Whew, I haven't updated this in a while. I keep thinking I'll wait until I've got pictures but maybe a better plan is to post and then go back and add pictures later.
Item number 1 is that we are now proud owners of a Herding-Ranch-Dog-I-titled dog! The key was letting Kola know that I could and would stop her any time I wanted. That put her in the mindset of stopping when she was told. That in turn led to slowing down and maybe even a little thinking.
Item number 2 is that Dave and I had a really good talk about reading Kola's intentions. They are not always honorable. The critical thing I haven't been doing is watching her eyes. She likes to keep working the stock with her eyes even after I've gotten her still and away from her sheep. So in essence she's not really yielding the sheep to me. This may be part of her attitude problem.
Item number 3 is that we didn't get our HTAD title like we wanted. We did learn a lot. I probably learned the most but I think Kola learned that even at a trial acting like a wild animal will get your sheep taken away and quickly. Better luck this spring.
Monday, November 22, 2010
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Casting wide
I arrived late for our lesson today so we didn't have much time with Dave, but we did practice on our own a little too.
With Dave we worked on Kola moving the sheep calmly while in tight spaces. The key was to use my stock stick to put pressure on the sheep, not on the dog directly. The difference was amazing. We went around and around, changing directions occasionally, and most of the time she just calmly rounded her sheep and didn't dive for them when they scooted to the other side of the aisle. Plus, after a while they settled down and didn't run as far or as fast.
On my own we just worked on bringing me the sheep and holding them on me. Plus, bringing them off the fence.
It turned into outrun 101. Lots of chasing the dog off the sheep. The problem was that every time she turned for the sheep and didn't take the "get out" then I had to run after her. That meant that to be right she needed to cast out even wider for longer. Basically Kola, the sheep, and I all ran in circles. Kola following the sheep slightly to the outside, me trying to push Kola further to the outside, the sheep just doing what Kola was inadvertently directing them to do. Namely, run in a big circle around me. It was a frustrating exercise for all involved. Still, I'm thinking Kola probably learned something from the whole thing.
We also practiced a little bit of flanking along the fence. She was OK. She likes to step into me after I tell her to stop but before she actually stops. I'm thinking about teaching her a "back up" command. Probably wouldn't use it for trialing but it might be a nice training tool.
In other news, Kola is doing six weave poles with about 70% accuracy. The speed is pretty variable, but when she does it both right and fast she gets lots of treats and praise. I think she needs better poles that are straight up and down, and uniform in their spacing. I see a lot of pvc and T fittings in my future.
With Dave we worked on Kola moving the sheep calmly while in tight spaces. The key was to use my stock stick to put pressure on the sheep, not on the dog directly. The difference was amazing. We went around and around, changing directions occasionally, and most of the time she just calmly rounded her sheep and didn't dive for them when they scooted to the other side of the aisle. Plus, after a while they settled down and didn't run as far or as fast.
On my own we just worked on bringing me the sheep and holding them on me. Plus, bringing them off the fence.
It turned into outrun 101. Lots of chasing the dog off the sheep. The problem was that every time she turned for the sheep and didn't take the "get out" then I had to run after her. That meant that to be right she needed to cast out even wider for longer. Basically Kola, the sheep, and I all ran in circles. Kola following the sheep slightly to the outside, me trying to push Kola further to the outside, the sheep just doing what Kola was inadvertently directing them to do. Namely, run in a big circle around me. It was a frustrating exercise for all involved. Still, I'm thinking Kola probably learned something from the whole thing.
We also practiced a little bit of flanking along the fence. She was OK. She likes to step into me after I tell her to stop but before she actually stops. I'm thinking about teaching her a "back up" command. Probably wouldn't use it for trialing but it might be a nice training tool.
In other news, Kola is doing six weave poles with about 70% accuracy. The speed is pretty variable, but when she does it both right and fast she gets lots of treats and praise. I think she needs better poles that are straight up and down, and uniform in their spacing. I see a lot of pvc and T fittings in my future.
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Herding Ranch Dog I
I've got my sights set on the HRDI title for Kola. The trial is October 30th and 31st. I'm skipping Friday's informal trial because of logistical concerns and because if we qualified the first two tries then we'd have to move up and we're not ready to move up so it would be a waste. The course is above.
The stylish way to leave the round pen would be to have Kola hold the sheep off the gate by flanking her off balance so that she's to the left of the gate. Covering the draw but still holding them close. We've done something like this before. Then I flank her to the come bye side just a little bit and the sheep file out in an orderly fashion. Then Kola gets upset because the sheep are leaving. She might keep her head about it if we practice a little.
If we have her left of the gate when the sheep come through I'm hoping that they'll want to head out away from Kola and take a left as they're leaving. That would set us up for the tricky part. Getting the sheep into pen I without anyone getting upset. If I walk to my sheep and then call Kola to hold them to me, I can walk everyone to the next gate. Again the stylish thing to do is have Kola hold the sheep just off the gate this time on my right as I face the sheep. Open the gate, let the sheep slip through by giving Kola just a little Away to me flank. I will move through the gate and straight into pen I. The hope is that the sheep move with me and then I call Kola to come along. All the gates will be open so its up to Kola to act as the closed gate. Then there is the narrow alleyway. I'm predicting the sheep will bolt down the alley to the draw of the grass and the open field and away from the nutty dog. If they don't run then its pretty straightforward. If they bolt I need to set Kola up to fetch them back to me by stopping her, moving towards the sheep a little, and then sending her for them. If she holds them to me again, then its back to being pretty easy. I get to walk through the panels and all the way to the pumpkin. Then its just a matter of calling Kola off and setting her up for the outrun/lift/fetch. Back through the panels and then into field three.
There is some risk the sheep will want to run to the alley. If they do then I need to bring Kola around the outside and see if we can push them back. If not we'll go to pen I and then J and push them through again and it will be slow. We've only got ten minutes. Hopefully there will be too much pressure in the alley and they'll prefer to go through to field three. Just in case, I'll try to have Kola cover the alley entrance a little bit while pushing the sheep into field three.
Along the fence all the way to the re-pen shouldn't be too much trouble. Kola will want to be too close but she'll still get the job done. If I'm proactive keeping her at her proper distance it shouldn't be too ugly.
In other news, Kola is starting to get the hang of the weave poles. We're doing six poles now and probably wont move up to twelve until she can run through six. That will take a while. She still has trouble getting all her poles if I don't walk along with her. If I'm in front of her she watches me too much. My timing with the clicker is terrible but good enough to be helpful I think.
Friday, June 18, 2010
Fun run and outrun
Last week at her herding lesson Kola and I worked on off-balance stuff and putting the sheep through a Y chute. The key was to have Kola flank outside the sheep's flight zone and then come in, or just hold them. We had one really beautiful time through the chute. Kola was right where I put her, slightly to the left of the chute. She held the sheep there and perfectly balanced my draw as I walked to the left side of the chute and led the sheep to the other side. With Kola where she was relative to me, the sheep went perfectly straight through the chute. The other thing that was pretty neat is, for the first time, I had Kola hold the sheep off the gate while I opened it. Then flanked her so the sheep could just start coming in the gate. I didn't take my eyes off Kola (and she eventually broke her "down") but Dave says the sheep marched in single file, which explains why it was so much easier to close the gate. Usually they mob the gate and you just can't close it until all the sheep are already through and voila, you've lost your gate sort. This time we got three in and kept two. I was intending to do the opposite but I wasn't fast enough with the gate and Kola broke out too soon so, that's how that goes.
