Today was another day of Hitting for the Cycle.  To review: Hitting for the Cycle is how we’re teaching Molly the aspiring sheepdog to make small flank movements instead of big (fast) sweeping gestures all the time to move sheep.   So if I and the sheep are in the middle of the circle and sooner or later, Molly should be stopping on each of the points.Someday.

Today was not a note of perfection, but we made a lot of progress.  I decided to try to break this down into smaller, less frustrating pieces in hopes that i don’t end up standing with the sheep in the middle of a wildly circling Molly.  That is was abject failure would look like.   Last week, we started in the corner and moved out to the center of the fenceline.   Which was very successful, if I do say so myself.  This week was staring on the center of the fenceline and perfecting both sides and a center stop.

We were rockstars on the fenceline.  I didn’t realize that as I was stepping away from the sheep to push Molly out further, that the very polite sheep were staying right behind me.  Or maybe i registered that the sheep were with me, but not that we were away from the fence?  Either way,  before i realized what was going on we were 35 paces away from the nearest fenceline and rockin’ right along with our exercise.   We really were doing the diagram for the most part.  Occasionally my timing was off and she’d going from i end to the other (so say from North to South or 1st Base directly to 3rd), but no big deal. The only ugh would have been a full circle.  No circles.  No cheap shots.

i’m not really sure how to describe what happened.  I thought i had broken Chris’ sheep.

For this session, we changed up the rhythm of the work.  I think I was rushing  a bit when i was working her last weekend in the corner.   This time around when she got to the right place I didn’t just stop her, down and then restart.  We stopped.  i drank some tea, then set my cup down and sent her.  Then downed her and watched some of the Karen Child clinic on the field across the way – the view of the big field is great from the arena next to the Barnyard.  Then sent her again, and downed her.  Watched more of the clinic… and paced off how far the sheep were from the nearest fence.  At one point a sheep lied down.  Which to be honest, freaked me out a little.  I thought that somehow having a sheep lay down while the dog is around might be a sign that I’d soured them!  So then I started using it as my marker to see if Molly was disturbing the rest of the sheep when i sent her.  And then another one went down… and i downed Molly and walked around the group looking for signs they were physically ill.  Since they all looked ok, I just kept to the schedule.  Poor sheep.  Bored to um, tears?

We finished off by moving our group in a little babydrive all the way across the field with only one instance of Molly trying to get around to the heads.  Why is it a babydrive?  Because the sheep walk in front of me, and she wears behind me.   Her wear is really starting to come together.  I’d like to take a moment to congratulate myself for not totally screwing that up and letting her just do, despite my habit of trying to control her every move. Click/brownie to the handler.   She’s catching the sheeps’ eye nicely and adjusting her wear for different sized groups, finally.  She’s done this on large groups, on a set of three last week and a set of four or five this week.  I also noticed that she is in fact directing the lead sheep.  I was watching the sheep instead of fretting about Molly, and when the group was starting to bear right I let them go whereever while i kept moving forward.  Molly turned he lead sheep back to my line. Eee!

In other news: the bombing off is getting better.  I sent her off to drink twice in the sessions, but i’m finding that sending her off to drink when things are calm seems to cut down on her bombing off on her own randomly.  We tried shorter session times, which allowed her to take a break. However, when i bumped up the session times the stress behaviors were back.  The new stratedy is to cut down her session time by just sending her off to drink for about 30 seconds and bring her right back.  Last week we had to do 4 of these.  This week, only 2.  So far I think i’m on the right track for her.

gosh that’s a lot.

This really should be titled “if i’d just shutup, things would work fine”, but that’s a little too self deprecating even for me.

I spent Sunday down at Margi Floyd’s house helping to trim hooves, see her new beautiful place and admire her brand new lammies.   The lambs are at that age when they are better than TV.  They’re rearing up, butting heads and chasing each other about the pastures.   It’s pretty cute.   The moms are pretty cute too.  However i’m biased toward sheep that are not large enough to be mistaken for sofas or ponies and have built in handles for your hoof trimming ease.  Function over form…

Fido’s is conveniently located between Margi’s home and my home, along with about an hour of other places like Macy’s.   After spending the day at Margi’s I had sheep on the brain and realized that even though i’d spent the day having more good experiences watching sheep in the continual search to read them, Molly and Simon had only run around the yard.  Normally this wouldn’t bother me very much, but i was feeling pretty confidant and wanted to see if more/different experience for me would help our work together.

