Journeys With Cedar...and Moss!

The Weekend

2010-08-15T13:16:00.000-07:00

Yup, more agility :-P

I went out both Saturday and Sunday, like usual, to Mary's for class and open practice. We worked on the Excellent JWW course from our last local trial. It flowed nicely but was challenging, with several pinwheels and some tight turns with lots of "wrong" choices. Overall, Cedar and I did pretty well.

Contrary to what this pic shows, her weaves are still pretty much broken :( But I just ordered some 24" poles so that should help her gain more confidence. We only have 20"ers at home. I guess I should stop saying that she's "broken" when she probably never fully understood the obstacle in the first place. So... it's a work in progress.

She really is doing well on her "turn" command and will confidently switch directions and turn away from me to take another obstacle :)

Thanks to my new exercise regimen, I have been able to run a lot faster with Cedar recently. That, combined with better timing, is starting to make things a little easier for us. I think my handling is getting a bit smoother, and some things are starting to make more sense. It's really neat to see AND feel us getting better as a team. Cedar is more responsive (in general) and listens very well. She's lightning fast and never drops bars. She cues off my body language so well, sometimes it's like she reads my mind. I know that we are just beginning, but in my newbie opinion, I think we could really go places someday. That is a great feeling.

You guys are probably getting sick of hearing it, but I love this dog :)

Just A Reminder

2010-08-11T08:56:00.000-07:00

For everyone to check out my new blog, Cedes of Change.

Let me know what you think!

A Question

2010-08-01T21:49:00.001-07:00

Agility people: what are your criteria for deciding if your dog is ready to start trialing?

Our First Whole Course... Well, Almost :)

2010-07-31T10:20:00.000-07:00

Today was our group class. The course we worked was a former World Team tryout jumpers course. I'm not sure what year or round, but it was tough! There were lots of places that required front crosses--not my strong point :) Since Cedar's weaves are currently still broken, we didn't even attempt them. But that is the only part we didn't do :) Luckily, the weaves were at a logical "break" in the middle of the course, so I decided to just split the course in half and treat it as two different "sections." My idea ended up working out well and Cedar really impressed me :). We managed to cross in the right places and Cedar was listening very well most of the time. A few times she blew me off and went off course, but I probably was telling her to go that direction somehow :). And I didn't fall over doing any of my crosses!

Tomorrow, we're going to work the same course again, so maybe we can get some more finesse. We're starting to figure it out :)

3-2-1 Contacts!

2010-07-30T08:20:00.000-07:00

I know it seems like I've only been blogging about agility lately, but, well, we've been doing a lot of it :)

We went out to Mary's last night for a private lesson, and worked on a whole bunch of stuff. We started out on the teeter and A-frame, because we haven't worked contact equipment *that* much, and she still wasn't fully confident... or so I thought! WOW! She did so well! We worked each contact obstacle at full height, and she showed no hesitation and fantastic contacts! I was particularly proud of her on the teeter. I think maybe she's really understanding now that she has control over the motion. Her 2 on/2 offs were great on every obstacle. What a good girl she is. She is so much fun in agility because she is so smart, enthusiastic, and naturally uses her body well.

Next, we worked on a jump grid. I think it was out of a Clean Run exercise book... but I'm not sure :) The first three obstacles were a jump, tunnel, and weave poles... in a straight line! It was a challenge figuring out where I needed to be in order to get her to make the weave entry. We did pretty well :) After the weaves, we had to make a sharp left turn to make a jump, then do a big serpentine for two more sets of jumps. It was an interesting challenge trying to negotiate a smooth rear cross in the middle :-P But we figured it out, and did quite well, I thought. Cedar, as always, thought it was AWESOME. She had the biggest grin on her face the whole time.

After that, we took a break and did some more jumping, working on one end of the grid in a kind of square pattern. I worked a lot on using my body position (not just my arms, haha!) to set her up for success in making really tight turns. We did some pretty challenging stuff :)

Cedar's weaves are still broken :( We had to go back to basic 2x2 foundation work to get some success. Frustrating.

We worked on the dog walk a little bit at the end, and she did very well with it, too. Great contacts, and she attacked the obstacle with confidence that is really nice to see. I love this dog.

Video!

2010-07-23T17:01:00.000-07:00

Here's a short video of Cedar and I at our agility lesson today:

I scheduled another private with Mary to work on some things: mainly, Cedar's confidence issues with the A-frame and weaves. We lowered the criteria on both to give her a better chance of success. She did great, as usual. I just love working her in agility.

First, we worked on a lowered A-frame on strengthening her contacts and getting her to realize that she can control her momentum on the down side. I think she figured it out... after a few tries, she was using her body very well and hit her 2 on/2 off contacts like a champ, even if I ran past her. You'll see that in the video :)

Next, we worked a little on weaves. She's been popping out on the last pole, and I couldn't figure out why. After watching her, Mary noticed that Cedar's footwork was getting messed up at around the sixth pole. So, at home, we may go back to doing two sets of six poles to build up her confidence a bit, and gradually move them together like we did before when I first started training her to do twelve poles.

Anyways, after a few failures, we left the weaves and did some jump sequences, which amped her up and gave her some confidence. On returning to the weaves, we were able to get her to do the twelve poles once each direction, which was awesome! The second time, we managed to complete the weaves mid-course, with a pretty difficult entry :).

I was very pleased with how well Cedar listened to my body language today. Perhaps I'm just getting better, but we seemed a lot more in sync than usual. Progress!

Plans for the future

2010-07-22T08:32:00.000-07:00

I figured while I still have some time to devote to this, I should make some plans for training Cedar to get ready for obedience, rally, and agility trials. There are a bunch coming up this fall that I'd like to go to, and Cedar is getting pretty dang close to being ready :) There are also a few arena herding trials this fall that I'd like to do with her, depending on how much time on stock we can get in. I'm not sure if we're quite ready for the distance required in ASCA Open. Even though it's not much, I want to be really, really confident before taking that step :). Maybe I'm being too cautious?

Anyway, here's some short "plans" for how I plan to get us ready for action in the fall:

Rally

What we know: Basic heelwork, sit, down, stay, etc.

What we need to learn/practice: Serpentines around cones, more reliability and confidence, solid knowledge of heel position, finish right.

Proofing: Work just as well under distractions, get used to signs, get used to having a judge walk beside us.

Obedience

What we know: Basic obedience commands

What we need to learn: More solid heelwork (her basics are good, I just want more commitment, style, and reliability), solid stays, stand for exam under distraction, practice figure 8's. Straight sits, both at front and in heel position.

Proofing: Work everything extensively under distraction, get her used to strange dogs in the stays lineup, teach her to find heel position from a variety of places. Polish dumbell retrieve. My goal is to have her trained and solidly proofed through Open before entering a trial... or at least Graduate Novice :) I want to have at least an 8-10 minute long sit and down, under distraction. I just can't stress about that anymore! It's the only exercise I have failed, and I think I have a complex about it, as I can't seem to actually finish a CD title on any of my dogs!

Agility

What we know: Jumps, front/rear crosses, tunnels, chute, tire. Table basics (needs work), Weaves (solid on 6 poles, working up to it on 12). Contact basics (still needs confidence)

What we need to learn: Solid weaves (12 poles from almost any entry), Confident contacts with 2 on/2 off position no matter where I happen to be on the course. And, she needs to learn how to collect herself! We'll be okay on more open courses, and at a distance, but in the tight World Team Tryout courses we've been doing in class, she tends to go too fast and not think about her body. The ability to collect will also help her with table and contact work. So, we'll be focusing really hard on teaching that skill this summer and fall.

Proofing: Practice on different contact equipment. Work under trial-level distractions.

New Blog

2010-07-14T11:06:00.000-07:00

Check out my new blog, Cedes of Change! It has a bit of a different focus than this one, and I'm having lots of fun with it. I'm hoping to eventually switch over to that one exclusively, so stay tuned :)

3 Days in a Row?!?

2010-07-05T18:26:00.000-07:00

Yes, it's true. I went out to Mary's for agility today... for the third day in a row. We are really on an agility kick right now. The reason I went was to get a jump on Cedar's contacts. Since I haven't had them at home, it's been hard to train consistently and I don't really know how to do it... so I went to the expert for help!

We worked on the A-Frame first. Cedar still doesn't totally understand the value of 2 on/2 off position, so we worked a lot on really making it worth her while. We introduced tugging instead of a treat reward; letting her tug while in 2 on/2 off position as long as she kept her back feet on the contact zone. That seemed to help her out some. I need to practice more on making her a more enthusiastic tugger. She loves her toys but doesn't tug very hard. So we'll be working on this in the next couple weeks. We also did a little jump exercise to break up the monotony of contact training, starting in 2 on/2 off position on the A-Frame and doing a short sequence of jumps in a tight circle. She aced it.

Next, we went to the teeter. Since we hadn't trained the teeter in about a month, we started easy with the teeter significantly lowered. Cedar didn't even bat an eye at the motion and easily found the 2 on/2 off position. We gradually raised the teeter up over the course of the session and she did great! She still needs lots more reinforcement, though. It still makes her nervous. However, she learned today that she can control when the teeter tips, so I think that helped her. She was a lot more confident after that.

We worked a little on the dog walk, which highlighted just how much work we need to do to solidify Cedar's contact behavior. :) She was unsure what exactly I was asking, but we worked through it and I did a lot of reinforcing the correct position.

Last, we did a few weave drills. Mary was very impressed with how well Cedar weaves. She does an excellent job with rating her speed and hitting the correct entries, even with obstacles before and after. What a good girl she is!

It was a lot of fun, but a lot of work training (in the heat) for the whole hour! Cedar was pretty exhausted by the end, but tried her hardest to the very last exercise.

A few photos:

Independence Day

2010-07-04T11:02:00.000-07:00

I'm so glad I dragged myself out of bed this morning and went to agility again. I slept through my alarm but woke up a few minutes later, and briefly considered going back to sleep before I realized how stupid that would be. We need to practice!

The same course from yesterday was set up, but we ran different parts/different paths. Cedar did GREAT! Much better than yesterday... but I think my handling was better, too. I really focused on making sure my body language pointed her in the right path. If paid off because we were able to run about half the course--a big improvement from yesterday. I was able to get some nice wraps from her (without her blasting off wide when I needed her to come in tight to make the next jump)and she showed me that she is able to take obstacles at a distance, which is great.

I also had the opportunity to work on her dog walk today. Considering how little we've been able to practice contact obstacles, her 2 on/2 off is coming along nicely. She can do the whole thing at full height now with me on either side :)

I also managed to score a free set of weave pole bases, so now I don't have to use stick-in-the-ground poles anymore. Yay!

Cedar has a great mind for agility; she's very serious on the course, (mostly) listens well, and is responsive without being clingy. She has the confidence to work far away from me and close in. She's sure a lot of fun, and is accumulating quite the fan club <3 It sucks to not be able to work sheep as much as I'd like right now, but we've been having a blast in agility!

Happy 4th of July!

What's New? Not Much. But I took some pictures.

2010-07-03T19:45:00.001-07:00

It's been pretty slow around here lately. The summer heat is kicking in, making both me and the dogs pretty lethargic. However, the gang still enjoys a game of fetch or too during the day, especially if that means some pool time afterwards :)

Today was our first time in the advanced/excellent-level agility class.... and boy were we in over our heads! The course we practiced on (we only did segments) was a World Team Tryout course from last year... and was (understandably) very difficult, non-intuitive, and full of interesting challenges. Overall, Cedar did well, but it showed me just how much practicing we need to do before we're ready to compete! She is so fast that she tends to blow by me before I can say anything or get her pointed to the right obstacle. It's mostly my fault... my timing is horrible and I wasn't giving her enough help and direction. We were able to get in several really nice moments... including a particularly brilliant (okay... it might have been accidental) rear cross.

What we need to work on most:
Contacts
Weaves (Get 12 poles reliably... she's not quite there yet)
My body language (I'm slow and not expressive/direct enough)
Wraps
Collection
Tight Turns and Serpentines

Here are a couple photos from today:

Have a good one!

Scrub A Dub Dub... Two Border Collies in the Tub

2010-06-19T15:37:00.001-07:00

Today was the first really hot day of the summer... which means the first outdoor Bath Time for the collies this year! I'm excited to not have to bend over my bathtub for at least a few more months :)

Moss looked eager, so I grabbed him first and put him up on the table.

He soon realized his mistake.

Moss hates bathes. Like, he really, really hates them. Especially the blow dryer at the end. Or being brushed. He gives me the stank eye anytime I come within a foot of his toenails with the trimmer.

Have you ever seen anything so pathetic?

Moss generally abides by the "if I can't see it, it's not there" philosophy... unfortunately, that doesn't work as well with water.

Sorry, Moss.

Moss: F*** you.

At least he looked handsome after it was over with! :)

Actually, even soaking wet, he's handsome... dontcha think? :)

Cedar, on the other hand, loves baths. She adores being groomed, and stands very politely, even offering her paws up to be brushed or shampooed. She's such a princess <3

But even Cedar has her limits when it comes to being sprayed with the hose :)

A few shots of Cedar, post bath/blow dry:

Have a great day!

Lego My Ego

2010-06-02T21:32:00.000-07:00

In his book, The Nine Secrets of Perfect Horsemanship, Don Blazer (in a rough paraphrase) warns that one of the worst things someone who works with animals can do is let their ego get in the way of the real lesson. By ego, he means, in part, that worry that (most) competitively-minded people have about looking like an idiot in front of others; the ugly side of the drive to be "the best." The only way to actually get better is to put the ego aside and take each experience--good or bad--as not only a learning experience, but a way to show where you need the most improvement.

Apparently, I forgot that idea last night when I went out and worked Moss and Cedar. Moss actually worked pretty well for having a month off. I could definitely tell the difference in my handling... my timing was off and I just felt really rusty. Our first outrun was a little off; he tried to cross over about halfway through so I went closer to help him out. After that, he was awesome... his usual self. :) He really is a pro. Driving was great, he remembered his inside flanks and did wonderfully overall. He is so kind to the sheep, they really trust him. What a good boy. It was great to be out there working him again. He's really been good for me, and I feel so good and calm working him.

Cedar was a different story. We just... were not working well together last night. She was the worst version of herself on sheep: fast, tight, pushy, nervous, and grippy. I hadn't seen her this bad in almost a year. I was reacting very negatively (and unproductively, obviously) to her shenanigans. Again, my ego got in the way and I let that part of my brain take over to the point that I was pretty much acting like a spoiled five year-old.

(Have I mentioned how annoying my high pitched "LISTEN!!!!!!!" screech is? Even to my own ears, it sounds foreign and harsh. I hate it.)

I was really upset at the time, and disappointed-- both in myself and her. In retrospect, I shouldn't have been so bummed. After all, we haven't worked in months. By the end of the lesson, we were working together much better, and she was even able to get the sheep out of a corner right next to the rest of the herd (they were on the other side of the fence). I made a point to slow my voice down. Dianne kept reminding me to keep my emotions out of it. As usual, that really helped :). I am so thankful to her, she's such a great teacher.

It's no secret that Cedar and I have struggled a lot with herding. While she tries very hard for me, her pressure sensitivity has been hard for a novice handler like me to understand and deal with. However, she is really great at--and LOVES-- agility. In fact, we just got moved up to the Excellent-level set of classes :D I'm so pleased with how she's doing in that venue. As good as we do in agility, it doesn't turn my crank quite like stockwork does. It's strange to me that we can be so good at one thing, and yet struggle so much in another. Irrational, I know. I still have this sinking feeling every time we have works like last night's that we're just NEVER going to get it. Rationally, I know that's not true. Eventually, we will get to a place where Cedar will be able to work to the best of her ability and we will find balance in our "on-sheep" relationship.

In conclusion:

What I don't know = a lot. But I'm learning... slowly. Learning is a process, not something that happens overnight.

What I do know = that I love my dog. If not for her, I wouldn't have been introduced to this sport at all. I wouldn't have Moss. I wouldn't have made so many new friends. I owe a lot to my Cedar girl. And she's a helluva bed dog :)

Just Checking In

2010-05-24T14:14:00.001-07:00

Well... I'm officially a horrible blogger :)

I have been on summer "vacation" for a little over a week, and still feel like I'm in school. I woke up yesterday morning frantic that I didn't have a lesson plan prepared for the day... cripes. Guess I need more time to unwind.

Cedar and Moss are doing well just being pets for a bit... but I can tell they're both bored. We've been going on lots of long walks though, which has been awesome. I need to keep that up. It's good for all of us :). The weather has been pretty sucky lately, though... I've been too busy trying to save my garden to do much with the dogs. Snow in late May? Yeesh...

Cedar and I start our next set of agility classes in about a month. I'm hoping to take a few private lessons before then, though... to keep in practice and hopefully work through some of her issues with contact equipment. She's not the bravest of dogs... and is also REALLY fast... which is not good when, for example, we are trying to learn the teeter! Her dog walk is looking good, but she is a bit intimidated bu the height of the A-Frame still. Other than contact equipment, we are almost ready to compete. We are really becoming a team on the agility course. What a good girl she is :). I am also debating entering her in a Rally Obedience trial in a few weeks. I need to practice a little bit with her to see where she is before I make that leap, though. She is stressed by crowds enough as it is; I want to make sure that we have all the "moves" down solid before jumping into a trial situation.

I have really been enjoying having Moss at home this month. It took him a few days to settle back into being a pet, but he's totally chill now. He goes back to Dianne in about a week to gear up for his Nursery debut in July. I really need to get back in the habit of going out and working him more often. He deserves it, as does Cedar.

Speaking of Cedar, I really want to get her in shape for some arena trials. I think she could do really well at that stuff. She's matured so much over the past year that I am actually really excited to start working her on stock again. Hopefully we can become better partners on the field... and not fight with each other/stress each other out so much. I haven't worked her in a few months due to lack of time... but I'm pretty excited to try her out again. I'm really hoping to get out to Dianne's this week.

I don't have any new photos... but here's a cute one of baby Moss <3

I Got In!!!!!!!!

2010-05-17T09:11:00.000-07:00

This October, I will be presenting a paper at the Burney Society conference in Portland, OR!!!!

I am SO excited :D :D :D :D :D

http://burneycentre.mcgill.ca/conferences_2010_portland.html

I'm Such An Intellectual

2010-05-06T07:47:00.000-07:00

As most of you know, I am a graduate student in English Literature. Last week, I submitted an abstract to a conference that I reeeeeeeeeeally want to go to. (For those who don't know, an abstract is basically a condensed version of a paper. Conference organizers read abstracts to decide which papers they want to accept for their conference). Anyways, this conference is entitled, "Burney and the Gothic." Burney= Frances Burney, my favorite author and the one whose books I am going write my thesis about. I have been studying the Gothic all semester, and love it. So, basically, this is the perfect conference for me.

I want to get accepted SO badly! I find out by the 15th... keep me in your thoughts!

