The Story of Dogs - original work

Dogs are one of man’s closest animal companions.  Human beings see a lot of themselves in the dog.  We admire their traits of loyalty, bravery, and humor.  Wild wolves and dogs live in very structured packs, based on family which is another trait people can identify with.  Dogs did not always live with people, but it turns out that people needed dogs and so they found away to each other in a little village.

There was cause for great celebration in the village the day the brothers were born.  The chief’s daughter-in-law had given birth to twins.  The chief threw a huge party for his first born grandsons.  They were strong boys with mops of black hair, pools of dark liquid for eyes and  branches for limbs.  They were so much the same their mother could hardly tell them apart.  Where ever one went the other was sure to be right there by his brother’s side.

As they grew they turned into sturdy young men, strong as cedar trees.  The brothers were the favorite of their grandfather, for he was a wise chief and knew that these boys were special.  He taught them in the ways of their people; knowing that one of them would some day be the leader.  They patiently learned the stories about Raven and other tales of their people.  There favorite stories were about brothers.

Their father taught them to hunt and fish.  They loved to go out fishing together most of all.  They would paddle out onto the ocean and work together and catch the biggest halibut anyone had ever seen.  The brothers spent all their time together hunting, fishing and helping their family.  Soon it was time for them to get married.

Their father and grandfather chose them the most beautiful brides in the village.  The brides were sisters with eyes gray like morning mist, noses like perfect sea snail shells, and a smile that radiated the sun’s warmth.  The twins were very happy.  They went hunting to bring back gifts for their new brides.  There spirits were with tem when they found two white sea otters.  The pelts were as beautiful as there soon to be wives.  The whole village feasted for days and all too soon the brothers went back to their normal lives.  They moved into a big long house together with their brides.

A few months after the wedding the brothers decided to go on a hunting trip up to the mountains.  They packed up their tools and supplies, and then set out up the path into the woods.  The younger twin’s wife old him she was going to have a baby soon.  The twins were very excited as they set off into the woods laughing and joking.  On this trip they thought it would be good to bring back a special gift for the younger brother’s wife.

They came around the corner and there was the perfect gift.  A big black wolf was standing in the middle of the path.  Fearlessly the wolf looked at them and the younger twin said he would kill it alone for his wife.  The older twin did not like this idea, but wanted to honor his brother’s request.  The younger brother took off after, the wolf and it began to lope away.  The older twin continued on to the hunting camp.

When his brother did not return by night fall he began to worry.  In the morning his brother had not come back.  He went down the path to where the twins had parted ways and began to look.  To his great sadness not far off the path he found his dead brother and the dead wolf.  He wept enough tears to fill the ocean.  He picked up his brother’s body and skinned the wolf.

He came back to the village with great sadness in his heart.  The whole village mourned the loss of a good hunter and the chief’s grandson.  The older twin was inconsolable; he would speak to no one but his grandfather.  He was very troubled by the dreams he kept having about the black wolf.  The brother went through many months of this as he watched his brother’s wife get rounder and more pregnant.

He decided he must do something about this sadness and went to the medicine man for help.  The medicine man sent him on a quest back into the woods.  He made sure the two wives were taken care of and promised to be back soon.  To prepare for this the brother fasted and spent time in the sweat lodge.  He cleansed himself to prepare for the journey.  Finally he set off with few supplies into the woods.

The brother walked until he felt tired.  Then he walked farther pushing the weakness aside.  Finally he was so weak and tired that he fell.  He pushed himself back up and walked a little bit more.  Then he fell again and could not get up.  He lay there thinking of his brother and how much he missed him.  The older brother fell asleep there in the middle of the path.

After some time he was woken up by gentle licking on his face.  He opened his eyes and saw a tiny black fuzzy ball.  He sat up and looked it over discovering it was a wolf pup.  The brother tried to push it away, but the pup would have none of that and kept trying to play with him.  The brother opened his bag and ate some dried salmon, he was starving.  The pup begged shamelessly for a bite and the brother tossed him some.

The older brother sat there wondering what to do with this wolf pup.  He smiled as he watched its antics.  He kept throwing little bits of salmon to it.  He reached down to scoop up the pup, holding it up he looked into its eyes.  What he saw almost caused him to drop the creature.  It was his brother in those eyes.  The older twin tucked the pup in his bag and set off for home with a smile in his heart.

When he arrived home he went right to his grandfather and showed him the pup.  His grandfather was overjoyed.  The brother brought the pup to his home and the younger twin’s wife recognized him immediately.  In a matter of weeks the pup grew into an adult.  The wolf’s wife had a set of twins one was a wolf pup and the other was a little boy.  The family was very happy

The brothers lived long lives together.  They still went everywhere side by side.  The twins found that hunting was much better when one of them had four legs and mighty teeth.  It was also easier to retrieve water fowl and the ends of fishing nets.  The dog brother didn't mind getting wet even when it was cold.  The dog brother had wonderful hearing so he could tell the whole village when strangers were coming.  This continued for many generations and that is how dogs came to live with people.

Marching on

"Every time, thoughts of quitting come to visit my head and tagging along are Quit's friends, Not Good Enough, Who Are You Kidding, Can't, and Impossible." - Livin life

Moments worth
The price of myths
Lifting from our fingertips
Reaching for the next hand hold on the wall

How'd this mountain get so high
How'd this mountain get so high
Can someone tell me how this mountain got so high

Cowboy Junkies

I have made quite a number climbs on quite a number of mountains, figuratively and literally. I guess maybe it is the time of year, that time where we are emerging from the dreariness back into the warmth and light that sends me into an introspective fit. I admit, I'm prone to these fits.

As I set my anchors wisely (I hope) and select my upward route, I will practice more patients and humility. I will continue to look up, to my left and to my right. I can only choose the route forward, I have already chosen what is behind me.  I will continue to look at the whole mountain and not just the fissures and crags right in my face. I must remember I am not alone on this mountain.

