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)

Typically this is a training blog, but my misadventues in mass transit this weekend are too detailed for facebook.

Before anyone asks, yes there is a housesitter & the best intruder deterrent Aussie Rescue has ever referred.  )

Yesterday, I drove to north seattle and dropped off Peanut with her slaves for a long weekend.  From there, I got a taxi to the ferry to Bainbridge for a company party.  Which by the way was too much fun.

On the transit checklist we have automobile, cab & ferry.

So far today, we have more ferry as bainbridge is an island, light rail and shortly: airplane.

Ferries in Washington serve a dual purpose in being both working commuter transit & tourist activity.  People come to Seattle and take the ferry… anywhere.  Mostly because the views are awesome even in the worst weather, but I think ferries are extra awesome in the morning when the commuters ride.  In the early morning there always seems to be something interesting going on.  This morning was no exception as we had a Harp Busker.  Yes, you read that correctly. Harp Busker.

He played the most beautiful christmas music throughout the ride.  The little kids traveling into city to shop with their families would aproach him and leave change.  People would stop, take photos with their phone and then talk with him.   You almost can’t help it as he is super personable.

The light rail was less fun, but not a bad ride.  There are places for luggage and it wasn’t especially crowded.  They run every 10 minutes from downtown and take about 45 minutes to get to the airport.  Since the platform is right behind the tall parking structure you really don’t walk any further. 
Super easy.

Next is the plane & the automobile.  Oh and finding a hotel and the wedding site since I left all my documentation at home and forgot to upload some things to Evernote.

It’s an afternoon wedding – so I have time to figure it out. LOL

When Molly was first in her big accident, I found myself having to do some insta-learning.  In living with Simon, and my own physical hiccups, i’m comfortable with broken bodies.  I know what to do for the most part.  Also, i’m a devotee of Dr. Gregory House – so i know everything.   Molly’s most serious injuries were to her brain; an area that i have very little experience with.   I’ve had a mild concussion. There is a big difference between snowboarding for the the first time on ice dusted with snow and falling forward face first down the mountain… and whatever happened to Molly that knocked her unconscious for 25 minutes and stopped her pupils from dilating for 3 days.

Thankfully, when her former foster mom came to see her a few days afterward,  she told me something that i’ve always kept in mind:

[I] had a major concussion years ago, and [i'm] just now starting to feel normal again. Be patient. It can take a long time.

Fast forward almost 4 years (eek!) and we are now living in a different situation. At the new house, she has free reign and access to a good sized backyard.  No more Amy lording over S&M, constantly directing their play.  Instead they are starting to instigate their own play – most recently in front of the TV (grr).  They are both more relaxed.  While a little bored with no deer/moles/ducks to chase, the new noises and other dogs are interesting.  As is whatever Simon thinks is camped out under my shed.

Simon even made a dog friend. That’s how much more relaxed he is.

And I am more relaxed, both generally and with them.

What’s the progress?  The little dog who rarely made any noise outside of a barely audible whine will alert bark on occasion and has even started ‘talking’ to me.
Non-Molly Example:

Just to be clear, Molly’s first words will not be I Love You.  It will be Bring Me Bacon. I’ve created a monster.

Last night i was standing against the back of the couch watching TV and all the sudden there were little paws on my arse and my elbow was being nose-bumped!

No, i didn’t get after her.  I may regret it later and i’m ok with that.

While i’m not sure how our new situation and Molly’s current progress are related, I am positive they are.  Yes, Positive.

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.

Let’s get the hard part over with.  I drove to San Diego on whim once.  So driving to Spokane and back to Seattle randomly it just one of those things.  It happens.

I went out with the plan of teaching myself to sit and watch.  I realized not long ago that i’ve never gone to an ASCA trial and just watched.  Take it all in, and see the trial the way a competitor does.  It might help me present a better trial?

In a moment of Deja Vu, i went back to the handlers to say “hi” and the next thing i knew i was helping to sort sheep and asking if adding Molly to the mix would be too many dogs? This happens fairly often… i just can’t seem to sit and watch like a normal person.  Anyway.

The setup at Black Sheep is not one that i’ve ever seen anywhere else.  Stock are presorted into groups and then the alley way is partitioned as there are not enough holding pens for the number of stock.  As one group goes out, everyone is moved up one space.  The last two spaces before the take pen are metal sided boxes with sliders that separate.  They always remind me of something you’d use in calf roping or similar – though i’ve never seen the stock handling side of calf roping.  Each star in the diagram indicates where a dog/handler team were located along the way.  Up front was Ron and Tigr/Kiki, then me and Molly and finally Randy and Ben.