The Prodigal Son Returns

2010-04-27T12:07:00.000-07:00

My dog is officially a badass.

I went out to Dianne's today (after over a month of being too busy to make it out) and got to see what Moss can do. Dianne has him going really awesome. He is completely on whistles, at barely 16 months old.

Awesome, right? I am so excited!

The best part is that he listens to MY whistles, too :D. I guess that means that I'm getting better at it. Dianne is really excited to start running him. He will be one of her nursery dogs next year.

I will run him in N/N (and PN, eventually... when I stop being such an idiot). Our goal is to get him qualified for the 2011 USBCHA Nationals in Colorado. Wouldn't that be a kick? Dianne has nothing but good things to say about my boy. He is looking SO grown up... I can't believe it! He no longer looks like a baby dog.

See?

Well... must get back to work. Less than two weeks left in the semester! Let's see if I survive...

Blast From The Past

2010-04-22T09:54:00.000-07:00

Exactly one year ago, Moss and Cedar looked like this:

Moss:

Cedar:

...I miss my boy :( I think it's time he came home from Dianne's for awhile... I can't stand it!

New banner

2010-04-22T09:46:00.000-07:00

What do y'all think?

I don't have to go to campus today, so I'm going to try and find the time to give Cedar a bath. She's starting to blow coat and I'd like to get a head start on the shedding :)

Looks Like I've Got Myself an Agility Dog!

2010-04-17T16:47:00.000-07:00

Went to agility practice this morning after a couple weeks off. There were only three people there (including me) so we got a lot accomplished today! It was a whole lot of fun. Mary (our instructor) says that we are just about ready to compete :) We worked a lot on sequences today, as well as weave entries and contacts (particularly the dog walk).

Cedar is really great at agility... I love seeing the joy on her face when we work on this stuff. <3

A "few" pix from today:

Bear With Me...

2010-04-07T17:12:00.000-07:00

No, I haven't fallen off the face of the earth!

I am rounding the bend on this semester, and things are crazy right now. I don't have much time for anything, much less blogging! I'm up to my eyeballs in grading and my own work.

..........I know, cue up the violins.

But seriously, I promise that I will post as much as I can over the next few weeks, and after school is out in the beginning of May, will pick things up quite a bit. Stay tuned for new photos and maybe a video or two :)

Go Go Agility Rangers!

2010-03-27T14:12:00.000-07:00

Cedar and I had agility this morning for the first time in a few weeks. As always, it's like she never took time off. She was fabulous! The weather was gorgeous, too.

The first thing we worked on was a short jump-weave-jump sequence. I've really been working hard on getting Cedar to be able to find her weave pole entries from any location. She tends to go so fast that she just blows by the weaves and doesn't even see them. So I worked on getting my body position just right to set her up for success. By the end we were doing pretty dang well! We still have a long ways to go before our weave entries are solid, though.

Next, Mary helped us work on a figure 8 jump exercise. The goal of the exercise was to work on distance/obstacle commitment, as well as working on front and rear crosses. We managed to do pretty well with it, successfully completing it twice, but I really need to make sure to work on the "turn" command this week as she's not quite sure what to do.

After that, I went over to the dog walk to work on contacts. She did pretty well, but I need to work on getting her to do it more independently. I tried to stay out of heel position to make her find the right 2on/2off "spot" and for the most part she could do it, but her body was crooked most of the time (pointed at me). I need to figure out how to fix that.... hmmm.... Hopefully my dad can get my contact trainer built soon so we can have an actual obstacle-like thing to work with. The mini teeter is too small, narrow, and low to the ground to be of much use.

Finally, we all did some sequence work. The course was a bit challenging today, consisting of a single jump, then a three-jump serpentine/threadle, two more jumps, a chute and tight left turn to another jump, then a broad jump, weaves, and a triple jump. It was all in a curly "triangle"-like shape. Cedar did awesome on the first part of the course, and totally rocked the threadle (we've been practicing those at home :D) but we ran into problems after the chute. She came out of that obstacle facing/running the wrong way, so we lost some momentum trying to redirect. As a result, I was too far behind her and pulled her out of the weaves. We practiced on that part a bit and got it better, even though she still was having trouble with the entries. I need to practice the jump-weave-jump exercise more to get her thinking and driving forward with control. Oh well, just more to work on I guess!

Since I didn't get any pictures today, here's a cute one of Cedar the day I brought her home at 8 weeks. You can already see the attitude, eh? :D

Lag Time

2010-03-27T07:28:00.000-07:00

I'm really bad at actually posting on the same day that I work my dogs :-P

I went out Tuesday to Dianne's to work Cedar and Moss. Cedar is in heat, so she was kind of a dingbat. The sheep had run back to the pens before we even got to the field, so our first task was to collect them and bring them out to the field to work. Cedar has had problems with this in the past; there's a lot of pressure and she has to make decisions in very tight places. To top it off, in order to get in the correct position, I have to flank her around a pretty big pond with a hill in front of it. This freaks her out because she loses sight of me for a few seconds, so tends to stop short and come back to me instead of finishing the flank and getting behind the sheep.

Thankfully, I was able to work with her that time around the pens without getting too frustrated :). It took us a few minutes, but we eventually managed to get the sheep out to the pasture to work. She was a little insecure and clingy on the drive, but I attribute that to being in heat because she's been doing really well with driving in the past few months. I changed things up a bit and started working immediately on inside flanks; having her drive in different patterns (and to varying, precise locations) around the field. She did pretty well with inside flanks, I think she's starting to get used to what I'm asking. It's so cool to see her doing things that I thought she would never be able to do :).

I worked Moss also. I made a point to only use my whistle with him on Tuesday... it was simultaneously harder and easier than expected :-P. I think I'm starting to get the hang of it, although my tones are slightly different than Dianne's so I think Moss has a hard time figuring out what I want a lot of the time. Most of the time he guesses right, though, LOL. I'm pretty solid on the away, walk up, and that'll do whistles. I'm not so good at come bye. I'll get it eventually, though.

Moss did pretty well. He definitely thinks that he knows more about this than me, which is true. Unfortunately, he doesn't always take my commands. I worked a lot on getting him to be really precise in his driving, and did a lot of driving to locations we hadn't gone to before (different areas of the field). I think it was good for both of us; we've gotten a bit lazy about just working the little mini "course" that Dianne has set up (two sets of drive "panels" :-P). His outruns were good, too, as always. I only walked up about ten feet or so this time, and it didn't even phase him. He's such a natural. We also worked on getting some more finesse at the lift; while most of the time he naturally has a very good, intelligent lift, Dianne still wants me to have the ability to stop him at the top and whatnot. So we worked a bit on that, and getting him backed off. By the end he was very respectful and doing just what I asked. He's such a nice young dog. He turned 15 months old yesterday :)

I Guess It's Not A Fluke :)

2010-03-21T16:43:00.000-07:00

Took Cedar and Moss out to Dianne's on Sunday. Both the dogs were really good... but as usual, my handling (and whistles) left something to be desired. I really wish that Moss could send ME away for training! :D

I worked my boy dog first. He was rearin' to go after two weeks off and was really strong at first (at least for him, LOL...even when he's bad, he's not horrible). It took me awhile to get my head back in the game, but eventually we got everything sorted out. Jaenne held sheep for us and we ran a little practice course thingy in Dianne's field. Moss didn't even notice her; he's never actually minded the set out people which is a good thing! I practiced staying further away from him and not babysitting him on the drive; he can do all this stuff, I just need to learn how to guide him.

Cedar was good, too... especially considering I've only worked her a few times this year. Maybe she just needed some time off to mature? I dunno. It seems to work well when I work Moss first and then her, so that I'm warmed up and ready for Cedar. At first, she was acting really insecure and not wanting to get behind the sheep to drive them out further in the pasture. She kept trying to come to me, so I just kept flanking her around and walking in a bit of a crooked line to get her more confident. By the time we got far enough out in the field, she was pretty good. We practiced some outruns to get her loosened up, and then I had her drive the sheep to the first set of "panels" (two white buckets, haha). This was a good opportunity for us to practice our inside flanks... she proved that last time wasn't a fluke by actually taking my commands and swinging out square and with as much precision as I wanted. The only times that she felt the pressure too much and dove in were when I got too close to her. So that was my fault. She's really doing well... I'm so proud of her.

Just One of the Mossimo

2010-03-14T11:42:00.000-07:00

After a bath and a blow dry yesterday:

He's 14 months old now :)

I've said this for three days in a row...

2010-03-07T15:18:00.000-08:00

It's the world's most beautiful day outside! Oh my gosh... so nice out. 60 degrees and sunny. It was the perfect day to go work dogs! I went out to Dianne's at noon, and worked Cedar and Moss. Jody R, Jaenne, and Katy were also there. We had a great time. Everyone's dogs worked really well.

I started using my whistle with Moss today, and it went pretty well. Considering my general lack of tone control, Moss seemed to know what I was asking him for the most part. I still need to practice off-stock a bit, though... just to get more consistent. But I really do like using a whistle as opposed to yelling all the time :). We did a lot of driving/cross driving, and working on inside flanks and precision today. His outruns are coming along nicely, too. He is developing a lot of feel and I don't have to say a whole lot to him most of the time... just let him know where I want him to take the sheep. He's such a good boy.

I hadn't worked Cedar on stock in over a month, so I wasn't expecting much when I took her out to the field. She listened well on the walk out, though, which gave me hope that we'd have a good run. I started off by having her do an outrun on the "away" side and fetch the sheep to me. I had to stop and kick her out a few times, but I think she got the message because she listened to my "get back" commands really well for the rest of the time. Then we drove the sheep to the other end of the field and did a "come bye" outrun. She was pretty good. We did some more driving after that, and then I got brave (or just forgot that I wasn't working Moss, LOL) and asked her for an inside "come bye" flank. She did it! I was so impressed. After that success, I spent the rest of the time working on inside flanks with her. She was awesome!!! She listened to me, kept her head, and didn't dive in when the pressure got too much. I think I'm getting better at handling her through tough spots, though, which helps. Dianne says I've gotten a lot calmer with Cedar since I started working Moss. I also have a lot higher expectations of her since I realized what she "could" be doing :D Cedar has really matured a lot mentally in the last six months, and seems a lot more capable of handling the pressures of stock work. I'd like to think that I've played some part in her progress :). I am planning on doing a couple arena trials with her this year... and maybe a USBCHA Novice trial or two, along with agility trials (when she's ready). I think we're going to have a lot of fun this summer.

Well, I have thirty student papers to grade before tomorrow (ugh)... ciao!

Agility practice, 3/6/10

2010-03-06T14:15:00.000-08:00

Today at class we worked on a lot of fun stuff. First, Cedar and I did some short jump/weave sequences, working on getting her to drive forward through the weaves without looking back at me, as well as finding weave entries when I'm not close to her/guiding her to them. She did great!

Her weaves are really coming around... she's doing 6 straight poles reliably now, on both sides. She can find the correct entry with a jump in front, jump after, or both, which I was happy about! She tends to go too fast sometimes and not think about what's ahead of her.

Next, we worked on contacts. I've been pretty lax about working her on contacts during our "off" month from classes. However, she did pretty well. We worked on the A-frame first, and she remembered "spot" almost right off the bat. We still have a lot of work to do in this area, however. That became clear when we went and tried the dog walk for the first time. She didn't want to have both of her hind feet on the board at the same time. Mary says this is because she's cow-hocked and her feet tend to be wide apart anyways. So I'll work on that more at home with the tippy board (it's the same width as a teeter/dog walk board so it's ideal for that. I just set one end on the top of the stairs and it works just like the bottom of the dog walk. Good stuff.

Next, Mary helped us with the teeter. Like I said before, Cedar tends to go so fast that she doesn't think about anything else. As a result, she scared herself on the teeter once so we had to back track and do some clicker work with it. By the end, she was doing pretty well. We're still not up to full height on the teeter. I need to work on not always being right next to her so she doesn't depend on me to find her contacts. Gives us something to work on I guess :)

After the teeter, I put Cedar up for a few minutes and all of us strategized on how we were going to run our dogs through a short "start line challenge" sequence of jumps and tunnels.

The first sequence was a candy cane shape with three jumps and a tunnel. We had to get our dogs to go into the end of the tunnel that was not in a direct line with the first three jumps (if that makes sense). So, I tried a big lead out with her (walked between the second and third jump) with the intention of doing a front cross between the third jump and the tunnel. We accomplished that, but apparently I didn't direct Cedar hard enough, because she took the wrong tunnel entrance. When we tried again, I was much more exaggerated with my cues and she took the correct entrance.

Since all of us managed to successfully complete that sequence, Mary made it harder by adding a few more turns, weave poles, and two extra jumps and a tunnel at the end. The sequence was like this: jump, weaves (and a left turn), three jumps, a tunnel, two more jumps, and another tunnel in kind of an "s" shape.

The biggest challenge was the opening of the first tunnel. Since Cedar is so fast, and I had no hope of catching up to her to make the front cross like I did the first time, I had to hang back once I got to the third jump to get her to decelerate and look at me for tunnel directions. We nailed it on our first try!

Over all, it was a really great class. Cedar did awesome considering how little I've worked her this month (been SO busy with school and teaching). I can't wait to see how far we can go in agility! She definitely has what it takes... now I just need to learn how to handle her :-P

Belated Post

2010-02-26T13:50:00.000-08:00

So, I went to Dianne's on Tuesday to work Moss, and had a fabulous time! I had a lot of stuff to think about after the trial, so it was great to be able to work on our skills with a purpose :). Moss was pushy, but good. I expected him to be a bit amped after I let him be that way at the trial, so it was no big deal :-P.

I feel a lot more confident with driving and stuff after the trial, too. We managed to be very accurate in our drive/cross-drive practice on Tuesday, hitting the "panels" and staying mostly on-line the whole time. His outruns were pretty good... I had to kick him out at the top the first two times, but after that he got the message and did fabulously. He's such a good boy! Sometimes I think he can read my thoughts...

He's back at Dianne's for training for another month or so. I miss my goober head :(

Jody R. and Circle were also out there on Tuesday; they are looking GREAT!!!! They've become quite the team. I'm so proud :)

Day 2... We got the pen!

2010-02-21T17:49:00.000-08:00

Subtitle: Moss did everything I asked him to do. Unfortunately, most of what I told him to do was wrong :D

It was day two of the trial today and like yesterday, we had to wait forever and day for Novice to get started. We ran third, and didn't get to go until about an hour before dark.

Earlier in the day, Dianne used Moss to bring out fresh sheep to the set-out pens. It was his first time working such a large number of sheep, and he did great! He listened well to her and was kind to the sheep. He's such a good boy. I really wish I would have brought my camera out.

My goals for today's run:

1) Have a nice outrun, and remember to correct Moss if he started to cut in too soon.
2) Finish the pen on time.
3) Don't trip and fall and accidentally moon the judge.

We achieved all three of these goals today. We had a decent run (other than me totally forgetting my flanks at the pen... making the sheep circle around a few times unnecessarily) and ended up getting seven more points than yesterday so that was good. I was still pretty uncoordinated and nervous, but at least I didn't fall down today :). There were some issues with the drive again... but I just need more practice. I also forgot which way I was supposed to go around the post... but I think I got it right so that's no biggie :)

Overall, I had a great time this weekend and can't wait to do it again! My dog worked well for me and did what I asked him to do, which is all I can really ask for at this point. We did about exactly as well as we should be doing at this point in our "education." I definitely learned a ton/have some new "tools" in my mental toolbox, and hopefully my nerves won't be so bad next time now that our first trial is out of the way :)

Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures this weekend :( Oh well, maybe next time. Here's one I took on Thursday at Dianne's.

Day 1.... Our Big Debut

2010-02-20T17:50:00.000-08:00

Subtitle: We got a score! :-P

After waiting around aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaallllllll day for Open, Nursery, and Pro-Novice to end, I finally got to run Moss. We ran in Novice (obviously), and it was the first USBCHA trial for both of us. Considering the long wait and our combined inexperience quotient, it went quite well actually.

I decided to send him on the come-bye side, after a lot of thinking about the best way to, well, not lose the sheep. There was a very strong draw to the exhaust on the left, and many dogs were unable to turn them. I decided that even though come bye is his weaker direction, we had a better chance of getting the sheep going in somewhat of the right direction. :) Because it was allowed, I left him at the post and walked about halfway down the field to send him. The first part of the outrun was good. He started pretty wide, but came down too early off the hill (the sheep were at the bottom of a little ridge-type thing) and I didn't tell him to "get back" or stop soon enough so he went too far in and started to cross over. I got him stopped and was able to eventually re-direct him around the right way. The lift was all right... he was a little jazzed up so went to fast but I was so relieved that he actually took my commands that I didn't get after him too much.

The fetch was okay, too... until I slow-motion fell backwards into a ditch and showed the entire audience about half of my butt. Joy.

We then proceeded to actually make it around the post all right; the sheep were in pretty good control the whole way 'round. We had a little problem at the drive... it was a really short distance and the sheep kept coming to me so I couldn't get far enough away from Moss to really make it work. But we got it done eventually, got them turned pretty well, and went to the pen, which we didn't complete on time (totally my fault... I didn't give the sheep enough time to settle. At least I learned, eh? :D). We ended up with a score (low, though, haha.... like a 23 or something?) and third place.

I'm pretty excited for tomorrow, actually. Overall it was a really good experience and I learned a lot. I am hoping to not make so many mistakes next time. I was pretty pleased with Moss, too. I just love my puppy boy. I think we'll be great together someday :)

All righty... I'm exhausted--time for some chicken caesar salad and bedtime!

Warning: my head may in fact explode.

2010-02-18T15:36:00.000-08:00

Today I went out to Dianne's with the intention of running a few "practice" courses in preparation for the trial this weekend. I know it sounds crazy, but I've never really done a lot of work like this before.... driving to exact locations and penning and whatnot. It was definitely a learning experience. Moss did great... I did pretty well, better as I got more practice.

We covered a heck of a lot of ground today, and I learned a ton. Hopefully I can process all this stuff!

Can I mention again how freaking awesome it is to have a dog that knows inside flanks?!? It makes my job a lot easier. Plus, it's cool.

Our first go actually went pretty well. We drove the sheep out into the field, did an outrun, drove around a bucket (fake "panel," LOL) and then went to the pen. The second run, driving in a different direction to a "panel" of baggies on the wheel line, was a complete cluster. I was all turned around backwards, the sheep were hopelessly off line, and I had no idea what I was doing :D Dianne soon got me sorted out, though. Turns out that I was giving him too many commands and not letting the sheep settle and drift. They were zig-zagging all over the place, as you can imagine. After I had that "oh, duh!" moment, our lines got much straighter.

We did all right with penning, but will need a lot more finesse on more difficult sheep. Hopefully we can practice that sometime.

I think we're pretty ready for the trial this weekend. I just need to keep my cool and not get too nervous. I wish that I cared less :-P I really need to take Don Blazer's advice (loosely paraphrased): Nothing is good or bad, it just is. Everything is happening exactly how it's supposed to.

