Posts from — November 2009

Wally and I have decided that we’d like to be able to do sheepdog demos every day of the week.  We had such a good time yesterday.

After doing the morning demo, which was relatively uneventful, we came back to the house, did a few chores, took showers and went to visit his mother.  While we were visiting, I got a call from the owners of the Christmas Tree Farm telling us they were swamped with people and now would be a good time to do a demo.  We said our good byes to Wally’s mother, made a quick stop at Harris Teeter to get food for supper and headed back to pick up the dogs.

At Harris Teeter, I got the bargain of a lifetime: a 18 pound Bell & Evans (organic) turkey for just a little over $10.00.  It originally retailed for over $60.00.  I’ll cook it on Monday.  The sell-by date is Monday so hopefully it will still be okay to eat.  If not, then the dogs will enjoy it.

We got the dogs and headed over to the Christmas Tree Farm.  As we were getting ready to turn into the driveway, four vehicles turned in ahead of us.  Yes, I guess they were busy.  Wally let me off at the top of the hill with Gel to pick up the sheep.  As I came up the driveway, I saw that there was about 30 vehicles parked and well over 100 people milling around.  As I came into view with the flock of almost 50 sheep with Gel keeping them together they all but cheered with delight.

I brought the sheep into the clearing near the fence where the goats are fenced and Wally got a few loaves of bread to hand out.  Almost all of the children and their parents who were there came over to mingle with the sheep and feed them bread.  Gel worked his tail off keeping the sheep in place.  Many of them know the bread routine and would have stayed with us for as long as there was bread to eat, but the younger sheep do not know the routine and wanted to go on to parts unknown.

I have to give Gel a lot of credit for all he did there.  For him to keep his head on work with all of those excited children and adults was amazing.  Gel is a social butterfly and as I’ve said before, Gel works sheep to please me.  He’d much rather retrieve sticks and visit with people.  Not once did I see him even look at a human.  He worked the sheep.  Several times it got loud and confusing with all of the people and sheep milling around and I saw Gel rear up on his hind legs to see where I was so he could keep the sheep to me.  What a good dog.

The demos went well.  I think Gel finally has the driving down.  For the first time that I’ve had the course set, I was able to make the cross drive panels.  Even though I set the course, I didn’t take the time to walk it to find landmarks so I could more easily make the panels so I was doing it almost blindly.  I can tell, however, that Gel has figured out that I want him to put the sheep through the panels. In addition, I can see I’ve been working a lot on driving in his outruns.  Several times he buzzed in on the sheep; something he normally doesn’t do.

Until now, I’ve never really practiced penning; remember, I just set up that pen.  It’s been in storage for over a year until now.  No wonder why I rarely got pens when I was trialing.  As a result of this, our sheep are not at all pen broke so we have to work to get them in.  My pen is smaller than what I’d be trialing in so it’s a bit more tricky.  Again, I can see Gel is figuring out the mechanics of penning.  What I need to do with him is to slow him down and get his movements more precise than how he usually works.

Both Fern and Split worked well.  We had the ram in one group and he got ornery and started turning and charging Split.  Being the accommodating little dog that she is, I saw her think to herself, okay, if you don’t want to play, then I’ll just leave you behind and work the rest of the sheep.  I know this isn’t a good idea, but I could see the wheels turning as she tried to figure out what to do with a charging ram.  Finally I asked Wally to let Gel off his line and I called him in and told him to grip the ram the next time he charged.  That changed the ram’s mind and he worked well for the rest of the session.

When we were through with the demos, I used Fern to bring the sheep back down to where they are fenced.  Again, we had to weed through a crowd of people.  Not near so many, but it was still pretty busy.  Fern handled it well.  You can see how proud she is of herself when she does a good job.  She all but pranced back after we put the sheep up.

Yesterday, we sold one lamb to be processed.  Given the price we quoted, we will be taking a loss on the lamb, but hopefully it will bring in more customers last year.  Wally gave away quite a few business cards as I did demos.