We did do a lot of small things.  Directional exercises using the Z obstacle.  Which is nothing more interesting than doing your standard half moon exercise against a fence, but you stand infront of the AKC Z obstacle against the fence instead of just standing infront of an empty fence.  In addition to completing the half moon, your dog also has to walk up along the fenceline a little to put the sheep through the obstacle before swinging around to the other side so they don’t get away.  (note: this is what happens when the easily entertained work with obstacles.)  After she got the game with me facing her, i started to put my back to Molly and focus on the sheep.  The work changed alittle bit, probably as i was allowed to relax a little and focus on one thing – the sheep , instead of 3 – sheep, dog and me not falling.  Anyhow, little silly things that are not super stressful, but still have purpose.  However minute.

The more i work with Molly, the more I notice how sensitive she is to pressure.   After trying to screw around with the Y-chute unsuccessfully, i ditched the stockstick.  I wasn’t being purposeful with it in that scenario and it was having a detrimental effect.  I was inadvertently using it to sow confusion by applying pressure.  So she would bend out to the pressure and i’d say “no, Down”.  Poor thing.

After realizing the error of my ways and ditching the stick, i decided to also ditch the Y-chute.  Do a little bit of fenceline walking and call it a day.  A rain squall was coming in and it was getting dark.  After the mess that was our first started leg in BC, i quit trying to give Molly commands other than ‘easy’ during a fenceline fetch.  I micromanage, my timing is off a bit and she tries to compensate and i get frustrated and if it hasn’t spun downhill, it’s going there real fast.  In scenarios when she’s pretty close, like a fenceline fetch and walk i don’t need a stick.  I can work her and use my hands to apply pressure.

We started on the short side of the fenceline and did a little walk to the corner.  She was super mellow, didn’t push them past.  Once i got close to the corner (about 15ft) i stopped and the sheep train just kept on moving; slowly turning the corner. I stepped in a little (about 8-10ft off the fenceline) to give them a point to head toward and then backed away from the fence as we went a long.  After a few missteps it became obvious that 10 feet was the right place for now.  Though along our walk i did have to down her a few times as she was getting too close.  The normal ‘Ack!’ wasn’t cutting it.  As i was moving away from the fence i also started to slow down.  Molly kept her speed, the sheep came off the fence a bit but still moving along the line.  Molly started to wear a little; check the eye and back to the walk.   About here i almost said something stupid and paranoid, but caught myself.  So click/brownie for me.   Once the sheep started to get farther ahead of me than Molly was uncomfortable, she tried to circle around.  She seems to be still figuring out how far to go to catch the eye without overshooting and turning them.  “Ack! No.”  She stopped, looked at me and went back behind her sheep and kept walking.  As i kept slowing down.  Typically here, i’d stress and put out the stick and it becomes a mess.  Again, click/brownie for the handler.  Molly tried this again about 3 times in 10 feet and then gave it up.  She started to wear a little wide to catch the lead sheeps eye, but would get almost to my left hand and go back behind the sheep.  The sheep got about 10 feet ahead of me and we went along. After about 25 feet, i pulled everyone off the fence and we went back and started again.

The first time is a fluke.

The second time is a sign.

The third time is a flippin’ miracle.  Pack it up and go home.  Good (wet) dog. 

It seems that in all the stockdog books and videos, people walk out into the field with the intention of accomplishing a goal a particular way and then do it. There are always issues, but the way that they’ve decided to accomplish something always seems to work. Which is why i’ll never be able to write a book about stockdog things. I come up with a plan of how to train a skill and after much arguing and fussing about, end up teaching it a totally different way. I cannot seem to conform to save my life.

For the last few sessions we’ve been fussing with ‘the crossdrive’ which is nothing more than driving the sheep along the fence like you do between Obstacles 1 & 2 in the ASCA A & B courses. So the dog learns to drive and cover the head by coming off the fence and tucking them back in. In many circles this is the precursor to learning The Drive in an open field.

But apparently not in the circle that Molly and I are in. Because that would be too easy.

