Travelling work

While I haven't posted here in a while, I've been diligent about training the dogs. I've gone to a couple of sites to try and proof Abby a bit, since we've had such outrun woes. Seems to be paying off, outruns have been improved even at other venues. We'll see if trial day it sticks now. Her other work is also indicative of the hard work we've put in. Drive has been better and more direct, drive to the 4 still needs work but there is always something to work on!
Sally was introduced to Call ducks, that was interesting:-)) For all the lack of work on ducks, she did really pretty well. It still may be the shortest run ever on ducks but I was pretty proud of her pre-trial work... If I hadn't been feeling ballsy the day I sent in Adv. entries; I would feel a bit more confident about it... Oh well, jump in with both feet and see what happens:-)))
Patsy tagged along and got some work at different spots too. First she was good, then she was bad... More miles, it will get better! Worked on ducks and that wasn't bad, just some reminding and then all was well!
Rosy got to meet ducks for the first time as well, she isn't completely disgusted... A couple more times and she'll be a pro, I'm sure:-)))
So a trial this weekend and I'm looking forward to seeing some old friends and visiting as well as running dogs!

Weekend work again...

Went to a friends house this weekend, well Sat anyway and got a little work on everyone. I worked Sally and Abby here at home this week too.
Abby worked pretty well though the sheep were very difficult to shed. Her driving was nice and flanks were ok. Didn't do much on outruns since the sheep wanted to run but we are working on those here at home.
Sally got the most work this week doing chores. She brought the sheep home every night and got to do some nice outrun work. I've been really pushing her on the drive and flanking. The drive is improving quickly, outruns need miles...
Rosy worked on Sat with driving and did quite well. Her balance and cover on the drive is very good, walk ups are improving though I expect will need time.
Patsy hasn't been worked this week but did get to work Sat too. She did ok though had some things to think about... Bigger field and lighter sheep still did well for her experience level.

Got work??

Yes I did get the dogs worked last weekend and some through this week. There have been good and bad days for all of them...
I did get some videos which I will try to post once I edit them on youtube.
Abby, really up and down. Some wonderful work and some really horrible stuff. Don't know what is up with her. Been taking sheep next door to the neighbors to graze, his grass is lovely and the sheep need it. Its about 3 acres, half of which is ligustrum trees about 50 gal size(5x5). Abby does not like th eoutruns through the trees she is not understanding the whole out of sight thing with the sheep. Doesn't help that the grass is 2-3' too so she gets really lost in there. We are going to work on it a bit more today so we can get her through this, maybe it will help the outruns in the future since those are not her strong point...
Sally really is doing pretty nice stuff. GOOD driving work, Outruns remind me of her dad (tight but good contact with sheep). The heat doesn't bother her as much as the others right now. She has been taking the sheep over and driving them down to the bottom so that they graze that area right now. Overall good, hopefully we can get her Adv sheep this Fall, then we can do some duck work and maybe cattle.
Rosy, Just bad... She has been the longest off of sheep so that is not suprizing. Pretty poor work fast, not good stops, outruns are ok. She won't be trialing this Fall so we've got time for her on the drive and Int. work.
Patsy, doing really well. She is starting to get a little stronger on the sheep so I've kinda taken a break with her until she'll take more pressure. Outruns are pretty good so far, just starting on those. Very heady little girl.
So finally there is the update. I'll get videos posted hopefully this pm!

Great weekend work!

I loaded up 4 girls, 3 Cardis and Patsy and we took a girls night:-)) The 5 of us went to our friend Debby's house (well Debby and Craigs house). Patsy got to play with her bro and we all got to work sheep. I have a couple videos to share once they get loaded, some great work and some things to work on.
Abby did some really great stuff on pretty light spoiled sheep. Unfortunatly we did not get her best work on video but she did really well. Maybe she's camera shy... Nice driving, flanks need some work, not good sheep to work outruns on either way, nice sheds too...



Sally, first work out was just trying to stop the sheep from running hell bent for their pen or their friends. She did well considering there was lots of stick action on the sheep. Sunday morning she did fabulous and we got video of that. Sure there were some things to work on but overall she is coming along well. I forget really Sally has gotten a lot more miles than Abby overall. Rosy, really nice work from her overall lost her head a time or two but thats expected at 2. Held pressure pretty well and was steady most of the time. It was really good for her to work sheep that didn't want to come to ME at all! She had to use lots of brain cells on this work, I've not pushed her a lot yet so it was good to see her take some heat.