Many of these people drive up from Charlotte and I’m sure most of them have never seen a Border Collie work.  Several people asked me how I trained the sheep to listen to the whistles.  I told them it wasn’t the sheep that were listening to the whistles, but the dog.  Apparently, some of them never saw Gel working, they just saw the sheep moving and heard my whistles.

We couldn’t get sheds on the smaller groups of sheep.  That’s okay, we’ll keep on practicing.  My goal in our first Open run is to get the sheep around the course and pen them.  Shedding will come in due time.  Since I won’t be entering Fern in the upcoming trial, I might enter Gel on both days.  We’ll see.

Today we are driving up to Boone to meet some of Wally’s relatives for brunch.  It will be a relatively quick visit because we need to get back to do an afternoon demo and then move the fence.

It has been a lovely four day weekend.  We didn’t get as many chores done as I wanted to, but we’ve had a wonderful time sharing our lives (the dogs, sheep and goats) with other people.

Until later …

Yesterday, in between doing demos, we picked up three buckets of deer organs, including the stomachs and intestines.  I removed the intestines and disposed of them and packed up the livers, kidneys and hearts in separate containers.  Then I removed the stomach contents and packed up the linings.  It was a nasty project, but the dogs love stomach linings (also called green tripe).  Once I do a dry (or really wet) run with the pressure canner, I’ll experiment in canning venison.  If it works, it would be good to be able to can some green tripe.

Between venison, pork, goat, lamb and cheese, all three of the freezers are full.  I would be hard pressed to get anything else into any of them.

This morning, I got a call from a neighbor saying that he just killed a small buck and asked if I wanted it.  I really couldn’t say no, so we picked it up and brought it to the processor.  I cannot recall ever eating venison and I might just like it.  I think it may taste similar to grass-fed lamb.  If we don’t like it, then the dogs and cats can eat it.  With the processing, it will come out to around $2/pound which is less expensive than about any meat you can buy in the grocery store.  The deer will hang for five days before it is processed so that will give us time to clean out some of the meat in the freezer to make room.  Because it is cooler, the guard dogs are eating more and all three Border Collies are getting a lot of work these days so they are eating more as well.

The demos continue to go well, but they are exhausting.  All three dogs are working well and seem to be enjoying all the attention.

Until later …

The dogs are all flat out tired and I’m feeling about the same.  I wish someone would put me in a crate so I could sleep.  It all went well today and the people really enjoyed seeing the dogs work.  The Charlotte Observer did a big story on the Christmas Tree Farm (Santa’s Forest) so there was a ton of people there.  It was their biggest opening day.  Tomorrow should be just as busy.

Until later …

Wally, he’s a wonderful friend; a very special man; one in a million.  I’m blessed to have him in my life.

My dogs, all three of them, even though yesterday I was ready to ship Fern off to an agility home.

My cats, all of them too (I think).  They keep the rodent (and bird) population down and make me laugh.

Where I live: one of the most beautiful places in the world.

The goats, of course for their milk, but for also for what they teach me, namely patience.

My friends, both near and far.

My health.

Life is good.  Thank you.

May you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving and I hope you have as much to be thankful for as I do.

Until later …

Oh, she’s testing me.  The episode on Tuesday with the sheep and the buck (who is now living in quarters separate from the does and that’s where he’ll stay) shook her confidence.

If I ever get another puppy, never, ever again will I put it on stock any younger than a year old.  I’ll do agility and nothing else.  It’s hard: you see a six month old puppy that shows a lot of promise.  Fern showed a lot of promise, she still shows a lot of promise.  As a puppy, she seemed tough and strong and wanted to work stock so much that she’d keep on working through the pressure of training.

Wrong.

I didn’t really start Gel on stock until he was a year and a half and even then, I put so much pressure on him that he quit.  A lot.  I almost sold him many, many times.  It’s a damned good thing that I didn’t.  Keep in mind, that Gel was sold as a herding reject because as a less-than-seven-month-old puppy, he didn’t show enough interest in stock to satisfy the woman that sold him.  This is the same dog that is almost completely self-trained and will be running in Open in his next trial.  Self-trained by a moron I might add.