Last weekend we went to the Agility Fun Run in Yamhill, sponsored by the Three Rivers Working Australian Shepard Club. TRWASA for short. I mistakenly thought that Kola had to jump 24" so I set the jumpers course up to 24". Jesse thought it was too high but I assured him she could do it.
As it turns out we were both right. Kola could make the jumps, but they were much more difficult than what she was used to so it was hard to get her to do more than a few at a time, let alone 13 in a row. (Later at our lesson Chris suggested that next time I try to make her jump 24" that Jesse beat me with a light stick. Point taken.) Turns out she should be jumping 20" (in ASCA 24" is always optional, AKC and USDAA would have her jump 20" as well.) We didn't get a chance to do the jumpers again but Jesse ran Kola in the regular agility practice ring at 16" and she did pretty well. She did a full competition-height A-frame without a problem and she went over the teeter totter without looking like she was trying to kill herself. She did have trouble with a tunnel entry. Not sure what that was about. She also got distracted and ran out of the ring to go sniff things. Very embarrassing.
She was good for her agility lesson. We had a problem with another tunnel because she found something fascinating inside it and often wouldn't come out until Jesse stopped and called her more forcefully. She isn't doing her 2o2o (two on, two off) on the contacts very well but she is getting the contacts so that's nice at least.
This weeks herding lesson we worked (unsuccessfully) at slowing her down. Because I had to "down" her a lot, she sheep were frequently running back to their favorite corner. That meant she did a lot of outruns. The outruns are starting to get really good! One time I just stood there and watched while she brought me the sheep. No running, no flailing with the stick, just sheep.
My new plan, which I've now cleared with Dave and with Jesse is to start saying "Easy" but having her lie down. That way, out in the field, when I say "easy" then she'll do that compromise slow slow almost ready to stop type of walk that I like. That's the idea anyway. We'll see how that works out in practice.
At some point I'd like to put together a chart of her commands and the minimum requirement and the ideal or maximum requirement.
Last weekend we went to the Agility Fun Run in Yamhill, sponsored by the Three Rivers Working Australian Shepard Club. TRWASA for short. I mistakenly thought that Kola had to jump 24" so I set the jumpers course up to 24". Jesse thought it was too high but I assured him she could do it.
As it turns out we were both right. Kola could make the jumps, but they were much more difficult than what she was used to so it was hard to get her to do more than a few at a time, let alone 13 in a row. (Later at our lesson Chris suggested that next time I try to make her jump 24" that Jesse beat me with a light stick. Point taken.) Turns out she should be jumping 20" (in ASCA 24" is always optional, AKC and USDAA would have her jump 20" as well.) We didn't get a chance to do the jumpers again but Jesse ran Kola in the regular agility practice ring at 16" and she did pretty well. She did a full competition-height A-frame without a problem and she went over the teeter totter without looking like she was trying to kill herself. She did have trouble with a tunnel entry. Not sure what that was about. She also got distracted and ran out of the ring to go sniff things. Very embarrassing.
She was good for her agility lesson. We had a problem with another tunnel because she found something fascinating inside it and often wouldn't come out until Jesse stopped and called her more forcefully. She isn't doing her 2o2o (two on, two off) on the contacts very well but she is getting the contacts so that's nice at least.
This weeks herding lesson we worked (unsuccessfully) at slowing her down. Because I had to "down" her a lot, she sheep were frequently running back to their favorite corner. That meant she did a lot of outruns. The outruns are starting to get really good! One time I just stood there and watched while she brought me the sheep. No running, no flailing with the stick, just sheep.
My new plan, which I've now cleared with Dave and with Jesse is to start saying "Easy" but having her lie down. That way, out in the field, when I say "easy" then she'll do that compromise slow slow almost ready to stop type of walk that I like. That's the idea anyway. We'll see how that works out in practice.
At some point I'd like to put together a chart of her commands and the minimum requirement and the ideal or maximum requirement.
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Think ahead
On Tuesday Chris was not around so Jim taught the lesson. One big difference between their teaching styles is that Jim likes to put us through courses that are a technical challenge for the handler. They're not necessarily the most physically demanding for the dog. Its a little mystifying watching the dog and the handler and trying to figure out what made the dog do what she did. Were the handler's shoulders out of place? Said the command too soon, too late? Front cross, rear cross, push, pull, here, out. Jim urged Jesse to think at least one jump ahead, if not more. And he made Jesse describe his handling plan ahead of time. This meant Jesse had to actually have a handling plan ahead of time. Lots of technical exercise. We barely did any practice in the intervening time but I swear when we get our new house and our new yard I'm going to train Kola to do her weave poles using the 2x2 method. It will be hard for me to have patience to do this but I think its the best way for Kola to really get the idea of the weave poles.
Somehow we will get her to slow down on the teeter totter. At practice the first run through she jumped off right after she passed the fulcrum. Very impressive jump, but still a big "no, no"
Somehow we will get her to slow down on the teeter totter. At practice the first run through she jumped off right after she passed the fulcrum. Very impressive jump, but still a big "no, no"
Sunday, June 6, 2010
Penning
I was super late to our herding lesson so we only had 20 minutes. I kept Kola home that morning rather than send her to her buddy Lucy to play. As a result she had a lot of energy. I like that because she has all that energy to run down the sheep as needed but she also has all that energy to flank flank flank flank flank and then flank some more.
I sent her for her outrun and I was super thrilled with the shape of it. Basically she was headed out on a circle around the sheep and outside their flight zone. I headed up with her to support her but I wasn't running and flailing like usual. Then, about half way around her circle she decided she'd done enough and turned straight for her sheep. Doh! So I told her to 'get out.' Apparently I used my overly mean mommy voice because she came over to me with her head low and apologetic. NOT what I wanted. So I'm flailing madly to keep her away and then finally said, "away" and that she understood. Went back out on her circle and it was beautiful again. The sheep came right towards me and I was pleased with her. Good Girl.
We went basically straight to the pen and I opened it up. Then I walked out with Kola to get the sheep lined up nicely towards the pen. All the over flanking made it difficult to get a straight line to the pen. We spent about ten minutes basically going around and around. A big part of the problem was that I gave Kola no direction. Dave was after me to ask her to stop and ask her to cover and I somehow just tuned him out. When I finally got tuned back in we had a lot better time.
One time we got the sheep most of the way in. I stopped Kola and thought, "Ok, I can shove them in with the gate, Kola can experience some success and yay, praise for Kola. Now, in a trial situation I cant shove sheep with a gate so Dave wasn't super pleased by this strategy. Plus, Kola broke her "stop" and shoved the sheep out of the pen.