With everything being solid sided in those last two spaces before the Take Pen you have two options to move your stock: you can use your stockstick to encourage them or use a dog to create pressure.  While using your dog *sounds* easy enough the space is only about 4″ high.   After a lot of cajoling, including me on my hands and knees trying to get Molly to look underneath – which there are no pictures of.  Thank doG.  She did however, watch Tigr the Open Border Collie stick her little red nose under there and wanted to know why.  Little black nose went down, stock moved, dog was praised and the habit begins establishment.

The goal was always to have her do what she needed to do to move the stock. Not necessarily to get into the chute, but if that’s what she thinks she needs to do i’ll give her latitude.  After a little work, she started sliding under the divider and would stand into the middle and push them at. It was interesting watching her learn how to manage her power standing still.  Molly’s power is typically by movement, but it’s hard to move in a bitty box.  At first she went from zero to head – which isn’t the best solution.  Don’t be confused by us all being happy that the stock is stressed.  Molly has traditionally not been the ‘tough dog’.  You can bring that behavior down and shape it – but it’s hard to build in.  In time though she started to use move eye, more of the cow moving skills that we worked on at Summer Spectacular.  Holding her ground until the stock turns and then releasing pressure.  Being fair to everyone.

The last task after moving the groups in the chute up, was to take the newer group from the last holding pen and putting them into the chute.  Even though Molly has been doing take pen work, i was concerned about her moving light trial sheep and something not going well.  i do like to be careful with other people’s sets. What you may not see in the end of this video because of the additional fencing is that she is backing the sheep up into it’s group.  This was not unusual and allowed us to practice that slow methodical walk up and stay to hold.  As a side note, i did try to down her a few times, but realized about the third time that she didn’t take the command that if she did lie down and release any pressure those sheep would have run over her.  She stood quietly and never dove in.

We got a lot of nice compliments, which i loved.  A competitor came back to watch just in time for me to accidentally let a sheep (another brown sheep come to think of it!) down the alley instead of going into the chute.  Molly was hot on her tail, turned her before the end of the alley and stopped completely. Then walked her up slow and careful back to pen and finally her chute.  Thankfully the competitor missed the part where i was on my hands and knees trying to get Molly to nose under the chute… only realize that she was disinterested because the sheep had already left.  I’d like to imagine Molly’s thought bubble read “are you ok?” and not “are you blind?”.

Dog is wise…

I’m working on a larger post about our adventure at BSASC, but after watching the videos a few times it’s obvious to me that a diagram is required to give context.

Since i’m trying out the fancy blog app on the new smart phone… I can really draw now.  Later today maybe, tomorrow for sure.

I did want to post what a great tome we had.  John and randy and hope and Ron and everyone were so understanding and gracious letting us help.  Even though I drove back from Spokane that night – I was totally jazzed at the great work Molly did.

Was pretty awesome.  TY Black Sheep!

“The definition of insanity is to the same thing over and over, expecting different results” Unknown(really, look at the link!).

Molly and I have had a strange relationship with cows. At first, she was an epic fail. Flat flat flat – when she actually tried to interact. Which made me start to wonder if she’d every actually turn on to cows. Then on a whim i used her a little in larger pen spaces with calves at April and she started to maybe sparkle a little. She wasn’t “on” the way that you always hear about dogs turning on to cows:

She just ran right at them. It was amazing. I was so scared

Or something like that.

At April, Molly was a little timid and defensive, but not freaked out. Just not so interested that I thought she’d ever get real presence.

Mea Culpa, Molly Moo. We tried things a different way and got different results. Everyone act surprised so i can feel better please.

First, the disclaimer – If I had been in the cattle pens alone i would have never done this as i’ve not started a dog on cows by myself. I had an experienced and well respected trainer/handler/friend in the cow pens and i didn’t intend to use her in the trial pens. More importantly, those were ‘his’ pens and would have not hesitated to kick me out if there was anything inappropriate going on that might skew the runs or similar.

We found in the cattle pens when we were running low on ‘fresh’ cows we needed a little dog pressure just outside the pen to get that last set to walk in without a lot of work (this is why we use dogs on stock remember, it is supposed to make less work). Since our dog choices were Abject Power and Molly, i told my handler-mate that the cows might not move off her but we’d give it a shot. All they needed though was a little pressure… and pressure off. Cake, right? Right.

With a little victory, and some breakfast I grabber her leash and started bringing her in with me to do my job. First not making it a big deal that she was there. Molly has a good Follow, which also means not to interact with the stock. We got cows out of the repen, moved them into the group of ‘used’ cows and then eventually when we needed a little dog pressure to move the last fresh set into the pen, we used her again inside the pen this time.

