Monday July 30 herding at Diane's ist draft

Hey found the first draft !


Tom didn't want to drive to Rye N.H. to the seafood place we heard was good so I went herding again ;< )

My dogs are such good teachers and I am learning so much from them about herding and dog behavior in herding :< 0

Worked Zest and Peak on ducks again. This time using the AKC hold pen lift thing ...ha ha don't know what to call it.  Zest was ok with that but man she is so flanky on wearing.  A bit better than last time I think though.

Freaked Peak out..OMG I have to go around that thing and Diane holding it ? !!!!  She wears much straighter than Zest so that was  easier with her.   This time she didn't run off screaming in pushing the ducks to the corner so Diane could re-cage them.  She did do some of that when asked to flank around the pen and Diane though .

Both Zest and Peak would flank back to the start position nicely.  Get away from Diane holding that scary thing OK !

Lesson with Diane M July 30

Grrrrrrrrrrrr   husband logged me out before I got to save my post !!!

Zest and Peak worked AKC style ducks today.   Zest wasn't too bad with Diane lifting the hold thingie (sorry don't know what to call it). She still gave me a work out on over flanking on wearing.  Bugger can still get by me as I numbly watch her before it is too late to catch and fix.  She did a good job picking up the ducks from a distance and off the fence.  Still needs to check in most of the time to see if she is right or I am right ? though .  I am probably doing some crazy pull her off mode like an agility gamble gone bad :< (

Peak was all freaked by being asked to go around Diane holding the ducks in that fence pen thing and had to be worked on to keep flanking around.  She did her run off of pressure act a few times.  However this time she was able to move the ducks back to the corner without flipping out and off.  Ducks were very accomodating about being corraled back into the hold pen by Diane this time.  Probably thought it was safer to be in there then set free to deal with crazy screaming dog.  Truth be told, Peak is far less dangerous to stock than her mother Zest is !

Neither of them gets excited about ducks like Fios and Ava do ! And since ducks put them on a level I don't care  to deal with right now, they didn't get to do ducks.

Fios got to do the take all the sheep and goats out of the barn yard exercise again.  After a few round abouts, he lifted and brought them all out fine so didn't need to seek out the water tank to cool off ..LOL
I was happy enough with his flank, lie down, stay put as I move one sheep back to the barnyard at a time, then flank away and walk up to drive them off so we could start again.  He seems to have this down pretty good so we upped the ante and asked him to hold, while I opened the gate behind him.  That was hard for him ! I move he counter moves.  Diane and I reved him up to stay focused on the stock instead of me.  Fios liked the rev me up stuff . I had him on a short line so I could hold him facing the group and prevent flanking or driving them off, just hold and like it ;< )
Then we did walk up stop, walk up stop , sometimes calling him off and sometimes flanking around the stock and back to me.   So cool that he no longer looks back to me on these short drives :< )

Fios and I are on our way to some good , fun team work..Happy Betty :< )

Beautiful weather so off to train !

Great lesson with Diane Menard today !  On sheep, send the dog into the barn yard area to bring all sheep into the round pen, while I stayed in the round pen . Then flank the dog go by and down (out if too close) then sort one sheep back to the barn yard. Then flank the dog away and stop at the barn wall in front of sheep. Ask dog to walk up between me and the barn wall and drive the sheep off the gate.  Then repeat , sorting one sheep at a time. 

Peak was the best at the gather from the barn yard.  She went nicely around on the edge of the fence, stopped behind the sheep and slowly walked then through the gate :< ) I could cry that I didn't have this on video !

Zest was just a bit more chaotic.

Fios was so fast and busy he had to take a dip in the sheep water tank .  At least he knows how to cool him self down !!  LOL

They all did reasonably well on the sort work.  Fios is so much better at stopping now :< )  Staying put is still a work in progress for Mr. busy feet.
Baby Ava did a few minutes of on line perimeter work, some flanking and some learn to stop when I have the sheep standing still with me . She has busy baby feet, must be talking to Fios on the side.  She seems to move off my pressure pretty well, so here is hoping she will have nice wide flanks..   Of course that's when I do it right . I am not real good at the pressure thing. Still can't feel that dam bubble either !!!

Zest and Peak worked the call ducks.  Object was to move up and down the middle of the pen with some turns and keeping the dogs behind the ducks.  I had a real hard time keeping the ducks on my left side or maybe it was my right ?  Diane thought it interesting that I had more trouble on one side than the other.   Zest is real flanky on ducks so I had to move into her path allot.  Good exercise for me.

Peak for all her nice , calm work on getting the sheep out of the barn yard, could not take the pressure of driving the ducks to the corner of the fence and would run off screaming .  She needs some zanax !

Since Fios was so wild on ducks at the trial last weekend, he did not get to work ducks yesterday.   I need to hold onto as much control on him as I can !!

More on Maine trial

I just looked at my score sheets again and the comment from Rachel on Fios was on the sheep not ducks. She did tell me after our duck run how nice he was though. She also commented on Zest;s duck score sheet: " Stick position...ask for details if you are interested , Good job ! " Wish I had looked at the sheets Saturday night so I could talk to her !! I am sure Diane will fill me in though. I do recall hearing that I had turned back into a twirler from the peanut gallery. Not to mention Diane saying as I am in the sheep run with Fios "That dog is covering your Ass all over the place !!! " Good dog, Fios :< ) I told Diane I heard that and so obviously she had much work to do with me ..LOL

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Maine ASCA herdign trial July 2012

I had a very fun time at the ASCA trial in Prospect Maine this weekend ! Felt a bit like a USDAA trial with 6 runs with 3 different dogs ! This was my first every duck trial. Frustrating at times but fun too. I havn't worked ducks enough to understand the pressure for them. Well even after all the sheep work I have done, I still am not good at that pressure thing either :< ( Sure would like to feel that damn BUBBLE !!!