The next time we got them lined up I led them most of the way into the pen. I stopped just short of the pen area itself and closed the gate from the inside. I scooted to the outside of the gate just before I closed it. Very calmly executed. Still, I didn't use the dog to get them into the pen so Dave was, again, not super pleased. He said he liked the one where I shoved the sheep in better except for the fact that I was shoving the sheep in rather than using my dog.
The take home lesson for me? Help Kola to help me get the pen. Watch the sheep and watch Kola and ask for what I need. Also, keep working on Kola's "stop."
Next we needed to get the sheep out of the pen. I hadn't anticipated any problems there. I sent Kola around to the other side of the pen and opened the gate. The sheep did not see me open the gate as they were too busy stamping at Kola. Kola was not sure what to do to move the sheep. She tried flanking left and right as usual but this only had the effect of convincing them that leaving the pen was a bad idea.
Since getting them to move with Kola outside the pen wasn't working I figured I'd send her into the pen. As is typical, Kola wanted to charge straight into the middle of the sheep, rather than go around them. So I was trying to guide her to the edges while the sheep tried to guide her to fuck off and leave them alone. Unfortunately, I finally got her to go round the side, but rather than move off, the sheep closest to her gave her a head butt right in the face. Kola whimpered and ran. Damn.
Until now Kola worked sheep in total ignorance of their potential danger to her person. Now she understood what they could do in close quarters and she wasn't interested in a repeat. I tried to encourage her to go back in but she just tucked her tail between her legs and gave me a super pitiful look.
With Dave's blessing I took her by the collar and guided her in. I kept myself between her and the sheep. The sheep moved but didn't leave the pen. They all circled up and stared at her. Kola wasn't super thrilled to be trapped in a pen with angry dangerous sheep. I dont really have a walk up command on her. To her "walk up" means to break her down and come towards me and the sheep. So I told her, "go get 'em" and she launched straight into the middle of the sheep, and the middle one ran and she chased it down. So, Okay that wasn't pretty but the sheep consented to leave the pen now that Kola was gone and one of their number had left.
Kola was pretty wild bossing the sheep around. I didn't get after her about it too much at first because I wanted her to feel in charge of the situation. We got some semi tolerable work and then quit for the day.
I'm anxious to see what effect this will have on her willingness to move a stubborn sheep in the open. I plan on doing some close in work with the brigand's sheep to remind her that most sheep will move off her even when basically trapped.
I sent her for her outrun and I was super thrilled with the shape of it. Basically she was headed out on a circle around the sheep and outside their flight zone. I headed up with her to support her but I wasn't running and flailing like usual. Then, about half way around her circle she decided she'd done enough and turned straight for her sheep. Doh! So I told her to 'get out.' Apparently I used my overly mean mommy voice because she came over to me with her head low and apologetic. NOT what I wanted. So I'm flailing madly to keep her away and then finally said, "away" and that she understood. Went back out on her circle and it was beautiful again. The sheep came right towards me and I was pleased with her. Good Girl.
We went basically straight to the pen and I opened it up. Then I walked out with Kola to get the sheep lined up nicely towards the pen. All the over flanking made it difficult to get a straight line to the pen. We spent about ten minutes basically going around and around. A big part of the problem was that I gave Kola no direction. Dave was after me to ask her to stop and ask her to cover and I somehow just tuned him out. When I finally got tuned back in we had a lot better time.
One time we got the sheep most of the way in. I stopped Kola and thought, "Ok, I can shove them in with the gate, Kola can experience some success and yay, praise for Kola. Now, in a trial situation I cant shove sheep with a gate so Dave wasn't super pleased by this strategy. Plus, Kola broke her "stop" and shoved the sheep out of the pen.
The next time we got them lined up I led them most of the way into the pen. I stopped just short of the pen area itself and closed the gate from the inside. I scooted to the outside of the gate just before I closed it. Very calmly executed. Still, I didn't use the dog to get them into the pen so Dave was, again, not super pleased. He said he liked the one where I shoved the sheep in better except for the fact that I was shoving the sheep in rather than using my dog.
The take home lesson for me? Help Kola to help me get the pen. Watch the sheep and watch Kola and ask for what I need. Also, keep working on Kola's "stop."
Next we needed to get the sheep out of the pen. I hadn't anticipated any problems there. I sent Kola around to the other side of the pen and opened the gate. The sheep did not see me open the gate as they were too busy stamping at Kola. Kola was not sure what to do to move the sheep. She tried flanking left and right as usual but this only had the effect of convincing them that leaving the pen was a bad idea.
Since getting them to move with Kola outside the pen wasn't working I figured I'd send her into the pen. As is typical, Kola wanted to charge straight into the middle of the sheep, rather than go around them. So I was trying to guide her to the edges while the sheep tried to guide her to fuck off and leave them alone. Unfortunately, I finally got her to go round the side, but rather than move off, the sheep closest to her gave her a head butt right in the face. Kola whimpered and ran. Damn.
Until now Kola worked sheep in total ignorance of their potential danger to her person. Now she understood what they could do in close quarters and she wasn't interested in a repeat. I tried to encourage her to go back in but she just tucked her tail between her legs and gave me a super pitiful look.
With Dave's blessing I took her by the collar and guided her in. I kept myself between her and the sheep. The sheep moved but didn't leave the pen. They all circled up and stared at her. Kola wasn't super thrilled to be trapped in a pen with angry dangerous sheep. I dont really have a walk up command on her. To her "walk up" means to break her down and come towards me and the sheep. So I told her, "go get 'em" and she launched straight into the middle of the sheep, and the middle one ran and she chased it down. So, Okay that wasn't pretty but the sheep consented to leave the pen now that Kola was gone and one of their number had left.
Kola was pretty wild bossing the sheep around. I didn't get after her about it too much at first because I wanted her to feel in charge of the situation. We got some semi tolerable work and then quit for the day.
I'm anxious to see what effect this will have on her willingness to move a stubborn sheep in the open. I plan on doing some close in work with the brigand's sheep to remind her that most sheep will move off her even when basically trapped.
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Long agility session, short herding session
Our agility class wasn't any longer than usual, but it sure felt that way. When we got there, only two other dogs were present so instead of being able to rest through the runs of 5+ dogs, and two jump height adjustments it was two dogs and one height adjustment. In the middle of the class we got one more dog who jumps the same height Kola does.
Notable events included Kolla being more worked up than usual about other dogs running her course; Kate, the terrier, coming over to tell Kola to shut up; Kola jumping on the teeter totter right on the fulcrum and then back off; Kola breaking early for the jump, having too much momentum to stop and executing a very apologetic/athletic leap over the triple jump right from the base.
Her weave poles have gotten better but we've still got a long ways to go. Homework for this week is weave poles and teaching Kola to lie down between Jesse's legs so that he can line her up for the jump more easily.
Herding:
I was pretty pleased, for the first few minutes of our practice session today the sheep were not pressed up against me, or past me, they were right where they belong between Kola and me. Then I thought to myself, "hey, look at this, I'm not wet yet." Shortly thereafter a bunch of wet sheep were pressed in tight on all sides.
