Posts from — November 2008

The demo went reasonably well.  The people were quite impressed with my dogs.  They wanted to know how long it took to train them and if I could train their kids.  There were a few kids there I would have just as soon shot rather than train.  One in particular ran out onto the field while Gel was fetching the sheep too me.  I’m glad I drilled him enough so that I could circle him completely around the sheep on a fetch thus stopping them before they trampled the child.  I walked out onto the field, retrieve the child and returned him to his parents letting them know that some of the sheep that were coming up the field at a good clip weighed over 100 pounds and might very well injure a small child.

After removing the child, I put Gel back to work.  We did some random driving through panels, then drove the sheep back down to where I set them out to begin with.  I recalled Gel and sent him back out again.  I asked the crowd if they could figure out what my whistles meant as I blew them.  They thought it was pretty cool that Gel was changing direction and stopping on whistled commands.

After working Gel about 15 minutes I brought Fern out letting them know that Fern was just a year and a half old and was not fully trained yet.  I showed them basically how we teach flank commands and driving.  I was pleased to see that Fern is really taking charge of the drive (unlike Gel who still fights driving).  The spectators thought Fern’s slinky movements were very cool.  She’s a much flashier worker than Gel.

I brought Esme as well and when we were through, I let her run around and meet people.  Two different people wanted to buy her!  I told her (1) she was not a pet and (2) she was not for sale.  I guess they thought they were born trained to the level Gel and Fern are.

All in all, it went well and I enjoyed it.  If I do it again next year, I might just use ducks as transporting and dealing with the sheep was a bit of a pain.  I was still tired from working Friday.  After we got the sheep back to my house, I went up to the Christmas Tree Farm and did another demo up there.  Then at 3:00 I did a milking demo.  That was perhaps an even bigger hit.  I brought some samples of goat cheese and crackers to share afterward.  The timing was perfect because it had just started raining when I started milking so it was a good time to be under cover.  I was very pleased that both Dawn and Rain were calm during the milking.  As a precaution, I hobbled Dawn.  I was milking without my stand.  I had a friend hold the goat over a bucket of feed.  I was really concerned that Rain was going to be nervous, but she was calm as could be.  Good girl!  The goats themselves were a big hit up at the Christmas Tree Farm.  Because they are so tame, I was able to let them mingle with the people.  They followed them around like dogs and Dawn tried to get in the car with one group.  Crazy goats!

My second successful batch of cheese came out perfectly.  Having the small electric heater in the bathroom worked like a charm.  I mixed the plain cheese with a Mediterranean sea salt blend.  I think I might have got even more than a pound of cheese from this batch.  I have a pot of milk on the stove ready to make a third batch.

The weather has been miserable today.  I’ve stayed in pretty much all day.  I brought the goats up this morning to the Christmas Tree Farm and put them in the barn.  I got a call around 1:00 saying one of the goats was up in the hay loft!  She climbed the very rickety stairs and made her way up there.  She had come down by the time I got up there and luckily she didn’t get hurt.

I think I might try to sell Esmeralda, the Oberhalsi doe.  She’s EXTREMELY bossy.  I have to tie her out by herself to feed her otherwise she eats her food, then runs everyone off theirs.  Of more concern is that she won’t let Dawn under the shelter.  When I left to go to Statesville, Dawn was out.  When I came back, she was still out and soaking wet.  When I brought them up to the barn, I saw that Esmeralda was running her all over the barn bullying her.  I took Esmeralda back home and as I write this, she’s outside loose and the LaManchas are in the fenced-in area.  I can monitor the eating, but I can’t do the same with shelter.  The goats need shelter.  I’ve grown to like the LaMancha goats.  They are gentle and easy to live with, well, as easy to live with as dairy goats can be.

Work went well.  I was honored to see that there was only one other “new” cashier working the 4:45 AM to 1 PM shift and she started a week before me.  All of the other cashiers were experienced.  The put me on a register that is hardly ever used and the scanner wasn’t working properly.  Several of the clothing sale items were not scanning with the scanner.  I had to continually key in the item code which slowed me down.  But I survived.

People are very much like cattle when it comes to getting what they want.  I expect you know by now that a Wal-Mart employee was trampled to death in New York.  Is saving $5 or $10 worth trampling a fellow human being to death?

I think not.

They had sausage and ham biscuits for the employees for breakfast and pizza for lunch which was nice given we were only given 30 minute breaks.

After work I quickly milked the goats because I had a message on my answering machine from my Landlord’s mother asking if I was bringing the animals up to the Christmas Tree Farm.  Apparently she wasn’t told that I had to be in work by 4:30 that morning and couldn’t bring the animals up in the morning.  I quickly got the dogs (all four of them) and animals gathered up and headed up there.