Finally Patsy, such a nice working pup. Not quite 5 months yet and already doing some really nice natural work. What I see in her already makes me excited for her future too.:-)) This video is the very first time she has seen sheep off my property much less worked them. It was lots of fun and so good for the dogs and I to get out and get some really good work. I was proud of everyone! Very hot today and everyone got their job done without complaint, only a quick trip to the water.

Glad I did it!

As tired as I was I decided to go ahead and work a couple dogs just before dark. There was a nice breeze and some clouds in the distance so it was the perfect time! Rosy, Abby and Patsy all got to come to the top. The boys are still in solitarty for another week until weaning begins so they were the perfect group to work with the girls.
Patsy went first. Working on the "Way" outrun with her or at least big flanks... She is a "Come" dog by nature or training don't know which yet. Once I finally got her to go the way, way she did keep it up. Fetching was pretty good, rating pretty well; hold on the fencelines were very nice. Funny when they won't move off she snakes her way in under their bellies and comes up attached to their noses:-))) Funny to watch
Next was Abby. I don't know what has gotten into her but her work has been very nice here at home. Outruns have been good the last couple of times, this was no exception, good distance and came in on balance with a good although fast fetch. Drove the field and into/past the two girls tied out, drive was ok still rolling out of the pocket when there is a lot of pressure though. Then I shed the 2 lambs and one Native, she did a beautiful job and even retrieved the one jackrabbit when he ran to the others. When she returned him to the pack, she held great balance; almost looked like a cutting horse when he turned on her:-))

Finally Rosy was worked, she did a great job too. Outruns need some thoughtfulness but she has lots of speed to the top and great balance. Also put some more emphasis on inside flank basics, the drive is coming along well. Plenty to work on with her but she's coming along well.

Sally and Rosy

Well I got the two girls worked Tuesday. Abby did a couple hours worth of chores earlier in the day and I "worked" her in the process. I've got to get this outrun licked with her so I set it up to do big long outruns every time we brought stock up for eye checks. They were better for the most part...
Sally well, she is on auto-pilot. She is used so often for chores and not worked in training that she is well versed in using her brain to get a job done. It is difficult to get her out of that and make her listen to what I want. I almost feel bad fighting with her about it... not bad enough to quit though! She did better but again its the balance of power like we had in Jan/Feb. Lots of work to do.
Rosy, was great! She is catching on to driving really well and seems to like it lots:-)) Her outruns are suffering, as expected but they'll come back soon enough. Good pace and nice straight walk ups to start the drive around the "handler's post". I'm really happy with where she is right now.

Some work...

Well some of the dogs got some work this week. Monday and Tuesday I got four dogs worked.
Abby and Sally got work on Monday. Both need some more but Abby did pretty well. Need a little more than she is getting. Sally was better than the last time but still not where she needs to be. A few outruns for both some driving and a few sheds.
Rosy and Patsy got a little work on Tuesday. Rosy was ok, still pushy and she is acting like she is a bit hormonal. Patsy was great! Nice work in the larger area. Rosy I am starting driving with and she did well on that. Pushy is better for driving anyway.
Sally got lesson work on Friday. She got to do some more difficult driving and did ok though needed a bit more walk up a couple times, which is strange for her. Overall it was good work for her though. Abby also got lesson work today. Just a few outruns and dividing the boys for lessons today. Good work though, her outruns have definitly improved since our come to Jesus meeting.
Hopefully next weekend I can get some video of a couple dogs.

Yup its really been this long!

I'm embarassed to say this is the first day since before the Nationals that I have gotten any work done on the dogs. I got 4 dogs worked today though two of them got VERY little work.
Patsy and Rosy were first this am. Patsy did some really nice work. I worked her in the 140x150 pen and she did a nice job of grouping, moving off pressure and stopping at the end. She'll be a fun little girl!
Rosy started real driving lessons today. She did well for her first real lesson:-)) She isn't real sure what I'm asking her to do but she naturally has a good walk up so she'll catch on fast. Only worked her for 15min or so but it was good work while we had it. She also got to move the mamas and babies out of the barn.
Abby and Sally got just a few minutes each since it was soooo hot. Abby tried to cut the outrun immediately so she got read the riot act! Once she put her big girl brain on she worked well and did a couple nice sheds and look backs too. Sally well she showed her LONG layoff. Outruns were pretty good but her steady was non existent... need to work everyone more often!

Videos from Nationals

OK Hopefully these will come through ok. First Abbys I believe; the run I retired probably early but she was not working well anyway.