Every time we started to do the crossdrive as indicated below, the sheep took 6 steps and then landed happily at my feet.   I’m in gold, the sheep are red and Molly is purple.  I can’t get far enough away from them to give her room to cover along the fence and she was really hesitating to walk into the group with me next to them instead of ahead of them. So in the process of trying to make this work, i got to see exactly what Molly’s stress behaviors look like. The ears back, the tunnel vision (i’m going to ignore you b/c you are stupid) and backing off to relieve pressure… and finally coming to me and sitting inbetween my feet. Even if it means walking through the sheep.

Poor Molly.

After suffering this for about 10 minutes i just couldn’t quite get it going.  She was frustrated, i was finally getting frustrated and it just wasn’t coming together. I’m not big on torture.

I decided to try doing something similar to line work. We had a big enough group that they were staying together nicely and regrouped nicely. So if she crashed something spectacular it wouldn’t be too hard to get things back under control. I clipped her little 12″ leash to her collar to make myself feel better and downed her a good distance away. I walked toward the sheep they started to move a little and i gently indicated she should walk to me. So for a few feet we walked the sheep along. Then she started to walk ahead a little. Then a little more. Then she started to lean like she was going to try to get around them and i downed her (which i now know was stupid and paranoid, but we’ll get to that). At this point she’s about 10′ ahead of me and when she goes down and i’m still walking, the sheep stop anyway. They are moving off of her and not me.

After about 10′ we were out of open space and almost in a corner. I downed her an helped her negotiate a slow, quiet uturn and she was off again… about 10′ or 15′ ahead of me and cruising right along.  When she started to get a little pushy and sheeps gate was starting to change, i’d down her.  She learned that trick fast and started giving them more space.  I did have to help her learn to change position to keep the sheep straight. The sheep would try to turn and we need to keep some semblance of a line. I’d gut up next to her and use her left and right to help her see that she could change her position to effect their direction.  After few times i’d just take a step to the other side of her while still 10′ back and she knew what to do.  We’re still working on this as a think that before when i thought she was going to bolt and bring them around, i should have waited just another second and let her catch the eye before downing her. meh.

Most of the time i take Molly out, we work sheep and I think:  How can i be a better handler for her? i’m not seeing something.   It dawned on me this morning that part of the problem is the way i’m defining these terms in my head.  Follow me here:  According to the  Collins English Dictionary a handler is someone who handles a dog (or a boxer or a gamecock or baggage).  Where a trainer is actually someone who teaches or trains said dog ( or boxer or gamecock or athlete).  While it’s commonplace in the herding/stockdog world for the trainer and handler to be the same person as the handler needs to be trained as much or more than the dog, sometimes when you limit yourself by one definition you then in turn limit your own experiences.  Many people think labels aren’t important, but it is labels that define how we interpret our world and communicate it to those around us.  When i walk out onto a field and think – how can i be a better handler? i’m doing myself a disservice as by definition i’m limited in my own scope. (this is really how my mind works, scary isn’t it?)

Part of what made Zen Handler and The Doughnut Hole so successful wasn’t just that i was calm, but that I was aware enough to see the little details.  I am typically so focused on being aware of my place and my dogs place and the location of my sheep that i don’t see the details.  For instance, this morning I was working a set of sheep and it wasn’t until after Molly broker her down/stay and busted up the sheep that I noticed i had four sheep not three.  Number Four was a punk lamb.  He didn’t like his group, didn’t like me and was really dissatisfied about the presence of Ms. PushyPants.

After a little crash and burn, i was always taught to pack up and take a break.  Sort of the same way a behaviorist uses a Time Out. The ‘If you can’t play by the rules you don’t get to play’ thoughtline.  Which most of the time is a very successful technique that i’ve used. However, today Fido’s was busy and i knew if i left my field i’d loose it for an indeterminate amount of time.  Instead of backing off and leaving the field, I let the sheep rest a few and started in again.  My game, my rules and you’re done when I say we’re done.  Not in a mean way, but with firm and realistic goals.

Control and proximity are of first order.  We went onto a not so large but not so small arena and started walking around.   She’d walk in my general proximity, i’d occasionally down her. I’d ask her to walk up toward the sheep a little. When it looked like she was getting ready to bolt or the sheep were moving under her pressure and i’d down her and recall.  Each time we changed direction we were actually getting closer to the sheep.  While it was a lot of pressure on her as she was aware of the sheep the entire time, she didn’t misstep once.