Zest and Peak qualified both days so got their started duck titles.

I did started sheep and ducks and Fios was 2nd both days on sheep and 1st with Diane Menard running him on ducks Sunday. I felt too out of control on the ducks with him so did not want to have that happen again. Diane offered to run him and I knew she had great timing and could get him right. He was wild, eyes spinning, foaming at the mouth in the run with me . We got it done but it was FAST and not pretty, He apparently loves ducks ! The comment from judge, Rachel Vest on that duck run with me : Very talented dog.....tons of work ethic !!!! :< ) Rachel Vest was married to Bob Vest the other breeds herding guru. Both Rachel and Jan Weson (the other judge) were very kind and helpful. Jan asked why I did not fun Fios on Sunday so I told her about the spinning eyes and foaming mouth. She laughed and said "You don't want to deal with the scene from Exorcist again ? "

I probably won't do any more arena trials with Fios for some time. I wanted to see how it would go and now I know. Placements mean nothing compared to keeping our team work in tact !

I do think that there was some good stuff for him to know on sheep here. On our last run, he was going to turn the sheep back up the arena after stopping them from escaping to the exhaust and I ran across the field to cut him off and down him ( I don't care that ASCA does not like you to down the dog ! ) He was quite surprised to see me appear in front of him and laid down :< ) He also called back to me and calmly stopped with me so the sheep who were headed for the panels correctly could just go on through and start the cross drive without him cutting them off. He would still love to just gather any running sheep but I finally can control that most of the time. Started is a fetching, wearing course but Fios pretty much drove the whole thing. The sheep were very flighty and sure were not about to come to me. So I drove a Maserati around the arena ..LOL

I attempted open sheep with Peak and Zest. The first day, Peak did a really nice job, gettng the panels and cross drive across the back of the arena. Even though the judge at the briefing talked about taking one or two stock through the panels, chute or pen instead of losing all your points re-attempting, I stupidly tried to get them all in the pen. One went in like 3 times and I could have shut the gate but oh no I am thinking USBCHA and you can't just take one sheep in the pen so around and around we go until the judge says "please go on" . Diane looked at my sheet and said I would have qualified and probably placed if I had shut the gate the first time one went in ..grrrrrr mind gone Betty . I think Peak got me back for being so stupid and would not get off me to do the drive on Sunday and finally flew in and bit me in the knee ! Shortly after that we got "Thank You" from the judge.

Zest was all "Seriously, you spent all that time gettng me to go wide around the sheep and bring them to you, now you want me to move in straight and move them straight away from you ! " That can't be right so while she could cover the escaping sheep, she could not do the drive. The first day she was too hot on the sheep's tails as they ran for the exhaust and one hit the fence so we got "Thank You Mam !" The sheep was fine so no fresh lamb for dogs this week. The 2nd day I couldn't get her to drive so we got "Thank You" again :< (

The dogs got to go swimming and Zest kept coming back in covered in a flowing see weed dress ;< ) Lots of room in the side field for games of fetch after our runs at the trial .

I slept in Laura Hamer's pool room on a big air matress. It was surprisingly comfortable except for the hot body of Fios next to me. He was happy. We went to sleep with the sound of baby duck quacking. Call ducks ar NOISY !! It only bothered me a bit the first night. The baby room was beside the pool room.

The judges were kind and helpful, the other participants were as well. Weather was ok. I would have liked a bit cooler but it was do-able. Sure could have been worse !!!

Diane's students did well: Kathy St. Charles got her open started sheep and I think ducks too ? and a High In Trial on Saturday !!! I got all 3 started duck titles and Fios's started sheep with the 2, 2nd placments and the first on ducks with Diane running him. Barb and Lizzie finished started ducks and got a leg in open ducks and a leg and placement in open sheep. Natalie and aussie Nibbler (very first trial) got 2nd in started ducks on Sunday and I think qualified on Saturday so got their title. Natalie also got a gift each day for being the most appreciative handler. Not exactly the title but she was sweet and thanked everyone after her runs. Diane finished Dually's Advanced duck title. I don't think she ran Dare. And I think got something on cattle as well. Can't keep everything straight, sorry.

I kind of fell in love with the looks and work (fast and crazy..hmmmm silly Betty) of Matt Mason's aussie "Asa" ? I could see that body and attitude flying around an agility course !!

There were some really nice dogs. Lots of aussies of course, a bunch of really nice working cattle dogs, a couple cardigan corgies (one got HIT other breed on Saturday ) a Terv and an Old English and 3 or 4 other border collies.

On the way home, I called Sheryl who was taking care of Ava. She said, Ava was ignoring the pond until she saw the ducks swimming and took a flying leap off the dock and off after the ducks. Sheryl was happy she had a long line on her and could reel her in ! Ava had a blast working ducks in the water :< ) Looks like I have 4 duck dogs now and one is a dock diving duck dog ..LOL

I feel so thick about learning good stock work :< ( But I'll keep on trying. It's an excellent adventure (vbg) !