And then Rosys from Sunday, hopefully I posted the right ones.

To work or not to work???

Well I am way behind in posting here! I did work Abby Tuesday before I left home. Did a couple outruns and some driving with her. She did pretty well for me though the outruns left a bit to be desired... as usual. Anyway Wimberley does have sheep but they aren't really worked and it isn't worth the risk/hassle to try them. Everyone has lambs on them and there are donkeys in too... so I guess I should have worked harder at home or not I don't know. The trial will be what it will be... Rosy got to hold the sheep at home for wormings before I left Wednesday and that was all the work she got since the last post. That could backfire in a big way, she's never been good after a layoff. Again oh well, not much to do about it now:-))

Got Work?

As bad as the day was I did have one bright spot while I worked dogs today! Abby was first, she brought down the three boys (2whethers1ram) to the front field. The boys haven't been up front in a couple months so they were lighter than normal but more like lambs. We drove down to the top of the field in a serpentine we left them there and did an outrun to start over again... We did that a couple times in both directions, did a nice job on her flanks, squaring her off. Nice inside flanks too. Great job Abby! Sally did almost the same thing as Abby, great job driving. Her outruns were from my side and pretty nice really. We did a couple of really nice sheds with the ram as the single, holds could have been less pushy but really nice for the little Sally. I'm a little sad that I pulled her from the Nationals, she is running advanced here at home... oh well another time... Rosy was a little pushy to start off with but a quick correction fixed that! She did some nice outruns trying to stretch those out just a little now but overall her outruns have been pretty nice. Fetches were really nice, did a few short drives and worked on her off balance walk ups and stops. I think she understood better by the end. Lastly I worked her coming in on the fence to the sheep. Rosy has been blasting around them such that is scares new sheep and so she did those in both directions and was better. I can't say enough that she is very talented but will take time and miles to get to where we need her.

Chores...

Dogs haven't been trained on lately, however we have had lots of chores to do! Worm season is kicking off and several nannies are succumbing early as well as one of the ewes with lambs. Also I have been neglecting my sheep feet for a while now... So today the dogs Abby, Rosy and Sally all got some work. Abby brought the ewes from the front down to the back pasture, held for feet trimming and moved ewes around for lessons. Working the goats really hurts her square flanks, they just draw her in. Taking the ewes in she had to do several sheds to get only the sheep. She did a nice job working the babies and keeping them with the group and also a look back to the momma. Then she brought the mommas all in the barn and shed off the close girls to eat; and put them back out when some of them were done. Had to doctor one of the twin mommas, kept her in since she is looking pretty bad. Rosy did some stall work as an example for a student which was really great for her. Then students grandson wanted to hold a lamb so she held a single mom and her twins in the large open field so I could catch one. Very nice, difficult work for her. Sally well she is the blue collar worker around here. I use her on goats almost always since she has a lot more bite than most of my dogs and the billy goat is really getting aggressive lately. She did a nice job bringing them to the doctor spot. She does lock on to a few members of the herd and must be reminded that they all must stay put. When the billy goat comes after me though she is all business and makes sure that he pays for the thought. She worked her tail off holding those 30+ goats mommas, babies and the billy in that corner. Sally is a dog with a purpose, I can not say that enough, she is with my for a reason! I love her work, talent, heart and she loves what she does! So she probably worked for 45min straight no rest and came out and went after the orange rooster! Silly Sally....

Trial synopsis

OK so my post trial synopsis...Abby really nice work overall (can't really get mad about HIT!), more steady since last years trials, I'm rusty at handling(been over 1yr), could use work on the drive from the pen to the 4 on A course. Her outruns were acceptable though could use work on the lift, drive to the Y and Z were pretty good, pen work was good,clean and nice cover, listened very well. I just need to get my head in the game, my brain was turned off a little and she was trusting me to run her right. Always something...
Rosy showed up this weekend for the most part. First time her run was clean and quiet. Outruns were overall nice, lifts, fetch all correct, Y chute needs some more understanding, Z is ok, Runway panels were really good, her cover is really nice, turns at the 4 were clean and nice. So I will continue to work on stops and off balance flanks, she could use some barn work to clean up her off balance I think, work on longer outruns (cuz you always can use that!) Really Rosy seems to be on track for a coming 2yr old.

Polishing or maybe just working...