For now, I'll be reaching for the next hand hold on the wall.

Mick

The words get caught in my throat every time I go to speak.  I have this indescribable hole in my chest, that is incredibly painful. It is always the hardest promise to keep, the same one I make to each of my dogs. It is always these moments that I feel so small and that just being there is not enough.  I lay on the floor with him and spooned like we had done a million times before, even then I still couldn't hold him close enough.  Whispered so many things to him and he just went easy and quiet, I know he was more ready then I was.

Really, there just are not any words or maybe really not enough words to say about this dog.  This dog with one eye, no functioning thyroid and Border Collie Collapse Sydrome, who had the biggest god damn heart, you would never know how sick he was for his whole life. Everything he ever did was with his heart.

He never said no I can't, even in his last days. He always enthusiastically said ,"Yes, yes I will go and do that for you I will try hard and will not give up.   I will work all day with you to set sheep for the trial and I will do the chores and I will run in the event. I will be try to be patient with while you learn."

There is no way I can ever pay back to him all that he has given to me and the dogs that come after him. We are all grateful and better for the lessons he taught. I am thankful that I understood the gift of him from the early parts of our relationship. There are so many things I wished for him, in way they came true when he crossed over.

Where ever he is he is no longer sick, my sweet handsome boy.

That'll do son.

A Few Thousand Words

Letting Go is the Hardest Part - Rufus

The top picture is Rufus at 6 months old.

The middle picture is of him at nearly one year old.  He came to me from a wonderful breeder located in Texas.  Her name is Wendy and she specializes in raising Red Front macaws and Blue Throat macaws.  She raises her babies in a very special way.  She allows them to be fully fledged and flighted, this is something that is surprisingly uncommon in aviculture.  These babies are pretty independent, self actualized, and confident, in short they act like parrots really should.  

http://www.wendysparrots.com/

The last picture is of him pretty recently kind of grown up looking!


Rufus and I have done some pretty intensive training over the last 18 months.  Our lives have been rewarding, difficult and richer for knowing each other.  How things have changed for us too.  Rufus also now has a big brother named Gizmo that is also a Red Fronted Macaw, in addition to Bacardi the Blue Fronted Amazon you can see in the last picture.

My biggest goal for Rufus was to train him to come to me when I called while flying free outside.  It has been a long road.  I am trying to put into words how difficult, yet easy the whole process was.  I learned more about myself during this process than I think I really wanted to know.

These parrots are not like dogs, they don't really have any reason to work with you.  They are also very much wild animals and they are prey items too.  They spend a lot of time trying not to get eaten or trapped by predators and let's face it humans are predators.  When picking a parrot as a subject to work with as a trainer you are really working against so many natural tendencies.  What always amazed me is his willingness and interest in learning what it was I was trying to teach him, even when I wasn't doing the greatest job at it. Rufus has pretty much and endless capacity to learn and is pretty willing to learn all kinds of things, if I just had more time or maybe if I were more creative he'd do a few more interesting tricks!  I am also very amazed at his willingness to forgive me on the few occasions that I have inadvertently frightened him.


So yesterday was the big day, I let him go free outside.  We had been close for such a long time, like since last summer. I couldn't do it, I just wasn't ready even though he was.  Finally, I was able to work through my issues and believe that the training I had done up to that point prepared us for just this occasion.  It did, it went fine.  I will never be able to describe in words the feeling I had when he flew right to me the first time I called him after letting him go.  He was the most beautiful creature I had ever seen at the moment.

I'm sure there will be more pictures in the future and maybe some video.  I know this blog sounds a little random, but thanks you all for reading it any way.

 Thank you so much Hugh Choi for mentoring me through this whole process.  It would have been much harder with out your experience and knowledge.  Hugh and Otis have a feature on Wendy's web page, they started their free flight career in Central Park, NYC! 

Some Serious Catching UP

Part 1 Giving Some Thanks

Since it is close to Thanksgiving I’m going to list some things I am thankful for.

A partner that lets me run away from home to work dogs, that supports my journey on this path and will put up with this level of crazy.

Fabulous mentors that keep their patience and are willing to tell me the same thing over and over until finally hear it.  Mentors that keep me on and help me down the path and are willing to answer all my questions no matter how much detail I need.

I am grateful for wonderful friends that provide the opportunities to learn from great mentors.  Friends that are willing to be honest and also willing to help me over think everything.  Friends that kick me in the butt when I need it, pat me on the back when I deserve it and pick me up a little when I ask for it.

Part 2 Awash in Information

Last week I spent four days at a handling clinic coached by Scott Glen http://www.altapetestockdogs.com/ .  It was a pretty amazing experience.  I really didn’t know how much I learned until I walked away and had some time to digest everything.   By day 2 I thought I hit maximum capacity!  The third day I was feeling pretty hosed by information.  By the fourth day I could see so many new things, things I wasn’t seeing before. 

I am a very visual learner and I like to take things a roll them, around in my mind.  It usually means I don’t ask a bunch of questions, but I see everything.  In this clinic I was extremely fortunate to have a few friends participate in it, folks that I get to see their dogs trial pretty often and some dogs that I have been a spectator on their journey for a few years now.  I was doubly fortunate for 2 friends running dogs that had very similar things going on with their dogs as I do with mine.  It gave me the opportunity to see why things were happening for me the way they were.  I was able to see how to handle and avoid some of the situations.  I also discussed some training exercises to work on over the winter, although it shouldn’t take that long.

So boiled down as it applies to Z and me:

Better stop – we have an ok one, it has been working for us but just barely. We have a prescription to remedy that.  The homework is already started.

Clean flanks – I had gotten lazy about keep his flanks square.  This is what has been really killing us at the pen and sometimes in the shed.  It has been killing us around the course but I have been handling to compensate for it.  We are going to fix it.  Again we have a strait forward remedy, homework started there too.

Both bits of homework are getting applied to Hank as well.  Heaped on top of the stuff we are still working on but getting better at.

