A place for Sheep-Sheep-Sheep

I am very excited that I now have a regular place to train....whenever I want! This is huge for me...imagine how much more I can get accomplished (or possibly how much more I can screw up!) in our training now that I have a place to practice what I learn at lessons!

My friend Fran Sharon was kind enough to invite me to partner with her on some land that she found to lease. She wanted to expand her flock and heard that I was also looking for a place to rent/lease. So we have went in on the lease as partners. The sheep belong to Fran and we share the cost and chores.

There is a barn and great fencing already in place. Actually, it is fenced in a way that we could train at the same time if we wanted - there are 2 pastures, plus a smaller one that would be great for a young dog.

I'm very excited about having a place to train on a regular basis - I think my dogs are liking it too ;-)

So....where do you think the sheep are? ;-)

Huck Puppy

Huck was 6 months old on August 6th. He is one of the Ben/Grace pups from Sarah Ruckelshaus' Grace and Nancy Obernier's Ben breeding this past February.

Huck, Cait, and Tuck were chosen as keepers by Nancy and Sarah. Nancy is keeping 2 and Sarah is keeping one. They will all be working dogs and have all been in the round pen once already!

I picked up puppy Huck on July 11th - I told Sarah I would keep him with me for a few weeks to socialize him a bit. He was getting into Sarah's sheep on a regular basis and had to be on leash at all times at her farm. I am out and about with my dogs just about every evening, whether it's at someone's field for training or an agility class, or just long walks that I take my dogs on regularly. We thought this will be good for Huck to experience and it will give Sarah a rest of keeping him out of her sheep ;-)

Huck has come along fast with his social skills....he has a lovely sit upon greeting someone new - "here I am for you to pet - go ahead, I know you want me" - his sister Cait has the same attitude, "I am here for your petting pleasure...yes, it is my job, so go ahead, lavish me with love and pets." - what a little diva that Cait is!

He came along with me to the Kathy Knox clinic in July - we even stayed in a hotel - he was quiet and well behaved all 3 days. He also came with me to audit the Jack clinic this past Saturday - again, very well behaved - no barking or carrying on. He should have good trial manners when his time comes ;-)

He is good with other dogs, kids, men, and cats. I do believe we have conquered his fear of rocks, road signs, and baby strollers. Yes, he thought road signs and large rocks were very unnatural and were to be dealt with carefully- it was quite funny to watch him get his puppy hackles up and bark ferociously until we reached it and he saw it was just a rock.

It's been a pleasure to share in his puppy-raising; I'll miss the little booger when he goes home.

Binx thinks he's a Big Dog

Yep, we moved out of the round pen and into the bigger field this past July. Nancy has us using sheep that are appropriate for our level so that he won't keep losing his sheep and break his confidence. They aren't knee knockers...they will definitely run if the dog doesn't hold them, but they aren't super flighty either.

He's doing well - is even starting to keep his head when pulling them off the fence (if I don't open my mouth and stress him out).

One thing I noticed when we moved to the field was that all of the crap he did in the round pen that we had to correct....it all came back again! Nancy was not surprised and said it's normal. That's why we go back to better behaved sheep, so we can maintain control and correct those old behaviors (buzzing, wool grabbing, etc.) Sigh... - so I'm back to circle work and stomping at him (applying pressure) and telling him to GET OUT again. The buzzing and wool grabbing stopped right away (thank goodness).

The last lesson we had him driving a bit and he did beautifully with that. He is now slicing in on his flanks when he's about 1/3 way out, and my verbal "Get" is not getting a response! I am now lying him down when he cuts in, putting myself between him and the sheep to help him and then send him again (and am now closer to correct if needed). As soon as he bends out, I move off of the sheep to release the pressure. That is the idea anyway...I still catch my green self being "in the sheep" too long, thus causing him to come in too close again. :-\

Independence Rhyme!

I continued to put out feelers for a trained dog...actually was looking for a retired dog at first, when Maria Amodei's Rhyme popped up on the radar.

http://www.northfacefarm.com/WorkingBCs/Rhyme/Rhyme.html

After many corresponding emails between Maria, Sarah, Nancy, and myself, it was decided that Maria would drive Rhyme down from Massachusetts on June 20th and we would meet at Nancy's field to meet Rhyme, tape her whistles, etc.

It was a match!

Rhyme has brought so much joy to my life already - she gives me the independence I was looking for so that I can train on my own. I am learning things that I wouldn't have learned for a couple of years with Binx.

I am learning more about balance and pressure.

I have learned that I cannot drive . LOL! - Honestly, keeping a line is much harder than I ever imagined...practice, practice, practice I guess.

