No big secret, I love to fly.  My first flight ever was a trans-atlantic to Germany with my mom.  I was 9 months old and according to mom I slept and cooed the entire time. The first real rule I remember learning as a child was to keep my nose and peanut butter residued paws off the windows in the terminal.  I (still) love to watch planes take off and land.  I’ve taken at least one flight every year since I was about 9.

While I know that airports and flying turn some people into swollen masses of cortisol… I still love it.

Here is the boarding line for Southwest at SeaTac.  She is saying how much they appreciate us flying with them, that they appreciate our cooperation as the flight is very full and to follow the signs to know when to line up.

The translation:

“You have chosen a bargain basement airline.  We will use techniques adapted from factory farmers to squeeze as many of you as possible into this plane for the lowest possible overhead.  When we’re done the term Sardines in a Can will resonate in every cell of your body. Even the complimentary bag of peanuts will be so small it would be better described as an act of good will than a snack. Since you can buy a new pair of boots at DSW for more than you paid for this airline ticket, your opinions, while mildly interesting, are irrelevant.  Enjoy your flight.”

It is true.  The boots I want at DSW cost more than my seat on this flight – round trip.  They are super cute.  So while it was enjoyable, I think it is safe to assume hot towels won’t be distributed near the end of the flight.  Such is life. ;o)

The car part was short and painless.  If you google Alamo & last minute there are screaming deals.  I got a full size car for $11 a day.  Between that and getting in and out in 15 minutes… what is not to like?

So far we have:
Ferry
Car
Cab
Lightrail
Airplane

We may have the opportunity to add zipline and i’m thinking i’ll spend part of tomorrow morning finding some OTHER obscure way to get around. ;o)

Was a funny thing… i was talking to a person who was new to stock trials, but had taken lessons and she said (no joke) “I could never handle stock back there!  I don’t have enough experience…”.

Like that has ever stopped anyone.   But i felt bad because i laughed out loud and maybe a bit too loud.  In my defense i was covered in dirt and just pleased that nothing was bleeding except my finger.  Everything was funny.

It dawned on me that i’ve been doing this blog for a long time and there might be a misconception that i know what i’m doing.  Ok, that’s not fair. There might be a misconception that i was raised around animals and this is all a very natural progression.  If the curve of my life lead me to work cows with dogs, then the next logical step will be my becoming a physicist.  It is that far off the natural course.

When i was an infant we had an Irish Setter. I had a cat when i was in elementary school – who hated everyone. I also walked my neighbors setter for a few months.  I grew up in an apartment complex and later in a condo, both in-town.  I did go to horse camp every year during Jr. High into high school. Which i know sounds very dressage, but we learned good trail skills, bareback riding and those ‘user skills’ that a person around a horse should know: how to smell bad hay, clean tack, curry… those things.  That is the end of my animal experience up until high school when i worked in a vet hospital.

When i got Simon he started fetching horses.  To learn to harness his power I started working him on sheep at Diane’s.  i met Ron.  That following April, a group of us went to go check out the ASCA April trial and i was volun-told to cattle. No joke the conversation went like this:

Bob (course director) : we need someone in cows

Ron: We can teach Amy can do that.

Bob: Ok

Amy: Wait, what cows?  *in* cows?

I learned about moving cattle from Ron and Bob in the mud.  And the rain.  I fell in the previously mentioned mud, was soaked to the bone, wore inappropriate foot wear which lead to an unplanned foot treatment and loved every second.  They entertained my questions – including the always popular “none of the cows have horns… are they all female?”.

Yes, i was that wet behind the ears.

After awhile i started working in the pens with other people and now i usually work alone in cows at April for part of the day.   It’s a meditation i enjoy.  It requires all my focus and the other things just melt away.  Sometimes i work other trials. I enjoy the people and the challenge of the different setups.  I like watching teams I know be successful and see the handling style of people new to me.  It is the best view in the house.

The point of all this is that i’m not a ‘tough’ or especially confidant personality – i’m rather squishy.  I’m not big.  I had no real experience.  You don’t get experience unless you get in and do.  Work with someone who has some experience and they’ll help you find a job that works for you.

If i can do it – anyone can.