This was my Eureka moment: if I stop Z, I have to stop him far enough out of the sheep so he actually has room to walk up and affect the sheep.

I saw it time and again on other people’s dogs.  If they stopped the dog too close, the dog either struggled to shift the sheep or the dog blew it up.

I’ve never really considered the distance between the dog and the sheep a huge part of the equation when the sheep weren’t moving.  Not that I have subscribed to closer is better, but now I understand why closer doesn’t work well either.  It is noticeable on the lift, but where it was driven home was at the pen.  We penned some very silly un dogged lambs. What I learned from watching and listening where clean flanks so the dog can cover AND stay out. The caveat to this was if the dog flanked out clean and stayed off it had to be willing to take the space back if asked.  If the dogs got in too close the one of 2 things would happen it would blow up OR the lambs would not shift.  It was so dang clear.

Finally, I must get quieter with my whistles.  I must make the dogs listen for me.

Part 3 Testing Grounds and Applied Knowledge

My 2 dogs and myself have spend one week, 3 training sessions in total sorting through a hand full of the tidbits from the clinic.   Keeping the focus narrow so no of us gets overwhelmed.

Worked on better stop with both dogs, both are hitting the ground on a fairly quiet note.  I need to get to a whisper.  Distance and driving are where both dogs struggle with stopping, more so with Hank.   We will just keep it close for both dogs for a while and gather.

Worked on cleaner flanks, Hank’s are nicer right now; again they degrade with distance and driving.

On Saturday we went to a local trial. 
For Z, I could stop him anytime anywhere on that course.  I got louder than I wanted on the first part of the fetch and we suffered from sloppy flanks up there.  Still plagued by sloppy flanks around the course, less sloppy on the last 2/3 of the fetch but we have a long road here.

For Hank, it was a good day despite the letters.  The in gate was right on top of the exhaust gate, so it got a little exciting for a minute while we were waiting our turn.  I was proud though when we walked to the post he knew his sheep where up the field.  He knew right where they were.  The out run regrettably for me was a little far and the terrain proved tricky for him.  He went around the first hill and I went to blow him out, he gave but not nearly enough to go behind the second hill.  He got pulling in to the draw between the hills which is the first place he could see sheep for several strides.  He sliced them off the top plus over ran it and then started to chase.  He had them headed down the field to me, but I was already on the way.  He had run through them but kept his mouth shut and teeth to himself, that’s when I started to jog in his direction.  I got him under control and we worked them nicely back to the exhaust.

On his Pro Nov run I walked off the post a sent him, I just kept walking up the field.  He went out and around the hills much better.  He came in hard at the top but I was at the fetch gates by that time and could help him cool off.  We sheep sandwiched them quietly to the post and made a nice turn.  He actually completed the drive really well; a hair short of both panels and that was just my fault.  He’s speedier than Z!  I also kept my whistles pretty quiet, even the stop one!

We have some serious homework to get sorted out this winter, but I think both dogs are off to a good start.

TMT #8 a bit late

1. What blogging tip would you give other dog-bloggers?

Talk about yourself and your journey.  Try not to get bogged down in the outside forces.

2. If you were going to be stranded on a deserted island and could take five things with you (aside from the clothes on your back), what would they be?

This would kind of depend on how long I'd be stranded for.  If it were for just a few weeks.

Food 
Water
Leatherman
2 dogs


3. How much pain are you willing to endure in the name of physical appearance? Do you have painful things done to enhance beauty?

I have tattoos and piercings  - nuff said 

4. Speed limits... how fast do you drive? Do you drive Miss Daisy? Do you do the Indy 500 to work?


In the city around town I drive pretty cautiously.  On the open road about 10mph over. 


5. What trial (that you go to) is your favorite, and why?

So far The Bluegrass has been my favorite dog trial followed up by Lacamas Valley.  They are both big, have tough sheep and actually have a crowd of public spectators. 

If I had a dime for every time I heard this

"A wise dog man once told me..much better to have a good open dog than a great nursery dog"

* This blog is about  my experience and my dogs.*  First of which, I have few, second of which I have some. 

This is going to be a bit of a rant/tangent, so please lovely person that quoted this most recently, take no offense I totally respect you as a dog trainer and handler. 

So here is what I believe.  Dogs are like people, some learn faster than others.  Some trainers have skills others don't.  I don't know if it is luck or skill or what, but the last 2 dogs I have run in Open have had really strong Nursery careers. I have a crazy nice young Open dog now an sadly my older guy is retired already due to health issues. I'm working on a third dog that looks like he could have a really strong Nursery career next year.  He's a 2 year dog, but I will not run him in Nursery or Pro Nov until next season.  Odds are looking like he will make a solid Open dog, he's got a lot of natural talent and he's pretty darn biddable.   I do believe you can quite easily damage a young dog by pushing it faster than it is ready to learn and throwing it into situations that are over its head.  No doubt there.  I also think that youth is used as a crutch too and dogs are allowed to act up and be irresponsible far too long in what turns into an excuse of well I want a good Open dog it is only 3 or 4 or 5.  A good Open dog starts at 8 weeks, my dogs must listen to me THE FIRST time (once they have learned what it is I want) I ask them to do something, no matter what it is.  I spend a lot of time teaching them to learn, and encouraging them to listen to me.  They learn really easily through positive reinforcement, the "treat" is always worth more than the behavior I'm asking for.  


Nope, they don't do any tricks and yes I use corrections.   They just do basic things like come when called, load up, lay down, and get to their beds.  I really foster calm quiet behavior and listening skills.  Some dogs want to listen and be calm more than others.  Eventually, the behavior that is rewarded most is the one that gets repeated most.  In my case in the beginning, minding me and being patient are the 2 biggest things on the list. Before I ever get to sheep I want to mold my dog's mind and gear it towards clam quietness and partnering up.  Ok onwards...