I'm having a terrible time bouncing back to work dogs since coming home. There are a lot of other things going on too which doesn't help but ....
Both girls have gotten a couple days of work since my return.
Abby has put in some really lovely work for her though she is finally steady-ing on the drive now she is rolling out of the drive pocket... Can't win here with her. Won't hurt her in trials with lighter sheep but it is something that needs work here and on goats. Outruns have really been pretty nice good follow through on the back and lifts are pretty good too. Fetching is handleable and the drive should be ok for trials.
Rosy has been all over the board! When I first got home she was ok, just pushy. I thought ok well I'll just work on that a couple days and she'll be fine... famous last thought:-)) She is worsening with each workout. Won't take downs and getting more pushy daily. Blows through downs and won't hold just rolls out to balance again. So this will be a miracle to fix before the trials. Outruns have been quite nice though, good distance on the top. If she will only stop once at balance we'll be in good shape. So Rosy is a work in progress, hopefully I'll figure out where its coming from and get it fixed! I just have to remember she is not even two so there is plenty of time.

Last workout.

Well for over a week anyway... I worked Rosy this evening to bring the lesson sheep up to the round pen and work area. She did OK, bit pushy going up but not too bad. Worked her in the round pen on stops and steadies; they did get better. I know I'll need to put the hours on her when I return but feel comfy leaving her home while I'm gone. She is young and will make some mistakes but has all the right pieces when they come together.
I worked Abby just a little since she is about 90% now. She was pretty awesome. Nice long outruns, still needs work on the top but overall good. Little driving not much, she's been pretty honest driving light sheep. Her fetching bringing them down the field was pretty nice, rating all by herself (not very Abby like!). Its really strange for the last month she's really slowed down and is reading her sheep and being pretty honest. Not that she never makes mistakes but overall her work is steadier and better.
Lastly Evy got to bring the ewes and lambs back up front and split off those that are ready to lamb (probably while I'm gone) as well as move the boys back to the goat field. Such nice work really... sigh. The ewes with lambs don't even challenge her anymore but they are very light for her, nice work though. Shed was fantastic to take the ewes off the ram lambs!
So only Abby and Sally are making the trip out west hopefully I'll have pics of our work there!

Redeamed

Got to work Rosy at the trial arena today. This was her first time at this arena, doing the course and working somewhere else! Bad me but good Rosy. The first run was a very nice heavier group of FL Natives. She did beautiful! Nice downs, beautiful outrun, good panel work, little trouble at the pen but she's never done that before either!:-)) Again bad me!
Second go not so good. Bad light group of lambs with no leader and pushier dog. She was quite sure that wherever I wanted her to go was WRONG! No downs, I finally had to walk her down and give her a talkin to (Come to Jesus meeting outside of church). We saw eye to eye after that. Overall a very good first time out for her.
Poor Abby, her toe still hurts and again, bad me, I tried her on the light group. She just got beat all over the place. Bad, bad all my fault.... So as a reward she gets to come to NM instead of Rosy. I need some serious outrun work and I'm not going to get anything until she is better. So we wait!
I took Evy in case we needed a set out dog. She did great very smooth set out work for us. Then the owner asked me to help bring in the ewes and lambs since they were being very uncooperative. I sent Evy and the guardian dog came out and looked to grab her across the top of her back. I almost passed out and yelled for all I was worth:-)) Evy on the other hand just kept going about her business. She must have known that the dog was ok and wasn't going to do anything. Evys never worked around guardians before so I don't know how else to explain it. Great job Weed!

She's back

Yes Rosy is back so is the snotty little non-listening princess inside her! I worked her for the first time since she had her 10 day vacation and its like a different dog... Back to the drawing board with her. Thankfully she is going to NM with me and will get worked there a bit. I also have some time tomorrow on the trial field with her. She has not gotten any real work at other places so tomorrow will really tell me what she is learned and what needs work.
So yesterday she flipped on the outrun twice and then wouldn't stop for a redirect. Blew through her downs and steadys, crazy overflanking and crazy running amok! To add insult to injury she took off after the goats and sheep on our walk this evening and wouldn't call off either. Very very bad girl! She got told all about it and I certainly expect her to behave next time!

Singles...