And we both had more confidence.

Then we upgraded to really using her (still on leash) and showing her what i wanted from her. The take pen work we’d been doing really shined. She took her flank and got to the back of the pen nicely. Still a little timid, but as the ‘used’ section grew, the cows started to try to stare her down. At this point i was out of my element. My first thought was to just let her go to head and be done with it. My handler-mate explained how to teach her to hold the gaze, win the stare down and release the pressure – essentially to be fair to the cow. Molly got good at this before my timing got better, but eventually she was staring down pretty consistently.

She did have one good tussle and rolled under a cow – no contact, but she was under and inbetween legs. You’d think that with that, little miss would have given up. However after that i started to drop her lead when moving the cows from the repen to the ‘used’ section and she had a real confidence about her. I started dropping the lead more, and she was really making herself quite useful.

I can haz move cow.

She did a great job today and got porkribs for her hard work.   We’ll try again tomorrow and see how things move along!

Since it’s been a while since i really worked Nutty, i made a point to video as much as i could.  Also, i was really looking forward to working her.  I know it might sound odd, but i missed working her.  It’s a bit Zen-ish for me.  Anyway, we used some heavyish sheep and started putting together the pieces of a take pen.

Starting out

So in this first video, we can see that she’s a bit unsure about getting in the pen. It’s a confidence thing that will pass. Before anyone asks, no i’m not dragging her or choking her by her collar. I’m not even gripping it. Just slid a finger underneath it to help guide her. Now, what i *should* have been doing was having her stop on the 3rd pole (back left) instead of between the two poles. But whatever. For the first while i used her to put them out of the pen and then used her to put them away. The last few seconds are interesting as at first she can’t deal with the pressure, then after releasing the pressure comes back in towards the sheep and finds success in moving them. Which is a nice little win.

Here, i’m using my body to push her out on the outrun and bring the sheep back. More importantly, we’re not doing ring around the handler in the take pen as i’m backing up to the right place to get the idea of her sheep going into the pen correctly. And she’s not coming into the pen to do it.

We’re starting to put things together here. The sheep come out rather smoothly, and we start the process of moving along the fence.
And finally, sheep come out, move around and put them away.

you’ll notice there is a lot of me lieing her down and Liieee and all that. the last video where we had a discussion about not crowding the sheep didn’t record properly. But after that we were fine and repeated this a few different times changing direction and such.

Superfun!

Outtakes:

When Nutty just had to poop…

But they’re supposed to be in there! (the joys of a smart dog)

Really need to be smarter than the stock to do this….

A lady that i see often at trial as the most wonderful red dog that she named Tuna (chicken of the sea) as she was a stockbred dog who was afraid of stock. I heart this dog as she is just so personable, and even more so as she did turn on to stock… around age 5.

Molly has had a similar problem with cows. She has been tied out back near the cattle pens with me for the last few years and was set loose with cows good to start on over this past summer. But Molly, being 35lbs just politely let her self out of the pen and went back to the car. TYVM.

At the last April trial, i went so far as to try to use her on leash to move the cattle down the isle and out to their overnight field. Which she did begrudgingly.

This year at the April Trial seemed different. As early as Saturday afternoon she was carefully watching each cow that wandered in the holding pen and was equally intent as i moved cows in and out of their sorted pens for trial runs. When I was handling calves alone, I asked her to stand (tied up) to give her the feeling of putting just enough pressure on the calves to move them. Being calves heading back to their safe pen, they moved every time with or without her standing, but i could see her confidence build.

At the end of the first trial day, i cut her loose from her tether so she could potty and such. As she pottied i started the slow process of moving the calves from holding pens to roundpen for final release into the field as a group. Before i even had a chance to start unloading the first pen into the isle, there was Molly – Poof! Ears up and confident, ready to help.

I attached the 18″ trial leash (which at her size only allows her to get about 1 step ahead of me) and together we moved very tired slow calves out of pens and down the alley to the round pen. On the second to last pen, a calf had a moment of bravery and turned on us instead of going out slow and smooth. I immediately dropped the lead as Molly barked once, waited, hit her in between the eyes and then backed off two steps as soon as she turned to go out. “good girl, that’ll do” and after a moment we walked the group down the alley like nothing had happened. In the round pen, i held a pretty tight thumb on Molly. She was up and interested and i wasn’t going to risk a bad habit after doing so well. I had her down/stay where the alley met the RP as i pushed the group off the gate so i could open it. I pushed them off about 7 feet, opened the mangate wide, backed off the gate and told Molly to walk up. Now the calves didn’t start moving until Molly started to get into contact. When some of the calves were pushed out of the way of the gate by the pushier calves behind them, Molly went out and covered them. She didn’t run at them, as i’d feared. She was slow and methodical even in that small space, giving each cow time to get out the little hole. She barked and turned the few cows that were facing the wrong way.