After all that, I generally don't have to make my dogs do anything.  I can get them to do what I need for the most part.  I can discuss get vs. make some other time.  I am not interested in fighting with my dogs, ever.  Sometimes it does happen, but I try to figure out why it happens and what I can do better to help my dog out.  This is starting to feeling like a tangent, I promise I'm bringing it home.

Focusing on Hank now for a minute.  He's coming along pretty quickly.  I work him 30 minutes per week.  Yup I set a timer and he gets one work session of 15mins 2 times a week.  Eventually this will change, but for right now, what he's doing and where he is at has been accomplished in that constraint.  I work with what he gives me at his maturity level and with in the perimeters that he kind of throws out for the day.  He's 16 mos old, sometimes his flanks are broken, sometimes his stops are broken, sometimes his brains fall out.  I basically try to work on the issues that present themselves and I try not to yell or put a ton of pressure on him.  Right now as long as he is not being mean to the sheep, I don't really harsh on him.  If he's being an ass to the sheep I chew him out quite a bit.  That is the one thing he is responsible for right now is treating the sheep nicely, I have a high bar and I hold him accountable for every time his screws it up. He's totally capable of moving my sheep with out diving in and biting them ;)  I spent a lot of time not saying anything and just let the sheep show him how to do his job.

Finally, I do understand the role maturity and experience plays in becoming an Open dog.  However I really want a dog that I can at least fantasize about putting in Open at the end of their 2nd Nursery year.  I don't want to wait for a dog to be 5 or 6 before it is a reasonable dog on an Open course.  I believe a dog should be just entering its prime at 6 and having potentially 2+ years of Open at that age under its belt is going to put it a head of the curve.  Every dog is an individual and every trainer has a different set of skills.

Today with Hank

Hank was amazing today.  He was nice and soft on his out work, he is beginning to kick out when checking his sheep rather than slice in.  He is now hitching up as he comes around the top and is actually lifting the sheep instead of just scaring them.  he finds the blance and I can leave him be.I can stop him at the top if I need to, but I leave him be as long as things are reasonable. He brings them right down the line at a brisk trot sometimes canter, but usually treats them kindly. He's about 80% on his flanks with no physical cue just verbal, started throwing out the whistles for all the cues.  Hank has the lie down whistle, he'll hitch up on the first part so I have the makingings of a steady.  I've been working a little on the driving.  He is going to very easy to teach to drive as this is actually what he really wants to do rather than gather.  I wont spent too much time with it right now as I want him to get really more interested in gathering.  I have been admonishing him more frequently for blasting through the sheep and bitting.  I'm also able to talk him out of it more and more, I can see it coming and usually saying his name sternly changes his thoughts.  It mostly just puppy rashness and it is his resposne to mounting pressure so 50% of the time I keep him out of trouble entirely and 50% I let him think about making trouble and see how it goes.  We have worked a lot with picking the sheep up off the fence and keeping his cool through the whole movement.  He is much calmer going between the sheep and the fence.  We will probably work on corners soon too as picking up off the fence and going into corners are the biggest flash points.  He is almost ready for the learning to let the sheep escape and it is not the end of the world lesson.  I need to feel better about our breaking system first.

WTF Friday- for Merkx

What handler do you strive to be like, or handlers if you have Schizophrenia?


Scott Glen is my Obi Wan Kenobi I try to train my dogs using his sage words.  I will often ask my self WWKCD?  What would Karen Child do?  Since I have worked with her a lot, there has to have been a chance that we covered this problem or one similar to it at some point in our journey. With that conclusion I am sure she has given me a exercise or sage words for this situation already and I just need to remember them.

I think that I handle like me.  I feel like I have been doing this long enough to have my own style.  I have been strongly influenced by my mentors, but I have taken what works for me from each one of them and made my way with it.

I will say though I learn best by watching so I take any opportunity to watch folks that are better than I am.  I watch their body language, timing, and style, if they do something I like and it works for me I will use it and make it may own.  I will also watch folks I know make the same mistakes I do and I helps me see the dynamic of what I am doing better so I can go change it.

How do you change your handling style depending on what dogs you trial?

Z has been a huge challenge for me to change my handling style for.  Previous dogs, have been VERY forward dogs that lacked a bit of feel.  I spent a lot of time trying to keep them out of the "red zone" ;)  They tended to be flank slicers and cut in out out runs and dogs that could do with some grinding on.  Z is completely different and there are days that he frustrates the heck out of me.  Sometimes it takes me a few minutes of cooling of the remind myself it is easier to change me than it is to change him.  He's very effective at what he does if I handle him the way he needs to be handles :)




How do you change your handling depending on what trial you are running at?


I don't change my handling from trial to trial.  At least I don't think so.  I DO GO TO THE POST WITH A STRATEGY.  I have a plan epsecially if I can watch a few good runs before my turn.  I figure if I handle my dog and it keeps him happy, he will keep the sheep happy.

Tell Me Thursday- yeah!

1. What is your favorite Little Debbie snack? If you hate Little Debbie then I bow down to your greatness. (I suppose you can include some other favorite snack. Maybe it'll inspire me to get over LD for today.)

Oh wow, so hard to pick just one.  Nutty bar are right up there, as I am a sucker for the peanut butter and chocolate combo  in its many forms.  I have a sentimental attachment to Oatmeal Cream Pies(Froze), I used to share them with one of my childhood horses. 






2. What do you use for laundry detergent?

Tide, ususally I'm allergic to some of the other.


3. Tighty Whities or Boxers? (this, obviously, is open for interpretation)

Yes to both, depending on the activity at hand.


4. Dogs: On the bed? In the house? On the furniture? Never? What are your rules?

On the bed- sometimes, I only have 2 that care to sleep on the bed.  They get the privilege of bed when I sleep alone in hotel room or taking a nap ( like that happens very often).  Otherwise all dogs sleep in crates in a dog room, I'm a super light sleeper and we humans have allergies to the dogs.  On the furniture by invitation only.