Now I just need to get my ego to shut up :D

I have a good feeling about this weekend, though. Wish us luck!

Trial Countdown: 5 Days...

2010-02-15T14:22:00.000-08:00

I went out to Dianne's today and worked Moss for the first time in a week or so. We need to get in some good practice this week before our first trial :)

Moss did awesome. It sure is fun having a dog that does inside flanks! Not that I know how to work him very well, though. We practiced lifting sheep off of Dianne (he didn't even seem to notice her, which was GREAT!)and did a lot of driving. Driving back and forth across the field, driving to different places in the field, working on inside flanks... lots of stuff like that.

At first, I felt totally lost. It took me awhile to get my head on straight and figure out what I was doing. I was depending on Dianne to tell me what to do too much, and it showed. Thankfully, by our second work I had figured out what I was supposed to do and it all went much better. I think I might be starting to figure this stuff out. I guess we'll find out this weekend!

I feel like such an idiot most of the time when working Moss. Somewhere along the line, my goober-headed puppy boy has turned into a grown-up sheepdog with real skills. When did this happen? :D Hopefully I can catch up to his ability level soon.

On a side note, I've been watching this show online over the weekend, and am completely addicted:

Come Bye 2007
http://www.horseandcountry.tv/episode/come-bye-2007-episode-1

If you ever have fifteen hours to kill, check it out. It chronicles the 2007 Irish, English, Scottish, and Welsh National Sheepdog Championships and the International Championships as well. Great stuff.

Whoa, Nelly!

2010-02-06T21:52:00.000-08:00

Needless to say, after today's agility class, I no longer have worries about Cedar's ability to do the teeter. I was worried that she wouldn't be able to transfer her confidence on the tippy board to the full-sized see saw, but she was GREAT! By the end of the session, she was driving confidently to the teeter, riding it down a significant "tip" (not full height, obviously, but about half way) and going into 2 on/2 off position. There was none of the panic, scrambling, or avoidance behavior that she expressed a few weeks ago when we first tried this obstacle.

I am so proud!

Now I just have to work on getting her to stop being such a tunnel sucker.... that's our homework for the next few weeks until the next set of classes start :) I also have the lofty goal of training her through at least 6 straight poles by then, too. We'll see how that goes. I've got a lot on my plate right now!

Well, I've Finally Done It.

2010-02-02T15:39:00.000-08:00

I've officially taken the cutest picture of Cedar, ever.

*dies*

Isn't she darling? <3

I spent a good part of the afternoon messing around with the settings on my camera. It was fun and interesting for sure... and I got some pretty good pictures out of it, too :). Cedar is a great subject to photograph... maybe because she's had a camera shoved in her face almost every day for 2 1/2 years? :D

Oh, and she's beautiful, too. That helps <3

If I learned anything today, it's that thus far I certainly haven't been doing my camera justice in any way. Now to get a few better lenses... hmmmmmmmm.

Sometimes I got nice pictures like this...

Sometimes the results were a little less, er, impressive ;)

:-|

Of course, no photography session would be complete without a little senseless dog torture. At least, according to Cedar.

Good thing for her, she got plenty of this as payment for her modeling services:

This picture makes me happy, even though it sucks.

Why, you ask? Well, two weeks ago, Cedar wouldn't have set foot anywhere near the tippy board. Now, she runs to a 2 on/2 off position with one command of "spot"... and will rock the board with her front OR back feet. Good girl, Cedar!

The Clinic, etcetera

2010-01-28T07:16:00.000-08:00

I audited the Patrick Shannahan clinic last weekend (only on Sunday, 'cause I had agility :) ) and it was awesome! I really wish two things, though.

1) That I had been able to go for both days, and;
2) That I would have paid for a working spot.

It was a really fun time, and as always, Patrick and Dianne put on a great clinic. I always learn so much from watching other dogs work, and other people work their dogs. Because this clinic was geared towards young dogs and novice handlers, everyone worked in Dianne's indoor arena. Good for fine-tuning things up close, but bad for photos!

It was great to see Carolynn again-- and she let me try out her new camera, a Canon 7D *drool*. What an awesome piece of equipment... I want! (*pssst.... Joe, are you listening?).

She also let me use a nicer lens on MY camera, which was pretty sweet too. I managed to get some decent photos, considering that we were all in a dark barn :) Here's a few photos I took, of:

Ruben, Moss's littermate

Spirit, owned by Autumn Brooks
(not bad for a mostly black dog in the dark!)

Link, Autumn's new puppy (also a full brother to Moss, but from the most recent breeding)

Moss is still with Dianne, and doing amazing. She has him started on whistles and inside flanks already! Guess that means I need to start practicing my whistles again. I've been avoiding it like the plague. Why couldn't they design an easier whistle? So far I've been having a lot of trouble with reaching the right note of the "come bye" command. Guess I need a lot more work before I'm actually ready to use this around any dog (or person!):

Isn't it pretty? I got it from Amy Raymond of Raymond Silver. She's an awesomely talented chick :)

I'll leave you with a particularly cute headshot of Mossy... taken at the clinic. Look how beefy he's getting!

P.S. Lora, I've started reading The Nine Secrets of Perfect Horsemanship, and it's great so far! I'll post about it sometime soon. Thanks so much!

Life Is Like A Tippy Board Pt. 2

2010-01-23T13:11:00.000-08:00

Cedar was awesome at class today, as usual. We worked on weaves, contacts, tippy board stuff, and jump sequences. Some of the exercises were a bit over her/our head, but that's okay.

I was most pleased by the fact that she showed no fear at all on the tippy board! Yay! We moved on to the A-frame (which we've never done before) and she was awesome... although she did try to make the A-frame "board" move because of all the work we've done this week on the tippy board, LOL.

I had been click/treating her for moving the board, so I guess she thought that the A-frame was the same thing :). She really started to learn 2 on/2 off contacts after a few repetitions, even offering the behavior on her own. That was really cool. I love this dog!

Next, we worked some on weave poles (2x2), and she's doing pretty well. with those. She weaved 4 straight poles a few times, but started missing entries so I backed up a little and moved the two sets a few inches apart. By the end, she was doing much better. I can't wait until we have consistent weaves!

The jump sequence work was a bit tricky. Cedar is so fast that neither of us is practiced enough to be able to think far enough ahead. Thus, she kept blowing past the first jump out of the tunnel. It turns out, I was getting too far ahead of her which was making her speed up too much. When I tried hanging back as she came out of the tunnel, it went much better and we were able to make the jump.

Look at that style!

Side note: I really need to work on rear crosses!

A few more pictures (thanks, Joe for taking them!):

Life Is Like A Tippy Board

2010-01-23T08:25:00.000-08:00

As you all know, I've recently started Cedar back in agility. We've been having an absolute blast with it... everyone in the class is really great, and Cedar is such a natural at it. However, our Achilles heel is the teeter. Cedar totally freaks out at any sort of motion under her feet. Obviously, that just won't do for a future potential agility dog!

Thankfully, our friend Glenda (who owns Moss's littermate, Ruben) lent me a tippy board last week and I've been working Cedar on it with the clicker all week. For those that don't know what a tippy board is, it's pretty much just like it sounds. A long board with a piece of PVC pipe in the middle so that when weight is applied to one side or the other, the board tips/moves. Basically, it's a dramatically less-scary mini teeter. At least in theory. ;)

It took me a few minutes to get Cedar comfortable enough with the board to even start to figure out what would get her the "click." She eventually figured out that I wanted her to put her feet on the board, and got comfortable with putting her front feet on pretty fast. However, it's taken me the rest of the week to get her comfortable with putting her back feet on the board. I'm hoping that with a few more weeks of work, she can figure it out so we can start working on the actual obstacle. I want her to get over her fear before that, though... I don't want her associating scaryness with the teeter.

Anyways, I'm off to class, so I'm sure I'll have a lot more to blog about later!

Only Fools Rush In.... to Front Crosses

2010-01-10T11:57:00.001-08:00

I think I'm falling back in love with agility. I am having SO much fun with Cedar! We had our group class yesterday, and it was neat to see how much progress she's made in the past month. We are now able to successfully run pretty complex mini-sequences (8-10 obstacles or so) and we're working on contact equipment as well. She does NOT like the teeter... I'm hoping to borrow a tip board from a friend so I can work on it with Cedar using the clicker. I am confident that this is something we can definitely get past.

She learned the chute in about 30 seconds, and wasn't afraid of the fabric or the noise at all, which surprised me. I'm so proud!

Her jumping is coming along really nicely, too; our instructor, Mary, says that Cedar has really nice form. I'm really happy to hear that, as I have spent a lot of time working on developing her into a good jumper. It's nice to see the training start to pay off! She very rarely drops bars-- and with her speed, that's pretty rare! She is one of the fastest dogs I've ever been around. I think she'll be a lot of fun. Her 2x2 weaves are coming along nicely as well, but I need to stick with it and train them consistently. I'm so bad at that ;).

In our last run of the day, the course required a front cross about halfway through. I was worried that Cedar would be going too fast for me to make it to where I needed to go in time to make the cross. After a few fumbles (I may or may not have tripped over my own feet and fell down... just saying)... we NAILED it! It was so awesome! Yesterday, I learned that I can trust Cedar to commit to obstacles at a distance, which really helps me to be able to keep up with her :). She is so focused and driven in agility, plus she loves it, which helps things along. I don't see any of the panic that herding brings out in her when we do agility. Maybe this is what Cedar is meant to do? Only time will tell :).

I am hoping--tentatively--that we will be ready to trial this summer or fall. However, I don't want to rush into trialing. I want us both to be totally ready before taking the plunge, though... with Cedar, half the battle is making her feel comfortable and confident. I don't want anything bad to happen that would freak her out. I guess that means lots of proofing!

I really need to get some pictures...

Get Back, I Said!

2010-01-08T14:53:00.000-08:00

Both the dogs were definitely feeling their oats at Dianne's today.

I worked Moss first. Dianne had us sort sheep first, which was fun. I opened the gate, walked in with Mossy, and sent him on a come bye flank to pick up the whole flock. As usual, Mossy was great, and I was... in the way. :). With a little manuevering, we got the sheep out and I sorted off seven to work. Moss drove them out to the pasture like a champ, and we did a couple outruns before the sheep decided that they wanted to sprint for home. I should have trusted Mossy enough to get them, but I waited too long to send him and they made it back to the pens. I walked most of the way back and sent him on an away flank... Around Dianne's pond and by the pens. He only needed one redirect, and brought me the sheep easy as pie. He drove them out to the field... Agaaaaain... and I had him drive the sheep to random places in the pasture. He even did an inside flank on the comebye side when I asked! Yay! He definitely was pushier than usual today, though. I had to remind him that I am, in fact, worth listening to ;).

Cedar was naughty today.... haha. I should have known that she wasn't in the listening mood because I had to really work at getting her to look at me on the walk out to the sheep. Our first outrun was... Not good. She was fast, tight, and frantic; the more I told her to "get back," the faster and more frantic she got. I spent the majority of the time just trying to get her backed off and listening. Fortunately, my timing is improving and I was able to get her working calmly and intelligently by the end of our lesson.

I took the opportunity to work Moss a second time, and he did really well. Still a little pushy, but good. He is such a good boy, and a fast learner to boot. The sheep ended up escaping again, and in my characteristic "durrrr" fashion, let them get too far away before attempting to send Moss, even though I knew they wanted to bolt about ten seconds before they actually did. Gah! No worries, though... I walked closer to the pens like before, and sent Mossy on another away flank. This time, I didn't have to say a word to him. What a pro!

Moss is back at Dianne's for another month. I miss his face already :-(.

Reflecting and Projecting

2010-01-03T07:23:00.001-08:00

Being as it's, well...around the New Year, I thought I'd write down some "dog" goals for the coming year.

2009 was a bit of a disorganized year for me, and I feel like I didn't get as much accomplished as I would have liked. It started off with a lot of herding.... Cedar and I worked very hard at the beginning of the year and managed to hold it together enough to earn our ASCA Started title. That was our first trial experience and I learned a lot. I attended several clinics and USBCHA trials (as a spectator) last year as well, which was great. I learn almost as much from watching other people and other dogs than I do when I'm actually working Cedar or Moss.

Cedar has made a lot of improvement since this time last year. It's almost like I have a different dog :). She is much better able to let go of her nervousness/panic (most of the time) and take my directions. She's growing up a lot mentally, which I've noticed a lot in the past few months. She's much less prone to diving in and gripping, but even when she does, I am able to call her off immediately... even if the sheep are bolting. So, that's a big step for her. We've done a ton of work on her outruns since the end of the summer, and all that effort is paying off. She is running wider than ever before, and is usually pretty good at the lift. I am really proud of her for that. I am hoping to do some arena trials (and *maybe* USBCHA Novice) next year with her.

We have also taken up agility again (which she LOVES) and hope to compete next year. Cedar is doing really awesome in agility.... she's wicked fast and very enthusiastic! Right now her favorite obstacles are jumps, tunnels, and the table. She's not so sure yet about the teeter ;). I am excited to see how far we can go in agility, I think (and my trainer concurs) that she could potentially be really good.

The biggest change this year would have to be the addition of Moss to the pack. I picked him out at two days old and took him home in early February. He fit right in from the start and has been a lot of fun. His sunny, laid back personality has been really good for Cedar. He is very dopey, but deceptively smart, picking up on tricks and new commands very fast. He is also wicked talented on sheep...which has been a blast. Everything just comes so easy for him.... his like the popular, handsome jock who you want to hate, but you can't because he's actually a really nice guy ;). Moss went and stayed at Dianne's for training in the beginning of November, and has made tons of progress since then. He's home right now, but will go back with Dianne shortly.

Anyways, I suppose it's time for the "goal portion" of this entry...

General goals:

1) Continue my progression towards becoming a calm, competent, confident, and patient handler;
2) Never forget to appreciate my dogs for who they are, and try harder to work with their strengths instead of focusing on their weaknesses;
3) Learn whistles;
4) Manage my time better so I have more time to spend with my dogs;
5) Successfully compete in my first USBCHA trial.

Oh, and I'd also like to strive to blog at least two-to-three times a week ;).

Cedar:

1) Follow through with agility classes and get her to the point that we can trial successfully next summer or fall;
2)Aim to teach her one new trick each week;
3) Be able to send her on a respectfully big outrun--from my feet--without having to give her any re-directs or corrections;
4) Master inside flanks.... at least somewhat reliably;
5) Work consistently towards making her less fearful and insecure;
6) Get an obedience or rally title.

Moss:

1) Make an effort to do more formal obedience/trick training with him;
2) Learn how to handle him effectively on sheep;
3) Learn inside flanks;
4) Get good at penning as a team;
5) Teach him to go to a bed, lie down, and stay there calmly until released.

That's all I can think of for now.... I may add to this later. I'll leave y'all with a pretty picture of my Beatcakes in the snow :)

Let it Snow

2009-12-30T06:34:00.000-08:00

It's snowing outside, which may thwart my plans for today. Oh well! I may or may not make the trek out to Dianne's like I'd planned... I don't know how the roads will be. :-\

I've been fortunate to be able to get out to Dianne's three times in the past week. Both Cedar and Moss are working really well. With Cedar, I've been trying to take a lot of the pressure off her; going back to easier stuff but making it PERFECT this time around.

I've insisted that she stay backed off and slow, which has helped curb some of her frantic behaviors that have been the bane of my existence for so long. Of course, it helps that I at least know what "good" is supposed to look like, now. I am getting better at correcting her because I am beginning to have to knowledge to do so. That's pretty cool... Even though I still feel like a dumb-ass a lot of the time. :) By the end of Monday's work, Cedar was nicely backed off and doing really wide (for her, anyway) outruns and was actually pacing herself on the fetch and drive.

See? :)

I just really wish that I was able to work her more consistently. Working Cedar has definitely been an exercise in "love/appreciate the dog you have." It has been very difficult for me to appreciate what she's teaching me when at least 99% of her lessons are of the "hard knocks" variety :). Reflecting on our 'journey' so far, though, I've learned a lot from her. One of these days I'll have to write about it.

Moss was his usual awesome self. I really don't have much to report other than I can practically send him on an outrun from my feet, his driving is kick-ass, and he continues to amaze me with his intelligence, maturity, and feel for the sheep.

His problems w/ covering at the top of the outrun seems to be fixing itself...on Monday, his last outrun was spot-on perfect, and I didn't have to say a word to him. It gave me the chills.

I love the look of joy on his face when I send him...

It's been fun having him back at home, too. He seems to have grown up a bit mentally during his month and a half with Dianne. He's been great around the house.

Happy Birthday, Moss!

2009-12-26T14:52:00.000-08:00

From this...

To this!

Happy Birthday, my Mossimo... aka Captain Fabulous! I can't wait to see what the next year brings for you :). You make me smile.

Workin dogs, puppy breath, and jingle bells

2009-12-22T17:16:00.000-08:00

I must admit that I have a fondness for torturing my dogs with wearing clothes, especially around the holidays. I bought the dogs Christmas collars today at PetsMart ($2.99 each, woot!) and managed to get a pretty cute picture of the three of them by our Christmas tree with my new iPhone (double woot!)

It's amazing what a little mozzarella cheese can do to motivate three wiggly dogs to sit still long enough to snap a photo ;)

Anyways... I went out to Dianne's today and worked Moss; I also picked him up to take him home for a few weeks as I've been missing him terribly. I know he's doing great at training, but I miss his little (well, not so little anymore) face around the house. He's such a good boy. As he gets older, I've noticed just how much he looks like his mama, Peg. He has Riggs' markings (other than the tricolor points), but his muzzle and eyes are all Peg. He is big and rangy like Riggs, though, which I like. I love the big, masculine-looking boys. His head is starting to broaden and he's really filling out. Part of me is a little (okay, a lot) sad that Moss is looking less and less like a puppy every day. But he is getting so handsome!

There was some snow on the ground today, and it was BITTER cold..... it settled down for awhile but picked up again about halfway through our second work.

He was pretty good today. Dianne had mentioned that he was having some trouble with covering fully on the outrun; that he was coming up short a lot of the time. I definitely noticed it today, and spent a lot of my time forcing him to cover. His driving is really coming along, and he has gained a lot of confidence. He pretty much just lets me put him wherever I want to, takes my commands and listens well, and is generally really easygoing about this whole process.

He is such a thinking dog.... Dianne and I were talking, and she said something that really struck me. She said (this is obviously a loose paraphrase, lol) that even when Moss is wrong, he learns from the sheep. That comment made a lot of sense in light of how he behaved today. When he was "wrong" and didn't cover on the top of his outruns, the sheep would go the wrong way and he'd be forced to correct himself. By the end he was doing a lot better.

