.

They watched us do the Ranch course. This class is supposed to similate using your dog in a real working farm. We had to do a gate-sort, go through many other gates, take the sheep out to graze, push them through a footbath, and put them through the chute thing.

And Porter did it all! He earned his HRD-1 title! See the video below for a glimpse:

(http://youtu.be/5uZqMXre3Z4)

 

 Sure, it wasn't pretty in some spots. Especially by AKC standards  :)  But this organization is more concerned with getting the job done & doing it quietly & safely.

 

Good things in this video:

• I actually gate-sorted! Usually Porter has them so jammed up in the corner that they rip the gate from my hands are I can't open it to let even one out  :)  And I didn't even slam a head or neck in there!  Now, I know part of the reason this worked so well is because Porter was over there eating poop (thus the giggling from the film crew). But it worked & I'll take it!
• We never lost the sheep completely. If you've seen us trial before, you know we loose the sheep at least once to a dead run down the field to the exhaust. And I usually don't let Porter cover because I'm afraid of the outcome. But we didn't have that here, for the reasons stated above.
• We put them through that footbath both times! In practice Porter came on too strong in the walk-up & would squirt them everywhere. Or he would over-flank & they would run back down the fence aways. But I set it up early, dropped him, positioned myself, took a deep breath, and whispered for him to "walk-up." He had to walk up a couple times, but he stopped when asked each time. And I did have to flank him a little, which he also took. Yay Porter!
• We also succeeded in penning the sheep in the free-standing pen in the 2 HTAD runs! One was a gimmee (I don't know why those sheep wanted in there so bad, nothing else in the run went that well!) and the other run we only penned 3 out of the 5 (but I took it!). We have trouble penning due to the same over-pushes & over-flanking that kills us in everything else...

Most of our failures were the typical ones: a real lack in some of Porter's early foundation work. And the fact that he gets so excited and his adrenaline is pumping (pushing the sheep thru the footbath & chute did not help to curb that AT ALL!). And my nerves. (I was not nervous hardly at all at this trial)

 

So we identified some of our trialling issues. And now we go back to training!

 

 



Herding Clinic

Over the weekend, Stout, Porter, & I got to participate in the annual Cardigan-Only herding clinic hosted by our trainer Dana.

 

There is nothing better than spending a weekend with cardigans, sheep, & friends! I learn so much by watching other people work. And it pushes me when it comes time for my turn.

 

 

"Watch out sheep, here come the Cardigans!!"

 

 

I forgot to hand my camera off when I worked Porter. So no photos of Porter :(  But I do have photos (and a video!) of Stout!  (thanks Dina!)

 

 

"What?! Stout gets to herd too?"

Yep, Stout got to participate in his first clinic! He shared a spot with another puppy.

Deep breaths for me, a mouthful of sheep poo for Stout.

"Walk up"

"Wait"

 

 

Stout loved it! And he was fairly normal, not his usual out-of-control, over-the-top corgi-self.

 

We progressed from a lot of walking around the pen the first day (see video below), to using a long line the 2nd day.

 

 

 

(http://youtu.be/5jTec_6i7K8)

 

"Oh yeah, I'm the sheep master."

I think I'll wait before I do too much herding with Stout. Our online agility class just started & there's only 24 hours in a day...  So Porter will continue to get the herding lessons while Stout will only be available for limited engagements.

Herding Lesson

Porter had his usual Thursday night herding lesson last night. I was able to convince John to come along - so I could get some photos & videos  :)

Actually, I gave him a choice: either he & Stout could come with us, or they could stay home together. He chose to come...


We squeezed our lesson in between storms.

We have been working a lot on driving. That was part of the reason I asked John to come along, I wanted videos of us driving so I could watch my body language. Unfortunately, most of John's time was spent trying to keep Stout occupied and he missed photographing & videoing that part of our lesson   :)

But that's ok, I'm just happy he got to see Porter do so well. I think it's really starting to click for us!

We actually drove them from around the cone into the Y chute! I won't say how many times we tried before we were successful...

The rest of the time we did some paralell driving, driving out in the middle (not up against the fence), inside flanks, and started & ended with outruns & fetching.

Here is a video of part of Porter's first outrun last night, followed by some the fetching at the end:

(View Video Larger)

Yes, that is Stout causing all the commotion. I think he was trying to get to some sheep poo...

"That'll do, Port."

Stout the Sheepdog

Stout got a chance to do a little herding today after Porter's lesson. Luckily John was there to capture the moment  :)