5. Favorite dog-related website (aside from my blog, obviously har har har)? Favorite NON-dog related website? Can be blogs, or whatever.


Dog site _ http://rockingdawgs.blogspot.com/

Non dog site right now -http://www.wendysparrots.com/html/about_us.html

Tell Me Thursday #12- a few days late

1. If you won the lottery (a big one... I'm talking stupid muchos cash) what would you do with the money?


I would give my folks a wad of cash so they could be more comfortable and my Mom could just quit her job. I would give a bunch of money to my friends so they could sheep dog trial with me more.  I would pay off the house and then buy a new spread in MT or the State of Jefferson.  I'm talking silly huge like 3000 acres and raise sheep .  I would spend at least two years on the road going to a lot of dog trials in the US and Canada.  I would like to take the dogs and some friends to Europe for a season.  I would set up a foundation to teach inner city kids about agriculture through hands on experiences.   I would also set up scholarships for disadvantaged/at risk young girls and women. I might also consider setting up an alternative/charter school that shies away from traditional teach methods for more advanced methods.
I would also consider buying the small business I work for already.  It serves a pretty important function in the local exotic parrot community.


2. After winning the lottery would you work a day job? If so, what would you do? 


I would become a sheep rancher, eventually.  But um no, seriously I would spend time training my dogs and birds. If  I  bought the store I'd probably go in, but I wouldn't be a total slave to it.


3. Do you have any auxiliary dogs? Auxiliary dogs are dogs that are not essential to your main purpose (usually tiny, but not always). If you don't have an auxiliary dog what might you choose?


Nope, not really.  I have parrots, they are the "pets".  I have dogs that are retired or semi retired from sheep herding.  One will be 14 she feels very auxiliary some days. I might pick a French Bulldog, they are really cute.  Really, I think if  I could choose I would just get another parrot instead of an auxiliary dog.


4. Do you have a favorite crock pot recipe (or other recipe) you can share?


Winter Squash Soup


2 good sized Butternut squashes
Olive oil
Sprinkle of brown sugar
1 qrt veggie stock
1.5-2 Tlbsp of coconut butter
Red Thai curry paste to tase
Lemon grass and Thai basil as garnish


Hack up squashes, leave peal on, remove seeds
Place in roasting pan 
Lightly grizzle in oil, sprinkle gently with brown sugar
Place in oven on 350 roast until fork tender
Once done remove flesh from peel and place in blender
Add enough veggie broth to achieve the desired consistency
While all of this is whirring around in the blend add curry past and coconut butter
Should still be hot enough to serve right from the blender

Tell Me Thursday

Ok so I am day late.  This is actually my third one and I am really having fun with these. The other ones I have posted as "notes" on my FB account.

1. If you're not at the 2011 Sheepdog finals this weekend what are you planning to do?


  I have been home and "watching" by the magic of Facebook feed.
2. One item you NEVER walk onto the trial field (any trial field, or training class will suffice) without?
Clean underwear.  You never know, you know?
3. Katy wants to know if you have a pre-run ritual that you observe?
I try very hard to spend the 2 runs a head of me alone in quiet place with my dog.  I like to be able to watch what's going happening on the field, but not hear the spectators.  I always clean my whistle while waiting.
4. How old were you when you had your first real kiss?
 Like 15 maybe.  Gosh, so memorable, hardly.
5. Bonnie wants to know what you do for yard mud control during the winter?
I just pulled up my whole side yard and laid textured concrete pavers.  My dream is to only have enough grass for the dogs to pee. I try to hose off dogs after working and I try to wipe paws.

All About Hank- I'm divulging his deepest darkest secret here

So far in Hank's short time with us he has been the subject of one measly blog.  Probably and after mention in one or two more.  What can I say, he's not really doing anything note worthy, yet.  Thought I would write a bit about what he's been up too.

In May Hank turned 7 months old.  At this point I he has been to puppy kindergarden with Tanya.  He has also been hauled for a few hundred miles around in the van to work and back, to trials and back, oh and his favorite, the park and back.  There's not much the makes this guy give a second look, he hasn't met a person he doesn't like or a dog he wont try to play with.  Pretty much unflappable as far as noises and weird looking things go.  What can I say, we live in the city and we deal with weird  things all the time, especially on trash day.

Hank loves sheep, he's been keen since I brought him home a 12 weeks old.  It has been tough work to keep him out of trouble.  Although once he was too big to squeeze through the fence it got easier.
Basically I have put him on sheep once or twice every couple of weeks.  Right around 6 months, he started to want to go around the sheep.  Prior to that he just wanted to run through the middle and I had nothing to do with the picture.  Hank also began to bring me sheep and  he began to notice me in the field with him and the sheep.  It annoyed him at first and finally he accepted me as part of the equation.


Yesterday, he had a great working session.  He is changing directions easily and I am keeping him from circling all the way around now.  He is starting to give thought to balance.  Although he blows right by it 70% of the time, he looks in a hitches up at the correct point, still a lot of temptation to go to head :)  If I can get him settled down some behind the sheep he paces himself down, respecting the sheep's bubble.  Hank also begins to flank a bit more squarely.  He will also stop with the sheep between us.  So we have been doing walk abouts making sheep sandwiches in a fairly good sized field.  He will pull the sheep off the fence by going between the sheep and the fence in both directions.  The sheep that we are using are not knee knockers, they are pretty light and mostly sensible.  


He is still pretty toothy, especially on the away side.  This is the flank he slices worst, so I have been trying to bend him out with out making too big of a deal out of it.  Otherwise if he causes a mess I let him fix it and I don't get on him if he uses his teeth from the shoulder forward.  He's getting better at grabbing faces on the break aways.  I can wind him up  and I can settle him back down pretty easily.  I think our bench mark for more structure training will be when he goes out and doesn't bust through the middle of the sheep when I first  let him go.  I set him and tell him wait while I walk to the sheep and he just fights the bend on the first little run and there's usually a bit of a mess for him to fix, after that he settles right in.  He is still in the let's have fun and keep it light stage.