Kola didn't do as good a job taking her "down" commands today. She seemed pretty tired though.
Notable events included Kolla being more worked up than usual about other dogs running her course; Kate, the terrier, coming over to tell Kola to shut up; Kola jumping on the teeter totter right on the fulcrum and then back off; Kola breaking early for the jump, having too much momentum to stop and executing a very apologetic/athletic leap over the triple jump right from the base.
Her weave poles have gotten better but we've still got a long ways to go. Homework for this week is weave poles and teaching Kola to lie down between Jesse's legs so that he can line her up for the jump more easily.
Herding:
I was pretty pleased, for the first few minutes of our practice session today the sheep were not pressed up against me, or past me, they were right where they belong between Kola and me. Then I thought to myself, "hey, look at this, I'm not wet yet." Shortly thereafter a bunch of wet sheep were pressed in tight on all sides.
Kola didn't do as good a job taking her "down" commands today. She seemed pretty tired though.
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Weave videos
Here are a couple of videos of Kola's weaving lessons:
At brigands (admittedly after some home practice also:
At home:
One time she did a beautiful run at home where she was weaving in and out just like a pro. She got a lot of praise for that effort but it has yet to be repeated.
At brigands (admittedly after some home practice also:
At home:
One time she did a beautiful run at home where she was weaving in and out just like a pro. She got a lot of praise for that effort but it has yet to be repeated.
Saturday, May 22, 2010
Easy does it
General:
Kola is getting a new house! Its got 8,800 square foot lot. Most of that is in the back. Its got enough space for agility equipment. Although probably not a whole course. Its big enough to maybe fulfill my fantasy of getting some herding-broke ducks for Kola to work. Obviously theres a lot to do before that can happen. (Not the least of which is get Kola driving well so we can start her on ducks.)
Herding:
Dave is out of town this week (and next week and, shockingly, the week after that) so we practiced on our own on Thursday at brigands. I used all six practice sheep because I thought that would be fun. Dave suggested that we do some work along the fence line working on Kola keeping her distance and working on her keeping the sheep between us, and so on. That was moderately effecting. I also introduced a new command: get out. Its not really new per se, but "out" is getting transferred over to agility and so I'm making a fresh start with "get out." So far so good. She's moving off me pretty well. The problem is that she doesn't know that she's supposed to be moving off the sheep! Oh well, that will come in time.
The best thing we did was use her "down" command to work on "easy." I was reading a sheep herding book recently that reminded me the importance of keeping "down" from becoming a correction. Even though most of the time it kinda is. I kept my "down" commands nice and pleasant until she ignored it and then she got the growly kind.
When she hit balance I asked for my "down." Once she was down and I'd gotten a little distace I'd ask for "easy walk" as soon as she trotted (which was frequently right away) I asked for another "down." If she walked nicely for her "easy walk" I'd tell her "good girl." This almost invariably caused her to start trotting. So basically I spent my time repeating a command followed by good girl followed by aigh (correction noise) followed by another command. Rinse repeat.
The good news is that by the end she was slowing down when she hit balance, she wasn't resenting being asked for the "down," she held an easy walk progressively longer and longer, sometimes even after being told "good girl." She also didn't do any crazy flanking but I think that's because she felt pretty in control of these sheep.
Agility:
Kola had her first lesson in Advanced Agility class. I think she did really well, and boy was it a lot more fun.
For one thing, instead of patiently waiting in line while dogs are introduced to various obstacles with varying degrees of success, we ran a small course (usually 6 to 12 obstacles) one by one. Much more fun for me to watch. Also much more educational. Beginning agility doesn't do very much to teach you about being a handler. Watching other people and their dogs run a course and then running it yourself and then watching more people run it is a great way to learn. Another thing that was cool is the jumps are higher so Kola has a little more challenge. The courses are run off-leash, which is how Kola has been trained at home and has eliminated that difficulty we were having before.
Kola did a chute for the first time with no problem. I think it really helps her to watch other dogs do something like that.
Weave poles are the biggest thing we need to work on to keep up with the rest of the class. I was relieved to see that we're not the only dog who doesn't have the weave poles down yet. Right now we're practicing at home with the poles in a Weave-a-Matic style set up. Which is to say they're set at ~80 degree angles alternating left and right to help Kola see how she needs to weave. I'm thinking of switching to 2x2 and a clicker. I don't want to confuse her though. Also, 2x2 is probably the most tedious way of teaching the weave poles I know of.
Kola also needs to work on not blowing through her A-frame and teeter totter work. We're using the same word for slowing down while herding as slowing down for obstacles. Easy does it. Unfortunately we can't "down" her while she's on the equipment. Oh well, she'll get it eventually.
Overall I think we fit in pretty nicely with this group, although now I need to learn a new set of dog-handler names. (Oh, who am I kidding, I really only ever learn the dog's names.)
Kola is getting a new house! Its got 8,800 square foot lot. Most of that is in the back. Its got enough space for agility equipment. Although probably not a whole course. Its big enough to maybe fulfill my fantasy of getting some herding-broke ducks for Kola to work. Obviously theres a lot to do before that can happen. (Not the least of which is get Kola driving well so we can start her on ducks.)
Herding:
Dave is out of town this week (and next week and, shockingly, the week after that) so we practiced on our own on Thursday at brigands. I used all six practice sheep because I thought that would be fun. Dave suggested that we do some work along the fence line working on Kola keeping her distance and working on her keeping the sheep between us, and so on. That was moderately effecting. I also introduced a new command: get out. Its not really new per se, but "out" is getting transferred over to agility and so I'm making a fresh start with "get out." So far so good. She's moving off me pretty well. The problem is that she doesn't know that she's supposed to be moving off the sheep! Oh well, that will come in time.
The best thing we did was use her "down" command to work on "easy." I was reading a sheep herding book recently that reminded me the importance of keeping "down" from becoming a correction. Even though most of the time it kinda is. I kept my "down" commands nice and pleasant until she ignored it and then she got the growly kind.
When she hit balance I asked for my "down." Once she was down and I'd gotten a little distace I'd ask for "easy walk" as soon as she trotted (which was frequently right away) I asked for another "down." If she walked nicely for her "easy walk" I'd tell her "good girl." This almost invariably caused her to start trotting. So basically I spent my time repeating a command followed by good girl followed by aigh (correction noise) followed by another command. Rinse repeat.
The good news is that by the end she was slowing down when she hit balance, she wasn't resenting being asked for the "down," she held an easy walk progressively longer and longer, sometimes even after being told "good girl." She also didn't do any crazy flanking but I think that's because she felt pretty in control of these sheep.
Agility:
Kola had her first lesson in Advanced Agility class. I think she did really well, and boy was it a lot more fun.