We did a lot of the same stuff that we have been doing; driving around the field etc... but during our second work I got a little bit brave and did a sort of mini "course" without panels (I hope that was okay, Dianne!). I had him do a short-ish outrun, fetch the sheep to me, and drive in a little triangle-shaped pattern thingy. I picked different spots on the field and tried to get him to take the sheep there with as little input/interference from me as possible. He did awesome! We even did a pretty smooth turn around the "post." It's really fun messing with him because he is so laid back.... he never gets me in much trouble. That is really great.

I just love this boy... can ya tell? :)

I also took a few pictures of the pups that Dianne has right now. Here are a few of the True x Riggs boys:

(Aww...)

(This little guy was quite photogenic)

And some of the Peg x Riggs litter, which are a few weeks younger than True's pups. They are Moss's full siblings, born a year later:

("Mini Moss")

(I love this girl!)

I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas/holidays :)

Quick Update

2009-12-19T09:09:00.001-08:00

Well, I made it!

I got through my first semester of grad school and teaching. What a ride! I just submitted my grades for my ENGL 101 students yesterday afternoon. I'm officially FREE until January 19th! Woot!

Unfortunately, I haven't had much time for my dogs over the past few months, but I'm looking forward to spending some quality time with them over my break. I'm going to take Mossy home for a few weeks over Christmas, too. I sure miss that little bugger. :( He's doing really great in training, though. I'm so proud of him. Cedar's doing awesome in agility; she really loves it. Maybe I'll actually have the time to finish training her 2x2 weaves over break. That would be awesome!

Things are going pretty well here. My house looks like it was hit by a Brit Lit tornado, but I'm hoping to get it cleaned up over the weekend and maybe even decorated for Christmas. My friend Mollie and I did get in a car accident a few days ago. Her car, unfortunately, is pretty beat up. Thankfully, it runs fine still, but the back end is all crunched up.

Sorry for the lack of any profound "doggie" thoughts in this post. I'm hoping to go out to Dianne's soon so maybe I'll have something interesting to say then :)

Later!

John Lennon Death-day Redux

2009-12-09T07:46:00.000-08:00

Well, I'm officially a tool. Every year since I was maybe twelve or so, I've done something on December 8th to remember John Lennon, my favorite musician of all time. This year, I forgot.

Me= fail.

I know this post is diverging very far from dog training, but I can connect it back.... Cedar's registered name is BonniDune Norwegian Wood.... "Norwegian Wood" being the name of an (awesome!) Beatles song.

So there. Ziiiiiinnng!

In fact, I think I can break up the last decade or so of my life into a soundtrack composed solely of Beatles songs (and solo work). The Beatles and John Lennon got me through a lot of bad times. The power of music to change your mood is amazing. When I was about fourteen or so, I wished every night before I went to sleep that I would wake up in the sixties. I felt like I'd been born in the wrong time. Obviously, it didn't work... but I wrote some pretty horrible poetry about it at the time. Hopefully I can find it sometime, but I remember one poem in particular that began, "I'm an eggman living in a material world".... in a not-so-subtle homage to "I Am The Walrus."

Yes, I own Magic Mystery Tour on DVD. Along with every other Beatles movie, and all the Anthology DVD's. And every Beatles album on vinyl and CD.

It's funny to think back at what I listened to when I became obsessed with the Beatles again as a teenager (I listened to them when I was a kid, too... but had a several year long digression to horrible stuff like NSync, Britney Spears, and Good Charlotte). What the Beatles had to say was like exactly what I was feeling. Their music carries real emotional truth, something which is extremely difficult to do well. And they were seamless. This "emotional truth" is what makes this music so resonant--and relevant, still--to millions of people.

"Living is easy with eyes closed, misunderstanding all you see. It's getting hard to be someone, but it all works out; it doesn't matter much to me."

I used to listen to this song and cry. Now it makes me smile.

This clip is pretty great. It's of Paul McCartney (after John's death) listening to some old Beatles songs, and then he plays John Lennon's "Beautiful Boy." If you don't watch any of the other vids I've posted, you should watch this one. It's very moving.... breaks my heart a little bit.

Below, I've embedded some other songs I like.... both with the Beatles and some of John's solo work. Enjoy!

Maybe I'll go watch Help! today :)

I am sad that you are no longer around, John. I hope you have found some peace...

"Love is real, real is love."

Shit, now I'm crying.

Agility

2009-12-07T16:40:00.000-08:00

On Saturday, Cedar and I had our first agility class in over a year. It was awesome! Cedar did really well. Since it's just a beginning class, we worked on a lot of stuff that Cedar already knows, like jump training and 2x2 weaves. The one thing that we really need to work on is contacts... I think they kind of freak Cedar out ;). I wish that I had my own A-frame or something. She's never really been on contact equipment before, so I'm not really surprised that it made her nervous. Everything is such a process with her... it's a good think I love my Cedar girl so much!

Cedar was pretty distracted/over stimulated at first, but she settled down pretty quickly. It was fun working with her in an environment where she isn't constantly worried or stressed out like she is on sheep (even though she's doing tons better in that area). I think that--knock on wood--we could be ready to trial by Spring or summer sometime :) That would be pretty awesome. There's usually a few trials in the Boise area in the Spring/early Summer... so I'm going to shoot for one of those.

I need to really commit to training her on 2x2 weaves and get her weaving 12 straight poles. She is doing 4 pretty well right now, but I haven't been nearly consistent enough with her.

Some more pix of her in the snow today <3

Flank Me Baby, One More Time

2009-11-25T12:59:00.000-08:00

On Monday, Cedar did her first inside flank.

......It may or may not have been an accident on my part :D

I know that I should have written this post earlier in the week (say, Monday afternoon?) but with all the holiday-family craziness--not to mention a hellacious amount of grading--I didn't get to it until now.

So anyways.... I went out to Dianne's on Monday. Katie was there working Pat, and Jody R was there as well working Circle. It was really nice to see everyone, as I haven't been able to go out much lately. I worked Cedar once, and Moss twice (well, Dianne worked him once, and I took him out the second time). They both were awesome!

Since Cedar hadn't been worked in a week and a half, it took me awhile to get her settled down and thinking. We did a lot of work on keeping her backed off and wide, working on her outruns and pace on the fetch. Her outruns are REALLY coming along; she is beginning to go wider on her own (i.e. I don't have to correct her as much), and I've started to send her with me not so close to the sheep. So far, she's doing well with that. I wish I could just let the past go and trust her, though... I am always on the defensive with her, and that is not exactly the right--or most constructive--place to be. It's one thing to realize you're doing something, but a whole 'nother thing to actually change it when the pressure is on :).

I really, really wish I had my own sheep and a place to work my dogs every day!!! Blah!

Towards the end of the first work, we worked on driving. Again, I was working really hard at getting Cedar to loosen up and relax. I corrected her every time she moved faster than a slow, relaxed walk. She will do this thing where she is walking slowly, but really stiff and tense, so I corrected her for doing that, too. We've kind of lost our "lie down" in recent weeks, so I worked on that, too. She was driving really well (I was having her drive the sheep in a square around me) so I decided to try something different/brave/whatever. She was on my left, driving the sheep away from me. I walked behind her to the other side, and then gave her an quiet "away" command with her in front of me. Lo and behold, she took it, and went wide and soft in a beautiful inside flank! I had her drive the sheep a little closer to home and then quit.

I consider that a victory :D ... she's finally getting it!

Dianne worked Moss for me the first time; I was interested to see how he was doing with his training. He is AMAZING!!! I just love this dog, everything just comes so naturally for him. Dianne is having him do some pretty advanced stuff; his driving is awesome, and she is starting him on inside flanks already. He just turned 11 months old.

After a break, Dianne let me work him :). The sheep had ran back to the pens, so we had to pick them up off the fence and drive them out to the pasture. After a few naughty moments (he forgot what "stay" meant.... and let his excitement get the better of him), we were able to get the job done. He drove the sheep from the pens to halfway across the pasture, which is at least 500 yards or so, without incident. It seems like he is learning how to hold a line, too; I didn't have to correct or flank him much to keep the sheep going straight. That was pretty cool. We did a few outruns and then drove the rest of the time. He kept his head the whole time, and listened very well. I certainly miss having him at home, but obviously he's doing great at Dianne's. There's a possibility that we might compete in Novice/Novice at the December Sleddin' and Sheddin' trial... I'm not sure yet, though.

First snow

2009-11-14T09:14:00.000-08:00

Woke up this morning to this outside my door:

SO pretty! Of course, this meant a photo opp for Cedar, as usual :-P

As I was uploading these photos, I looked outside my window to find Moss's nemesis (aka Larry [or Loretta] the Squirrel), playing around in the branches of one of the big trees in our back yard:

He sure is a fat little bugger...

<3

I Have My Beatcake Back :)

2009-11-13T15:14:00.000-08:00

So I finally got Cedar back from Dianne... thank god! I missed her desperately this week. Yes... I KNOW I'm way too attached to her; what ya gonna do about it? :D Dianne said that she worked really well this week, and that she was starting to get a lot more comfortable in small spaces, which was the goal of sending her away for a week. I worked her out in the open field today, and could totally see a difference in her. She was a lot softer, more confident, and less likely to panic and cut in. She did some good sized outruns with me really far from the sheep, and took my "get out!" corrections sensibly. I just have such a problem with trusting her.... I really need to get over that. I don't seem to have that problem when I work Moss.

Moss was most excellent today, as usual. His driving is really coming along; I can walk parallel to him about 40+ feet away, and he keeps his head and does a good job at keeping the sheep on line without me having to say a whole lot. Where we had trouble today was with the outruns; I think he's getting so used to driving that he's forgotten temporarily how to bring the sheep back to me :-P. But we worked on that some today, and he figured it out towards the end. I love when Dianne just lets me loose to work my dogs and figure stuff out on my own. I know my timing sucks, but I like being able to just go out and work.

I really wish I had my own place wish some sheep so that I could do a little of this stuff every day with both my dogs. I think Cedar in particular would benefit from doing a lot of practical work. She's really coming around, though... and I think I will for sure be able to trial her next year. I am so glad to have her back... I can't believe how empty the house was without her here! She's laying at my feet as I type this...

Moss ≥ Awesome

2009-11-10T09:52:00.000-08:00

You know those Chuck Norris "fact" jokes that were popular a few years ago? For example:

"There is no chin behind Chuck Norris’ beard. There is only another fist."

or

"If you have five dollars and Chuck Norris has five dollars, Chuck Norris has more money than you."

Pretty ridiculously awesome, right? Well, I got to thinking...if you changed "Chuck Norris" to "Moss"... some of these might in fact be true :D

Moss doesn't read books. He stares them down until he gets the information he wants.

Moss counted to infinity - twice.

There is no theory of evolution. Just a list of creatures Moss has allowed to live.

Moss doesn't sleep. He waits.

Moss destroyed the periodic table, because he only recognizes the element of surprise.

Moss does not get frostbite. Moss bites frost.

....jk.

All kidding aside (okay, well, most), I'm totally in awe of Moss right now. Real original thought, right? Haha. He is just so amazing though!!! He's ten months old, has been on sheep maybe twenty times, and is already doing a lot of the same stuff that Cedar is. I mean, I know nothing about this sport, but I think that's pretty cool :-P. He's a prodigy for sure.

I got to work with him yesterday out at Dianne's, and had an awesome time! For such a doofus, he listens quite well ;) and all this stuff comes so easy for him. It's really nice, especially for someone as stressed out and foggy-brained as I am right now, to just be able to go out and have fun (and also be productive!) without all the negative. I feel like I deserve it every once in awhile :-P

Cedar's at Dianne's for the week, and I miss her like crazy. Dianne said that she was "wide-eyed" but fine last night... I think this all might be sort of traumatic for her, LOL. I hope she's doing all right. My bed is lonely without her curled up against me at night :(

Agility... maybe?

2009-11-07T20:21:00.000-08:00

So, long story short... I've been strongly considering getting Cedar back into agility, but I'm sort of conflicted about it.

We took agility classes from when she was about 4 months (pre-agility)- 13 months old with Mary Hunter. Cedar absolutely LOVES it... in every picture of her, she has the biggest grin on her face.

Feeling nostalgic, I bought some equipment about a month or so ago, and have been doing a lot of drills from Clean Run and whatnot just for fun... it's been interesting picking up where we left off last year. Cedar has matured a lot mentally during her "hiatus"; I think that she is finally stabilizing enough that we could be able to actually do stuff competitively. I would love to be able to trial her in agility next year, I think we could have a lot of fun.

Also, I think that agility is something that she could totally succeed at, unlike herding which is pretty much a constant struggle (not that it isn't fun, of course; it's my passion!). My only worry is that I/we will be doing too much... with school, obedience, and herding, there's not that much time left over for agility. BUT... the classes (7 weeks) are during December and January; most of which I have off for Christmas break.

Thoughts? Should I sign us up for the class?

A few photos from practice today, in my front yard no less :-)...

Dang, it's November Already?

2009-11-04T14:15:00.000-08:00

I can't believe I've been a grad student/teacher for almost 3 months. It's weird how time can both simultaneously seem to stand still and speed by in a blur. I've never been so stressed out, exhausted, and drained in my life. Of course, there are some good things happening; I really like the classes I'm taking, and I'm making some great friends. Teaching has been an "experience" to say the least... I have had to deal with a lot of crap from a certain student throughout the semester (she's known as my "stalker"... if that gives you any idea), and I just had to send an email to a (different) student to let him know that he's failing my class. It seems like there's always something going on... oh well, at least my life is never boring, right? :)

This grad school thing is pretty much all-consuming, which has turned me into kind of a selfish hermit. I don't have much free time, so when I do, I mostly want to hang out at my house and do nothing. Pretty much my only "hobby" right now is the dogs!

Moss went to Dianne's for training last Wednesday, and she's been working him every day I think. She says that he's doing great; still very much a "puppy," but that he is doing a lot of really awesome things. I'm so pleased! I managed to get a little video of him this morning... Dianne is handling:

I know it's not much, but it's something! Doesn't my boy look good? I actually have him back for a little bit over the weekend and through next week, as sheep camp is going on this weekend. I can't say I'm sad to have my Mossimo back! :)

I worked Cedar today as well. It was sort of a "mixed" work today, I guess. Some good, and some bad. I'm pretty sure that most of our problems were my fault. I am horribly out of practice, and it shows. She was pretty pressure-sensitive throughout our entire work, and she seemed to have kind of regressed a bit in that area. She was pretty slicy, fast, and tight at the beginning, but I think a lot of that was a combination of her nerves and my oafish handling. By the end, though, she settled down a lot and did some nice, controlled driving and outruns. I think she forgot how to lie down, though. Argh.

Dianne is going to take Cedar for a week on Monday and work on getting her comfortable with pressure. I guess she's going to do a lot of sorting sheep and whatnot. I'm excited to see how that goes...

Counting down the days...

2009-10-23T17:26:00.000-07:00

...until Moss goes to Dianne's for training :)

Yeah, I'll miss him, BUT I know it will be a really good thing. He deserves the chance to get sheep time consistently, and with my crazy schedule, I owe him this much. We went out to Dianne's today for a lesson, and both he and Cedar did AWESOME! It was great to be able to work in the big field again after so long.

It was interesting working Cedar after taking over 3 wks off. She was pretty fresh, but good, for the most part. It was nice to see how much her outruns have improved; she was WAY wide and listened to me pretty well. She let me stop her when she started to cut in, and kicked out when I asked her to--from a LONG ways away. I was pretty proud of her, even though she was naughty a couple of times.

Moss did really well. Dianne worked him for me, and I was able to get some really good photos. He's a really fun dog to watch because he is so natural; Dianne doesn't have to correct him that much, and he truly learns from his mistakes. He has already become much more relaxed off the sheep; I can have him sitting by me without him completely tuning me out and fixating on the sheep. Dianne was even able to call him off when the sheep took off running towards the pens. What a good boy! As you will see from the pictures, he looked quite lovely. Dianne even had him driving... quite well in fact! I am totally in awe of this puppy, and can't wait to see how he grows up. I can't believe he'll be a year old in two months!

Some pictures from Moss's work:

Waiting his turn to work :)

(My favorite... <3)

DRIVING!!!!!!

Dear Moss,

2009-10-19T08:30:00.000-07:00

1:45 AM is not morning, play time, or breakfast time.

Neither is 5:45 AM, for that matter.

Therefore, there was no need to bark and wake me up to remind me last night. Twice. I know that you would argue that your annoyingly incessant barking was not only justified, but necessary, but I beg to differ.

Now, I am more than happy to let you out to go to the bathroom if you need it. I understand that sometimes these things come up at inopportune times. But PLEASE, at least pretend like you have to go! Running straight for your tug toy and tossing it at my feet does not exactly give me the warm fuzzies at (not even) two in the morning. At least have the decency to run to the back door and wait for me to let you out. It makes me feel like getting out of bed actually served some sort of purpose.

I don't care if you miss me or if you desperately need some Scooby Snacks.... I just want to sleep!

Bah, I hate being sick.

Blogging Fail

2009-10-17T10:55:00.001-07:00

So, I completely forgot to write about Scully's first obedience trial!

DOH.

A few weeks ago, I decided--in a moment of what can only be described as sheer lunacy--to enter Scully in obedience at the Boise dog shows Oct 8-11.

Scully:

Had I worked her at all in the past two months (other than randomly throwing her in a match show a few wks prior)? No.

Did I feel like we were prepared? Absolutely not.

We've been training for a couple years, on and off, and she knows all the exercises, but she's not as polished as I prefer. Thankfully, it didn't go as bad as I thought it might.

We actually ended up having some success, qualifying 2/4 days and getting 2/3 qualifying "legs" towards our CD title! Not bad for feeling really unprepared.

Our scores left something to be desired... 173.5 and 179.5............. :-| She definitely was not in top form, but it was good enough to pass. Her off-lead heeling was atrocious! However, she DID do a most excellent job on the stays the first two days. A HUGE Newfoundland got up and loomed over her both times, and she stayed! I was majorly proud of her for that. I know we'll get that last leg sooner or later.

This morning, I decided to take some photos of Cedar and Moss in celebration of fall... I know, big surprise, right? :)

Cedar:

"Bang!"

"Leaves are NOT hats, asshole!"

Squirrel!

Nom nom...grass...nom nom.

Moss:

First, his wet pawprints on the deck *love*

Moss watched me from inside the house as I took photos of the prints. If you look close, you'll notice his tongue peeking out :D

My handsome boy at almost 10 months :)

SQUIRREL!

Wonky ears? I still gots them.

:)

I like books.

2009-10-07T09:22:00.001-07:00

One book you’re currently reading: A History of the Kings of Britain, by Geoffrey of Monmouth.

One book that changed your life: Evelina, by Frances Burney.

One book you’d want on a deserted island: A bound collection of everything written by Stephen King. Or a book about how to survive on a deserted island.

One book you’ve read more than once: It, by Stephen King. And/or all the Harry Potter books.