I have learned that "handling" is much, much different than "training".

Me, Binx, and the Sheep (lessons to date)

Like I said, Binx started it all for me. He is my first border collie. (Granted, I fostered more than 15 in the year before I committed to him - but he was the first that was MINE).

I was incredibly fortunate in that I had a lot of experienced sheep people to guide me from the very beginning. Nancy Obernier came highly recommended to me as a trainer - it turned out she was only 20 minutes from my house, so I contacted her right away to start lessons.

I started bringing Binx to Nancy when he was about 7 months - we tried to go once a week on most weeks (unless she was trialing or the weather did not permit). I did not go into the round pen with him for months!...I had (and still have a wee bit) a fear of getting hurt by the sheep. In hind sight, Binx was not wild (not like some I have since seen!) - it was really just me and that I had met so many experienced handlers that have been injured - I was just deathly afraid that my young dog would do something out of stress to spook the sheep, who would in turn trample me - or er something like that.

My first time working my own dog in the pen was at a Kathy Knox clinic that December...Binx was now a year old and was going around but didn't always cover and still sometimes cut in too close, thus stressing himself and would grip wool, etc. Really just young dog stuff, but seemed like a lot at the time for this green handler!

Even though or maybe especially because of my anxiety, Binx was just the perfect "first dog for me" - Kathy had even commented as such. He is even tempered and biddable enough to let me think when we are training, yet he can take a correction and he never quits on me.

December of 2008 was a big turning point for me, as I could now start learning how to train my own dog. The lessons were now more focused on me - Nancy worked on helping me understand where I needed to be and how I needed to move in order to help my dog. This was when the "addiction" really set in.

I really don't know how to explain the feeling to someone who has never experienced stockwork with their dog. Being well aware that this sounds really corny, but for me, it's like being a part of something natural, yet it is so much bigger than anything that obedience trials or the agility sport could ever offer.  Just being out there with the sheep and my dog...being a factor in that prey/predator relationship...it's very-very cool. The relationship that develops between dog and handler is like no other I have known or witnessed...no, not even daily walks with steak dinners could replace the loyality that a border collie has for his owner when they have a working partnership!  I guess too, I like that my dog has so much faith in me, that he allows me to help him, that he yields to my direction (uhm, usually), even though everything in his being may be telling him to go the other way or not to "walk in", etc. (especially since he really does know sheep better than I do!)
Well, like I said, it's pretty corny - but that makes it no less addictive.

I also started to learn some new things about myself...I never realized how difficult it is to maintain control of your voice when you're freaking out inside! :-O Dog is running full speed into the flock, mouth is open - I STILL fight the urge to scream high like a little girl when I really just need a calm and growly correction and then move off to release the pressure, and keep working calmly as to not add to the dog's excitement and stress. Sigh....Will I EVER get there?

Binx and I went to our 2nd Kathy clinic in April 2009. I was still working in the round pen about once or twice a week - still didn't have regular access to sheep but made valiant efforts whenever the opportunity was available. We were happy when Kathy said we were progressing nicely and she liked what we were doing . Kathy is just really cool like that though...she is great at boosting your confidence.

This was about the time I began toying with the idea of getting an Open level dog to help bring me along. Actually, it was first suggested by Sarah while I was at the clinic....the more I thought about it, and spoke with others who had began with trained dogs, the more I agreed that it was time. At this point I couldn't even rent sheep from someone unless they sorted and set the round pen up for me - I didn't have a dog that I could sort with, etc.  And so the search began.

Introduction

Like many, I came to this venue while exploring my newly adopted border collie's heritage...I was hooked right away.

After I came to grips with my new addiction, I decided that having a trained dog would prove helpful to bring "me" along as a better trainer and handler.

Less than one year later, I purchased Maria Amodei's Rhyme, a 5 year old fully trained USBCHA Open level border collie.

Binx is my now 19 month border collie that started it all. I adopted Binx from Mid Atlantic Border Collie Rescue (for whom I also volunteer and foster dogs) in June of 2008 - he was 6 months old (awww).

Sarah (founder/director of MABCR) told me that he had potential for sheep work and that he had gotten into her big field by accident and gathered the entire flock and was bringing them to her before she realized what had happened. I thought "that's pretty cool". Though I knew NOTHING about sheep - had never even touched one. But having been around Sarah's farm for nearly a year as a volunteer, and meeting many of her friends and acquaintances, I must admit that I was more than a bit curious about these sheepdog trials and clinics, etc. that everyone spoke about. I had seen enough working border collies in action to have a large amount of respect for their work. What I did not yet know, was what it takes to train them or how to properly handle them. :-\