For one thing, instead of patiently waiting in line while dogs are introduced to various obstacles with varying degrees of success, we ran a small course (usually 6 to 12 obstacles) one by one. Much more fun for me to watch. Also much more educational. Beginning agility doesn't do very much to teach you about being a handler. Watching other people and their dogs run a course and then running it yourself and then watching more people run it is a great way to learn. Another thing that was cool is the jumps are higher so Kola has a little more challenge. The courses are run off-leash, which is how Kola has been trained at home and has eliminated that difficulty we were having before.
Kola did a chute for the first time with no problem. I think it really helps her to watch other dogs do something like that.
Weave poles are the biggest thing we need to work on to keep up with the rest of the class. I was relieved to see that we're not the only dog who doesn't have the weave poles down yet. Right now we're practicing at home with the poles in a Weave-a-Matic style set up. Which is to say they're set at ~80 degree angles alternating left and right to help Kola see how she needs to weave. I'm thinking of switching to 2x2 and a clicker. I don't want to confuse her though. Also, 2x2 is probably the most tedious way of teaching the weave poles I know of.
Kola also needs to work on not blowing through her A-frame and teeter totter work. We're using the same word for slowing down while herding as slowing down for obstacles. Easy does it. Unfortunately we can't "down" her while she's on the equipment. Oh well, she'll get it eventually.
Overall I think we fit in pretty nicely with this group, although now I need to learn a new set of dog-handler names. (Oh, who am I kidding, I really only ever learn the dog's names.)
Friday, May 7, 2010
Obstacles (not the metaphorical kind)
Wooo! Kola learned something from our terrible time last week. After a lesson of trying really hard to bring me the sheep and failing, this week was awesome. For one thing, I sent Kola a different direction. Usually I send her away from the fence so she has a chance to bend out. This week I sent her along the fence to make it easier for her to cover the draw from the fence. Kola looked at me like I was nuts, but she crept up the fence line and voila! I had some sheep. That was my shining moment of being the brains of the operation. After that I was just the target/oppose-able thumbs. We went through the Y-chute and Dave explained to me the error of my ways trying to approach it dead on. Then we did a blind chute? A blind something or other. its like a U chute. The sheep go in one way and one direction and follow the chute around a U turn and come out again right next to where they come in. I'm not describing it very well, but, no matter.
Kola did not want the sheep to go into either of these obstacles. Sheep going through obstacle != sheep balanced on handler. I cant really say I find this attitude displeasing. She is trying to do well. Now its my job to explain to her that we're re-defining a little bit what it means to do well. Dave thinks we might teach her some driving soon and I think that will help clarify things for her a lot.
We also tried penning for the first time. Kola tried her little heart out, and got super sick of having the sheep run around the pen every time. Eventually, between Dave coaching me and Kola getting tired of watching the sheep run around the pen, we got 3 out of 4 sheep into the pen. It was pretty cool! Call me crazy but I think Kola might wind up being a really good penning dog. I hope so anyway because I'm not going to shape up to be a very good penning handler so I need a good dog. My project for myself is to work on remembering that "uhhh, other way!" is not a flanking command.
In conclusion, squeeee!
Kola did not want the sheep to go into either of these obstacles. Sheep going through obstacle != sheep balanced on handler. I cant really say I find this attitude displeasing. She is trying to do well. Now its my job to explain to her that we're re-defining a little bit what it means to do well. Dave thinks we might teach her some driving soon and I think that will help clarify things for her a lot.
We also tried penning for the first time. Kola tried her little heart out, and got super sick of having the sheep run around the pen every time. Eventually, between Dave coaching me and Kola getting tired of watching the sheep run around the pen, we got 3 out of 4 sheep into the pen. It was pretty cool! Call me crazy but I think Kola might wind up being a really good penning dog. I hope so anyway because I'm not going to shape up to be a very good penning handler so I need a good dog. My project for myself is to work on remembering that "uhhh, other way!" is not a flanking command.
In conclusion, squeeee!
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
More control please
It stings me a little every time Chris points out that we need more control of Kola. It stings because in a lot of situations Kola is very in control. On leash with imminent cheese is not one of them. She becomes an obnoxious monster. She wont even hold a sit. Part of her problem is that any pressure on her collar at all and she thinks its time to go go go. Another part of her problem is that she thinks Chris is calling her (and arguably Chris is calling her) so she wants to bolt on over to the nice lady with the cheese. Mostly though, she's just hyped up by the cheese, and other dogs getting cheese/attention from the lady with the cheese.
I think we need to practice more obedience on leash than just walk by my side and don't pull me.
Also, "leave it" is getting better but there is still a long way to go. I'm thinking pinch collar time.
Chris is worried that Kola's lack of control will keep her from moving on to more advanced agility classes. We shall see what we can do about that.
I think we need to practice more obedience on leash than just walk by my side and don't pull me.
Also, "leave it" is getting better but there is still a long way to go. I'm thinking pinch collar time.
Chris is worried that Kola's lack of control will keep her from moving on to more advanced agility classes. We shall see what we can do about that.
Friday, April 23, 2010
Tough guy, eh?
We went to a new herding facility in Yamhill (capital city of Nowhere.) It was really beautiful and Kola was allowed to run around off-leash. The male bearded collie really wanted to mount Kola. Kola really wanted to run around and sniff and ignore him. It worked out well. He followed Kola around and she pretended he wasn't there. If Kola stopped for too long she had to do her classic my-eyes-are-over-here spin on her front end. Dave's kelpie also thought Kola was pretty cute.
The actual herding was good too. Dave was pleased with our progress in general. Out outruns still suck. Kola went out basically straight, I pushed her out far enough to get her on the sheep's shoulder and she wound up pushing the sheep the entire way around the pen and then some. Kola gave me this look, with her tongue hanging out of her mouth, as if to say, "Mom, this really isn't working." Finally she got out far enough to give the sheep an excuse to come to me. Kola was pretty amped up so she overflanked a lot. She calmed down eventually and did some pretty good work, albeit always pretty pushy. She held a down while I walked with the sheep all the way to the other end of the pen, but they still refused to lag behind me. Dave said the pen is too small for that.
The really exciting part was when the black sheep decided he'd had enough of Kola and turned to face her and refused to move. Kola was PERFECT! She didn't show a trace of fear, didn't get distracted or discouraged, she just stared that sheep right back in the eye with complete and perfect certainty that the sheep was going to move. "I am dog and you are sheep. You will move now." Is what her face said to me. The sheep tried this several times and always backed down from that placid stare.
I'm so proud of my girl.
The actual herding was good too. Dave was pleased with our progress in general. Out outruns still suck. Kola went out basically straight, I pushed her out far enough to get her on the sheep's shoulder and she wound up pushing the sheep the entire way around the pen and then some. Kola gave me this look, with her tongue hanging out of her mouth, as if to say, "Mom, this really isn't working." Finally she got out far enough to give the sheep an excuse to come to me. Kola was pretty amped up so she overflanked a lot. She calmed down eventually and did some pretty good work, albeit always pretty pushy. She held a down while I walked with the sheep all the way to the other end of the pen, but they still refused to lag behind me. Dave said the pen is too small for that.