One book you’ve never been able to finish: Oliver Twist, by Charles Dickens.

One book that made you laugh: Le Morte D'arthur, by Sir Thomas Malory.

One book that made you cry: The Green Mile, by Stephen King

One book you keep rereading: It, by Stephen King.

One book you’ve been meaning to read: Cecilia, by Frances Burney.

One book you believe everyone should read: No particular title, but I think everyone should read a book that challenges them intellectually at least once a year :-P

Grab the nearest book. Open it to page 56. Find the fifth sentence: "His goodness must not be a partial and transitory act, but a conscious superfluity, which costs him nothing and of which he is unconscious." From Walden, by Henry David Thoreau.

Kid Genius

2009-10-02T10:45:00.000-07:00

Went out to Caldwell this morning and worked Cedar and Moss at Dianne's. Jody R. and Circle were also there, as usual. I love having group lessons with her... we always have fun!

Before we started, I was a bit nervous because 1) We hadn't worked in like 4 weeks, and 2) It was COLD and I worried the sheep and dogs would be full of energy. Dianne also had put the trouble-maker ram into the mix.... he likes to split off and run.

I really needn't have worried, because it went GREAT! All the dogs worked really well. With the cooler weather, it was nice to not have to worry about anyone overheating.

First up was Cedar. She has really seemed to have turned a corner in her training (or maybe I have? I dunno) and is much more willing to work with me and keep her panic under control. At one point, the sheep ran for the corner of the arena (Dianne's hay field isn't quite ready to work in yet) which is pretty much the bane of our existence. Before, there would be no way that Cedar would go into that much pressure. However, we were able to get the sheep out of that tight spot without too much struggle. I kept blocking/messing her up (go figure) or we would have been able to get it done even faster. She is really getting better at taking my corrections and actually "getting back" when I tell her to. I guess all of my work is starting to pay off. I really like being able to send her on an outrun and having the capability to stop her and redirect if needed. I'm very proud of her progress!

Dianne worked Moss, aka the Kid Genius/Child Prodigy for me. He was amazing, as usual. At first, he was really impatient and didn't want to lie down and stay while Dianne went to get the sheep out of the pen. So, she spent five minutes or so on making him understand that he needed to stay. This carried over into the first part of their work on sheep as well. Dianne worked a lot on enforcing corrections; when she gave Moss an "aaaaggghhtt!" or "get back!" she made sure that he understood that he didn't have another choice. After a few minutes, Moss was being less of an asshole and settled down. He looked awesome. Towards the end, Dianne had him freaking DRIVING!!!!! He looked fabulous out there. I can't wait to see him in the big field, he's more than ready I think.

I think I may have cried a few bitter tears about the fact that Moss is doing on his tenth time on sheep what it took Cedar and I six or seven months to do. :D This puppy just continues to blow my mind with how natural he is at this. He takes everything (including corrections) in stride; nothing bothers him. He just.... knows what to do. Hurray for working Border Collies! :)

Even though he is doing so awesome on sheep, he still reminds me of Scooby Doo... all legs, kind of a doofus, and constantly looking for snacks. Yup, makes sense to me!

A comparison:

They even have the same ears! C'mon... it's uncanny!

In other news, Dante (my Brittany)'s son, Wesley, who finished his Championship a few weekends ago, has found his forever home!!! I am so pleased for him, he deserves it after all he's been through. Best wishes to him and his new owner.

A History Lesson of Sorts

2009-09-28T19:16:00.000-07:00

For me, this thread on the Border Collie Boards hit particularly close to home, and I was compelled to post a blog about it.

First, a little background for those who don't know...

I began showing dogs in AKC conformation when I was ten years old, starting with a Belgian Tervuren and ending with Brittanys. For years, I was completely wrapped up in the AKC world (I refuse to call it "ACK"... I have many good friends that are ethical, awesome people who love their dogs as DOGS first, not just because they are pretty, or some nonsense like that) and competed successfully, achieving national rankings, at the highest levels of conformation shows. I also dabbled a bit in performance events with my Brittanys, and got to see what a good working "field" dog was like by attending hunt tests and field trials. I have always had a great appreciation for seeing a dog do what it was bred to do, and well. Even competing in conformation, I knew that there were more important things to a dog than just having good structure, lots of coat, or whatever. I doubt that you could find more than a few (ethical) people in the AKC world that would dispute that.

A few years ago, after three years of dreaming and research (and additional experience with BC rescue), I bought my first Border Collie from a rather well-known show/versatility breeder. Cedar is half ISDS working lines, and half British show lines. To tell you the truth, the working side of her pedigree appealed to me more as I have always preferred the look of the working Border Collie. I thought I could have it both ways.... a pretty dog that could work. (Un)fortunately, what I got was a dog that wasn't really bred for (or good at) either stockwork or conformation show stuff. I can't say specifically that her show bloodlines are what made her the way she is... that would be unfair. As Sheepkelpie pointed out, poor stockwork is not specific to show line dogs :). However, I do believe that the way she was bred definitely has an effect on how she works.

Now, don't get me wrong, I love my girl... she is the most amazing dog I've ever had the pleasure to be around. We are so bonded that we can almost read each others thoughts. She is fabulous at obedience and agility, and is a wonderful pet. Most importantly, she has been my introduction to something that has become perhaps my biggest passion: stockwork. I have faith that she will end up being a “useful dog” on stock someday, but we have certainly gone through a lot. Granted, a lot of our problems are totally my (newbie) fault, but she is not the best, or most natural dog on sheep. She tends to be tight, reactive, slicey, and panics easily.... but she always tries to figure out what I want. There have been many times that I wanted to just give up because it didn't seem worth it to struggle this much over something that we may never be good at. It is interesting to look back and see how far we've come since we started, because it's pretty amazing. She is basically a different dog now than she was, and our relationship has completely changed for the better.

My intentions with her were to do primarily performance stuff (agility and obedience, and I wanted to "try" herding, HAHA) and maybe do some showing on the side. I had done some research into the ABCA/AKC debate, and, I suppose understandably, originally sided pretty much with the AKC as the idea of a "versatile" dog appealed to me greatly. I honestly did not know any better; as far as I knew, AKC registered dogs were the best way to go.

What I didn't 'get' at that time that I understand now, is that the working dogs do not need to be bred for conformation specifically, because in order to do their jobs well, they have to be functional both physically and mentally. Living proof of this is SO apparent that it's freaking [b]maddening[/b] that I didn't get it before; the majority of working-bred dogs that I've been around are much more functionally built and sane than show-bred Border Collies. And they also are able to do what they've been bred to do for centuries.

Anyways....when my girl was a little over a year old, I emailed her breeder and asked who in my area would be a good person to take her to see how she would do on sheep. I was curious to see what she'd do. Her breeder told me that Patrick (Shannahan) would be a good person to contact, and he led me to Dianne Deal. Five minutes into our first lesson and I was hooked... even though Cedar was kind of scary.... gripping and panicked (she was NOT like the “bounce bounce bark!” fluffballs...). I got to see several other (working line) dogs work that night, and thought that it was the most amazing and beautiful thing that I had ever seen. By my second lesson, I knew that I would never own another Border Collie that was not working bred. What I was seeing just felt “right” to me.

Since it first caught my interest, I have completely immersed myself in the sport, and read everything that I could get my hands on. I have attended numerous lessons (several times a week) and trials (just to watch, so far) and tried to learn as much as I could about everything relating to sheepdogs. I also joined this board, but have felt too inexperienced to post much thus far. I should say that have learned SO much by reading these discussions, though. I must say that I do appreciate the honesty of a lot of the people on here. I do try to stay away from drama... my life is full of enough of it already! :)
I learned pretty quickly that the working crowd is (pretty much) all opposed to anything to do with the AKC, and since my girl holds AKC papers, I try not to bring up her background. Thankfully, most people don't ask.

I would hate to think that people would judge me and/or my dog based on where she came from. Yes, she has been called a “Barbie”-- to my face, no less. It should be all about the work, right? So far, everyone has been SO great at helping us get on our way. Even though I am still incredibly new and awkward at this “sheepdog thing,” I love this sport more than anything I have ever done with dogs. The amount of training, work, natural talent, partnership, and TRUST that goes into molding a great working dog is so amazing. I can't even eloquently put into words how great I think it is. I guess, basically, I am completely in awe of this breed, and the dedicated people that campaign for the “true” Border Collie.

... and now Moss, my first working line pup, is ready to go to Dianne's for training :D

Moss is 9 months old today, holy cow!

2009-09-26T08:28:00.000-07:00

I can't believe that my sweet little baby puppy is now almost grown up! :D

It seems like just yesterday that we brought him home...

He has turned into quite a good boy, and if I do say so myself, quite handsome, too!

Even if he DOES have the wonkyest ears this side of the Mississippi!

(Maybe his secret ambition is to be a ballet dancer?)

Or maybe all he wants to be is "really, really, really ridiculously good looking" a la Zoolander? :D

He goes to Dianne's for "sheepdog boot camp" really soon... I'm going to miss him!

In other news, I entered Scully in the Boise dog shows in obedience! This will be our first trial together. We'll be going for our Novice Obedience (CD) title. We competed in the ICCKC fall match last weekend, and she did great! I wanted to see if she was ready for competition, and she worked really well for me, so I made the leap and entered her. Wish us luck!

At that same match, we also won Best Adult Handler (like junior showmanship, but for people over 18...lol) and got a huge rosette and a really pretty ceramic dog bowl.

In her Halloween costume, LOL!

And finally..... a particularly pretty headshot of Cedar:

No sheep were harmed in the making of this blog... really!

2009-09-06T07:52:00.001-07:00

Cedar was most excellent on Friday at our lesson with Dianne.

Like, really REALLY good. The best she's worked for me in months. I think that *maybe* all of the work we've been doing over the past few months has finally started paying off. For once, nothing bad or scary happened! LOL

We started out doing some outrun stuff, which was really encouraging because she actually took my corrections and would swing out wider when I asked. That is a big deal for us... and even though it's kind of a "small potatoes" achievement, I think that it shows a lot about our partnership and how it has changed. And it's nice that for once, she wasn't scaring the bejesus out of the sheep, too. I'm sure they appreciated it.

I know it's small, but look! An outrun! :-P

After warming her up with some outrun/lift/fetches, we worked on driving. She is much more confident and response with driving as well. I had her drive the sheep in a rectangle around me, both directions. She was really good.

I think that I must be more comfortable with going clockwise/come by, because my timing was off more on the counter clockwise/away side. Still, Cedar didn't blow up and bust the sheep apart. She actually kept her head for once.

She's learning to rate herself, too... instead of continuously pushing on the sheep, she will back off on her own. I know a lot of people with more "talented" dogs probably take this kind of stuff for granted, but to us it's kind of a big deal. :)

After putting Cedar up, I worked Moss. I could tell that he was going to be challenging today by the way he was when I walked him to the sheep. Even though he wasn't pulling on the leash (he learned THAT lesson last week!) he wasn't paying any attention to me. He was fixated on the sheep. I'm not sure how to fix that... thankfully Dianne is taking him for training in a few weeks :-P. My head was also not completely in the game, so the first part of our work was pretty full of FAIL. I completely take all responsibility for it. Moss just sort of ran around while I sat there looking dumb and not getting after him enough. Thankfully, Dianne got us sorted out (thank you!) and the rest of the work went quite well.

Dianne said that Moss is starting to figure all this stuff out, and is getting more confident. I say he needs to be knocked down a few pegs :-P

I still really love to work him, because he makes my job so easy. So much of the skills we have had to train Cedar how to do, he already knows instinctively. For example, when I ask him to go around the sheep, he pretty much always kicks out 90 degrees.

I don't think I've ever seen him get slicy when I ask him to bring me the sheep.

Good boy, Moss :)

We're going out to work tomorrow morning, and I have a lot of stuff I'd like to work on. Plus, I need to pick my whistle practice back up... I've been slacking!

Somebody call 911...

2009-08-31T13:54:00.000-07:00

... because I might actually die of sheer awesomeness. :D

As you know, Dianne let me work Moss myself at our lesson today. He was beyond great. Man, I can't tell you how much fun it was to actually get in there with him and try him out. I'm so proud of my boy! I think that his only major issue will be dealing with ME and my short bus tendencies.

I put him in a few situations/ "oh shit!" moments (got too far away from the sheep or some other stupid thing) that I thought would end badly, but I guess I really didn't need to worry because he picked up my slack pretty well. I'm pretty blown away. It's one thing to watch someone else work your puppy, it's a whole 'nother thing to be in there with him. We circled a little bit and them did some fetching in the big arena. He pushed on me a little bit but I think I did an all right job of backing him off. Probably not enough, though. Oh well, something to work on, right? He was rating himself really nicely, and Dianne says he's a natural outrunner.

I know it's pretty "small potatoes" stuff, but to a newb like me, it was really fun. Moss is so relaxing to work because he's so natural and doesn't seem to have the tendency to get pushy, fast, or slicey like Cedar does. With him I was able to actually enjoy myself a bit.

I know I will get to that point with Cedar eventually, but right now it just seems like we are playing catch up a bit. Mainly, I'm having to re-teach her that she actually CAN do stuff without me babysitting or setting things up for her like I have in the past. I think we got some good stuff done today.

I really had to get after her hard for shutting down and running off today (grr, she hasn't done that in awhile!), but when we came back, it was like a lightbulb had turned on for her and, after some maneuvering, was able to get her to do what I asked. It doesn't seem like she has much faith tin her ability to do the harder stuff I'm asking.

Thinking about it a little more, it seems like now that I know enough to have raised the bar for our work together, Cedar really doesn't know what to do or how to react because I haven't expected her to be so precise in the past. I guess all I can do is just keep working with her (Dianne isn't letting me quit with Cedar after Moss gets going more... dang! hehe) and doing our best.

I do think our partnership is getting more towards the place that it should be, now that I'm being more proactive. Her driving was, I thought, pretty excellent today and she is getting more comfortable with being further away from me. This is kind of a big deal for her since she tends to seek out my bubble as a security thing. Maybe there's hope for us yet!

Real Quick Like

2009-08-31T10:58:00.000-07:00

I don't have much time because I have to get to class, but I just wanted to brag that I got to work Moss myself today for the first time, and it was AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!

Will write more later,

-E

Under Pressure

2009-08-28T16:13:00.001-07:00

*cue Queen*

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z3qVl8Gb2J4

Okay, so as y'all know, this was my first week in grad school, and my first week of teaching first-year writing (English 101) at Boise State. It is now Friday, and I am completely, utterly exhausted. My students seem all right, for the most part, but I am I am, all at once, totally overwhelmed, excited, scared... and sad at the same time.

Most of you know that Joe (the hubby) leaves for his new job in Washington state on Sunday. I will be joining him after I complete my studies down here. Don't judge; it's complicated. Logically I know that it's for the best for both of us (he has a GREAT opportunity to start a real career at this job, and I really need to do the grad school thing for myself), but I am really having a hard time with everything. I don't know if the stress of everything is finally just... getting to me, but I feel like I am a hair's distance from total meltdown mode. And it's only the first week! Hopefully, for my sanity, I'll settle into some kind of routine soon, and stop feeling like a huge FRAUD in front of my students! Blah.

On a lighter note, I took Cedar and Moss out to Dianne's again today for a group lesson with Jody R and Circle. That team is doing AWESOME! Circle is starting to learn her inside flanks, and they have both made a ton of progress. I'm so proud of both of them!

Cedar did... pretty good. Dianne keeps telling me that we're in the midst of a learning curve, but on the up side, so I guess that's a good thing. I have had a difficult time lately keeping my cool with her, and I feel bad about it... but it's just so damned FRUSTRATING that we are still working on the same shit we were 6 months ago (albeit with a lot more finesse, and knowledge on my part). I get so pissed off that she still doesn't respect me, even though she does a good job of faking me out most of the time.

I suppose I need to get over my bad attitude. We got some good stuff done today. One thing that is different about her now than 6 months ago is that she will take my direction. If she starts to slice at the top of her outrun, I am usually able to stop her or kick her out in some other way. Her lie down is excellent. I don't ever have to have her on leash. But she still doesn't completely believe me, I think, when I really get after her for misbehaving. I just don't know how much more I can do! Or want to do, for that matter. I don't have enough experience to tell all the time whether she is being bad, or she really doesn't know what I'm asking of her. That's a huge part of our problem. It doesn't help that I'm at the point in my herding education where I know enough to be pissed off at what she's doing... but don't really know how to fix it!

I guess all we can do is try our best, and do what Dianne tells us! :D

I'm sure I'll look back on this entry a few years down the line and laugh, but today I don't feel much like laughing. Blame it on lack of sleep. I feel like I could sleep for a couple days.

Dianne worked Moss today, too. As usual, he did great. He is so fun to watch; he really does think about what he's doing, and learns from his mistakes. He is incredibly natural. I don't know how much more I can say about him other than the boy simply rocks! He has such a great outlook on life, too. I really should take lessons from him! :)

Back to the short bus...
E

New Beginnings

2009-08-24T14:31:00.000-07:00

Today is my first day of grad school. I went to my first class this afternoon, ENGL 530: The Age of Chivalry. It seems like a fun class; the instructor is an expert on the period and speaks/sings fluent Early Modern English (think of a cross between Chaucer and Shakespeare). She also plays period musical instruments. I know a bunch of people in the class, too, so I'm really looking forward to it. Plus it's a period that I've never studied before, so that should be interesting. I like learning new things.... guess that's why I'm in grad school, eh?

Of course, since my class didn't start until 1:40, I decided to go out to Dianne's this morning. :-P I brought Cedar and Moss. Ann and Levi also came out and worked. It was great to see them! I took a few photos of Levi as well.

Dianne worked Moss in the indoor arena. He did great! He really is a thinking dog; he tries to figure out what you want. I was really pleased to see him take Dianne's corrections and work through his insecurities about going around the sheep on his "bad" side (Away). By the end of the lesson, Dianne was able to get him kicked out and relaxed on that side. She's going to take him in for training after she gets back from the Finals in September. I can't wait to see how he does with more consistent work.

I worked Cedar in the outdoor arena (again!) because the hay field is still growing. I wasn't going to work her because of my knee, but I felt bad that she was just sitting in the truck, and decided to brave the pain :-P. It was worth it! For having three weeks off, she did pretty great. I had to chase her down and back her off a couple times (no bueno for the knee), but for the most part she held it together. I think that all this "respect" work has really helped us to become a better team. We are acting more like partners... as opposed to me always being on the defensive and trying to block her from making mistakes (or running any sheep into the wall). She is much more comfortable with getting sheep off the fence, except when I block her (bah! I can't stop!) of course. Her driving is getting better, and she's showing a lot more control and actually letting me "handle" her a bit; i.e. she will take my commands and listen well. Maybe she's starting to see me as less of an idiot? At the very least, I think my presence means more to her now, which is great. Sure makes things much easier.

