I am the little green gem.  Molly is the sun. The sheep are the little pink flowers.

Position 1 – I send Molly on the Away to Me command.  She moves along the fence line (ish) in a pretty controlled manner. Which i love.

Position 2 – She moves the sheep into balance and continues just past that center (balance) point.  I tell her to Lie Down, which is actually a sit as soon as she shifts her shoulder to wobble back into balance.  At first i was downing her every time, but i’m getting better at reading when she’s getting uncomfortable being off balance.  If i can be consistent, i want to encourage her to keep moving toward me whenever i can.  I’m getting better at being consistent.

Position 3 – This is where things get sticky. From this position, i need to get her moving toward me along the fence and move the sheep off me.  Which sounds easy enough (Here!), but she is being really hesitant and deliberate in her Away to Me Here flank.  After watching her break her down and go back to cover while i’m using the Away to Me Here command and encouraging her to come to me… i bagged using a command at all.  I open my mouth and she goes Come Bye to cover. /sigh We’ll do some pressure work until she can at least quit swinging back over to cover consistently – she did it a few times – and then i’ll install the commands.  There’s no sense in accidentally teaching her that Away to Me Here means Break Your Stay & Go to Balance.

Position 4 – is what we’re going for.  Her coming in front of me and pushing the sheep off.  Asking her to pause  then immediately sending her on the flank again.  It’s a reward of sorts as the flank is something she’s super comfortable with.  Pressure off.
We did do other things.  More of the Bone exercise from the last post on the lighter sheep.  I’ve gotten to the point where I am sending her into the pen by herself and using her flanks to guide her around to get her sheep.  She’s very methodical and getting more confident moving the sheep past me.

Here is the first video.  Remember this is the 3rd time she has done a Bye side inside flank and the second time she’s done them successfully.  So there is a lot of hand-holding here.  I want to build her confidence.  So there is a lot of leaning over and you can’t hear it, but there is lots of Yes! and such.  She seemed really unsure still.  i want her to go under the stick.  i want her to come around in front of me, but as we played more i was afraid that she would start associating the inside flank with coming to me instead of just coming in front of me.  I realize the difference is small, but Molly gets into these habits. She remembers and associates things. After a while i was not asking her to Come Bye Here not so close to me, but also behind me or a bit in front – depending on where the sheep were.

This is the next time we went out on the same day.  In this video she’s much smoother.  She doesn’t care if the stick is out or not.  She doesn’t need me to draw her in, just use the command that she’s already associating.

We also worked in a different and slightly larger sized pen. I think next weekend i’ll work the Bye side in the corner of a field. Different places so she doesn’t just associate this little chore with one particular location.

There isn’t any video for the Away side, but i’ll start that this weekend.  She did really well on the bone shape excercises.  Just moving them gently from one pen to another.  She had a hard time at first understanding to push them past me and into the other pen. So when she was about to pass she sheep to bring them back while we were all still in the alley, i told her There and then Walk Up again.    These yearling weathers were happy to keep walking to the pen… so that helped too.

I started today putting Molly in with the same medium (read here, totally fetchy, but not quite sofa quality) sheep as we used in the lesson.   To review we’re trying to do inside flanks.  Typically a flank is half a circle with the handler at one end of the arc and the sheep at the other. The dog goes out along the arc from the handler to the sheep and the sheep run like mad to the handler in a straight line. Each arc direction has a name; counter clockwise is Away to Me or Away, clockwise is Come Bye or Come (also known as Go Bye, but i use Go around the house for other things).  An inside flank is an indication to the dog to complete the circle, as opposed to just creating the initial arc.  When we’re teaching the inside flank, we use the term Away to Me Here or Come Bye Here.  The inside flank can be used for alot of purposes, but the best use to describe is when you are standing at the gate surrounded by sheep and need the sheep to go somewhere else or they will trample you at the gate.

I started first by asking her to do some things that were familiar… flanking in the 4×4 pen.  But i not only encouraged her to circle, which i almost never do, but also to stop behind me and flank on command.  She got the hang of it pretty quick.  After a bit of that, I started occasionally putting myself back to the fence and encouraging her to come to me.  Come as a command is not what i use to call her to me.  However, everyone else she interacts with does so she knows that Come is like Here.  So while her command to complete the flank – Come Bye Here was new, it wasn’t totally foreign.  i just put emphasis on the word she new and less emphasis on Bye.  In time i’ll add the emphasis.  After encouraging her to come to me i wanted to add some R+ to her coming in front of me.  My hope (above all hopes) is that in encouraging her to go in front of me and then letting her do something fun, she’ll start to drive to get in front of me by completing the arc.  Work backwards through the behavior chain, if i’m remembering correctly.   She’s happy to come in front of me on the Bye side for now.  So we’ll see how this works.