The really exciting part was when the black sheep decided he'd had enough of Kola and turned to face her and refused to move. Kola was PERFECT! She didn't show a trace of fear, didn't get distracted or discouraged, she just stared that sheep right back in the eye with complete and perfect certainty that the sheep was going to move. "I am dog and you are sheep. You will move now." Is what her face said to me. The sheep tried this several times and always backed down from that placid stare.
I'm so proud of my girl.
Saturday, April 10, 2010
Herding education and agility
The last few times I've tried to go out and herd during the week no one was around. This means we have to work on a leash. This means its really really difficult for us to get just a few sheep out at a time. The first time I tried this I had a really long line made of twine. This turns out to be really dangerous if you're not constantly vigilant, so that was stressful for me. The second time I used an extendable leash which is much safer, but a little shorter. Both times I really wound up stirring the sheep up something awful before finally getting a few separated. Furthermore Kola was pretty stirred up herself. The best things I can say about these sessions is that 1) I've really learned a lot more about how dog savvy sheep react to various stimuli, 2) I've learned that sheep are pretty good at figuring out my plan and are willing to put up with extra pressure from the dog or a fence to thwart my plan, and 3) Kola can calm down after being revved up and the sheep have been willing to calm down substantially.
All our on-leash work has been in the round pen, so one thing we worked on is me stopping and Kola just holding the sheep. Its not her favorite thing but she's getting more willing to do it. She'd rather push the sheep slightly to one side and then switch sides and push them the other way. No one else likes it when she does that. I guess and additional thing I can say about the leash work, at least with the extendable leash, is that when she breaks down and chases a sheep I can stop her dead in her tracks. I don't think that's actually much of a deterrent, but at least it helps keep the behavior from being excessively re-enforced.
I've swapped Jesse in for agility lessons and the two of them have been doing really well. I think they might be the best team in the class. (I'm totally unbiased in this assessment, of course.) The team that's also really good is the woman with the Cairn Terrier. She's an experienced agility handler though, so its to be expected that they'd be good. Kola I think has a higher drive than the terrier.
Kola's gotten a little calmer about waiting her turn on the equipment. She didn't lunge on her leash much at all.
Here is a little summary of her progress so far:
Jumps - with Jesse she's very good, with me she's pretty good, she generally clears her jumps but knocks them down with her tail when she goes to get her treat.
Tunnel - She has no fear of the tunnel but she also recognizes that its not necessarily the most efficient way to the treat. If you assure her that she's not getting the treat without the tunnel she blasts through it with gusto.
A-frame - no problem. She even holds her two on two off position relatively well, although sometimes she likes to rotate around. I'm not sure the two on two off is the way to go for her, she'd probably be happier just keeping four paws in the contact zone.
Teeter - she'll do it if she has to. She's not especially fearful of it, but you can tell its not her favorite thing.
Weave poles - I started her on a few weave poles on Tuesday. I set them up in a weave-a-matic style, with the poles tilted. I also set them just ever so slightly off center. She hasn't quite gotten the concept. I may change tactics and go with the channel strategy. We'll see how chris likes to do it on Monday.
All our on-leash work has been in the round pen, so one thing we worked on is me stopping and Kola just holding the sheep. Its not her favorite thing but she's getting more willing to do it. She'd rather push the sheep slightly to one side and then switch sides and push them the other way. No one else likes it when she does that. I guess and additional thing I can say about the leash work, at least with the extendable leash, is that when she breaks down and chases a sheep I can stop her dead in her tracks. I don't think that's actually much of a deterrent, but at least it helps keep the behavior from being excessively re-enforced.
I've swapped Jesse in for agility lessons and the two of them have been doing really well. I think they might be the best team in the class. (I'm totally unbiased in this assessment, of course.) The team that's also really good is the woman with the Cairn Terrier. She's an experienced agility handler though, so its to be expected that they'd be good. Kola I think has a higher drive than the terrier.
Kola's gotten a little calmer about waiting her turn on the equipment. She didn't lunge on her leash much at all.
Here is a little summary of her progress so far:
Jumps - with Jesse she's very good, with me she's pretty good, she generally clears her jumps but knocks them down with her tail when she goes to get her treat.
Tunnel - She has no fear of the tunnel but she also recognizes that its not necessarily the most efficient way to the treat. If you assure her that she's not getting the treat without the tunnel she blasts through it with gusto.
A-frame - no problem. She even holds her two on two off position relatively well, although sometimes she likes to rotate around. I'm not sure the two on two off is the way to go for her, she'd probably be happier just keeping four paws in the contact zone.
Teeter - she'll do it if she has to. She's not especially fearful of it, but you can tell its not her favorite thing.
Weave poles - I started her on a few weave poles on Tuesday. I set them up in a weave-a-matic style, with the poles tilted. I also set them just ever so slightly off center. She hasn't quite gotten the concept. I may change tactics and go with the channel strategy. We'll see how chris likes to do it on Monday.
Sunday, March 28, 2010
And now for something completely different
Agility!
I've been saying from day one that Jesse and Kola should do agility together. So I signed Kola up for agility class. At present I'm taking the class with Kola and Jesse is observing. I think I might phase myself out and phase Jesse in. The class is with Chris Primmer and its at Brigand's hideout. Last week we worked on "leave it" "touch" "spin right" "spin left." The "touch" command right now means, "eat the treat on the plastic disk." I'm thinking that the idea is to keep the dog from coming over to the handler for re-enforcement and instead going to a target for the reward. That way in the middle of a course you don't trip over your own dog coming to see you for treats. We also did a little bit of low jumping.
Jesse is much better at directing Kola over the jumps so I filmed him doing it instead of me.
This first video is the two jumps together to form a spread jump.
This second video is two jumps in a row with a treat in between.
Tomorrow we will learn weave poles. Should be fun.
I've been saying from day one that Jesse and Kola should do agility together. So I signed Kola up for agility class. At present I'm taking the class with Kola and Jesse is observing. I think I might phase myself out and phase Jesse in. The class is with Chris Primmer and its at Brigand's hideout. Last week we worked on "leave it" "touch" "spin right" "spin left." The "touch" command right now means, "eat the treat on the plastic disk." I'm thinking that the idea is to keep the dog from coming over to the handler for re-enforcement and instead going to a target for the reward. That way in the middle of a course you don't trip over your own dog coming to see you for treats. We also did a little bit of low jumping.
Jesse is much better at directing Kola over the jumps so I filmed him doing it instead of me.
This first video is the two jumps together to form a spread jump.
This second video is two jumps in a row with a treat in between.
Tomorrow we will learn weave poles. Should be fun.
Saturday, March 13, 2010
All by ourselves
So Dave is out of commission this month and that leaves his students to practice on our own. Kola and I worked some 2008-born sheep in the big field. I like these sheep. They are very small, and they think they're very hungry. They are just light enough that they'll stop and eat if Kola stops to sniff grass, or get drawn to the fence and their buddies if Kola is sufficiently out of position. They are not so light that Kola cant work her way up to the slowest one and sniff its butt. Sheep-butt sniffing is kindof Kola's reward for getting the sheep to trust her. Its not a policy of mine but thats just the way it worked out. When she's wild they skitter off before she can sniff them, and when she's calm she can sneak up to them without pushing them past me.