I think I'm going to enter her in the GSH Halloween AHBA trial. Depending on how she goes, I'll probably do more than one class with her, especially since they allow assisted outruns and pen-work in Level One (at least to my understanding). It should be a good time :)

We have another lesson with Dianne on Friday morning, so I'm sure I will have more to say then. In between, I have a full week of grad classes and...

*gulp* ... I teach my first college course in the morning... 7:40 AM ... Wish me luck! I hope that my students will actually interact with me and not just stare blankly at the clock hoping for it all to be over.

At least I know what I'm going to wear, have all my shit together, and my lessons prepared. Agh.

Wow...

2009-08-19T17:44:00.000-07:00

I am so unobservant.... or maybe just busy. BUT...

Yesterday marked the one-year anniversary of me and Cedar's first lesson with Dianne. No, it wasn't our first herding lesson, but I mark that date as the beginning of the 'real' journey that is the heart of this blog. I guess some reflection is in order...

So here I sit on the couch, the close memory of some delicious pecan baklava still resonating on my tongue, thinking about herding. It seems that all I do (when I'm not thinking about grad school or teaching)is think about Border Collies and herding. This has morphed from something that I wanted to "try just for fun" to a full blown passion. I knew pretty much right away that this was something I wanted to do. Even though our first lesson was, erm, a bit "exciting"... I was "hooked."

My blog post after our first lesson:
http://cedarbc.blogspot.com/2008/08/herding.html

...and a picture ;)

I started out a hardcore conformation and obedience person with little understanding of the amount of time/talent/dedication/whatever that it takes to really succeed at this sport. No, Cedar and I are still not very good at all. Yes, I am DAMNED proud of our ASCA Started title. It represents almost a year of hard work and struggle. We have come such a long way, even since the ASCA trial, that my optimism outweighs the negative aspects of this.

Cedar has taught me SO much about training, handling, humility, etc etc... and although it has not been easy most of the time, I feel very fortunate to have had this experience. I am a better handler because of her... and frankly, no matter how good of a sheepdog she turns out to be, she will always be my baby girl :)

I have had a BLAST going to trials and watched some truly amazing dogs (and handlers!) work. It takes my breath away to watch a good Open team complete a course. The amount of teamwork, training, preparation, and improvision just boggles my mind. There is no other sport like this in the world.

I know that this is just the beginning...

Moss is my future.

He's so fabulous! I don't know what else to say about him. Moss has such a great personality, and so far has shown some real promise on sheep. I am so thankful that Dianne let me have such an amazing puppy. I can't wait to see how he turns out!

Before I run out of sappy things to say, I really do want to thank everyone who has helped me this year. I have made some wonderful friends and had some great times. I can't wait to spend more time with all of you!

Well, I'd better stop writing before I truly go off the deep end of sap! I start grad school next week... which means I will be teaching also. I just finished my syllabus and lesson plans for the freshman English course I'll be teaching at BSU. It's a HELL of a lot of work and I am really overwhelmed right now.

Time for another cocktail...

Later!

I've been slacking, I'm sorry!

2009-08-02T15:55:00.000-07:00

I've been meaning to write a new blog post for a couple days now, and just haven't gotten around to it. I guess I've just not been in the writing mood lately. School starts in about three weeks.... and I feel totally unprepared. I don't have my books yet, and I haven't gotten as much reading done this summer as I wanted to. Teaching orientation starts next week.... eep!

Needless to say, I don't have much brain space right now for other stuff.

I worked Cedar earlier this week out at Dianne's, and she did pretty well. We are both continuing to improve (albeit SLOWLY), and it's really nice to be able to successfully do exercises that we never could have attempted a few months ago. I still have a long ways to go before she completely respects me, though. For such a meek little thing, she's awfully pushy!

I bathed both of the dogs today, here's a few pix:

Cedar...

Moss Man...

Moss is almost 7 1/2 months old now, and getting HUGE! His legs are still really long and he still looks gawky, so I know he still has a ways to go. He is slowly losing his "puppy" look, and turning into quite the handsome young gentleman :) I love him to bits, although he does leave a bit to be desired in the manners department. I really need to buckle down and work on his recall before he starts serious sheepdog training.

Sweeeeeeeeet!

2009-07-21T13:57:00.000-07:00

Everyone who knows me/reads this thing knows by now that Cedar and I have had a constant struggle (for MONTHS!) with working under pressure/in tight spaces/up against the fence. Well.... here's proof that she actually can do it!

Peasants, rejoice!

Ever since I cracked down on being more assertive with her, she has been working SO much better for me. Today, she was (and, as a result, I also was) calm, thoughtful, and not frantic at all. Our whole lesson basically consisted of doing longer and longer outruns in the big arena (Dianne's field is still not cut yet, so we can't work out there), having her pick the sheep up against the fence at the top of the outrun. This was made more difficult (hah! as if it could be more difficult for Cedar than picking sheep up off the fence.... yeesh!) by the fact that there was another group of sheep on the opposite side of the fence. So in order to complete the exercise, Cedar had to go in between two groups of sheep and a fence. Not usually her strong suit. However, I was very pleasantly surprised with how well she did. She only gripped once, and it was my fault because of my crappy timing. But We got in some pretty big outruns and it seems like Cedar is trusting me more to help her out. I've been trying to set the bar higher for her, and not accepting anything less than what I ask, which pretty much means that I have to stop her on her outruns and kick her out a lot. But it seems to all be coming together... albeit very slowly :). But I was very proud of her today.

Moss also got a chance to work today, for Dianne. He did fantastic! Dianne worked on the same sort of stuff that she did last time.... getting him to respect the "bubble," fetching, and other stuff like that.

Waiting in the car for his turn :)

He really has a very natural feel for his sheep; it's amazing to watch.

I think he must be going through a growth spurt... look at those legs!

It really amazes me how much intelligence and maturity he shows, for such a young puppy. It's hard to keep taking things so slow with him, but I know it will be worth it in the end :)

Isn't he looking great? I just love this puppy. He has such a great temperament, too. Here's a photo of him playing tug with his best buddy, our friends' seven year-old son, Jaren:

Anyways... I can't believe I start grad school and teaching next month! Eeep! There are over 20 people signed up for my class.... I can't believe that many people are actually paying BSU to be taught by me. :-P

100th Blog Post..... Meltdown Central

2009-07-13T14:56:00.000-07:00

I learned a couple of things today.

1) Cedar doesn't respect me/my bubble/authority nearly enough... or nearly as much as I thought she did.

2) She can actually take my corrections without shutting down.

3) Apparently, my mind thinks that the best reaction to being pissed off and frustrated is to freeze up completely and burst into tears.

4) Right now, Cedar needs to be more worried about me than the sheep.

5) When this happens, she works awesome! And doesn't get quite so frantic.

Our lesson today, like most of the others we've had recently, was both terribly frustrating and incredibly productive. Cedar does not respect my bubble at ALL... well, before today anyways. She has always been tight and pushy and worried about the sheep all the time. Dianne told me that I need to start expecting more from Cedar; that she is capable of doing the things I'm asking without messing up or me needing to babysit her. Rationally, I know this, but I tend to get a little bit lost in negativity...

Our goal today was to make her be more worried about ME. So, I kept using my body pressure to push her out. I *tried* not to use my voice too much.... but that didn't really work. I need to work on talking too much. Every time Cedar would push on me or the sheep, I'd chase her down and back her off. At one point, I even chased her out of the arena.

And then... as the sheep always seem to do, they bolted for the fence. Again. Cedar "helped" them. I think they know that Cedar and I both have a hard time getting them away from the fence, so they gravitate towards there. Or something. Must be self preservation... I dunno. After fighting with it for a few minutes, and getting nowhere, I had a meltdown.

Goody.

Bursting into angry tears is always SO helpful in these kinds of situations. Jeez.

Nothing like crying, in public, over SHEEP. At one point I remember yelling something along the lines of "isn't this MAGICAL?!?" Funny thing, though... I think my blabbering freaked Cedar out enough that she was so concerned about me and what the hell I was doing, that she forgot to be frantic around the sheep. I sent her on an Away flank to get the sheep off the fence, and she swung out and did it perfectly. She watched my face the whole time, LOL! However, I did need to "remind" her a few times that any sort of pushiness was NOT okay. The last time was when I chased her out of the arena. I think she finally got the message that she works sheep on my terms, not hers. And I think I at least got started in showing her that she could trust me to help and direct her towards something resembling calm and normal stockwork.

After all the drama, Cedar really worked much nicer, paying more attention to me than ever before. She was nice and thoughtful, off her sheep, and listening well. It was night and day from the way she was working before. Dianne promised that I will only need to do this a few more times for her to get the message... at least for awhile. I sure hope that she's right. :) I am certain that we will "get" it eventually. I know that Cedar has the ability... I just need to find the best way to bring it out in her.

***

I just realized that I never blogged about Moss's work last week!! He did really great. It's interesting to contrast his first real time on sheep with Cedar's. Moss is a completely different type of dog. He is very laid back, methodical, and tries to think things through and problem-solve. Dianne worked him this first time, but I may get to work him myself next week. We'll see. I'm enjoying watching him either way.

At one point towards the end of the lesson, Dianne intentionally created a "mess" for him... splitting two sheep off from the others. Instead of freaking out and chasing the "deserters" all around the arena, he stood there calmly for a minute looking puzzled. You could almost hear his thought progression.

"This isn't right..."

"WHY isn't this right?"

"... what can I do to fix it?"

(The other sheep is to the right of him in the photo)

... He brought the them back to the group (Dianne let him have a little "fun" with this...

...and she got some very good (and cute!) work out of him before putting him up. He was very enthusiastic and wanted to go right back to work. What a good boy.

I'm greatly looking forward to watching him progress in his training. I think Dianne is going to take him for training for awhile this fall... I'm excited to see how he'll do!

Well, I'm sick of writing... more later!

:)

They say it's yer birthday

2009-07-12T08:45:00.000-07:00

My beautiful girl, Cedar, is two years old today. I can't believe it. Cedar is my heart dog and together, we've begun the "journey" into herding and sheepdog trials. Without her, I wouldn't have Moss, nor would I have met all the new friends I have over this past year. I thank her for that. Cedar gets her own can of tuna tonight, and I think we're going to take the dogs down to the creek to play.

Happy Birthday to my ball crazy, water obsessed, balance challenged, wicked smart, incredibly sweet "problem child!"

Seems like just yesterday that she was this tiny...

8 wks

15 wks

5 months

6 months

8 months

Our first, not so great, exposure to stockwork... O.o
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She's improved 10000000000000000x since we first started out, though :)...

From Blogger Pictures

From Journeys With Cedar...and Moss!

Happy Birthday, girl!

From OR Coast June 09

"Best" Day Ever

2009-07-06T11:00:00.000-07:00

Dianne told me today that Cedar and I had our "best" work ever.

?????

Um, really? Didn't feel so great to me.

Part of me gets it, but part of me wonders a little bit if maybe she was joking. If "best" = smooth and calm, than no.... not our best. But if by "best," she means that we got a lot accomplished, yeah, I can see it.

From Journeys With Cedar...and Moss!

We worked in Dianne's outdoor arena again, since her alfalfa field is too tall to work dogs in right now. The outdoor arena is kind of tricky because the sheep can get under the fence on one side and bolt to their pen. Most of the time we managed to keep things pretty under control. Like last time, we worked on keeping Cedar nice and loosened up, wide off her sheep, and calm.

At least, that was the idea. We did some outruns and a little driving, which looked nice. I had to get after her a bit for pushing too hard and going tight, but other than that it was fairly uneventful. I put her in some bad spots, and she gripped some of the time(and got flipped around by a sheep once, which was scary), but other times she acted smartly and kept her head, working with me to get through it.

Then, the sheep got free. I thought I had Cedar stopped and laying down, but then she took off after them. Muttering expletives under my breath, I ran after her but stopped when Dianne told me to "quit running at her!" (haha) She laid down about a hundred feet or so away, over by the sheep pens, where the sheep were headed. Dianne had Annie working as the backup dog, and sent her around to pick the sheep up. I clucked at Cedar to walk up, and she calmly helped Annie to bring the sheep back into the arena. Pretty big stuff for her, especially considering how little we've worked in the last month or so.

As we all know, Cedar has a tendency to, when things get a little out of her comfort zone, to panic and frantically try to "fix" things to make me happy with her. Her idea of "fixing" the situation is usually to dive in, grab some wool, and go along for the ride. She does NOT like doing this, and she's not being naughty. It's just like she goes into frantic mode and her brain flies out the window. Luckily, our recovery time continues to get shorter and shorter, and I continue to have hope.

But damn it, it's SO freakin' frustrating!!!!!!! AGH! I'm mostly frustrated at myself.... that I seem to constantly put her in bad situations and then don't have any idea how to really help her out. But I'm also frustrated that we seem to be stalling/struggling with the same crap we always have. I wonder if I just have a complex about it now? No wonder Cedar doesn't trust me.

At one point today, when we were having trouble getting the sheep off the fence for the umpteenth time that day, I remember yelling something at Cedar and then saying to Dianne "BUT I'M NOT EVEN MAD AT HER!!!!"

Dianne just laughed. And asked me what good it was doing for me to get so frustrated. After all, Cedar didn't know I was just frustrated and not angry with her. The more upset I got, the harder Cedar tried to make things better.

That was when I realized that I just needed to freaking calm down... and not let Cedar escalate my emotions. I put my one semester of acting class to good use and got control of my voice. Slow, deep breaths. After some squirreling around, we managed to get in a few nice, wide, controlled outruns, and called it good. Cedar was exhausted.

I'm going out to Janie's on Wednesday night with Cedar and Moss. Dianne wants to try Moss in the round pen! I'm pretty excited, should be fun :) I'm going to try and get some pictures and maybe a little bit of video.

I'm sure Moss will be stoked...

From Journeys With Cedar...and Moss!

Rarin' To Go

2009-06-29T12:46:00.000-07:00

I worked Cedar for only the second time in a month yesterday, out at Dianne's. Needless to say, we're both really rusty. Dianne had us take the sheep out of the take pen to start our work. I helped Cedar out by grabbing her collar and taking her behind the sheep. They bolted out of the pen with their heads high and tails in the air, which got Cedar pretty excited. I laid her down to go and shut the gait and the sheep took off. Cedar took off after them (I think she was just trying to collect them and bring them to me), but ended up splitting them to holy hell. We got things back under control and did a few outruns and worked on driving. She was pretty good but excitable. She split them a few times and acted all frantic at times, but we got some good stuff done. We ended by re-penning the sheep. They were very happy to go back in, and I don't blame them! LOL

Our second work started out much the same way. I helped her get them out of the pen, but at least this time, the sheep just walked out, and Cedar stayed down while I shut the gate. I sent her around to pick the sheep up and she was a little tight but not bad. We worked some more on driving but it became clear kinda fast that her head wasn't in the game. She was starting to get frantic so we took a break from that for awhile and went back to "easier" stuff... i.e. outruns. I worked on getting her to go wider and squarer, and also slowing down her pace. By the time we did a few in each direction she was much better and actually listening to me. We worked a bit more on driving and having her do a lot of little tiny flanks. I think that was harder for me to process than it was for her! Everything happens so quickly that sometimes I feel like my head is going to explode...

Anyways, I really liked doing that exercise with her. By the end of our lesson, she was nicely loosened up and listening well. I am hoping to start going out to Dianne's more consistently now that we are pretty much all moved in and unpacked.

Reality Hits

2009-06-26T13:33:00.000-07:00

This blog is almost completely non-dog related...

Well, the class I'm teaching this fall officially is up for enrollement... there are two students signed up!

Which means that my teaching assistantship is actually real. I'm going to teach college. Students are actually PAYING to learn from me...er, well, technically they're paying BSU, but BSU is paying me. I feel mostly like a fraud at this point. Hell, I'm still a student myself, what business do I have teaching English composition?!

I'm both excited and nervous at the same time. I can't wait for August to roll around!

P.S. Moss is 6 months old today! I will probably post another blog or at least add to this one later... but alas, have to get back to work!

Cheatin' Mike and Ms. Raven

2009-06-23T07:49:00.000-07:00

Spontaneous vacations, I've decided, are the absolute best. In case you didn't know, Joe and I went to Oregon this past weekend. We left Thursday night and drove to Sunriver, where we spent the night at Joe's family's vacation house. I absolutely LOVE it there, and try to go as much as possible :)

Since we started driving so late (about 5:30 or so), we caught a gorgeous sunset on the way there. I caught it with my camera out the car window:

We spent the night in Sunriver, soaked in the hot tub a bit, and before we left took the dogs down to the river to play around a bit. Cedar loves water. LOVES. Probably a bit too much.

The River (I think it's the Deschutes River?)

The evidence...

Even Scully, normally afraid of the water, decided it looked like fun and joined in:

Moss decides to take the plunge...

Time to go!

Aww, that was fun! Can we go again?

After our trip down to the river, we got on the road to the coast. We'd made reservations at the South Beach State Park campground near Newport. I got literally the last reservation before the campground filled up. Guess the beach is popular during the summer ;)

The dogs hanging out at our campsite:

I was really excited to take the dogs to see the ocean, so as soon as we got our camp set up, Joe and I leashed the mongrels and took them on the 1/2 mile trail from the camp ground to the beach.

(Yes, Scully is wearing a life jacket, LOL)

It was a little stormy out, but not too cold and the water looked amazing:

The look on Cedar's face was priceless when she saw the water for the first time...

Look at all that wide open space to play fetch!

... but she wasn't too excited about the waves at first.

Moss just thought the whole thing was awesome, but again, everything is his favorite thing. :)

What's this?

Looks like fun...

Yahoo!

Surfer!

...see? :D

After some fun in the water, we played fetch with the dogs for a bit:

Throw the frisbee, dammit!

YES!

That night, we ate some delicious mac n' cheese and hung out by the campfire drinking beer. It was very nice (other than the mosquitos), until our "neighbors," who we shall call Cheatin' Mike and Ms. Raven started arguing next door...

Have you ever been so drunk that you thought it was a good idea to start arguing with your wife/girlfriend/significant other in the middle of a crowded campground after dark? Loud enough that everyone around you learns your name and exactly what you did to piss her off? Way to go, Cheatin' Mike. I'm sure Ms. Raven (I actually found out her name from the name on their truck's license plate) really appreciates the fact that you slept with someone else and then tried to lie about it. Somehow I don't think that she'll believe you when you say you "just made out with her" anymore. And no amount of drunken, obnoxious swearing or pounding on the door of her RV is going to fix things. Especially not at eleven o'clock at night.

Yes, Mike, we all heard you. And yes, we were very, very amused. Especially to see you sleeping in the truck by yourself the next morning. ROFL! Thanks for the entertainment, guys!

*cough*

Anyways...

The next day, we decided to take Moss to the beach by himself, and then take Scully and Cedar later. It was a lot more relaxing splitting them up like that... less leashes! Moss actually did really, really great on the beach. I even got brave enough to take him off lead and play fetch with him. He's such a good boy. I just love this dog.