After doing the Bone/Dumbbell Exercises below, I also tried this theory with the yearling weathers as they are lighter than the girls… WAY BETTER.  Still not a complete flank, but they weren’t bent on being with me.  I could see the difference in her confidence.

When it came time to put the medium sheep away i had Molly push them off the gate then bring them around and out the gate. The medium sheep live in the pen that is just off the sorting pen at the other end of the alley.  So the draw is to that end of the alley.  The sheep take off that way at a nice slow trot and Molly went right down at about the same pace and stopped at the end of the alley/entrance to the pen.  On a whim, i called out her flank and to my surprise… around she went nice and slow and back up the sheep came back into the 4×4.  Which lead me to send her into the 4×4 with a walk up, then flank… and out they came and down she went.  Why is this important?  Well… for one, because the last time we tried this at Fido’s the speed of choice was fast. For two, because she took the flanks i called out. And for three because i stayed up at the 4×4 pen the entire time.  So YaY!

Elsie and I spent this lesson trying to figure out how to convince Molly to flank toward me for the crossdrive.   After discussing what i was seeing the few times i’d tried to flank her, we decided to head back to the little sorting box (4×4 pen).  The little pen allows for significantly more control.  First, we started with basic flanks;   i stand in the middle and she did beautiful little flanks and little fetches.  Then… after completing a little fetch i walked with my back to the fence.  The hope was that i could allow her inertia to come all the way around and push them off of me. Or not.

You see, this is what i should have been doing:  Since she was balking at the balance point and flipping around… i should have been stopping her at the balance point and THEN calling her ‘away to me – here’ or ‘here – away to me’, whichever works.  But that’s not how it works in the small pen to Molly.  You’re supposed to go to balance.  *I* was apparently doing it wrong.  So she’d start to slow down after she went to balance, i’d down her and then she’d not come toward me.

But i was having  learning problems of my own.  I couldn’t anticipate the stop and down her at the right time.  Then i couldn’t get to the side of the sheep to call Molly to me.  After watching me struggle, Elsie went in with Molly.  While Elsie and Molly have met a number of times, it just never really dawned on me that they were in the same space but not interacting.  So as i watched Elsie try to handle Molly – with lots of Yes! and encouragement – it was obvious that in Molly’s mind she was working for a stranger and she was not happy about it. After a little work, Molly would walk to Elise and she could be helped to cross over.  That would be after she slipped through the gate at the least amount of pressure. Poor spoiled beastie.

When I traded spots with Elsie,  she was better and I could see what i was doing wrong.  I’m still not getting to the right place every time but i’ll get there.  After a little convincing she’d come toward me, but not in front of me.  Why? Because she thinks you’re not supposed to do that.  After taking her by the collar and using it to guide her in front of me once of twice she was coming more easily to me.  Little by little the place that she is balking is getting just a touch closer to me and further off balance.

So the lesson here is to help her learn to complete the flank.  That Away to Me and Come Bye aren’t always just about going to the top, but sometimes is going in a circle.

We did a few fetch drills.  She’s not bending in on the Bye side as much anymore, but still inconsistently on the Away side.  Which is ok. Time and consistent work will work that out in time.   I’m not too worried. I am starting to send her off my side though.  She’s using me as a crutch otherwise and i’m tired of it.  I don’t wanna walk that much anymore!

We did some pen work.  Which she did well at with one caviot: she’s unsure about going around if i’m behind the gate.  behind the fence is fine, behind the gate makes for a black and white chicken.  Considering though that this is the 3rd time i’ve ever worked take pens with her, she’s doing not so badly.  She also put sheep out into the arena for other people.  Not quite and AKC style set-out, but put them out the gate nicely and they did happen to land around the right place. Yay – since i’d like to try to use her as a setout dog sometime.

