HERDING!!!

Well... it's finally happened.

I found something I like MORE than conformation showing! Yeah, I know, impossible right? Well, that's what I thought until I decided to take Cedar for a herding lesson a few weeks ago, on a whim. Little did I know that I would become so captivated with this amazing sport :D

We went herding a couple times back in the spring with my friend Julie, and Aussie breeder, but it didn't go that great. Clueless handler + green dog + wild sheep= not a completely great idea :D

However, our next try at herding went amazingly. We went out to Caldwell to meet with Dianne Deal. That night, our first "real" herding lesson, I was completely intimidated by the sheep. After another couple times, I realized they weren't going to kill me and my handling improved immensely. Cedar, actually, is decently talented. Plus, she LOVES it... so it makes it hard not to want to continue training her. I went to the sheepdog trial at the fair to watch, and I made the decision that this is something worth doing. Something much less shallow than the politics and drama of the conformation world. So, there you have it I guess!

A video from our third lesson (at Patrick Shannahan's Red Top Ranch):

And here are a couple photos from our first lesson:

A looooooooooong overdue update.... er, pupdate?

Well I've been really horrid about keeping this blog up. Cedar just celebrated her FIRST BIRTHDAY on the twelfth, I can't believe it!!! She is such an awesome dog and I am so lucky to have her.

...Agility...

We have almost completed our second set of agility classes, and she is doing awesome! Her speed freaks me out a little, because I don't quite know how to handle her yet. My commands are always late because she runs so fast... in fact, she runs faster than I can speak! Hopefully we'll be able to compete next year sometime... that's the goal anyway.



Right now we are doing short sequences and learning how to do the weave poles. She is obsessed with tunnels but isn't quite sure about the teeter yet :)

...Rally/Obedience...

We have been working in obedience a bit harder, too. A lot of focus work has helped Cedar to become a lot more in tune with me. Heeling is coming along slowly, but nicely. I still need to be able to fade the treat more before we're ready to try for that RN. Hopefully by September or October we'll be ready, though. I'd like to aim for her CD sometime next year.


Stays are going pretty well. I need to practice a lot lot more, though, and do a lot of proofing, especially around other dogs. She still has self control issues (wanting to go up and greet other dogs and completely losing focus on me) which need to be fixed.

...Conformation...

I really want to start showing her, but I don't have the money. I suppose I need to start seriously getting her show ready, and maybe enter a show like Richland. Enumclaw would've been perfect, but oh well. Laurie might go to the Redmond, WA shows in August and maybe if I have some extra dough I'll tag along. We'll see though. Ugh.

I need to train her to freestack and figure out some exercise to do to strengthen her hind end and increase reach and drive. Anyone have any ideas?

More updates

Here's a picture of Cedar at 8.5 months:



She's doing pretty well. I ordered a tracking harness and line; unfortunately I got the wrong size harness so I need to get a bigger one. Once I get that I'll start her in tracking.

New stacked pix, post bath :)

Cedar after her bath today at 7.5 months :)

Tracking photos

Here's a few pix from tracking this evening:


First track...



Second track...





Cedar did pretty well, though I am going to try and start spacing out the treats because she's going too fast. Hmm...

Catching up

Well I haven't written in awhile, and a lot has happened with Miss Cedar :)



A few weekends ago we took a seminar with Mary Hunter called "Focus on Focus." As anyone who has met Cedar knows, she is VERY distracted. I was hoping that this seminar would help us to become a better team, and help Cedar to focus better on me and the job at hand.

I'm happy to say that the seminar was a success! We learned a lot of things that have helped bring us closer as a team, and also things that help to deal with her obsessive and nervous behaviors. When we first started working at the seminar, she was so nervous and wound up that she was shaking. After about 10 minutes on the mat, however, she was doing great. I am so excited to continue to train her in agility, obedience, tracking, and rally. She really is an awesome dog and I am so thankful to have her in my life.



We start our next set of agility classes this saturday the 23rd- I'm really stoked! I am intrigued to see how she does w/ other obstacles and am excited to work on things like contacts and obstacle commitment. I know I definitely need to work on MY handling skills :).

Some of the things Cedar and I need/would like to improve on:


Agility

• Front and rear crosses- I get so tangled up in my own feet! I would like to be able to do both without having to think through every step. So far, I have to count my steps and do everything deliberately.
  
• Weave poles- Now that Cedar is over 6 months I'd like to start training her on weave entries and general (easy) weave poles. I need to get my "stick in ground" poles from my mom's house
• Recall- Cedar still isn't too good about coming when called, though she IS getting better. Again, this is a focus issue I think, and I am hoping that the more I work with her, the better it will get.
• Jumping- Yeah, I know she's still too young for much serious jumping but I plan on continuing with my jump style-shaping training. I hope to get a youtube video together soon to show my method. Coming from horses, it makes a lot of sense, and so far it seems to be working pretty well with getting Cedar to jump in the proper bascule.

Obedience/Rally

• Heeling- I would like to show Cedar in Rally this summer, so I need to get my butt in gear and start training attention heeling. She is done teething so it's okay now. She is not the best at walking on a leash, I'll admit.... so we need a lot of work on this.
  
• Front/Finish- I would like to have her reliably coming to front, finishing right and left, and doing a schutzhund "about turn" by May.
  

Tracking

• I'd like Cedar to be able to complete a 50-pace track by April, and a 100-pace track by June, as well as start to fade the food rewards by mid-May. Not sure when I'll introduce articles...

Here's a few pix of her that I think are pretty cute..... 7 months:

Night tracks are fun!

Only the second time we've tracked after a 2 month break... and in the dark to boot!

She did really well, even though she missed some of the hot dogs I was quite pleased with how well she was using her nose

Starting off strong... she put her nose right to the ground when I said "track"...


Midway through the track:


Nearing the finish...


The end is in sight!


I think I'm turning into a tracking freak! It's so much fun, and so low stress for the dog :). I am really pleased with how well Cedar is doing. She is such a blast to train. I still need to do some problem solving and figure out how to show her how to track slower. I think doing it in the dark was helpful because she couldn't see the hot dogs on the ground as well. Maybe I'll have to do that more!