No its not a dating scene:=) I first worked Abby yesterday and had one rotten sheep who apparently wanted to get worked extra hard since she kept coming back after being shed off. SOOOO I took her out by herself and worked her all over the property which she didn't really appreciate. She is a heavy ewe that will walk by my side all day but does not want to be driven away from her friends. So Abby had already had enough by the time I took the ewe out of the front field. Beli actually came out and helped. Always makes my heart smile to see him come out and bust out a fantastic job when I'm struggling teaching that same thing to one of the girls.
I really wish that I had a video of him yesterday though, he did a great job walked right into this ewe facing him off. Backed her down the drive and toward the barn. Yeah Beli my heart is still beaming for him:-))
Worked Sally next, on the same ewe as a single. Left her up by the gate with her buddies and sent Sally for an outrun around the chicken house and veg garden. She had to use lots of power and balance to get the ewe off the gate and bring her in a line to me. It was fast but the ewe WAS NOT getting back to the gate! Then the ewe decided to turn and face her, well after all the fights with the two recent ewes/lambs she did not want to walk into pressure. So we worked on getting a straight line into the ewe facing her. She did pretty well and I think learned quite a bit from the excersise. I probably should have quit a couple of times but kept pushing for more...
Finally after I took a mental break I worked Rosy on the same single. Let her work the barn stall first then took her out in the large rear field. Put her out and worked her alone in the big field a bit then shed the sheep off the goats and worked all of the sheep up to the roundpen field and penned them all up top.
So we got some work. I'm not overly happy with the work we got but its just been one of those weeks!

Too long?

Well I did not have time or health this week to work anyone, so they finally got worked this morning. Only 3 Rosy, Sally, Abby...
Abby- I did'nt work long just an outrun or two and some driving and one shed. The outruns need work she is tightening up badly and rushing the lift. Work, work, work... Must get on that!

Sally- Did beautifully! Nice outruns almost from my side, they could be wider but pretty nice, and good speed. Driving was phenomenal! Took all flanks, kept them together well and didn't have to be messed with much. Lifts were a bit rushed though I didn't take control of those either. Circle at the post was good she has figured out the task now. Really happy with her overall though. If this keeps up we'll be moving her up!

Rosy- Bit pushy and tight but not too bad. Outruns were ok, top needs some work. Long flanks were good, short flanks need work. She doesn't want to stop quickly so she'll get lots of work on that in the next month.

Rosy and Sally will be making the trip out west with me so they can get work on different sheep before the upcoming trials. Sally is only entered at the Nationals since she's ready for intermediate but not advanced (I think:-)) I am going to enter Abby at another trial the weekend before the Nationals in hopes of more HC points before she takes her northern break for a couple months. She won't need any more stress before that! Thats lots of travel and stress on an already easily stressed girl! So lots of plans coming together for the Spring, and lots more work to get done before then too. I'm hoping to get the girls peaked at the right time for the trials coming up, we'll see..

Updated pm- worked Abby a second time this afternoon. Outruns were better with some pushing on her. The top is still a problem since she is slicing pretty bad but the sheep were moving on her too so not a good time to work on it. Driving was sloppy but the neighbor APBT was rushing the fence and scaring the sheep and Abby. She did do well to stand in place and not get squirrelly on the sheep. Flanks were also good. So I'm happy I took her back out and worked again.

Weekend work

Well I got some good work on 4 dogs this weekend.
Abby- Outruns started off badly but certainly were better, she got worked Sat and Sunday. Driving was really pretty good, did some on the fence and some in the open field. She did some nice sheds this am. Shed the group of 15 to 3 then the 3 to 1 and did some driving with the single. Really very keen and flanking off on her own pretty well, always work to be done on her desire to grab stuff when she is frustrated but overall I'm confident in her work at the moment.

Sally- Did some nice outruns, but mainly worked on the balance of the drive and flanking. She did much better taking quicker flanks and continueing the drive. I asked for a further drive, while maintaining contact with me and she did really pretty well. I used the round pen and did a couple sheds which she has not done before that I remember. Very nice job on the shed and she got down like a cutting horse to hold the ewe that she shed off. I love that! Overall pretty decent job, though still lots of work to be done before the Nationals.

Rosy- Did a pretty long outrun on the light whethers and fetched all over. Her fetching was pretty nice, some push here and there but overall rated herself pretty well. Flanks were good as long as I watched her cutting in, if she got away with it once then she was worse the next time. Very nice work for her as well though.

Dory- She got a few minutes in with sheep. She has really gotten a lot more keen since last time. Hasn't found her balance yet, she really just wants to keep covering to make sure NOTHING gets away. She won't get much work for a while but I'm going to have to get on her for going after the goats and sheep when I walk in back. I walked tonight to let sheep out and she brought all the sheep up the field in the dark with all the dogs out! Thats not really good, even though I'm happy she wants to work so badly.