We also did a baby crossdrive as per directions below:

In this image, i am yellow, Molly is purple and Sheep are red.  Though instead of going out and around me like in the pic, she’s walking right in behind the sheep because they’re already at the fence.   There are two ways to look at this and i’m sticking with the lemonaide version:  she walks up very nicely, slows on command as needed and after 10 or 15 steps does a lovelyjob of peeling them off the fence back to me. Which for a speed demon is a minor miracle.  The reality version is that she walks up very nicely, slows on command and cannot seem to take a flank toward me.  Tried calling her in Come-Here, Away-Here.  Tried just Come Bye so she’d flank out behind me, and she takes the away to fetch them in to me.  So, instead of perpetuating a bad habit that we can talk to Elsie about it on Wednesday.  When she did it last weekend i tried it twice and she just couldn’t get her head around it.  When i tried it this past weekend i started telling her to Lie and then the flank hoping that it would catch her attention.  Not so much.

However, in a brighter spot, in an open field she’ll push them off me and drive them away straight off me.  She’ll catch the eye and just keep on going.  I’ve had to reinforce the Walk Up which has worked well as she’s forced to Walk Up walking away form me.  So she’s not associating the Walk Up with walking toward me.  Now to just teach her that covering flank. OOHHHHHH Elssssie….

At least i had the good sense to ask for help before i totally break her this time! LOL

Oh and nothing new with Simon.  I might put him out on Wednesday for kicks.  He has a drive so maybe i can figure out steering a little better with him.

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…

So here is the section of Fido’s we used:

Out sheep first had to be moved quietly out of the Large Field and down into the sorting pens next to the Round Pen.  The easiest course would have been to go down through the Round Pen, but i wanted to also work in the alley a bit.  In our Ranch trial she was purposefully off contact and this was a good time to work on that.  I started her doing some show slow fetches in the alley way.  It’s not comfortable for her as she’s not a fan of fences, but the more we do exercises like this the more comfortable she gets.  I had her working hard at doing gates properly and consistently. So pushing the sheep off, going out wide and bringing them in through the gate appropriately (read: slow, controlled and not trying to run me over tks).

I purposely chose to use the center sorting pen.  It provided the least amount of fence assistance, had a little grass and water and it is the sorting pen Molly hates.  Perfect. I started with something that used existing skills; the repen.  The hard thing about a a repen with little fence assistance is that she has to stop in exactly the right place of the sheep will end up somewhere else.  Usually behind me.  And they did that a number of times.  I found it helpful to anticipate their motion by a few seconds (and insert a few sheepprayers) and then i finally got her stopped where i needed her and all noses pointing the right way.  Not consistently, but enough that she was starting to get the groove and intention.

The next little project was removing the sheep from the pen.  Remember she hates this pen and would prefer not to go into it. The possibility that she might try to use a different tool – like eye- and cheat is very good.  And the first time i just sent her in using her commands to see what she’d do and sure enough she stood on the outside of the pen and turned on the eye and out the sheep came.  While that’s a helpful tool, we needed to have other skills. Can’t always cheat like that.   I slipped my finger under her collar and said ‘come’ as we walked together going the Comebye (clockwise) direction slowly.  She still turned on the eye, but after the third time i didn’t have to hold her collar. I let go of her collar and stood behind the gate about the 4th or 5th time and she started to go in on her own.  I didn’t really give her a directional command and she chose the Away (counterclockwise) direction.  I thought this was interesting as it’s her stronger side, but not the side i was instructing her on.  Oddly enough in looking back, the way the pen is designed one could argue it is the better direction to go. Then she pushed them out, paused for a moment and went out and returned them on command.  Not smooth or with a ton of confidence, but enough that she wasn’t ragged or crazy.  She’s not especially strong on her Bye side, and we’ll work on that more next weekend as time allows.

I’m super proud of her. She’s not happy in hot weather, but she didn’t try to quit or blow things up. She got the job and stuck with it.

Despite being out of the training gig for a while, this past weekend opened up a lot of interesting opportunities.  While most of Seattle shrinks at the sight of the alien orb; i love the heat.  My pasty white Irish doesn’t, but that has never stopped me before.  With the heat in the Puget Sound, Fido’s was sparse.  I’ve really missed the zen moments in handling.  At my level of handling, you really can’t just phone it in when you’re having a bad day.  So everything that has been bothering me the last few weeks had to stay in the car, leaving all my focus on the work at hand.  Not only a relief, but good practice for me in general.  I carry things too long.

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!!

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.