Some pix from his solo beach experience:

My handsome boy <3

And... Scully and Cedar's trip to the beach, which consisted mostly of extended games of fetch with occasional pauses for photo ops...

Why do I have to stand on this log?

...

Much better!

Finally, a chance to really stretch out!

We were going to stay a second night on the coast, but there looked to be a big storm rolling in and we didn't feel like hanging out in a wet tent for the next day or so. We made the decision to drive back to Sunriver and hang out there for the rest of our trip. I'm so glad we did! I had a wonderful time. And, yes, took lots more pictures of the dogs. LMAO! We hung out outside on the deck for awhile, drinking some wine and sake that we bought at Trader Joe's (yay!). Moss has decided that he likes sake. But again, everything is his favorite thing.

Cedar, however, prefers to sit in the woods looking pretty.

We drove home yesterday afternoon. I can't wait to go back...

To close out this absurdly long blog entry, since this was technically our wedding anniversary trip (the actual date was last weekend, though) a photo of Joe and I on the beach:

Further Adventures on the Short Bus

2009-06-17T09:33:00.000-07:00

I'm going to break up this post with photos of Cedar from the park, since I don't have any new working photos of her....

Anyways...

Like I told Dianne, I don't know if it's Cedar that needs to go stay with her for training, or me.

I'm pretty sure that it's me.

Monday's lesson was kind of mixed for me. Our first work was not particularly lovely. Cedar was acting really freakish (I think she's coming in heat or something) and feeling the pressure of the indoor arena much more than she usually does. I felt like there was a huge disconnect between us and my timing suffered as a result. Maybe taking three weeks off while we were moving wasn't such a good idea ;).

Cedar wasn't respecting me at all, and things were going badly, so Dianne stepped in and tried to work her. Now, most of you know that Cedar does not like to work for anyone but me, LOL. She tried all methods of escaping, hiding, avoiding, etc etc. It was rather embarrassing. After a few cringe-worthy minutes, however, Dianne was able to work her magic and got Cedar working for her a little bit. Cedar was exhausted.

The second time, Cedar didn't want to get out of the car to go back into the barn. So I grabbed her collar and coaxed her with me, and we went in to work. It went much better. We worked on outruns and driving, and a little bit on getting the sheep off the wall. She did pretty well. I sucked. But I am encouraged... and I think we'll get there eventually. Not that I'm quite sure where "there" is exactly... but yeeeaaaah.

Soooo.... we're not going to the Couch "Rookie Rumble" trial this weekend. We're going to the Oregon Coast instead!!! We're staying at a campground that's really close to the ocean, and I can't wait to take the dogs to the beach! Yay ocean!

Eyeherd that someone wanted updates

2009-06-09T12:18:00.000-07:00

Apparently *some people* feel that I don't blog enough. So Katy, this one's for you. ;)

We're pretty much all moved into our new place. Still have quite a bit of unpacking and laundry to do, but other than that we are all settled. I love it here! It's so nice to have more space and an overall better living situation. With all the chaos I haven't been able to get out to Dianne's at all, which sucks. But it's been worth it!

The dogs actually have their own "room" (well, it's actually just space for their crates in the laundry room), but the best part is that I can actually shut them off from the rest of the house! That has kept everything much cleaner. It's pretty fabulous. They are lovin' the big back yard; there are a lot of places for them to explore. They all seem much happier with the extra space... probably because WE are happier, too.

See? :)

Moss is five months old and is now a little bit taller than Cedar! He is such a sweet puppy. I DO need to do some more obedience work with him as he doesn't have the world's best impulse control. LOL

"Throw the frisbee!!!"

He is definitely losing that "puppy" look:

I am excited to start working him on stock this summer!

Cedar is doing great as well. We got through our first herding trial, and will be doing the Couch Novice trial in a week and a half, even though we haven't practiced at all. My confidence has been a bit low lately and that hasn't done much to help her with her work. I guess we're both a work in progress.

I want to start working her in agility again, too. I wish I had the money to sign up for the newest set of classes. I need to retrain her weave poles... I think I'm going to stick to my plan of teaching her 2x2 weaves instead of getting lazy and not following through like I did the last time I had ambitions of teaching her, haha. She loves to weave though, so I'm looking forward to working with her more. I need to convince my dad to build me an A-frame or teeter or something, though...

I wonder if I could have her ready to trial by October? That's probably pushing it... and I'm not exactly the queen of follow-through.

To close, here are a few shots of Scully enjoying the new house:

A Pleasant Surprise

2009-06-06T10:03:00.000-07:00

Got an email this morning from Shari Hart, who apparently took photos of Cedar at the ASC of ID trial a few weeks ago. Enjoy!

"That'll do, Cedar" (LOVE this one :) )

It does exist!

2009-06-05T12:24:00.000-07:00

So I was totally joking about starting cat agility in my last post, but apparently it's a real "sport"... :-O

"Cat agility is a sport in which a handler directs or lures a cat through an obstacle course as quickly as possible.

Dog agility was originally loosely modeled on equestrian stadium jumpers competitions when it debuted as spectator entertainment 25 years ago, at the 1979 Crufts Dog Show in London. Since then, it has become the most rapidly growing dogs sport in Western Europe and North America.

We hope Cat agility will develop and become widely popular, with spectators getting caught up watching the cat and handler's enthusiasm in their athletic race around the course.

Good agility cats have the qualities to make happy, healthy companion cats. The most successful cats in agility competition will love to play, have an outgoing personality, and be in excellent physical condition. An agility course is like a playground to a cat."

Oh. My. God.

Here are a couple videos (why are they all set to manic sounding classical music?!?:

Do you think the cats actually enjoy it?!?

*cough* I think I'll stick with sheepdogs... :D

P.S. New photos of the gang in our new house will be posted soon, stay tuned for updates!

Sheepdog Special Ed

2009-05-29T12:45:00.000-07:00

Well, it's official: Cedar and I should be riding the short bus.

I was reinforced more than once today that I really, really have no idea what I'm doing. I don't know enough even to help Cedar out when she starts to get frantic. I feel like we need to take a class in remedial shepherding. Or maybe just me. I should get into cat agility or something...it has to be easier than this.

I actually got to the shrieking point today. My voice makes this funny strangled yodeling sound that is even scary to me, so I can only imagine what it does to Cedar. I really do try not to lose my cool but it was hot and we just weren't getting anywhere. Plus it was about a billion degrees outside. Not that I'm one to make excuses, but it made it especially miserable.

There were some good moments, though. We did some nice driving; she is really gaining confidence with it and I think I am, too. And as a bonus, I finally got her to work with me and pick sheep up off of Dianne, which is something we never could have done even a month ago. I am extremely proud of her for that. I think there might be hope for us after all.

Working Cedar has taught me a lot, patience being the most important. That, and how to run really fast through deep sand, yell like a dying banshee, and walk backwards whilst watching the sheep, my dog, and trying not to trip. Add some poorly aimed stick chucking and that's about the extent of my skills so far. Bah!

Not really related to dogs, but I think it sort of explains a lot about why I am how I am... Joe sent me a link to a page that goes into detail about my Chinese astrology sign. I was born in the year of the Tiger. Scary how much it sounds like me:

"Often, failing at a given task or being unproductive in his personal or professional life can cause a Tiger to experience a depression. Criticism from loved ones can also generate this type of Tiger reaction. Still, like all felines, Tigers always land on their feet, ready for their next act in life, pursuing it with unyielding energy and hunting it infallibly."

Other highlights:

"...incorrigibly competitive"

"may appear cool, but they have the Big Cat's instincts to pounce at a moment's warning"

"Self-Reliant"

"Tigers Dislike: Not getting enough recognition for their efforts. Being inferior to others at work, impolite people"

"Good strategists and tacticians"

Apparently I'm a "Scorpio Tiger" too..... which is the most "intense" of all the Tigers. Great.

I wonder if I can apply this information to working my dog?

Moving to our new place this weekend; we have lots to do so I should probably get to packing/loading boxes into my car and stuff... or something. I'm out!

Insert witty blog title here

2009-05-25T17:05:00.001-07:00

We're moving in three days!!!!!!!!!

... and yet, we still have a ton of stuff to do before we're actually all packed and ready and stuff. I think we'll have it done in time, though. We went and did a final walk-through today and I think we have a tentative plan of where the main furniture and stuff is going to go... but we'll see what happens once we actually get moved in. it'll be interesting to see how it all shakes out.

I haven't worked Cedar on stock since the ASCA trial. I think we're going to go out to the desert on Wednesday with Dianne. I need to call her and make sure, though. I can't wait to get back out there! Now that our first trial is under our belt, I have some things I want to work on with her. It would be soooo nice if I had sheep closer to me to work so we could practice more than once or twice a week. Maybe someday....

I've been working on her obedience with the intent of getting her CD and maybe her CDX this year. I'd like to try her in rally this summer sometime just to see how she does. I really like what I've been seeing out of her. Her broad jump is coming along very nice. However, I'm having some issues with her hold on the dumbell. She doesn't really mouth it, but she just holds it really loose. I got a few ideas from my friend, Laurie about what to do, so I'll have to give those a shot. She suggested to build the "value" of the dumbell and get her prey drive to kick in. I don't want to force break her to retrieve, but she needs to understand that we're not just playing fetch. I'm not quite sure how it will all end up coming together, but I'm hoping to have her ready for competition by the end of summer/early fall. My goal is to have her trained through CDX by the time we start competing in obedience, so we can go straight through two levels and start training for our UD.

Marley went to his new home last week. I still miss him.

A few new photos of the gang:

We're gonna need some antibiotics...

2009-05-17T17:07:00.000-07:00

because we got our first STD! ;)

Er... our first title, the ASCA program's STDs (Started Trial Dog-Sheep) title.

After a truly horrific two runs on Saturday (to be brief: couldn't get 'em out of the pen), Cedar and I managed to come back and have a nice, fluid run today to finish our title. She was still a little bit weird, but we managed to get the sheep off the fence fairly quickly, got all the sheep through both panels, and had a nice, controlled walk to the pen and a good re-pen.

We also got 1st place with a 92/100 and Most Promising Young Dog... got some pretty ribbons (LOL) and a really nice leather lead. The judge told us that he rarely gives Started dogs such a high score and that he would love to take her home with him. Hahaha.... if only he knew!

Cedar and I stayed out in Greenleaf at Katy's place (The Leaf on the Green, LOL) with Jodi D., Jaenne, and Katy on Saturday night. We went and had really good Mexican food in Wilder and then went to the Wilder Bar to hang out and drink a few Coronas. It was a lot of fun, although we all were probably WAY too tired and sunburned to truly enjoy the night to its fullest, LOL.

Overall, it was a good experience for us, I think. We both got over a lot of our nervousness and managed to get some good things done. It was a well-run trial with a lot of nice, supportive people and I think we all had a great time! Hopefully we'll be ready to try for Open at the fall trial.

Anyways, I am really tired and not really in the writing mood, but I wanted to let ya'll know how we did!

P.S. GREAT job to Jody R. and Circle who also got their STDs title after only a few lessons on sheep! Way to go, girls! Also, high fives to Katy, Jaenne, and Lindy for your wins :)

ASCA Trial Day 1

2009-05-15T19:12:00.000-07:00

Cedar and I qualified for our first Started leg today at the trial. She was... pretty good. She really didn't like the pressure of the fences in the arena, and in the take pen. We did get the sheep out okay, and she picked them up off the fence rather nicely. We were both nervous so I think we were both a little amped up... but we made both of the panels and didn't have problems re-penning the sheep. In retrospect, I was a lot more nervous than I thought I was... I made some stupid mistakes that I wouldn't do otherwise and didn't make Cedar back off the sheep enough. Hopefully now that we got our first one out of the way, the rest of the weekend will be better.

We did a practice run after the trial, and I wish we hadn't. It was pretty horrid and sort of blew my confidence a little bit. I think we were both tired and our heads weren't in the game... so it was a mistake on my part to push her. She busted the sheep out of the pen and singled one off, gripped, and was a general bitch. However, we did get it together in the end and I practiced driving them down the fence. She seemed more comfortable w/ that so I may try it tomorrow. We just need to figure out a better strategy for the take pen! Blah. I wish I had more confidence in that area but Cedar freaks out and so do I. She freezes, and I freeze.

Yet again, I am reminded that I don't know what the hell I'm doing... and if I was smart, would probably pursue other dog sports. But I'm too far gone now!

We have three more trials to go (2 tomorrow, 1 Sunday)... so cross your fingers that we continue to keep things under control for the rest of the weekend :)

Congrats to Katy and Jen who won 1st place in Started and High Scoring Non-Aussie!

We should have our own reality show

2009-05-13T08:25:00.000-07:00

I'd call it "Ellie and Joe + Fo' "

Yep, that's right.... we have four dogs now... unexpectedly. There's a "new" rescue dog in the house. A few days ago, I came across an ad on Craigslist listing a rather... familiar... dog available: my first Border Collie, Marley! Marley is the one dog that I've ever really regretted placing. He's a really neat guy.

Aside from a little bit of anger that his old owner didn't even try and contact me when she realized she couldn't keep him, everything went pretty smoothly with getting him back. She dropped him off at my house on Monday night and he's been doing great ever since. All the dogs seem to accept him well except for Moss who is jealous. It's a bit of "but I'M the baby!" syndrome. But, it's great to have Marley back. I missed him.

Sooo.... Marley is available to a good, active home. He needs to lose about 5-8 lbs and get on some better food, but otherwise he's the picture of health. Nice, clean teeth, has basic obedience (sit, down, shake, walks on a leash), is crate trained and housebroken, and gets along with people and other dogs. If you are interested, or know of anyone looking for a great pet, please don't hesitate to email me at ElementBCs@gmail.com.

Anyways....

The trial this weekend is looming over my head in a big way. I'm hoping that I can keep my head on straight and that Cedar and I don't nerve each other out :D

As long as we can work together and get the sheep out of the pen at the start of the run, we'll be fine. Everything else should be pretty easy, barring bad sheep or bad weather or the big one, NERVES. I think we are ready, though.

Worked Cedar at Dianne's yesterday... she was really good. Her driving was excellent and we practiced some fetching just because we hadn't done it in awhile, LOL. I just need to figure out how to set her up for success in the holding pen. Of course, Dianne can go in and get her to do it right away.

Figures.

Workin' In The Desert Pt. 2

2009-05-09T09:04:00.001-07:00

Here are Carolynn's photos she took of Cedar and I out at the desert last week! Enjoy!

Dumb...bell

2009-05-08T09:22:00.000-07:00

So in addition to stockdogging stuff, I'm also training Cedar in obedience. She is really good at most things like heeling, stays, whatever... but we've been having trouble with the dumbbell retrieve. I always thought that that would be the easiest exercise to teach her because she is CRAZY about fetching and toys and stuff. However, I've had a hard time getting her to understand that she can't mouth or drop the dumbbell like she would a toy. I talked to my friend Ariel--an excellent obedience trainer-- about it, and she recommended just having Cedar carry it around instead of trying to teach her "hold" "drop it" "take it" and all that stuff mechanically. So the day before yesterday I took the dumbbell and my clicker outside with Cedar and decided to give it a try.

It's working GREAT so far. Cedar seems to be understanding everything better, and we've even done some actual retrieves with her coming to front and sitting... without her dropping the dumbbell at my feet. She's been showing steady improvement over the past three days so I'm encouraged. Maybe we could even be ready for her CDX by fall... hmm...

And yes, she doesn't even have her CD yet. LOL. But I'd like to have her trained at least through CDX before we start trialing so we can whiz through instead of having to take another year off to train new exercises. width="420" Seems like a good plan...?

Moss is doing really well, too. I took him to the park yesterday by himself to work on his recall and ended up taking a ton of photos. Here's a couple:

In other news, we got a house!!!! It has a huge yard and is 3x as big as the one we are living in now, so that will be fantastic. The neighborhood is miles above the one we are in now and is pretty close to Boise State, too.

The view up the street:

I'm really excited to move in and get more furniture and stuff. I think Cedar especially will appreciate the extra room. She feels really claustrophobic in here.

The world's best "worst" sheepdog

2009-05-04T21:41:00.001-07:00

My friend at Wannabe wrote a great post about her dog, Soda, the "world's best WORST sheepdog." It was a wonderful entry, and I really loved that term... :D

My Cedar may not be the most talented dog to ever see a sheep, but she has taught me SO much. She may not be THE best dog, but she is MY best dog. I am a much better handler because of her and I really do think that she will eventually become more than just a "useful" dog. We're becoming a better team now that Cedar is starting to realize that I *do* factor into the equation. Of course, I think that it helps that I'm less of a clueless freak now. I still have more than my share of "special moments," though.

I just hope that Cedar won't have to teach me a hard lesson in humility (or, how to deal with horrifyingly awful stockwork in public) at our first trials this month.

I... am... nervous!!!

Keep your fingers crossed for us.... :D

P.S. And Cedar is NOT a f#@*ing "Barbie Collie"... thank you very much! Argh. In fact, I really like Carolynn's description of her as the "Anti-Barbie."

That will be all.

"Ummm... maybe we should call Dianne..."

2009-05-04T14:26:00.000-07:00

Auditing the Patrick clinic this weekend was really interesting. It was cool to see how differently all the dogs worked, and really neat to watch them improve from one work to the next. I learned a lot for sure! Good mac n' cheese, too :)

Anyways...

This morning, I rode out to the desert with Deb Sussman to go work dogs with Dianne, Patrick, and a couple people from the clinic (Jeanne Boudrieau and Carloynn/BCx4). Deb and I were in one car and were following Dianne and Patrick. We were going (or SUPPOSED to go) about 15 miles or so, over the Oregon border, to Succor Creek State Park. Sounds easy, right? Well, we didn't take into account that Dianne drives like a bat outta hell... she quickly got so far out ahead of us that we lost sight of her truck. We just kept driving, thinking we'd go around a turn and her truck would be in front of us. Wrong!

About fifteen minutes pass since we've seen Dianne, and we come to realize that we don't really know where we're going. We pass through a small town (Adrian? I think?) and I start to think that maybe we've missed a turn or something. I say, "Umm.... maybe we should call Dianne..."

Turns out that Dianne had tried to call me but I didn't hear my phone ring, dammit! We had gone almost 9 MILES past our turn to the park. Great. We turn around and set Deb's GPS (maybe that would have been a good idea to begin with?) and find our way back there in spite of our little detour through Eastern Oregon.

What a BEAUTIFUL place! It was really neat to go somewhere other than Dianne or Patrick's to work. I brought my camera and took a lot of pics of everyone's dogs... Carolyn took some photos of Cedar but they are on her camera so I'll have to wait until she posts them to post them on here.