Fern doesn’t show any lack of interest in stock, but she’s very, very sensitive to pressure.  I had been thinking about entering her in Pro-Novice at the trial in January, but Hell no!  I’m backing way, way off her and building her confidence back up.  I am still very, very bad at reading stock and in tuning Gel up to trial, I’ve been working my sheep in small groups.  They tricky, tricky beasts.  Gel can handle them, Fern can handle them if I let her, but if I try to force her to do something that she doesn’t think is right, she gets upset and yes, she’ll quit.  That in and of itself would make many people move her on down the road and I seriously considered it yesterday.

Fern isn’t going any where.  Hell, I’ll keep on training her, being patient and when it comes time to trial her, she’ll move up that much more quicker.  Gel ran in Pro-Novice maybe two or three times, Ranch once or twice.  I see no sense in keeping him in Pro-Novice or Ranch for a season or longer for the trial experience.  Gel works the same no matter where he is, he’s an honest, natural dog and won’t make a mess on the trial field.  Why not run him in Open?  Fern will be the same way as long as I am patient.  She’ll teach me patience which is exactly what Split needs, although she’s not as sensitive as Fern, but I could easily make her so.

Wally and I discussed the dogs quite a while last night.  Managing Border Collies is a lot of work.  The more time they have on their own, the more things they find to do that please them.  You might think that isn’t a problem, but if they are allowed to do lots of things that please them and then ask them to do something that they may not want to do, well, why should they do it?  They all have their own arsenal of things-to-do.  Gel drops sticks at your feet begging you to throw it; or he’ll flirt with female dogs; or he’ll suck up to anyone who lets him.  Fern hunts cats, not to hurt them, she hunts them.  She’s obsessed by them.  She’s obsessed by Gel and if Gel is retrieving, she’s hot on his heels biting him in the ass.  She’ll also work the poultry on her own if she’s given the chance.  Split will work poultry in a heart beat.  She can’t be outside loose with poultry around.  She’s obsessed with Fern like Fern is Gel.  Of course, eventually I get upset with them for doing all of these things and correct them for it.  Sometimes I get angry, which isn’t a good thing.

So, we’ll make it a point to better manage all of these obsessions.  I’ve already decided that while they are at the Christmas Tree Farm, they will not be allowed to run loose.  They’ll be tied to the ATV when they are not working.

These dogs have a good life.  They live in the house, they get plenty of exercise and work.  I don’t feel bad about these restrictions.  I think it will be better for all of us.

Until later …

I haven’t decided yet what I’m going to do about training.  I had a plan yesterday and it went south (north, west and east).  Maybe it’s best not to have a plan.

As I write this, I’m eating homemade yogurt with fruit, including peaches that I canned this year.  Oh, it’s good.  I only have a quart of yogurt left in the refrigerator.  Time to make some more.  Better do it soon while I still have milk.

The milk may be drying up, but we have eggs coming out of our ears.  I collected a dozen yesterday.  If I give eggs to the Border Collies, they pass egg farts, which are disgusting!  So, the guard dogs are going to get eggs for breakfast this morning.  Maybe their egg farts will keep the coyotes away.

Update on Rose: she’s still on the shit list.  She’s pretty much stopped chasing the four-legged livestock and for the most part, poultry, but she barks excessively.  At least I am pretty sure it’s excessive.  The dogs that belong to the people in front of us bark a good deal.  The dogs up at Red’s bark quite a bit.  Rose hears them and has to join in.  So I am 95 percent sure she’s barking when she doesn’t need to; but I do know coyotes have been in the vicinity.  The plan is when I hear her carrying on, I’ll let her bark for a little bit, then I’ll verbally correct her for it.  She’s responsive to my verbal corrections so hopefully that will work.  The deal is, if she continues to bark as she has been when it comes time to sleep with the windows open, she will need to be rehomed.  While I like having her in with the goats as I believe she does offer some protection for both the goats and the poultry, we need to sleep.  There are times with the windows closed that she’s kept both Wally and me up.  Hopefully this is just another puppy stage we are going through.