The sheep are giving me fits going through the path cut through the tall grass to get up there.  They cannot see over the tall grass, the path is not very wide and it makes them nervous.  The goats don’t care, they just go where I go.  Needless to say, I was glad I had two dogs to push the sheep through.

I got everyone in the fenced-in area and then mingled with the customers for the rest of the afternoon.  It was wonderful!  While it was slightly overcast, it was still pretty warm, especially if I was by the fire.  Esme got extensive socialization.  She was a big hit.  All puppies are cute and people love them.  Rose surprised me.  I thought she was going to be nervous with all the people coming to see “her” goats and sheep, but she ate up the attention (and bread).

Most of the people who come to get Christmas Trees come from the city.  They are so happy to come to the country and see the animals.  There is a treasure hunt for the kids, they stacked some round and square bales into a climbing gym (brilliant idea!), offer hot chocolate, cookies, popcorn and other goodies.  It’s a wonderful way to spend the afternoon.

I left up there around 4:30, brought the animals back, milked the goats and then relaxed for the rest of the night.  Needless to say, I slept like a stone that night.

Got to get ready to drive to Statesville to get rabbits.  I am going to take the Border Collies with me.  Not looking forward to the drive because it’s raining out.  Yuck!

Here it is 3:40 AM.  I’m showered and have make-up on.  Still need to dry my hair.  Agh!  I did exactly what I thought I’d do: woke up every few hours.  So, I’m going to be a zombie by the time I get through today.  Oh well, I don’t have to work again until Tuesday.

The day ought to be entertaining, to say the least.  I’ve never stepped foot in a store the day after Thanksgiving.

Just got back from bringing the sheep, goats and Rose up to the Christmas Tree farm for a trial run.  It went just as I expected.  The goats all but ran me over to walk with me (or is it more like on top of me) and the sheep, knowing the way, did their thing, except, Gel was a jerk and ended up pushing them into the thick brush.  Then he stood there looking at them until I got on him to move them.  Dummy, he knows what he’s supposed to do.  The sheep were tangled in the brush and not moving well, but still …

Gel is a reflection of me.  If I’m off, he’s off.  I’m off … I think I might be getting better, yesterday was a good example of that, but I’m still off.  I think instead of getting frustrated with him and thinking he’s “broke” due to my inadequate training abilities (which is just what I’m thinking) (oh, that and he’s going deaf), that I’m just going to put him on the shelf as far as stock work goes.  I don’t need him to move the sheep or goats back and forth.  If I have to do it in two trips, I can take the goats and Rose up in one trip on my own, then come back and use Fern to take the sheep up.  I don’t want the goats mowing Fern down, she’s too young for that sort of pressure and I really don’t need a dog to move them: hence the need for two trips.

When we went up this AM, I brought Esme with me.  She’s becoming quite the trooper.  Two of my cats came along too, one of the young kittens, Confetti and one of the adults, Ted.  Poor Confetti figured out quite quickly that this wasn’t a good place for her.  I caught her and carried her back down the hill, pointing her in the right direction and off she went.  Ted caught up with us on the way down.  He knows better than to go up there into the other cats’ territory, but he’ll follow and remain invisible until I had back home.  Esme had fun racing Ted and Confetti down the hill.  She did more tumbling and rolling than running, but she had fun.

Meanwhile, the goats are having a fit that I left them in a strange place.  Hopefully they’ll settle.  I tried to leave Rose with the sheep, but she escaped so I caught her and put her in with the goats.  She’s more bonded to the goats than she is to the sheep.  That’s a bit of a problem, but at night, when I need her to work, the sheep are in with the goats so it’s okay.  When it comes time to graze them in ElectroNet, she has the utmost respect for ElectroNet and will stay in with them.  I honestly don’t know if the goats will stay in ElectroNet or not.  We’ll find out in the spring.

Happy Turkey Day.  I hope you are enjoying it.  I surely am!  I have my stuffing made and it’s cooling on the back porch.  The turkey is in the sink warming up so I don’t have to stick my hands in a freezing cold bird.  An apple pie and pumpkin pie are in the oven baking.  I have cheese and homemade buttermilk sitting in my small bathroom with a small electric heater in there keeping the temperature at 70 degrees. Goats have been milked, cats, dogs, chickens and ducks are all fed.

All this done and it’s only 8:30.

Now I need to make some breakfast for myself!

Yesterday was a great day.  I got a lot done and it felt good.  I was so busy, I hardly watched any television.