I haven't worked Cedar in over a week, so I was not expecting much of her. I was terrified that she would blow me off, single off a sheep, and chase it into the sunset. Agh. Thankfully, we managed to keep it decently under control. We kept it pretty safe the first time... a little circling, fetches, and a little bit of driving though I didn't feel too comfortable with it. Cedar was pretty good, other than being too pushy (which I expected) and sending the sheep up quite a steep hill. I need to get in better shape! She kept her head pretty well and didn't single anyone off, and even though I know she was really nervous, listened well after about five minutes, took my commands, and stayed off her sheep. The sheep were pretty light which was good for her because they wouldn't tolerate her pushing on them.

Our second work was a billion times better than the first, and I was very proud of Cedar. This time out I think we were both more prepared and in a better mental place. We picked the sheep up and after one "talking to," Cedar backed off nicely for the rest of the time. We worked on a couple outruns as we haven't done many of those lately (focusing on driving instead) and then did some driving. Cedar did really well and we did some "rectangles" around the desert. I also mixed in some more outruns and other stuff. I think I've been doing better lately about making her feel my "bubble" and understanding that my corrections carry some value.

Here are some of my photos:

Carolynn's Beth and Bonnie, givin' their mom some sass :)

Beth...driving, yay! (Carolynn, I have a TON more photos of Beth, email me!):

Carolynn's freakin' adorable puppy, Brynn:

Robin, a dog Dianne is training:

True, who is Moss's full sibling from last year's Riggs x Peg breeding:

Riggs (Moss's dad... see the resemblance?):

Dianne's good dog, Pat:

Pat's daughter, Perk... whom Deb will be running in Big Willow next weekend (Good luck!!!):

(Awww... Deb and Perk :) )

Deb's young dog, Trace:

Jeanne's dog, Moses:

...and her other dog, Rocky:

I reckon that's enough photos for one post.... :)

An aside... after watching so many great dogs work over the past year, I've really changed my mind about a lot of things. Most importantly, that not everything can be trained. Some things a dog has to just know... or have in his/her genetic toolbox prior to training. Watching the advanced dogs run up the side of the mountain on an outrun to pick up the sheep today was just... awesome.

Do you see the sheep? (Deb and Perk) :)

In my opinion, this is the most amazing sport in the world and I hope to always be involved with sheepdogs in some capacity. But I have no interest whatsoever in working cattle... eeep!

I'll leave that to Huck (Riggs x Rose)...

April Showers bring.... May Showers.

2009-05-01T09:02:00.000-07:00

It's raining here. Bleh. I thought it was supposed to be spring! In one month it will be June. JUNE!!! I can't believe it. I was supposed to go out to Dianne's today, but she has too much going on. I want to work Cedar, but it's okay... I have stuff to do here. Like make brownies for the clinic tomorrow! I got a Ghirardelli mix that looks delicious. Hopefully it turns out all right.

I'm excited to go work Cedar in the desert with Dianne next week :)

Moss is four months old now. He is growing like a weed and is turning into quite the intelligent, funny, handsome young man. He learns really fast and tries hard to please me... most of the time. ;) I think he'll be a lot of fun on sheep, too. I can't wait until he's old enough to start!

Some recent photos:

Look at how long his legs are!

My pretty boy :)

Looking more like his daddy every day, IMO...

Creepy teeth!

Ball!

Fail... :D

I can haz sillyz :D

I Want This Dog

2009-04-30T09:32:00.000-07:00

Yet another post not concerning stockdog activities... :-P

There's a thread on the Border Collie Boards in the Rescue area called "I want this dog," where people post pictures of rescue dogs that they want, but can't have. :D. Well, here's mine:

This is "Idaho Bree," and she is a 3 year old spayed female. Isn't she gorgeous? I am not really a merle fan, but I love her. LOL I'm hopeless!

If only...

And yes, I need another dog like I need a hole in the head!

In other news... the Patrick clinic is this weekend. I'm auditing... probably won't do both days, though. But I'm excited!

I may go out to Dianne's tomorrow as well. We'll see what happens.

Sheepdog Whistles... not so hellish

2009-04-24T11:42:00.000-07:00

Today is my day off.

After eating a bowl of mac and cheese, watching an hour of Home Improvement, and otherwise reveling in the glory of not having to shower and get dressed in work clothes and go into the library, I was actually starting to get pretty bored.

Sooooo.... I decided to drag out my sheepdog whistle and took it and Cedar outside with the intent of playing around with the "lie down" command... since that's the only whistle command that I can get to sound the same somewhat consistently. haha. Cedar has a great "lie down" with a verbal command and I was curious to see if she would be able to pick up the whistle command. She has acted sort of alarmed by the whistle in the past (she doesn't like loud sharp noises) so I wasn't quite sure what she would do. I started by whistling the command and telling her "lie down," and clicking when she did it. I'm sure that purists would think I'm an idiot for using the clicker to teach this, but Cedar responds really well to it.

I was very pleased with how she did. She didn't freak out about the whistle sounds and picked up after a few repetitions that the whistle meant the same as a voice command. By the end of the session, she would lie down to the whistle both next to me and across the yard. I need to practice a few more times before trying to get it out of her on sheep, though. Distractions and all. But I think we're getting there! I am working on learning the flank commands, walk up, and that'll do whistles right now. Hopefully by the time Cedar is ready for those, I'll have them sounding decent and not like an injured cat. I'm also going to start working on getting all the dogs to come to my "that'll do" whistle.

Who would've thought that whistles could actually be fun?

Moss thinks that lounging around sounds much more his speed.

ETA: Moss now also has the beginnings of a "down" whistle... doG I love this puppy!

Srsly?

2009-04-22T08:50:00.000-07:00

Not a post about dogs, but I just wanted to take some time to ridicule a truly delusional person. Why, you ask? Because it's fun.

For those of you who don't know who Adam Lambert is, he is a really awesome contestant on American Idol this season. And yes, he is pretty much openly gay, which adds to his awesomeness. LOL

The video below was posted on youtube by some girl named "Aperilla." In it she basically makes the worst case ever for why Adam isn't gay.

Some highlights:

"Good looking people aren't gay"

"Plus, he's Christian... and Christian people aren't gay. They, uh, kind of frown on that."

Yeah, and apparently all the photos and videos of him kissing other guys were photoshopped. And Clay Aiken is straight as an arrow.

Wow. What an idiot. Srsly!

...or as Seth Meyers from SNL says... Really?

Watch and enjoy:

"Have an open mind, ya know."

ROFL!

Maybe I should start having an "idiot of the week" blog post?

Fun Schtuff

2009-04-20T15:34:00.000-07:00

Went out to Dianne's today with Cedar and Moss. I worked Cedar once in the big pasture and once in the indoor. It wasn't our prettiest lesson ever, but I think I got a lot accomplished as far as getting her to respect my bubble and back off. She is SO damned pushy, it annoys the crap out of me. Dianne has been telling me for a few weeks that my corrections aren't getting through to her; she understands that she is wrong but she's not "sorry" for being an idiot. So today (after I got my focus back and stopped being irritated) I focused on following through with my corrections. She was much better, and we got in some nice driving and a few decent outruns out in the field before calling it quits.

Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures of her working, but I did take some cute ones of her in Dianne's pond. She loves to splash around and bite the water.

"@#!* you, pond!"

"Shhhhhhhhhhhhaake!"

Out of the pond and looking pretty :)

"I'm tired!"

After waiting around for awhile, I worked Cedar again, but this time in the indoor arena. We worked a lot on driving and getting her listening to me and taking commands (I think this is prep for learning inside flanks but I'm not quite sure). I made her go slooooooowww and steady, and (once I figured out what Dianne was telling me to do) tried not to let her bring the sheep to me when I flanked her around to start driving the other way. She was very good for the most part, and I think I'm starting to understand driving a lot better.

Perhaps the most fun/exciting moment of the day was when Dianne worked Moss :)

He did great! For being sixteen weeks old and only his second time on sheep he was very good. Dianne says that his good behavior won't last... :-P

Unfortunately I didn't notice until the end that I had my camera on the wrong setting, so a lot of my indoor photos turned out blurry, :( but I think I got a few decent ones:

Moss got a new collar yesterday, you can see it a little bit in this pic:

It's Hawaiian flowers... I think it really fits his laid-back personality.

What do you think? :)

All The Small Things

2009-04-17T16:51:00.001-07:00

Sometimes I wonder if Cedar is just a slow maturer.

Not that I have any super grand aspirations for her, but I think she really is starting to improve. Our first work of the day really impressed me. We worked a bit in the pens with getting the sheep off the fence, and then drove a group of about ten sheep out to the pasture. Yes, DROVE! She was perfect... calm, slow, stayed nicely off them, listened to me, and kept them in a straight line. The only time they went "off line" was when I screwed her up and gave her a command that she didn't need. I sense a recurring theme. We did a couple nice outruns and called it good for our first work of the day. Cedar was very pleased with herself. It's small "victories" like tbeing able to drive the sheep out to the pasture to work that keep me going... and I think it's the same for Cedar, too. She really does try to make me happy even though she's misguided in her attempts sometimes. But I do look forward to continuing her training. It's fascinating to watch her grow and improve and do things I never thought she'd be capable of. I guess that's part of the appeal of this whole thing :)

Lindy, Ann, and Susan were also at Dianne's working and had some really nice runs with their dogs. Ann's Levi in particular is doing really well, good job, Ann! And Lindy's Rave makes me want an Aussie, LOL. Rave is awesome!

The second time I worked Cedar she was also well behaved, but was pushier than I'd like. Dianne said that it is because she doesn't really know WHY I'm mad at her, just that I'm mad. LOL. So I guess I need to follow through more on my corrections. Her driving is coming along awesome... Dianne even said that she didn't think that Cedar would ever be as good as she is now. I take that as a compliment :)

Gulp

2009-04-16T16:36:00.001-07:00

Sent off my entry for the AKC trial. I'm entering Started.

I know a lot of you guys (presuming people actually read my blog) are laughing at me for being nervous about a couple "title" trials, but this is kind of a big deal for Cedar and I. We've worked through a lot of stuff together and I am glad that she is finally to a level where I *think* I can trust her a little bit. Let's hope she doesn't make me eat my words!!!

"Who, me? I'm a perfect angel! Can't you see my halo?"

How hard can it be?

2009-04-16T09:06:00.000-07:00

Here's the diagram for the ASCA course. We are entered in Started. Doesn't look that difficult, right?

I need to stop thinking about all the crap that could go wrong.

Here's the AKC Started course that I'm thinking about entering. That trial is the weekend after the ASCA trial, and is in Gig Harbor, WA. It's a little more... involved.

I am kind of on the fence about whether to enter this class, or the one below it (PT) which is basically like ASCA started but with a change of direction and you pick up the sheep with an outrun instead of taking them out of a pen. Anyone have any advice as to which one I should enter?

I am only doing these trials for the experience. Cedar and I have never competed before and I want to get our feet wet. Plus I think it will be kinda fun, too :) I'm planning on running her in Don Couch's Novice trial in June as well. Hopefully we'll be ready by then for bigger, better things.

I'm going out to Dianne's on Friday and Sunday. I'm excited to work Cedar some more :)

Pleasantly Suprised

2009-04-11T16:06:00.000-07:00

In our lesson today, Dianne had us working a lot on a big hole in our training: working in tight spaces. Since we have to be able to pen/re-pen the sheep for the ASCA trial next month (in a pen that she can't go around the outside of), it is definitely something we need to work on more.

Our first work of the day was out in the field, doing the usual stuff.... outruns and driving. I got some nice rectangles on both sides and she took my commands decently well. I only had to give her a few what for's before she settled down and went to work. She did a decently long outrun from my feet, too, which was cool. I was curious to see what she would do if I sent her from my feet from more than 30 feet away :).

After that, I let Cedar take a break and watched Andrea (who Katy bought her farm from) work her Aussie on cows. Cows scare the crap out of me! They are just too big :-X Her dog worked well, very calm and slow.

When Andrea's lesson was finished, I got Cedar out of the car and we went over to the pens. After re-penning the sheep we had worked earlier (they had come in from the field and were waiting out front lol), Dianne had me walk up to the enclosure, lay Cedar down, and go inside. Then, I told Cedar to come by and, of course, she freaked out about the pressure and got nervous. I kept my voice and mannerisms calm and slow, and gradually got her to go around behind them enough to make the sheep go out of the pen. It wasn't pretty, but it worked :). Then, Dianne had me send Cedar to get the sheep and re-pen them. The first couple times we tried this Cedar got all hung up on the pressure and I had to take her by the collar and show her firmly and quietly that she could in fact go into tight spaces.

The good thing about Cedar is that once you show her something a couple times, she realizes that she can do it. By our next work, she was (relatively) calm and collected and especially good at going nice and wide to re-pen the sheep... and on her "bad" side to boot! I was really happy with how well she did, considering how I figured she would act under all that pressure. I think we totally will be ready for the ASCA trial next month.... especially since we have over a month to work on the stuff we're not so ready for. I'm excited!

Well, I bit the bullet...

2009-04-08T07:44:00.000-07:00

...and entered the ASCA trial in May. This will be me and Cedar's first stockdog trial experience in any venue. I know that ASCA is by no means the accomplishment that USBCHA is, but I hope that Cedar and I can get around the course calmly and without stress or any major train wrecks. I have her entered in three trials, two on Saturday and one on Sunday. Hopefully we can qualify at least twice so we can get our STD (lol!!!) title. There is still a possibility that I might enter her on ducks. I may go out and try her on ducks at Janie's this weekend, we'll see. I'm hoping to go out to Dianne's on both Saturday and Sunday if possible. We need all the help we can get!

I'm also signed up for the Don Couch clinic in two weeks. It's most centered on penning on working in tight spaces which I think could be really fun and interesting. We haven't worked on this stuff much in our training so I'm excited to learn something new. Hopefully Cedar won't freak out from the pressure :-P

This spring is shaping up to be pretty fun, and full of stockdog (and other dog) activities.... just how I like it!

The Moss-Man Prophecies

2009-04-07T08:06:00.001-07:00

Moss is so funny. I brought him with me to Dianne's yesterday for socialization and he ended up getting his first taste of working sheep :-P I'm so excited! He spent a few minutes not really knowing what was going on... following Dianne around, eating horse poop, and watching the sheep but not really knowing what was going on. Eventually, Dianne got him to circle and it was freakin' adorable. He had this big grin on his face like "OMGZ this is awesome!!!!" and was totally proud of himself after Dianne made him quit. He pranced around with his chest puffed out for the rest of the day like a badass. Must be nice to find your purpose in life at 15 weeks old. I think he'll be a lot of fun to train, he's so laid back. :)

Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures but hopefully I can get some in the near future if Dianne will "work" him again for me. Ha ha. I seriously love this puppy. I taught him to roll over yesterday and now he does it all the time and looks at me expecting a treat. Funny stuff.

Worked Cedar yesterday in the indoor arena. We worked on keeping everything slooooooooooooowwww and easy. She did great! Her driving looked really nice and she was taking my commands pretty well. I think she is confused about the difference between the little mini flanks in driving and when I ask her for an outrun. She hasn't been wanting to cover fully on the outrun lately which is sort of irritating but I can understand why she is feeling that way. Oh well.... I have faith that it will all come together. At least she is listening to me and we both have more trust in each other.

Her problem is that she gets anxious about almost everything, especially if she thinks she's wrong. She wants to please me so much that when things start to go badly, it's almost like she goes into hyperdrive to try and "save" things.... but ends up usually making it worse. Her anxiety also makes her react extremely to pressure. However, I have seen a lot of progress in this area... and she was able to life the sheep off the wall right next to Dianne and the door of the indoor arena yesterday. Before, it would be impossible to get her to flank by Dianne, especially in such a tight place. So.... I'm encouraged. I think that we can at least get around the ASCA STD (Started) sheep course in a little over a month. Maybe I can even try to do an assisted drive instead of just fetching... hmm. :)

Stuck at home

2009-04-06T06:49:00.000-07:00

I was unable to get out of working this weekend, so I was unfortunately unable to attend the GSH trial this weekend. I heard that it went really smoothly and that everyone had a good time, so that makes me happy but I'm still sad I couldn't be there.

I'm going to try and go out to Dianne's today or tomorrow and maybe that will help me to stop feeling sorry for myself, LOL.

I need to enter Cedar in the ASCA trial soon. I'm contemplating running her on sheep and ducks, but I want to practice on ducks before I pay the entry fee money. I think she'll either be really good or really, really naughty. I guess we'll find out :)

Not dog related, but I made the most delicious pot roast the other night in the crock pot, here's a picture:

Doesn't that look delicious? It was. :D

Moss is doing really well, getting big and turning into a pretty cool dog. He's no longer a little baby puppy which is nice. He can "hold it" all night and is a joy to train, work with, and be around. Most of the time he just lays at my feet and wags his tail. What a happy little guy he is.

Not to mention he's a great model and totally poses whenever I take out my camera! It's pretty hilarious.

OMGZ I'm a Graduate Student!

2009-03-30T18:37:00.000-07:00

Today I signed up for my first semester of graduate courses at Boise State.

Eeeeep!

Here's what I *think* I'm going to take:

ENGL 500 Research Methods in Literary Studies (Required Class)
An introduction to research techniques and resources in advanced literary study. The course includes the use of bound and electronic reference sources, methods of bibliography and textual criticism, the significance of biographical, archival, and historical evidence in literary study, and standard conventions of scholarly documentation. PREREQ: Admission to Master of Arts in English program or PERM/CHAIR.

ENGL 530 - 001 Studies in a Literary Period (Note: The Age of Chivalry: Arthurian Literature of the 12th-15th Centuries )
A study of a selected chronological period of American or British literature with focus on major authors, genres, or topics. Repeatable for credit. PREREQ: Admission to Master of Arts in English program or Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing program or PERM/CHAIR.

ENGL 598 - 001 Teaching Assistant Seminar
Basically I learn how to teach beginning composition (ENGL 101 and 102) in this class.

In addition to my 9 credits of graduate coursework, I'll also be teaching one section of English 101 in the fall, and then two sections in the spring. I'm excited to teach, but getting WAY nervous, too....eeeep!

The Tags They Are A-Janglin'

2009-03-27T13:12:00.000-07:00

Took Moss to the vet to get another set of puppy boosters. He is now protected against rabies for a whole year :). He got a rabies tag that is about twice the size of his ID tag... and he keeps trying to bite at it. It's pretty funny but the jangling noise is about driving me nuts. Thankfully the shots tuckered him out and he's passed out at my feet. What a sweet boy he is. He's gained 4 lbs since our last visit 2 weeks ago! He weighs 18.4 lbs now... which is just enough so that it's uncomfortable to pick him up :-P

Here's a couple photos from this afternoon:

"Oh yeah, I know the drill"

"I'm ready for my closeup!"

"Will you get that thing outta my face? I'm tired! kthx." (yeah.... what a poor abused puppy he is, LOL. it's obvious that nobody loves him around here ;) )

And here are a couple of Miss Princess Cedar:

*LMAO*