Liath continues to do great.   She got very upset when I took the sheep away yesterday.  She doesn’t mind the sheep being worked as long as she can see them, but if they go out of her sight, she barks.  Yes, Liath barks, but it isn’t continuous like what Rose is doing.  Liath hears the same dogs barking that Rose does, but she doesn’t join in.  Liath barks when she needs to and that may just be maturity.  I think Rose likes to hear herself bark.

Tomorrow, for Thanksgiving, we’ll go to Ryan’s (a local eat-like-a-pig for $10.00 restaurant).  Given that Wally’s mother is in a wheelchair and not terribly mobile, this will be the easiest thing for all involved.  I’m not thrilled with going as I hate that restaurants and stores are open on what should be a family holiday, but I have no choice.  Now I’m trying to decide what day to cook Thanksgiving for Wally and I.  If I do it on Friday, I’ll need to go to the grocery store today which doesn’t excite me.  I suppose if I go early enough …

I guess I’ll head out to the bloody grocery store now before the crowds hit.  Yuck.

and other times, utter failures.  These three dogs are going to teach me a lot.  You have Gel who is extremely forgiving of my mistakes; correcting many of them.  Then there is Fern who has a shit load of eye and is not at all forgiving of my mistakes and will shut down if I push too hard.  Finally, Split, who is right in the middle of the two and she’s still just a puppy and can’t handle a lot of pressure.

I thought the sheep would behave in that back field, but being sheep, they had their own idea of how things should be run.  Because the fields are still so wet, I brought the sheep down using the ATV and Gel.  My muck shoes keep my feet very dry, but they are not terribly comfortable to walk in.

First, I worked Fern on driving and she did a pretty good job, even when the sheep were running.  The did settle down relatively soon and we got some good progress.  I think it may take forever to teach her flanks and it’s getting frustrating; frustrated is where I don’t need to be with Fern.

I used Gel to split the sheep and we got it done quite well, but I should have brought the separated sheep into the next field because once I had a small group separated off for Split, I tied Gel to the ATV and brought out Split.  Unfortunately, by the time I got to her, the separated sheep were heading back towards the main group and before I knew it, Split was hot on their heels.  I decided to let her go to see how she’d handle it.  She didn’t.  She was in over her head and I felt bad about putting her there.  I walked closer and helped her out, but by then she was zooming around and around.

I did my best to straighten out the situation, but Split was rattled as were the sheep.  A couple of the older sheep were turning and challenging her.  I ended her training session on what I hoped was a good note and then decided to use Fern to bring the group back to the ElectroNet.  All was going well until we cut through the back side of the field where the goats were.  The buck saw the sheep and the sex-bulb went on.  He ran full speed into the flock of sheep making a huge mess.  I tried to run him off with my stock stick, but he wasn’t giving up his hunt for more sex.  Fern hit the deck and then tried to head home.  I called her back and thank goodness she came.  By then, the buck had run the sheep all over the field.  I got Fern to collect a small group and I brought them back through the gate up to the house so I could settle Fern.

We came back out the front gate and by then the buck figured out that the sheep were not for breeding, but the does were starting to mingle with the sheep.  It seemed like it took forever to get them away from the sheep all the while keeping Fern from leaving.  Oh, I was upset, very upset and Fern knew it.  The field that we were in was full of briars some of which were well over Fern’s head and difficult for her to run through.  I was getting tore up by the thorns and those bloody, insistent dairy goats.  And darned, Gel was over a mile away tied to the ATV.

Finally, we got everyone sorted out and the sheep back into the ElectroNet.  Both Fern and Split are zonked out in their crates.

Tomorrow will be a better day, it has to be …

Just got back in from feeding the guard dogs and running the Border Collies.  We ran through the large, flat field that I mentioned in my last post and it got me thinking about the small course I have set at the Christmas Tree Farm.  I then realized, running the dogs, especially Gel, on a small course is exactly what I should be doing with him.  His out runs, lifts and fetches are all quite good already.  I don’t need to be doing a lot of out runs with Gel because gathering and fetching are quite self-reinforcing for him (and I think it’s going to be that way for Fern as well).