I'm pretty happy with what I see so far.  Hank is sensible, but full of hell :)  I am starting to trust him a bit now to fix his messes without piling on the carnage.  He wants to listen and do right but at the same is very forward and doesn't care about if he makes a mistake.  He's taking correction well, he heeds me and then lets it go.  As far as working style, so far he's pretty plain, up right, and medium eyed. Right now I am stopping him on his feet, which he seems to be respecting very well. He seems to be favoring line and straitness to flanking and bend.  He comes from a line of strong out runners and squared flankers.  It will interesting to see how he progresses.   


Now for Hank's dark secret- He loves to lick bare feet.  Ick, right?

Dry Lake SDT

Trying to do a brain dump so things might not be too organized.  I'm going to try to get it all out before I forget anything important.

Thanks to Geri Byrne for hosting, Derek Fischer, Amy Coapman and Gloria Atwater for stetting out

Course:  Sheep set about 600 yards out, out run was blind either way dog was sent.  Fence visible to the left, but no fence on the right.  Dog could spot sheep from the post on the hill, handler could see lift sort of and could see dog most of the way out.  Fetch was strait forward except the field was littered with badger holes.  Drive and cross drive were appropriate length to be challenging.  We ran 4 sheep so it was a split in the ring and then a pen.  Set out on the left about 100+ yards from drop site.  Exhaust on right over hill behind post about 100 yards

Sheep: from Don Gnoss- Coopworth crosses tough  but very fair, good to drive challenging on the out work.  Stood at the drop spot and held very well.  Thanks in part to a fabulous set out crew.  No hard draw to exhaust, tough draw back towards set out and left hand fence.

Day 1:  Many dogs struggled to find sheep, crossing over or running to big and wide.  Lots of sheep broke hard to the left and end up at the fence and way off course.  Sheep nice to drive, tough to shed, had to work for a pen, but very doable.  Sheep were fairly runny and light it a good way.  Very windy, hard cross breeze and some snow.

Sent Z on the come bye out run.  He ran out smart and did not go to the fence.  He went deep too and coasted in behind them at the perfect point.  Lift was strait and they tried to break left and he held them really well almost had them on line, but struggle.  We made the panel and the fetch and things lined out and straitened up.  Sweet post turn, he stayed in and on the shoulder.  Got them moving towards the first panel a bit off line, but made the panel.  Good turn off the panel to the cross drive line, they got a bit low but we scooted them back up to make the panel.  Had a sloppy line from second panel to shed ring.  The shed was tough as the sheep just wanted to ball up and stand still.  It was tough to line them out, I jumped the gun and tried to take the first small gap the happened for a missed attempt.  Worked the sheep a bit and got another gap and pulled Z through.  Moved on to the pen and the sheep boogied and almost ran past the pen, yikes.  We got them stopped and tucked in the pen without too much more fuss.
Probably the only dog with zero off the Out run and lift.  Had one handler say to me that Z ran out exactly the way you'd draw it on the piece of paper for the ideal out run. Love it.

Score 81 0-0-5-7-5-2, 3rd place of 50 dogs

Day 2: Sheep were pretty much the same, which was nice.  Weather pretty much the same, but colder.  Again many dogs struggled to find the sheep and the sheep were breaking even harder to the left and were getting tougher to put anywhere near the top bit of the fetch line.

Sent him on the come bye again, why mess with what worked?  Stunning out run again, good lift.  Really struggled to put them on line, not as nice as the day before.  This was the only indication I had that he might be a little tired.  Skimmed the fetch panel for a miss, but got them on line again.  Another good post turn and better set up for the drive away panel.  Better drive line and made the panel.  Better cross drive but skimmed the panel low.  Way for the handler to leave 8 points out there on a pretty sweet run.  Worked the line a little better to the shed ring.  Was much more patient in the ring and tried to work the puzzle out instead of taking the first opportunity that came along.  Much nicer shed in my opinion, even with a missed attempt again.  Then we walked them right into the pen. I had a better plan to get from the ring to the pen on day 2.

Score of 71 I don't know the exact break down I didn't see my score sheet this time, but this is what I would have scored it 0-1-11-12-5-0.

We ended up 15th of 50 dogs.

This was a great trial, I will be going again next year.  I'm really starting to feel like we are turning into a consistent team.  I feel like I can handle and trial my dog and make him look good and not focus on training during the run.   I met some great new people.  It is always really cool to have people you don't know walk up and say " wow nice run you just put down".

Really happy with the out run work our training is paying off.  He didn't run to the fence and he used his head all  the way out there.  Driving work is getting better, still more practice there.  I need to set up panels and work at driving through them and not to them.  Lately I have just been focusing on the line part, now to focus a bit on the panel part.  I need to work on shedding sheep that don't want to line out and I as the handler need to actually do most of the work.

Heppner OR, St. Patrick's Festival Sheep Dog Trial

Left Friday morning after working Z on sheep.  I had a lot on my mind, but wasn't very worried or anxious.  A few weeks before I had a lesson with Patrick Shannahan and he sent me home with a short list of home work, which I began immediately.    I began overhauling Z driving, so I hope that I hadn't changed so  much that it cause a serious communication break down between Z and I. I have been working also on the out run shape as he has been running too wide at the bottom, again. The weekend before we ran at Rocky Ewe and things went really well.  So well in fact we finished second in the Open class.  It was a nice car ride out to the trial, which is in the middle of nowhere.  Friday night was a cold night in the van, but very manageable.

On Saturday we were up fairly early in the running order, spot #6.  The sheep were moving more or less and being fairly reasonable sports bout the whole thing.  They were yearling Rambouillet crosses fresh off the range.