Something that really helped our training session today was replacing a generic "AH!" reprimand with "out!" correction. When she gets a generic reprimand she stops herding and comes over to seek my forgiveness. Thats not what I'm looking for. Since the thing she does wrong most frequently is cut in too close, "out!" plus pressure seems to be getting the message across. She doesn't quit working the sheep anyway. She doesn't always swing out very wide. Actually she never swings out very wide but often she'll get out a little and almost always she'll stop cutting in further. These are both valuable things, and things I think I can shape further into a proper "out."
Saying "out" really helped her swing all the way around to the balance point when she wanted to come in too early and push the sheep in a circle. The other thing that really helped her balance was that I started turning deliberately towards her so that her being off center was even more inconvenient. See, she likes to hang a little bit to one side (her left side I think.) If the sheep are between us this pushes the sheep into me and I often wind up turning to get away from the sheep. When I turn with the sheep she's automatically on balance and thus rewarded for being off balance in the first place. So today, since these were such little sheep, I just shoved my way past them turning about 60 to 90 degrees in Kola's direction, which threw her way further off balance than a comparable turn in the other direction. I did this so often she started anticipating this and moved more towards the center. Yay!
One little guy broke off from the group and I ran with Kola to go get it. (Kola tends to chase rather than herd in these situations.) I got her thoughts more towards herding and she brought the sheep back to me, O.K. Then she sprinted ahead of me and I couldn't figure out why. Duh! She was going back for the sheep we left behind. That wasn't my plan but she couldn't know that. On the one hand, her leaving caused me to lose the sheep we were fetching in the first place. On the other hand, I like the fact that she is seeing ALL of her sheep.
She was pretty tired today, and she tends to melt a little in the sun. It makes it easier for her to go "easy." All in all I was pleased.
Also, Jesse re-proposed to me in the middle of the field when we were done with our sheep and gave me the diamond ring that had (unbeknown to me) just come in the mail. That was nice too.
Finally, I'm looking forward to Monday the 22nd because we are signed up for our first agility lesson with Chris Primmer. Should be fun.
Something that really helped our training session today was replacing a generic "AH!" reprimand with "out!" correction. When she gets a generic reprimand she stops herding and comes over to seek my forgiveness. Thats not what I'm looking for. Since the thing she does wrong most frequently is cut in too close, "out!" plus pressure seems to be getting the message across. She doesn't quit working the sheep anyway. She doesn't always swing out very wide. Actually she never swings out very wide but often she'll get out a little and almost always she'll stop cutting in further. These are both valuable things, and things I think I can shape further into a proper "out."
Saying "out" really helped her swing all the way around to the balance point when she wanted to come in too early and push the sheep in a circle. The other thing that really helped her balance was that I started turning deliberately towards her so that her being off center was even more inconvenient. See, she likes to hang a little bit to one side (her left side I think.) If the sheep are between us this pushes the sheep into me and I often wind up turning to get away from the sheep. When I turn with the sheep she's automatically on balance and thus rewarded for being off balance in the first place. So today, since these were such little sheep, I just shoved my way past them turning about 60 to 90 degrees in Kola's direction, which threw her way further off balance than a comparable turn in the other direction. I did this so often she started anticipating this and moved more towards the center. Yay!
One little guy broke off from the group and I ran with Kola to go get it. (Kola tends to chase rather than herd in these situations.) I got her thoughts more towards herding and she brought the sheep back to me, O.K. Then she sprinted ahead of me and I couldn't figure out why. Duh! She was going back for the sheep we left behind. That wasn't my plan but she couldn't know that. On the one hand, her leaving caused me to lose the sheep we were fetching in the first place. On the other hand, I like the fact that she is seeing ALL of her sheep.
She was pretty tired today, and she tends to melt a little in the sun. It makes it easier for her to go "easy." All in all I was pleased.
Also, Jesse re-proposed to me in the middle of the field when we were done with our sheep and gave me the diamond ring that had (unbeknown to me) just come in the mail. That was nice too.
Finally, I'm looking forward to Monday the 22nd because we are signed up for our first agility lesson with Chris Primmer. Should be fun.
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Junior Herd Dog
I thought I had posted about this already but apparently not. Kola got her Junior Herd Dog title on valentines day. She also got a whoppin' huge green qualifying ribbon to go with it.
The first day she was really really good. The second day she was out of her fuzzy little mind, but still got the job done. What a good dog!
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| From The Kola Nut |
The first day she was really really good. The second day she was out of her fuzzy little mind, but still got the job done. What a good dog!
Saturday, January 23, 2010
Fetch!
Today we had our lesson with Dave. He is pleased with how she's coming along holding her distance out from the sheep. So today we worked on fetching.
Kola has a much easier time going out on the Away-to-me (counter clockwise, or anti-clockwise to help you remember.) I think it might be because she's trained to walk on the right side and I've been adding the flanking commands to our walks so away-to-me I push her around the corner, rather than come-bye where she follows me around the corner.
I dont think she quite knows why she's supposed to stay out so far but I have hope that she'll figure it out. Her fetches ran the gambit from, "oh wow, my dog did that?" to "uhg, I cant believe my dog did that, again" and everything in between. She is pretty consistently slowing down at the top of her outrun, which pleases me. She really wants to cut in on her sheep though. This tends to send them into an unstable orbit around me rather than straight to me.
Dave suggests that we can work on our stops along the fenceline, that way the sheep are still between us when I ask for the down. I also picked up some tubing to throw in case Kola needs a little reminder of how it works. Its clear tubing and I am considering ways to decorate it. Right now it has rolled up pieces of paper that say things like "knock it off" in big letters. I thought it was cute. We'll see if anyone agrees.
Kola has a much easier time going out on the Away-to-me (counter clockwise, or anti-clockwise to help you remember.) I think it might be because she's trained to walk on the right side and I've been adding the flanking commands to our walks so away-to-me I push her around the corner, rather than come-bye where she follows me around the corner.
I dont think she quite knows why she's supposed to stay out so far but I have hope that she'll figure it out. Her fetches ran the gambit from, "oh wow, my dog did that?" to "uhg, I cant believe my dog did that, again" and everything in between. She is pretty consistently slowing down at the top of her outrun, which pleases me. She really wants to cut in on her sheep though. This tends to send them into an unstable orbit around me rather than straight to me.
Dave suggests that we can work on our stops along the fenceline, that way the sheep are still between us when I ask for the down. I also picked up some tubing to throw in case Kola needs a little reminder of how it works. Its clear tubing and I am considering ways to decorate it. Right now it has rolled up pieces of paper that say things like "knock it off" in big letters. I thought it was cute. We'll see if anyone agrees.
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Sit Down! Now stay that way.
Today was better than before. I've been working with her at home on staying down even after I say "good girl" because she needs to wait for "ok" or a new command. We also milled around at brigands for a while and worked on holding a down while I circle around her. That was very difficult for the little mutt.