On Sunday it was more of the same, but i used her as a partner and not as an attachment to me. I opened a gate to an empty pen to give Molly a visual barrier until i called her into the isle. I then went into a full pen and got everyone up. As they started to enter the isle i called Molly to Get Through (a get through the bars command) and Walk Up. Three cows and a Molly went down the isle together calmly, but in constant motion. At the end of the isle, i at first downed her and then called her back. However as this process got to the third pen, i just started calling her back with no down. She understood the job. After all the pens were empty we went into the round pen, Molly took here Away command and pushed the calves off the gate and held them while i opened the man gate. I walked back to the middle of the roundpen, sent her off the calves and around the RP to balance the gate and any cows that somehow missed the gate was turned and sent back to try again. She was so efficient and graceful. Outside of the initial Away, Comebye and that’ll do… the only noise was the quiet plod of hooves and occasion rattle of heavy panels on heavy calves.

Now it’s important to say that i’d never do this with a dog other than Molly. A dog and a person and three calves is not the safest place and that could have gone south fast. In addition, these are all hollow tube type panels with sufficient gaps at all levels that she could escape and save herself. I had a feeling we’d be ok as where other dogs that have been back near the pens had to be kept a ways off the pens. Molly was never that dog. Had she been i wouldn’t have had in the isles let alone the pens.

But i was so proud of her.

I took some time this weekend to shake the dust off myself and The Machine.  It’s funny, we always talk about how to ease back into to work after a long break and such.  Where i know the information in my mind, i went to send her and immediately moved forward from where we’d left off.  This doesn’t happen every time, but more often than not and it’s part of what makes her fun.

This weekend was Day One of take pen training.  I had thought that doing the barbel work would have been super helpful, but I was finding that the information wasn’t transferring as i’d hoped.  My initial try was just standing at the pengate and walking her in on command.  Which wasn’t working for a variety of reasons.  The first being that she’s not done a take pen before so she’d run in the Away direction along the fenceline not in the pen…  The second being that the heavy Barba-deer we were working haven’t been worked in a good long while and they weren’t interested in starting today.  Molly has never dealt with sheep that do the Fight portion of fight or flight, so this was all new to her.

After a little try and failure, i set her up at the mouth of the pen and walked in with her by the collar. Not rough, but with two fingers helping move along the pen’s fence line toward the sheep at something that resembles the speed desired.  Then a sit at the hinge of the pen, which can later morph into a pause – like running contacts in agility. This all moved along nicely for a while. She’d push them out and then stop, i’d change positions from her left side to her right and then send her out on a Come Bye to fetch the sheep and bring them back to the pen and stop her before she entered the pen.  Her stop at the mouth of the pen after fetching became a bit dramatic after a while as a few times she stopped so fast she slid on her bum and then selfcorrected and scootched backwards so not *in* the pen.

On one little trip around the take pen, i went slower and with that tipped our hand in a way to the sheep.  Understand that alot of Molly’s power is in her speed and motion.  She’s still figuring out how to use her eye and her teeth.  We’ve skipped the idea of her using her voice. It just isn’t who she is.  When the sheep started to realize that she wasn’t as powerful when she slowed down and there wasn’t anything to fill that void they began to slow down.  By the next go around, the black sheep turned and went head down and hoof digging in the same way you’d see a bull in a rodeo – challenging the dog.   There are two ways to deal with this.  The first is to be the handler, reach out thunk it on the nose and keep on moving.  The other is to be the ‘assistant’ and encourage the dog to thunk it on the nose and keep moving.  I chose the second as Molly isn’t young or grippy, nor does she seem to desire take a sheep down by the nose. It’s good for her confidence.  The next quick thought was how to name this or to name this.  We use Take Hold in tug and i didn’t want to risk her exhibiting her tug behavior on a sheep.  So out of my mouth came “psppsppsppp get her, nutty” and she knew exactly what i wanted.  With a finger still on the collar she put her power in the back legs and her nose almost to the ground underneath the sheeps nose and snapped twice.  True to a heavy sheep, the black sheep just turned gave a flank and moved slowly out of the pen.  “that’ll do… walk up” and Molly was back with me and moving them out of the pen.  The last walk in i didn’t hold on to her at all.  Just had to step into her a little to remind her to stop before leaving the pen.

Overall she did great work.  I did take video, but then realized that it was centered on the wrong part of the pen.   However we’ll get another video soon. There is still alot of work to do.