Set Z up and sent him left, had a nice shape out run at the bottom, didn't feel like he broke wide and he ran with purpose.  Looked like a snow cone, but was a bit flat at the top.  He busted through them and 2 went air born trying to make it back tot he set out.  He fixed his mess with out much help from me.  I had a hard time seeing the white sheep on the flat brown field @ 400 yards :)  He brought them down the line ok, listening really well. Typically on day 1 there's not much listening on the fetch line going on.  I was having a hard time finding the sweet spot on these sheep and kept letting Z get in their eye too much, so they'd turn or stop, grrrrr! No fetch panel for us, the sheep were taking TONS of pressure from the panels.  They would get real close and then squirt out the side.  It was like having a force field there, kind of weird! We made it around the post and off on the drive away, appalling line, but at least they were moving, just skimmed the panel wide.  Good turn and the cross drive line was ok, again I was just happy they were moving along in the general direction I wanted them to go.  Actually made the cross drive panel and a good turn!  Tried to work the line to the shedding ring best I could.  We got our shed on the first try and hustled to the pen, I knew we were running low on time.  I got the gate open and the sheep stalled in the mouth of the pen.  I knew I was putting too much pressure on them, but couldn't figure out what to do before time ran out.  In the end we posted a score, which at this trial was a miracle. Working these sheep was much like pushing rope.

Well, I had the whole rest of the day to sit around and devise a new plan for the next day.  I watched a lot of great handlers run their dogs and tried to take notes.  I also watched how much the sheep changed as the day went on.  I tried to take note of what they were like at about the time I'd be running the next.  The second half of the day the sheep got super heavy and a little bit fight came out in them.  Nothing too nasty, just flat out refusal to move, a little bit of foot waving and head lowering.  Lots of dogs/handlers RT because the sheep refused to move and stood the dog off.

Saturday night, had a lovely dinner with friends and got a room at  a B&B in Ione.

Sunday morning came quick.  I had several hours to work out my plan.  We drew up 28th about half way through the day and about 6 runs after they brought fresh sheep up to the set out.  The sheep were getting tough as the day wore on.  I decided to go with a similar plan as the day before, but with even greater emphasis on keeping things moving.  I was fortunate enough to watch 2 great handers run before while I was waiting on deck and paid close attention to how they were managing their sheep.

I stepped up and sent Z right today as they changed the set out location from the day before.  Still too wide at the bottom on this side, but MUCH better top end.  He dropped in way behind them and walked up giving us a nicer lift.  He had to squirrel around a little to convince them to come down the field to me and not run for the exhaust.  Got them on line and then they just flowed and I just kept egging him on  to move up and keep the pressure and movement up.  Nearly had them around the post and they started to bounce around, but we got the turn.  They began to stall and I egged him on and he jumped at them a few times and even poked them in the butts with his nose.  They began to move and it was a painfully long distance to the panel, but an ok line.  I knew we were going time out and was hoping to at least make it to the shedding ring.  They stalled out completely just in front of the panel and that is where we died.  They began to graze and Z tried to lift them.  There was one ewe that would turn on him just as he about got them lifted.  She finally broke rank and jumped at him.  Z tried again to move the group and she charged at him the second time and then I called the run and went to help him.  A big RT for us on day 2, at least we got them to our feet :)

It was a lovely ride home.  I was pretty happy with him over all for the whole weekend, Z just kept trying to do what I was asking.  I didn't feel like he let me down at all on the second day, he was way out of his scope of experience and over his head when the sheep act like that.  I had two great handlers that a really respect complement me for making the decision to retire my run.

Hank Finally gets a Review

Hank is our new recruit.  He is mostly spending time being a puppy.  He is going to puppy kindergarten with Tanya, he is acing the class.  So far I really like this guy. Hank mostly does what his told, he just has a small naughty streak.  He is very mellow, quiet and thoughtful.  He also is very, very fearless.  Hank pays no mind to the consequences of heading and nose gripping the older dogs.  He is almost 5 months old now and I think they are about ready to start giving him the more frequent and appropriate smack downs.  This guy is also super keen to at the moment chase anything that moves.  He was trying to herd leaves blowing in the wind on our walk the other day.  I just really see a solid mind, a willing personality and a keenness for work.  What more could I want for the time being.  So far he has been on sheep twice and had a good time.  He just wanted to hold them in the corner and walk up on them until they exploded out the sides.  Then he would run to the head and put them back in the corner.  Not very productive, he's not ready to go around yet and bring them ;)  I will put him on again when he is closer to 6 or 6.5 months and see where he is at.  Though he wont get any serious training until the fall.  Until then he will continue to travel with  me and work on his social skills.

El Pres.- Idaho

It was a longer drive than I remember, but in all well worth it.  Z, Hank and I left Seattle at 900am.  We picked up 2 empty dog crates at 512/I 5.  Then we bee lined it down to Fido's to do some quick sheep work.

At Fido's we practiced a few sheds and some driving.  Mostly shedding as I forget I have to tune this up on this young dog still.  I just made it fun.  Hank had a good romp around and we met Monique's puppy Rye for the first time.

Finally we made it all the way to Caldwell, ID meeting Jorgen at the La Quinta.  Morning came way too fast and we rolled out of the hotel and headed over the the trial field.  The trial was held over at Patrick Shannahan's farm.  The field is good sized, not too tricky and the sheep were nice to work.

We were in the # 10 spot.  There was some trouble setting our sheep out, they kept breaking back to the set out.  I set him up to got left, but as I watched the set break back and get to the set out 3 times, I changed my mind.  I sent him right and hoped for the best.  He totally didn't see them and broke really wide.  As he got there the sheep had tried to get to the set out again.  Our lift was a little rocky and he got a little cowboy up there.  Finally I got a hold of him and fixed out fetch line, making the panels.  Got them down to my feet and made a great post turn.  I have been working really hard to make tight turns and set the sheep up on the line for the drive away. Z was still full of beans as we had a bumpy go of the drive away, at least we made that panel too.  Our cross drive was lining out really nice and as we approached the panel we were a hair high so I tucked them in and made the panel too.  Yikes, now for the hard part.