Way back when, I started doing ASCA stock trials because I wanted to work on Gel’s reluctance to work close and to improve my timing.  It worked, to some extent, but ASCA stock trials are not USBCHA trials.  No matter what the venue, a lot can go wrong in an arena trial and you don’t have a lot of time to fix it.

I can’t see lines and trialing in USBCHA is all about lines.  I don’t think that is ever going to improve and this is going to hurt me, but what can you do?  I can only hope to get Gel pointed in the right direction and he’ll hold the line for me.

Until later …

I have to bring the pressure canner to be checked this morning at 10:00 and while I’m in that area, I need to go to Wal-Mart to pick up some soda for Wally (he’s having a holiday lunch at work tomorrow).

When I get home, I’ll drive down to the far back field (20+ mowed, flat acres) with all three dogs.  I’ll tie two of the dogs to the ATV, then walk back up to where the sheep are fenced (about a mile walk) with one of the girls and walk back down with the sheep.  Bringing the sheep down will be a good exercise for the girls (especially Split) and will be good exercise for me.  Two different kinds of exercising at once.  Talk about multitasking

Once we get back down to the flat field, I’ll work all three dogs and then (if I still have any energy) use one of the girls, walk the sheep back up.  The only glitch in taking the sheep out of the ElectroNet with one of the girls is Liath.  I’ll need to get hold of her before sending in one of the girls to bring the sheep out.  I still don’t trust bringing one of the girls into the fence with Liath.

I can get a lot of driving time in with Fern on the back field and if I split off sheep, I don’t need to worry so much about where the sheep are going to go.  In the field where they are now, they now know all the escape routes and use them.  It’s distracting to have to keep track of where the various groups of sheep are while I’m trying to work a dog.  There is oodles of grass in both this flat field and in the adjoining field so the sheep can eat to their hearts’ content while I’m working.  I’ll be glad when the Christmas Tree Farm is done so I can bring my panels and pen down to that field and set up a good-sized course.  I drove out to the Christmas Tree Farm yesterday afternoon and set up the panels, but the course is quite small.  On weekends, half of the flock will stay at the Christmas Tree Farm and half will stay with Liath.

Over the past few years, I’ve been very, very lazy about just going out and working the whole flock.  Using a large flock has its training benefits, but working small groups is extremely important.  I have found that I am paying more attention to where the sheep are going rather than watching the dog.  I have also found that I’m getting better at reading sheep.  Shedding is starting to get to be fun for Gel (and me) so sorting sheep has become both viable and easy.

I haven’t had much luck in tracking Split’s papers down so I’m going to forget about them.  I know she is from working stock, maybe not from dogs who were (or are) actively working, but from dogs who were bred to work.  Quite frankly, I don’t think I need to know anything else about her pedigree.  She is what she is.  I highly doubt I’ll breed her (or Fern for that matter) so what difference does having her papers make?  There are too many Border Collies, just like her, who are kept from achieving what they were bred for to consider adding to that population.  To think of what might have happened to Split if we hadn’t taken her home.  That would have been a huge waste.  Wally and I are blessed to have her with us.

Until later …

Got out and worked all three dogs twice.  Not sure who’s brain is more fried, mine or the dogs.  I have found that the shedding practice, for some reason, is improving Gel’s driving.  Maybe it’s just a fluke.

Split is going to learn her flanks quicker than Fern.  She was flanking excessively while working the whole flock so Gel and I sorted off a group of four lambs and one of my dog-broke Dorpers and I used that group with Split and that corrected the problem.  I hate drilling flanks, but it seems like I’m going to have to do that with Fern.

I was glad that I despite the awful weather, I bundled up and got out to work the dogs as I feel so much better now.  The fresh air does wonders.  Three tired Border Collies is even better.

Until later …