Excuses are like… anyway.  I’ve been gone and as this is my training journal i’ve not really filled it with a lot of personal junk.  But we’re all doing just fine.  Busy, but fine.  We’ll be diving back in this coming weekend as we have a lesson scheduled for the end of the month.

You’ll notice there are some other posts from Spokane Stockdogs. These will be going up on a regular basis until at least the Cattledog Finals at the end of May.  Ron is a dear friend in Spokane and i’m thrilled that i’m able to share Ron’s training and trialing stories.  Ron always reminds me to work my dog and have a good time, the rest will fall into place.

between now and then i’ll leave you with this:

A guy is stuck in a hole.  A doctor passes, tosses a prescription down the hole and keeps on going.  A priest stops, says a few nice words and then carries about his duties.  A psychatrist stops for what seems like hours.  They discuss everything except the hole, and while the guy feels better about his predicament – he is still in a hole with no apparent way out.  To make matters worse all that insight has given him a headache and the hole isn’t well stocked.  Finally, a friend happens to pass and notices the guy in the hole.  He calls down “hey, you ok down there?”

The guy calls back up “fantastic.  the island sunsets and tropical temperatures are great down here in this hole.”

The friend immediately jumps down in the hole and looks around. “yup” he says “down right balmy.”

They guy almost comes completely unglued at his friends perceived foolishness.  “Are you completely daft? Now we’re both stuck down here.”

The friend smiles and replies calmly, “it’s a deep hole for sure, but i’ve been here before and I know the way out.”

The big win from this weekend is that it went wrong and i didn’t freak out.  Which I have to say is pretty awesome. Click brownie (actually recently discovered truffles from Amore Chocolates) for the handler.  I laughed pretty much through our entire takepen debacle and it wasn’t that ‘i have to laugh or i’m going to cry’ sort of laughing.  Watching Molly’s reaction to being in a small pen with sheep that look something like this was honestly better then Saturday Night Live.  Not Robin Williams Live funny, but way better than cowbell. And yes, our sheep had horns and they knew it.

Scottish Blackface Ewes

The sheep were apparently disinterested in coming out of the take pen for many people during the trial, but so much so that they actually wouldn’t come out of the takepen for us.  To the point that i kicked Molly out of the take pen and physically stood inbetween the sheep and the back of the pen. Not that they noticed; they were busy trying to dig a hole to China or any other location that was not in that take pen.  Bless Molly’s little heart, she tried her best considering we started doing take pens last week.   She wasn’t sure about going around by herself so i stepped in with her.  Then she tried to go to balance, but there was no where for me to go that was both in balance and yet out of the way enough to give the sheep an exit.  She even tried (finally) to be a little cow dog and went to head without connecting.  Which left me laughing in the take pen and wondering where that dog was when we were in eastern Washington actually working cows. I think we need  some livestock flash cards.  She was so pleased with herself and disappointed that the sheep were gone that as I was leaving the arena she tried to get through the gates and into the sorting area as the stock handlers came through.  So close and yet, so far away. Poor Molly.

I did discover something interesting in all this.  Successful or not, I really don’t enjoy trialing in that A-course B-course format.  Maybe it’s the ADD.  Maybe I just don’t understand the idiosyncrasies of those courses and why they’re used as the benchmark for a working Aussie in ASCA – either or both are probably the malfunction.  Maybe my competitive style is more like golf and less like football?  What i do know is that i’m just not competitive enough to worry about the above mentioned maybe’s.   Much like other folks i love to show off, but a few months ago Molly and I were working in the big arena on something new to us.  After working through it and heading out to the parking lot, an Open Handler complimented me on her and how we worked it out together specifically.  “She’s a great little dog. Keep at it.”  That, for whatever reason is worth so much more to me than a score sheet – qualifying or not.

Not to suggest that trialing the A or B course in ASCA is bad or unworthy.  Some of my dearest friends are totally into it and I will always be out there to support them.  It’s just not my bag.  I love the ASCA Ranch course and can’t wait to actually be successful at it.  A & B just don’t work for me somehow.

