Demon Dog

IT's RAINING!!! Wow, can't believe it, it's been so long i wasn't sure what that stuff falling from the sky was. I wish it would just rain all night and all day for about 3 days. The pasture is shot, the ground is like asphalt, and the pond is getting lower all the time. But right now, glorious rain! Okay, enough of the happy dance for the moment.

It's been a fun but busy weekend here. Yesterday i went over to Denise's for a little dog workin' get-together with a couple of other folks. It was hot as stink but a nice breeze and short sessions kept it tolerable. Jet and Zac both worked very nicely. Billy was his little superstar self. He kind of amazes me. I've done very, very little training on him. I just sort of bring him out and let him have a little go here and there, and he's just moving along in leaps and bounds. He'll run out 50-75 yards pretty decent, balances nicely, is willing to even do a little driving. I was telling the gang, he's pretty darned boring to train really. It's surely a good kind of boring though! I'll try to get some video of him soon if i can get someone to come out and operate the camera. I'm not putting any pressure on him at all and expect he'll easily be ready to run Nursery this winter or early next spring. I probably could push him along and get him ready for this fall but i want to take time training him and see how much he'll just train himself on the sheep and in different situations. He's still just a puppy at 11 months old.

Now, on to the subject of this post - the Demon Dog! Black Bart, the wild man. First a litte background - one evening last week, i thought i had put all the sheep up, and cut the whole gang of dogs out to run and play on the pasture while i was doing some work around the farm (key word: thought). A few minutes later, i look up and here comes Bart and Gael and who knows who else, bringing me 5 sheep. It took me 10 minutes of chasing and yelling to catch that little snot! Had Gael (the original Demon Dog) not been out there, i might have been able to just work Bart a bit and caught him that way, but things were a bit ummmmm, wild with both of them out there. Every time i'd get Gael down and then get balanced up and almost catch Bart, the sheep would shift and they were both off again. Then lambs started squirting off and Bart thought that was grrrrrreat fun, working single lambs and grabbing them. I don't know where the heck the other 4 dogs ended up, except for perhaps heading for the hills with all the yelling that was going on! Okay, so fast forward to yesterday, and you can probably guess what frame of mind Bart was in when i let go of the rope and let him go around the sheep. Let's just say i wasn't exactly part of the picture and it wasn't quite as calm and sweet as the previous times at Denise's. :-) It definitely keened up my sweet 6 month old puppy! I had a long piece of pvc which he was very much ignoring until i kinda sorta cracked him on the head with it - it wasn't really intentional and it wasn't hard enough to hurt his feelings, but he did somewhat notice i was in the same universe with him afterwards. He did settle down a bit and worked very well afterwards, just as keen as could be but balancing and covering and looking like a million bucks. He wasn't having any of that being caught stuff again though and i practically had to tackle him to get him off the sheep. I was grinning from ear to ear. There are good dog problems and bad dog problems, and a too keen dog is surely one of the former! I'm very excited about him and can't wait to get him training. I've always felt some regret that i couldn't do a better job with Gael - she was way too hot for my experience level at the time, and i just never could get a handle on her tension, but she was tremendously tough and talented and i've wanted to turn the clock back and try again. I think i might have another one that's "a lot of dog" and i can't wait! He's all about some sheep now, spent every chance he could today trying to get through fences and under gates to get at the sheep. Yep, i've got another Demon Dog and i'm a-lovin' it!

A Good Dog and a Good Day

The Shoofly pack looks and feels a little different tonight. I sold Moss today, back to his breeder Denise Wall. He's such a good dog and i think they're going to be a special team. As much as i love the little snot, i know he's going to be even more special to her and i'm thrilled to be able to let her have him. You can tell by the grin on her face that she's pretty thrilled herself. :-) Moss went right to work for her today, even with me sitting nearby chatting with other friends. Denise said when she got him home, he just hopped out of the truck and blended right in with the other dogs like he'd never left. He was a special one to Denise and her family when he was a baby puppy, and now "Fatty" (his puppy name, because he was such a solid pup) has come home. I expect to be singing the blues this fall when he's kicking butt in Nursery for Denise and not for me, but i'm just so happy for her to have him. I like when my friends are happy!