I mentioned before that I have spent the past ten or so Thanksgivings alone.  I cook a whole meal for myself, the dogs (since I’ve had them) and the cats.  You may wonder if it bothers me that I’m spending a holiday that is traditionally spent with family and friends alone.  It doesn’t.  For years I had to (had to) travel with my then boyfriend eight hours from Massachusetts to upstate New York.  The boyfriend drove like a bat out of hell and often drove under the influence.  We went up there to spend the holiday with his family whom he didn’t really get along with.  It was a miserable four or five days.  When that relationship (it lasted seven years) ended, I then vowed that I was going to do what I wanted to do on Thanksgiving.  That was to stay home, cook and relax.  Usually I was working and it was wonderful to have four full days off.  Now that I’ve had a whole lot of days off, I really don’t need to relax, but then again, I do.  Being unemployed is stressful.  I think I need to relax more now than I did when I was working.

Got my first paycheck from WalMart yesterday.  It paid for my Thanksgiving feast.

It’s going to be a lovely day.  I’m going to take the sheep, Rose and goats up to the Christmas Tree Farm for a dry run.  I’m not worried about the sheep or Rose, but I am worried about the goats.  They are likely going to have a fit being taken and left at a strange place.

Those goats give Gel fits.  They challenge him right and left.  I feel sure it has nothing to do with him.  They would challenge any dog.  The only one who doesn’t challenge him is Esmeralda.  She was brought up with a Border Collie/Australian Cattle Dog cross moving them so she has respect for a dog.  The others were not.  When I’m through milking them, they’d all rather follow me into the house instead of going back up in their fenced in area.  I stand at the gate with it opened and they don’t want to leave me.  I ask Gel to walk up on them and he backs them through the gate.  He walks in straight on them and doesn’t back down, which is key.  If he were to back down, they’d know they had the upper hand.  Rotten beasts.  Good thing I like their milk so much.

Before I headed out to do errands, I discovered my landlord had left the gate open and the sheep had gone down in the back 40 acres.  I could see them, but I knew Gel could not.  I went down to the gate and sent him and Fern went with him.  This is not unusual.  Fern normally runs out a little ways with Gel, then returns to me.  I went back up to the car to finish loading and saw Gel running in a different field.  I looked back to where the sheep had been and they were on their way up to the house.  Little Fern had gone all the way out and was bringing them up pretty as could be!  She’s never out run that far before.  Good girl!

I did my errands and came back to my neighbor’s house to borrow their truck to go and pick up a round bale of hay.  It was a bit hairy coming back as I was sure that bale of hay was going to roll off the truck!  Luckily it did not.  I rolled it off the truck into the fenced-in area, then headed down back to pick up my panels.  I loaded up all three dogs (Gel, Fern and Esme) into the cab of the truck and we went to where the Winterfest is going to be held and delivered the panels.

I returned the truck, then went back down into the back 40 to pick up my ElectroNet.  I brought it up to the Christmas Tree Farm, set it up and just got back in.  Esme was with us all afternoon.  Needless to say, she’s sound asleep now.  She road like a pro in the truck and has become accustomed to riding on the ATV.  She was not helpful during the ElectroNet take-down or put-up, but she was just being a puppy.  While up at the Christmas Tree Farm she met some new dogs and people and was perfectly fine with them.

Now I need to go and milk goats.

A few days ago, an individual posted to the Sheepdog list telling of his success in using a muzzle to train a grippy dog.  Lots of people jumped on the band wagon and I’m sure many of them ran out to buy a muzzle for their dogs.  Finally, some of the “big hats” (expert stock dog trainers) spoke up today saying that using a muzzle to train a stock dog was not necessary and could be downright dangerous.  If an individual is trying to train a dog that has the tendency to grip inappropriately, that individual should seek expert help.

It is my opinion, and that of many other trainers, that a dog that is excessively grippy is fearful or weak.  A dog with the proper amount of power and presence should be able to move stock without resorting to his teeth.

Use of a muzzle to try to train a dog is nothing more than a crutch.  If you can get to the bottom of the problem, you can work through the issue using proper timing and handler pressure.  If you can keep your dog in the right place, at the right time, he won’t feel the need to come in and grip.

I said two days ago that I was going to pull out my copy of Building Blocks for Performance and re-read it.  I did so.  The basic premise behind this book is that if you bring up a puppy in a proper manner, then once the dog is two, four, six, eight and so on years old, it will respect you.  If you ask for a down on the field, the dog respects you enough to give you that down, no matter what the circumstances.

A big part of a puppy’s upbringing is building a relationship built on trust and respect.  Building this relationship is done on a daily basis, essentially every minute you are with the puppy.  A dog that respects and trusts his handler is so much easier to train than one who does not have such a relationship.

I put a collar on Esme this morning for the first time.  She was less than pleased, but it only took her about fifteen minutes to stop fighting it.  I started a bit of clicker training with her yesterday.  She’s still not quite old enough to readily take food from my fingers so put a ball of ground venison into my let her eat from my hand after the click.