After a well deserved break we started The Game, which was a variation on using the fenceline to teach ‘out’ that Dana Mackenzie has been known to teach.  I learned this second (3rd?) hand and Elsie and I have also  sharpened it up to fit my dog.  If it sounds like i’m butchering it badly don’t blame Dana, blame my poor memory!!

The Game goes like this: I pulled my four sheep into a corner and backed my dog off.   The way it’s supposed to look is to have the dog go from fenceline to fenceline, each time shifting back away from the sheep a little.  There are a number of components so i decided to break it down into little pieces in keeping with the mantra of realistic goals.  Piece number one: not rushing the sheep out of the corner.  Done.  Piece number two: consistent down on command.  Err, after stepping into her a few times, done.  Piece number three: she needs to go to either fenceline instead of stopping just shy. When she stopped shy, I walked out calmly and moved her over. Rinse, Repeat a few times and she’s within 18″.  Done.

After playing with this for a good while, i started stopping her in random places and sending her the other way.  Or I’d tell her to Get Out and then work her Walk Up while i was standing in proximity of the sheep but not with them.  These were really good exercises for me because i started to watch little things.  I became really mindful of what PunkLamb was up to. Imade a point to control his stress and not let him wander too far from the corner.  Remember he’s flighty and not impressed, so sometimes Molly had to walk into him just to tuck him away and sometimes she had to back off and give him room to settle.  The other thing i started to notice was Molly’s position and posture.  How she’d lift a paw just before she was going to do something naughty.  I started to redirect her when i saw her head drop and her paw lift.  Even occasionally give her a little verbal warning.  The longer we did the exercise the more purposeful her Walk Up became.  She’s starting to show more eye, but not working like a Border Collie.  She’s starting to learn to use her tools; sometimes eye is more helpful, sometimes body pressure is more helpful.

There’s something deeply satisfying about having someone else notice what you’re doing and comment positively.   I suppose that makes me weak or says something about my confidence or whatever; i’m ok with it.  I had two Border Collie handlers compliment me on Molly. Which might have just been a nicety, but a much appreciated nicety.  i think the next time i’m out i’ll also make a point to say something nice to someone that i don’t know.

This past weekend was more of calm, relaxed and play to the point.   It was a nice afternoon of being the only person out there.  Since we had the run of the store… i play sheep rotation.  After working the sheep that live in the arena, we brought them into the sorting yard and put them into a holding pen.  Yes, just like that. Walk them up, push them past the gate, have her hold them off the gate (and boy did they want in that gate) and send her around.  Clean and to the point.

So after they were put ‘away’, we went up and got the younger sheep out of the big field and took a few spins around the round pen.  I tried to keep her in motion, but slow motion until she started to hit balance on her own.  Before anyone asks, no I have no idea why it seemed to work.   She started to speed up and I had her lie down and then put her in good position to walk. Emphasis on walk.  The first time she got all Ms. Testy-Pants, took off and tried to fake a grip.  I expressed dissatisfaction and then we started working again so she could see what I wanted.  After a few spins, we pushed them out into the arena and let them rest a few. Tired sheepies are unhappy, uncooperative sheepies.

I did do more homework.  We  took our rested and still moderately uncooperative sheep up and down and all over the arena.  Since i’m not too familiar with AKC, i’m sure we did all the obstacles wrong.  Molly didn’t seem to mind.  Last time we tried the obstacles I ended up going in them with her.  This time i stood just outside of them and used little flanks and Easy Down -not to be confused with LieDownDammit – to get quiet, slow sheep into the zigzag looking obstacle.  Convincing her to walk in with the sheep and not go out and around to head took a few reminders, but we got there.

What was most interesting was her work while using the sorting pens.  She was trying hard not to exert too much energy (?) and was showing eye in the pens.   Not super crazy crouchy eye, but it was obvious to my little self.   The farther out she got the more she started to rate. The more she started to rate the less energy she exerted.  Now don’t confuse this with her ‘showing style’.  She’s starting to learn different tools and learn when to employ them.  Handy girl that Molly dog.