So we’re going back to where i can see the goal and understand it’s purpose.  Apparently, despite the information on my drivers license i’m still 6 years old and insist on asking ‘why’ all the time.  Though, when i was 7 i took apart my neighbors power tools to better understand how they worked.  So if this is the timeline we’re using next year will be interesting…

I created a new category on this blog called “Amy Things”.  Originally when publishing here I wanted to stick to the hard nuts and bolts (rocks & sticks?) of stockdog work.  Though in this little adventure i’ve found that trying to separate Molly’s training from my ‘training’ and personal growth is much like taking peas out of their shell.  Gotta deal with the shell to get to the pea. That’s a bad analogy, but they are calling me from the garden.  I have peas on my mind.

This last month has been really busy.  Mostly with good things, but busy none the less and has put me in a position where i just couldn’t get down to train.  I have a dear friend who, among other things, trains team leaders.  He tells me it takes 6 weeks of hard work to make a habit.  I find a lot of solace in that as i’m missing the rhythms of working stock and missing my weekly yoga work that helps to make that stock work more fluid.  I suppose that means that despite the nutty schedule, I have in fact made that habit and can’t wait to get back to it.  While i have been deeply enjoying the other things i’ve been up to, I find a lot of satisfaction in knowing that i’m excited to get back in the groove.

It’s a neat feeling to have my stock work sit in balance with the other things in my life. For a long time it felt like something i had to do to get where i wanted to be.  Like washing the dishes or mopping the floors to keep a home presentable.  Lately though, i’ve found myself wanting to trial less and work more.  Not because there’s anything wrong with trialing, but it just doesn’t seem to fill me the same way that working does.

Which is strange because i like to go to trials.  I like seeing my friends find success (and sometimes just to see them as success was elusive that day) and I enjoy the view from the stockpens.  I feel that handling stock in the pens is slowly making me a better handler and I learn so much from watching the runs.  It’s not a replacement for actual trial time; that’s why the ASCA-gods created the Novice and FEO classes.  However, it can be interesting watching run after run and knowing which group of stock – in my case cows – people have consistently had trouble with.  In that scenario is the learning opportunity – are they all finding the same problems because they’re all doing the same thing or are different handlers trying to use different tools and still not finding success? At what point are they just backing away and calling their run? If one handler seems to find success where the others with the same group do not, what are they doing differently or what is different about their dog?   Or conversely what happened that, for a variety of reasons I wouldn’t be comfortable trying to replicate despite success or lack thereof?

Typically i have the opportunity to work stock at little at the ASC of BC trial.  That should settle my needs.  While I love my club, the Canadians are a group i especially like to watch.  I see a lot of the same dogs/faces every year from the cowpens and it’s fun to watch them progress even in the little snapshots that are my 2 day visit.  From a handling perspective, it also presents a set different set of challenges for me, which i like.  The lower fences (maybe 4feet?) in the handling pens combined with the necessity to gate sort each run, it forces you to not only be aware of pressure and how best to use those pressure points.  Too much pressure or pressure in the wrong place and not only will you miss the cow that you’re sorting, but it’s entirely possible that a cow might take a flying leap into an adjacent pen.  I know it because i’ve done it, twice on two separate trips.  Oh, and you’re on the clock as the handler is waiting on you and there really is only room for one or two handlers.  Every trial has their challenges and it is in working through those errr… missteps(?) that i find i learn the most.

Of all the trials I learn the most about how i’ve progressed as a handler at this trial.  No room for a dog, so there’s no crutch or distraction.  Just learning how to use little motions to move steady and set the group.

Anyhow, so i’ll post photos on BC.  It’ll all make more sense and it’s super pretty up there!!

Simon doesn’t get a lot of airtime here.  As a general statement, this is my training journal.  However, none of this would be possible without Simon.   You see it was Simon fetching the neighbor’s horses out of our field to return them in the dark that led me into working dogs.  I wanted another heartbeat in the house and he needed a place to live, 6 years ago last month.

Above all else, Si (pronounced “Ss-Eye”) is chief caretaker/greeter in charge.  It doesn’t really matter how you feel about dogs, he doesn’t care.  At the ARPH/ Seattle Kennel Club rescue booth he was often on his longline carefully inspecting pockets for munchies, then would sit infront of who ever had them.  Didn’t really matter much if they were in motion.  One year, a woman approached him at the booth pet him and then burst into tears.  He looked just her dog who had just passed and she needed a set of ears to scratch.  He knew it too, just curled up right next to her and let her cry on him.