Patrick, our judge devised this wonderful shed/pen combination  We had 5 sheep, had to shed three, let 2 go and pen the 3.  It had foiled every run so far that day.  I knew we had a good shot at getting this done, we play around like this all the time.  Took the back 3 on our first try and sadly the front 2 didn't leave to go to the exhaust.   I pulled Z around between the 2 groups and kept egging him on to work just the three while trying to keep him right between the 2 groups.  I made it to the pen gate and Z saved my bacon, he turned on the 2 on his own and put pressure on them keeping them away.  Then immediately flipped back to the 3 we had to stuff in the pen.  They nearly shot passed on his side and then I had to fight them back on my side.   Z had to really dig and work hard to not let them go either past the pen or back to the other group.  Made it into the pen and could finally breath.  I knew we had the high score after all that work.

We did rock it with an 83!  We tide Dianne Deal and Fame for 2nd.  We ended up in third, from watching Fame's run his out work was nicer.  Lavonne C with Gus took the class with an 89.

Day 2 at least I had better sleep.  I ran at the end of the class in like #25.  This doesn't work too well for me as 200pm I usually feel like napping.  Z was felling mellow as we walked to the post.  He knew where the sheep were and I sent him left.  He did the out run I know he is capable of.  The lift got hairy again and I just got after him.  I spit my whistle out and lit him up.  This is the first yelling streak I have had in ages.  I kind of surprised myself.  He got his head out of his butt and actually started to listen.  The sheep were pretty heavy by now and bent for going to the exhaust.  He had to work like heck not only to keep them moving but to hold the intense pressure.  I knew we were going to time out, I was just hoping to get a crack at the shed.  I could not convince him to walk them any faster.  Positive the yelling at him on the lift did not help his morale, I should have just shut up and ate the fetch points. Then I'd have enough push in my dog to finish the course.  Of course the less he wanted to push the more frustrated I got which made him push even less.  We made it to the shedding ring and the shedding gods were not with us.  The gap would not come and the timer went off.  A whopping 58 points for us.  From fame to shame in 24 hours ;)

I was not happy with my handling on day 2 at all.  Well better luck next time.  Hopefully we will get into Heppner!

Rocky Ewe trial

We drew up 5th. The sheep were being pretty nice up until our turn.  Z and I had the rotten luck of drawing a rouge group of sheep.  They left the set out and boogied down the field as my dog got to about 10 o'clock.  He was way wide and deep, so the departure of the sheep was not his fault.  The set out person made a valiant effort to control the group, but alas no luck.  This caught me a bit flat footed, but I blew a down and flanked him back over.  He listen to everything I asked and we nearly got the sheep back on line.  Just skimmed the fetch panels.  I stopped Z and let the sheep drift the last few yards to the post and gave them a minute to breath.  All 4 were big eyed and up headed.  I knew I was going to have to work hard to keep things from going totally sideways.  I flanked Z to make the post turn and he kicked out nice and wide and the sheep began to have another mental melt down.  Blew a steady when the sheep were pointed in the general direction of the panel.  And they were off, we basically had to contain them rather than actual work them.  The course was pretty sort and I struggled to get our drive away line straitened out, but we made the panel. Had a great panel turn as the sheep wanted to make for the exhaust again we worked on containing them.  I thought I had a great line, but just skimmed low, cost us a ton of points.  There were quite a few people who did the same.  Turned that panel and they fought to go to the exhaust, so again another tough line to make.  Of course being the sheep they are they walked right into the pen.  My shed never happened, every time I moved my dog or myself the sheep tried to book it away.  When I received my score, it was pretty much as I expected 65, it would have been nice to make the shed and at least kept half my points from that ;).  Ho hum better luck next time, right?

I was super pleased with my dog.  He listened to EVERYTHING I asked him, tried his guts out and kept his head together.  He had sort of a cockeyed, sheep eating look about him as we turned the post.  I haven't seen this side of him before.  Although as he is getting more mature he is getting more pushy and a little bit of a handful.  On my side of the team I only took my whistle out of my mouth 3X and this was for corrections when he would feel like he was getting tense.  So that's all for now.  I don't know for sure when our next trial will be just yet.

More on Driving

I have been chipping away at the heap that is our driving.  I took an unplanned lesson today.  So happens I was in the right place at the right time and there was a cancellation.

Still doing a lot of walking as per the prescription of my last lesson and things are coming along really well. Z's staying back and actually feeling his sheep better.   We are also making MUCH better 90 degree turns.  The cross drive is shaping up better.  I really attribute it to the a walking, I can really be there to enforce keeping the sheep's side turned towards me and not letting him slip and turn them away or try to fetch.  More work to be done here though, to lessen the tension and get him more comfortable.  We'll keep on trucking in this vein.

One thing that was brought to my attention while taking my fortunate lesson was my dog is not walk up strait  EVERYTIME he walks up.  I didn't realize that Z was even cheating me on this. Ok honestly, I knew somewhere deep down in my dark insides, but I didn't realize it was the root of  one of my issues.  Mostly he walks up dead on but sometimes when I say walk up he moves to the side and forward.  Z really only needs to move forward.  I have some good exercises to cure this problem.  What I couldn't sort out was he knew to turn in when I said there, but he wasn't taking responsibility for the line after he turned in.  I really had to keep placing him where I need him to be instead of setting him and letting him go.  So now I am teaching him the "there" means turn in and hold that line.  I'm actually fixing this on the fetch since he is very keen to move forward.  Really excited to see how this plays out and quickly he gets it.

I also got some stunning help on my shed.  I have been having an issue with Z really watching the lead sheep and wanting to grab those instead of letting them go.  I now have a new twist on my shedding at least for awhile.  Actually I think this will clear up much faster than what we have going on with our driving.  He will get it much quicker as he is very keen to shed. We will stop practicing look backs while shedding first and foremost.

I must assimilate all the new information.