I took the rest of the Shoofly Pack over to Becca Shouse's for the bc-boards picnic this afternoon. It sure looked weird to open the van doors and not see those wild light eyes of Moss' looking back at me. The picnic was a lot of fun and the dogs had a good time working Becca's sheep. Personally i had a good time drowning my dog-leaving sorrows in banana puddin', yum!

Bart's New Game

Bart learned a new game. First you swim out to where the stick is.


Then you open WIDE and grab it.


Get a good hold and start swimming back in.


Keep your ears out of the water!


Watch out for Jet, she steals sticks!


Ahh, now a good shake and start all over again!


(Who knew he'd ever even learned to fetch?! I've never taught him or played fetch with him. He must have been watching Gael fetch from the pond. I decided to take just him and Jet out, since i was trying to get some pictures, and he decided to show me what he'd learned on his own.)

Oh no! Goodbye Redbud

Well, it finally happened. My beautiful red bud tree, the "signature tree" at the farm, which looks like this in the spring:

Now looks like this:

It's been leaning more and more every year and gravity finally caught up with it. It's funny, i thought the branch on the right would have been the first to go. It's gotten low enough that i smack my head on a regular basis when working dogs in that area. Wonder how long it will be before it gives up and breaks off too? The sheep are sure enjoying stripping the leaves off!

Gael update

I took Gael in for her repeat bloodwork today and it looks good! Her alkaline phosphatase is still elevated at 589 (was over 6000 to start, then 4500, and 1542 two weeks ago) but everything else is back to normal. She'll stay on the liver support kibble, Sam-E, milk thistle and Actigall, and we'll do another blood draw in a month. Good news!

Now to put her on a diet. All the good spoiling she's been getting has made her fat. :-)

Training: Looking for Sheep

I try very hard to have a consistent program when i train dogs, training in a manner from the start that makes later training a little easier for the dog to understand, based on early cues and body language. For example, if i step sideways away from my dog, that's his cue to leave my side and go around the sheep. If i walk forward towards sheep, i expect my dog to move forward and make contact with the sheep with me. I am very consistent in these cues right from the very first sessions.

By using this consistent system, I begin teaching that blind 600 yard outrun the first time a dog is on sheep! Actually, i even start this earlier with some of my own puppies. If i'm sitting at a trial with a little pup on my lap and he notices the sheep on the field, i'm making a little sss sss noise so he starts associating that noise with sheep. I've had puppies as young as 8 weeks watching sheep at the top of the Open course, and you can bet i'm trying to take advantage of that, as well as let the pup know i like that he's looking for sheep!

I use three signals to help my dog find sheep when they are out of sight, and i begin using them immediately upon starting a dog.

I always approach the sheep with my dog by walking straight forward towards them, making a little sss sss sound with my mouth, almost like a very, very quiet version of a walk up whistle. The dog learns two things - that i walk straight towards where sheep are, and if i make that sss sss noise, sheep are directly in front of me. The dogs love that sss sss noise, because it *always* means sheep are around, where i do occasionally walk around without going towards sheep. :-) When the dog is a little further along in his training, and being sent for sheep that are a little further away (but still in sight if the dog looks for them), i'll walk forward, make my sss sss, and when i see the dog lock in on the sheep, i'll add a "there". Then when the dog is even a little further along, and being sent for sheep that are out of sight, i'll again use all of my cues, and when the dog looks in the right direction, i'll use my "there" as a way of saying "yes, you're looking at the right spot, sheep are out there right where you're looking". Over time, i need to walk forward less and less, and the dog learns that i'm facing where the sheep are, but i have that walking forward to fall back on if my dog is confused. Eventually, i can stand still, facing sheep anywhere, give my dog a little sss sss under my breath, and see the dog start scanning the field with his eyes looking for sheep. And when he faces those unseen sheep 600 yards away, i can give him a quiet "there" and he knows exactly where he should be finding the sheep on his outrun.

A Few Pictures

I put up a few pictures on my Pbase site of Gael and Bart from a few days ago, and some of Julie working one of her pups from today
http://www.pbase.com/robinfrench/2008_06_14
It was a fun day. Julie, Laura, Joan and Kate came over and we worked dogs (a little), snacked on good foods (a lot) and everyone chilled out under the shade trees. Nice!