When Molly was recovering, she kept falling off the bed. However, keeping her on the bed was the easiest way to make sure i got her outside in a timely manner at night. So despite a deep dislike for sleeping on the bed, he sucked it up and for a full week Molly slept between us on the bed. He was miserable. She still worships him. Go figure.

Don’t go and think he’s all soft and gushy.  He’s tough enough to move just about any cow and is plotting the demise of the raccoon who has foolish;y chosen to nest in the maple tree on the back of our property.  He’s the reason I happily camp where ever i want thank you very much.  Not because he’s dangerous, but he’s 24″ and 70 pounds trim.  He’s totally approachable but most folks don’t try hard.

The irony is that it took almost 20 minutes of my sitting perfectly still for him to approach me the first time we met in Spokane.  On the first approach he was pretty close and i stuck out my hand for him to smell and he pee’d and took off.  It took a long while for him to figure out that i wasn’t out to get him. Not that anyone would know now.

So happy adoption month Bubba.  Not sure exactly who adopted who, but at this point I don’t think it matters much.

I’m late, i know.  I got distracted with garden cleanup and my birthday.  Important stuff first.

Molly is doing well. I’ve worked her a few times since the last post and she seems to be getting the hang of the cross drive. I’m getting farther (like feet, not yards) away from the sheep and she’s controlling the heads more from the appropriate location. The little things in life.

Simon is oddly busy, but i don’t think he realizes it. I’ve been steathfuly working on obedience commands as part of the FB 2010-Year of the CD Challenge. A CD title is the first most basic title in ASCA obedience trials.   His long sits are becoming more consistent and his heel-work is better. He still gets distracted by grass he’s not peed on, though he’s up to every 3rd blade instead of every single blade. We need to start adding distractions soon.  He’s also starting to work ducks on line.  He seems confused that they don’t flock like sheep. For instance when he’s coming up the middle of the arena and pushes on the sweetspot a little too hard they fan out.  He *thinks* about diving in out of frustration, but then looks back at me like i’m doing it as part of an elaborate joke.  So far, no squishing though.  Think good thoughts for us.

On other stuff… i’m currently teaching myself MySQL & PHP – which has been interesting/frustrating.  My goal is to eventually redo the ASC of WA events page so that each event can have one or more people assigned to make changes to their own events.  So as an example for the April Showers event, I could have edit privileges as could Bob  – the Course Director and Michelle – our paperwork Goddess.  More importantly, this would allow people to add and edit their own events, when and how they’d like them to appear.  Lisa could log in, add her event and would never have added a line about cattle – oops -  and update the judges for Lakebay (that i will add tonight, but see where i’m going with this since i’ve not done it yet?).

Don’t get too excited. In a perfect world this *might* be ready for the 2011 schedule.  However it’s an exciting project and would be the beta project for redoing NWDog.

From the Blog “Repurposed” http://repurposed.wordpress.com/

**

Instead of filling it up…. empty it out.

Instead of accumulating… destash

Instead of panicking… pray

Instead of talking… listen

Instead of leading… follow

Instead of “Me” choose “You”

Instead of “too busy” choose “I’ll make room for you”

When you find yourself saying “I need it”, ask “who could use it more?”

When you find yourself saying “I’m important”, remember to live as though there are no levels…

Instead of “won’t” choose “should I?”

Instead of doing it the same old way, ask “is there something better?”

Instead of …….?

What can you fill in for an “Instead of……” for your life in 2010?

*****

A safe a happy 2010 to you and yours.

It’s kinda funny.  I had a post running around in my mind on Monday about how not great, but not bad my weekend session with Molly was.  Then I noticed something when i got home from work; Simon is starting to grey around his muzzle.  I’m not really sure when it happened.  I’ve been carefully sorting through my pictures trying to pinpoint when it really started, but truth is i’m a horrible photographer. Tragic.   Since i talk about Molly a lot… here is Simon.

He’s five.  It’s not like he’s an old dog or in poor physical condition.  Just the opposite; he’s a tank. He’s 23 1/2″ tall and about 65lbs.  Where some peoples dogs have sensitive stomachs, I have Simon.  A dog that recently started watching me harvest nuts from the trees in our yard and has now taken to hulling and knawing the meat out of the dropped walnuts and cracking open the dropped hazelnuts.   We had to negotiate a separation of the blackberry bushes in the yard a few years back.  What is above his shoulders is mine.   The rest is his.