Still, I think that extra work paid off, she had several rounds of sitting and staying until I asked her to walk. She also did OK sitting back down after she had gotten up without authorization. It was still a frustrating session because more often than not she decides that I don't really truly want her to sit in the first place, or hold it after she sits.
She also chased the sheep quite a bit in the beginning. Splitting off our sheep went terribly today. We wound up with just two sheep. They were displeased to be away from their buddies. I'm going to have to re-think our shedding policy because I think it starts us out on the wrong foot. Maybe a gate sort sans dog would be the way to go. They're happy to run out to the grassy area without any dog assistance. I'll have to try that next time.
Still, I think that extra work paid off, she had several rounds of sitting and staying until I asked her to walk. She also did OK sitting back down after she had gotten up without authorization. It was still a frustrating session because more often than not she decides that I don't really truly want her to sit in the first place, or hold it after she sits.
She also chased the sheep quite a bit in the beginning. Splitting off our sheep went terribly today. We wound up with just two sheep. They were displeased to be away from their buddies. I'm going to have to re-think our shedding policy because I think it starts us out on the wrong foot. Maybe a gate sort sans dog would be the way to go. They're happy to run out to the grassy area without any dog assistance. I'll have to try that next time.
Saturday, January 16, 2010
Sit Down! I mean it.
Ugh. Kola was not interested in staying seated today. The sheep weren't being super helpful either but, hey, they're sheep. We spent most of our lesson trying to get the sheep between Kola and me. Kola wanted to help me move the sheep. I wanted her to watch the sheep and let them do the right thing if they're so inclined. Kola knew I was annoyed and wanted to make it up to me. Possibly by sitting at my feet and staring up at me. Thanks Kola but no thanks. No one had much fun today I think.
Thursday, January 14, 2010
slow down
Today and yesterday Kola and I worked on slowing down and building distance between herself and the sheep. Yesterday I said eeeeaaassssyyyy a lot and then eeeaassyy-sit. I was hoping that she would think of "easy" as a prelude to "sit" and thus slow down in anticipation of the sit which then wouldn't come if she slowed down. I have two modes for saying easy, the relaxed one which was more eeeeeeeasy. Then the disciplinarian one "hey! eaSY!" I'm trying to use the former as much as possible but only the latter tends to get a response. Oh well. Mostly what gets her off the sheep is asking her to sit. Not because she sits, mind you, but because she wants to compromise. Instead of sitting she'll just slow way down like I wanted her to in the first place. "Why isn't that good enough mom? We both know thats really what you're after."
Kola is starting to get the idea though. She is much more relaxed while at the same time using a lot more eye to boss the sheep. It feels a little dishonest to work such heavy sheep because they're going to try to use me as a shield even if she's fairly well off. It was strange though, when she took her eyes off them sometimes they started to run off, even though her distance had increased. I'll have to ask Dave about that.
We did a little bit of fetching practice. That crashed and burned like nobody's business. Basically it went like this:
I asked Kola to come by and she started vaguely going in that direction but with her eyes on the sheep. You could practically see the wheels spinning in her little pea brain.
Ooooh, sheep, I wanna get closer.
Hey, they're starting to wander off in the wrong direction, I'd better head them off.
Oh, something spooked them, now they're starting to run in the wrong direction. I'd better run faster to catch up with them.
Damn those sheep are fast, but I'm faster!
Wheeee! I'm going so fast!
Stop sheep! Woof!
Sheep are headed for mom. Mission accomplished. (Think big sign hanging on an aircraft carrier)
Now at this point she's cut in front of me and run all the way to the other side, basically going neck and neck with a nervous sheep. Finally overtaking it and then barking at it. They all come running to me for protection from the crazy animal. Yay, sheep fetched. Right? Achem.
So I send her around again, much closer this time and that goes great of course. I guess I started from too far off the first time. Oh well.
Overall I'm actually really pleased with her. We'll see how long that feeling lasts come Saturday and the wild sheep in the giant pasture.
Kola is starting to get the idea though. She is much more relaxed while at the same time using a lot more eye to boss the sheep. It feels a little dishonest to work such heavy sheep because they're going to try to use me as a shield even if she's fairly well off. It was strange though, when she took her eyes off them sometimes they started to run off, even though her distance had increased. I'll have to ask Dave about that.
We did a little bit of fetching practice. That crashed and burned like nobody's business. Basically it went like this:
I asked Kola to come by and she started vaguely going in that direction but with her eyes on the sheep. You could practically see the wheels spinning in her little pea brain.
Ooooh, sheep, I wanna get closer.
Hey, they're starting to wander off in the wrong direction, I'd better head them off.
Oh, something spooked them, now they're starting to run in the wrong direction. I'd better run faster to catch up with them.
Damn those sheep are fast, but I'm faster!
Wheeee! I'm going so fast!
Stop sheep! Woof!
Sheep are headed for mom. Mission accomplished. (Think big sign hanging on an aircraft carrier)
Now at this point she's cut in front of me and run all the way to the other side, basically going neck and neck with a nervous sheep. Finally overtaking it and then barking at it. They all come running to me for protection from the crazy animal. Yay, sheep fetched. Right? Achem.
So I send her around again, much closer this time and that goes great of course. I guess I started from too far off the first time. Oh well.
Overall I'm actually really pleased with her. We'll see how long that feeling lasts come Saturday and the wild sheep in the giant pasture.
Monday, January 11, 2010
First herding of '10
Went back to herding for the first time this year. Ok nine days into the new year, but still. Fell over backwards a lot. Over sheep, over cones, over my own feet. It wasn't a great day herding-wise either. These were the lightest sheep we'd dealt with yet, in the biggest field yet. Kola wanted to chase them, or at least take them away and got pretty sulky when Dave told her she wasn't supposed to do either of those things.
My resolution is to not overdo it with the pressure so her sulking kindof got to me. She kept getting distracted and discouraged. The sheep would run off and she'd stop and get a drink or come back to me looking at me like, "mom, bad news: no more sheep. Love me anyway?" I felt bad because when she finally did bring me the sheep I praised her but then I had to get after her again right away for being too pushy. I want my heavy sheep back. :(
After a little rest she regained her enthusiasm but retained some of her hesitation as to what to do. She wants to cut in early and push the sheep around me in a circle rather than bring them to me. Very annoying. Not as annoying as the cutting and chasing. So, not a promising start to the new year but, there's nowhere to go but up, right?
My resolution is to not overdo it with the pressure so her sulking kindof got to me. She kept getting distracted and discouraged. The sheep would run off and she'd stop and get a drink or come back to me looking at me like, "mom, bad news: no more sheep. Love me anyway?" I felt bad because when she finally did bring me the sheep I praised her but then I had to get after her again right away for being too pushy. I want my heavy sheep back. :(
After a little rest she regained her enthusiasm but retained some of her hesitation as to what to do. She wants to cut in early and push the sheep around me in a circle rather than bring them to me. Very annoying. Not as annoying as the cutting and chasing. So, not a promising start to the new year but, there's nowhere to go but up, right?
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