For kicks, I joined the Real Time Canine maintained by Amelia Smith of Bordersmith Stockdogs.  She’s helped me out in the past with training issues so I figured I’d see what she had to say about raising her new puppy, Star.  It was only $10.00 for three months.

I bought a used book from Amazon earlier this week and received it yesterday.  It’s called The Year of the Goat: 40,000 Miles and the Quest for the Perfect Cheese and so far, I’m very much enjoying it.

Soon, I have to take a shower and head out to do my Thanksgiving shopping.  Then I need to haul my panels to where I’m doing the sheepdog demo this Saturday.  Nothing like leaving things to the last minute.

A quick update on Esme … she’s a holy terror!!  I can’t believe she’s six weeks old already.  How time flies.

It’s a good day to stay in, keep warm and read.  I thought I’d pull out Building Blocks for Performance by Bobbi Anderson and re-read it.  It is a great book for foundation training.  There was a series run in the Clean Run magazine written by Nancy Gyes on raising an agility puppy which was quite good.  I might take the time to go through that and see what I can apply to Esme’s up-bringing.  I have all the time in the world to do this.  There is no money involved, just time … if I can get myself out of this rut I’m still in.  I am going to try really hard to not put Esme on stock until she’s closer to a year old and spend most of my “training” time with her in agility.  She’s got one more week to sleep with her mother in the X-pen before she starts sleeping in a crate by herself at which time we’ll start real housebreaking.

I am simply not taking being unemployed well.  When I do go back to work, I’m going to kick myself for not making better use of my time off.  First it was too hot, now it’s too cold, but it is at least 20 degrees colder than normal here.  The temperatures we are experiencing now are more along the lines of what we get in January.  As I write this, I’m wearing my long down coat.  It is going to rain today so it’s overcast which doesn’t help matters.

My homeopath sent me a lovely care package containing some books on tape, edible goodies and a vial of the homeopathic remedy Selenium which I took yesterday.  I am not feeling any improvement, but often improvement takes time.

The cheese making isn’t going all that well.  The last batch I tried to make failed.  I think the thermometer I got with my cheese making package is not accurate.  I bought a digital thermometer last week and used that (after I had used the first one) and found what was showing up on the original thermometer wasn’t the actual temperature.  I was heating the milk too hot.  I need to figure out a way to keep at least one area of the house at a normal room temperature.  To save money, I’m keeping the house cool.  The average temperature in my house is around 60 degrees which isn’t warm enough to make cheese.  I tried leaving it in the oven with the oven light on, but that was too hot.  When I go out to do my Thanksgiving shopping, I’m going to buy a small electric heater with a thermostat and put it in my small bathroom and try to keep that room at about 70 degrees.

The next time I work at WalMart will be the Friday after Thanksgiving.  I’m scheduled to work 4:45 AM to 1:00 PM.  That’s going to be rough.  I had not heard this term before, but the Friday after Thanksgiving is referred to as “Black Friday.”  Hopefully WalMart will continue to do well in sales.  They have expanded their offerings and now have more variety, which I have noticed as I check people out.  I see things that I never knew WalMart carried.  For a small store, the one I work at carries a huge variety of items.  I made known my interest in possibly moving into a management position and the Assistant Manager I talked to said she’d be talking to the powers that be sometime this week to let them know that someone with my background was interested in moving up.  At this point in time, however, I just hope that I can continue to work there part-time into next year.  That extra money, coupled with my unemployment, will hopefully keep me going.

After I finished milking, I had to bring my trash down to the curb.  I started the ATV and wheeled it down there.  I let the goats go along with me, then took them for a run through the pastures.  They seemed to enjoy it.  I think they might be a bit bored staying in the one area, but I can’t really allow them free-rein on the 15 acres because they get into too much trouble.  Starting next weekend they’ll go up to the Christmas Tree farm to be part of the petting zoo which will entertain them.  Goats are just too smart for their own good.

I worked eight hours both Saturday and Sunday and was dead on my feet both days when I got home.  So a quick update here.  Gel, Fern and I were hired to do herding demos at a local winterfest this weekend.  I’m pretty excited about that!  I’ll need to spend some time figuring out what I’m going to do during these demos.  The organizers of the winterfest are going to arrange for a trailer to transport my sheep and equipment.

Off to bring in my dogs, warm up a bit and then head out to milk.

More later …

What an enjoyable couple of hours getting lost in that amazing story.  I can’t wait for the sequels.  I would have liked to have stayed and watched it a second time.  But alas, I had to get home to get cheese going, grind rabbits and milk goats.  Early to bed tonight as I’ll have to get up very early in order to get everything done before going to work.  Remember, I need to be in at 7 which means I have to leave here around 6:30.  A 20 minute commute is way better than an hour long one!

Did I mention it’s bloody cold out?  Right now, it’s 38, but feels like 28 because of the wind.  I hate the wind.