Not that he eats everything. He’s picky as 4 legged stomachs go.  He doesn’t eat non-food items like rocks or spoiled meat and such.  He doesn’t like broccoli, but i’m not sure if it is a texture or taste issue.  The cauliflower didn’t go over well either.

He does love biscuit day.  What is there to not like about beef bacon and cheese scraps?

I suppose i’m just not ready to deal with the idea of his mortality.  Not that I had the delusion that he’d live forever, but it was very easy to just not deal with it at all.  If I decide not to recognize it, does it really exist?  Oh well, either way he’s fine and in good health.  We’ll be thankful for that.  Besides, with some of that added merle has come some maturity. Finally.

I wonder if Just for Men would cover?

With all of the doGawful heat we’ve had in the last few weeks, we took time off stock and did other important things: cleaned the house and worked on Down, Stay and Here.  Arguably the 3 most important commands any dog learns. Also, the 3 commands that dear Molly seemed to have forgotten.  ” Molly, here.” and she sits. Which only really proves that our telepathic link needs an upgrade.

In starting to work through these problems with our friend the 20′ long line, I started to remember the most important thing for me to remember: laugh, always.  You see I get just a bit too serious and alittle hung up on the least important details.  The fact that the dog previously knew this command doesn’t matter much as right now, your dog is either blowing you off or not understanding what you’re asking for.    Now the fact that the dog might be blowing you off is a problem that needs to be deal with.  But dog can hear you just fine; shut up.  This is especially important for me. I’m not sure if it’s 2 years of Mr. Hardin’s breath control training or working in the warehouse for 7 months, but my voice carries.  The louder I am, the less my dog hears me and the faster she gets.

Sound like fun yet?  Oddly, after 2 weeks of working the commands I put her on sheep and it was fun!

The tools were as follows:

1 – Training Flag (image links to the best source – www.bordercollies.com)

1 – Fiberglass stock stick

1 – Dog

and 1 12oz plastic bottle with a few rocks and a stick inside.  No joke. Hightech here in sheep-land.

My goal, was to keep my cool no matter what.  Use my tools to replace my voice and the only commands I decided to use were Easy-Down, Easy and Walkup.  We’re also working on introducing There, and did so but that gets a little confusing.  Flanks were directed using the stick and bodypressure.  Getting up too tight, taking off or otherwise going out of contact was a bottle shake.  Since those are things I didn’t want to assign terms to, lest i make up a command for something I don’t want, they only get the bottle and then what I want to see as necessary or a praise if she self corrects.  All things in balance.

Here is a diagram of our working area (click on image for larger version):

We did have a lot of fun. I started using the flag as it’s something she’s used to and then switched to the stick and was pleasently surprised that she seemed more responsive, but without the stress.  I used obstacle A just as part of practicing walking the fenceline and managinge speed, not pushing too hard and such.  We also did off fence walks and fenceline fetches in the space just next to A.   In obstacle B I wanted to be careful that she not get ahead of me in the zigzag.  She followed in and I used it as an opportunity to mess around with speeds. Eventually I think i’d like her to control the stock from outside that obsticle, but there is time for that later.  I skipped over obstacle C.   The 2 lined up panels of obstacle D were so fun though.  First, I used them like weave panels.  She can’t be too close, but still couldn’t go off contact as the sheep might ‘get away’.  Worst thing ever, ya know.  Then I started having her move the sheep while I was on the other side of the panel from her and sheep. Just little steps.  She finished up by finally accomplishing her very first slow controlled repen.  She walked up into her stock on command to push them past the gate, kicked out to bring them in and slowed down just as the right time.  Now, that took 6 tries to get, but it was there! It was! It was!

I did remember to laugh at myself.  I had pushed her a little hard and she disconnected from her stock to play with the other sheep in the next pen.  Understand, the sheep in the next pen are so dog-broke, when a dog runs at them from another pen… they take 3 steps back away from the fence and stop.  So i let her go. When she got to the fence and didn’t get the reward of them running about, she looked back at me confused and i did the only thing I could realistically do. “You can’t get them! Nanny nanny na na!”  She put her ears back at me. She was not amused, but came back to her sheep and did 10 more minutes of solid work.