Yesterday DD stepped in and worked with me and Jai.  The last couple of times I've worked Jai she has gripped.  She tends to grip like Rose….once she commits to the bite, she's in it for the ride.  You can really see her entire body change leading up to it, though, if you are observant, and, if you catch it in time, she is easy to talk down. 

Observant.

If one is watching one's dog and the sheep….back to the dog, because the sheep aren't moving, maybe, infact, facing  and stamping one of those cloven hooves DOGWARD….one might, in theory, STOP the carnival ride that almost certainly will ensue.

One isn't always so observant.  One is prone to…musing.

After the first (and only) grip yesterday, I was poised to lay Jai down if she so much as looked at the sheep in a pressure-loaded area (like up against a fence).

"WHY are you lying her down?" DD asked.

"Because…she's fixin' ta disrespect her some sheep," I sometimes try new things to soften the DD's incredulity.  These days I'm playing with my Derek Fisher New Plymouth dialect.

"No she's not! Look at her BODY! See the difference in her posture now?"

"Uhhh, yup. Shorely I do…"

No. I didn't.  Truthfully I had been noticing the sheep and the fence and how little room for a dog there was between the two.  I'd also been thinking that sheep, if they were just a bit more cerebral, would be great in a crisis because they so quickly transition from OHMYGODWE'REGOINGTODIE to ' Yum! Grass! Let us eat!' 

That' is precisely who I want seated next to me on a plane during extreme turbulence or an engine failure….but not unless it is a flight where snacks were served…. and not if I have to sit BETWEEN TWO of them….

Dianne, meanwhile, was blinking at me and waiting.  As was Jai.

Because I wasn't whistling or yelling and time was passing Jai fixed me with a quick look and a wag.  She looked relaxed alright.

"Yes," I agreed, "Relaxed. I see it."

"Send her Come by," DD instructed.

"WHUT THE HELL? Up agin yonder bob war wall?"  

"Yes! Send her and just quietly say her name.  No commands…just encourage her softly…soft corrections."

So DD sent Jai and every time Jai speeded up, she quietly, softly said, "Uh uh.." and when she was right she shshhhhed her on. When Jai stopped or tried to lie down instead of slowing, DD would say, 'Uh uh' again and Jai would move forward slowly, thoughtfully, easily.  If she overflanked or didn't flank…'Uh uh'

DD encouraged Jai when she was right, and softly corrected brief moments of unsureness or the wrong flank.

She was right *ALOT*.  

I'm certain I've addressed this before, processed it in writing on these very pages….and still I seem to need more time to start really putting it to work for me, but that whole quiet way of working a dog is the most beautiful thing to me.   Trusting your dog to feel the sheep and the pressure and helping them through the places where they don't quite have it right, rather than just telling them with whistles or harshness that they are WRONG…It really brings out the talent and instinct and confidence in a sensitive dog like Jai.  She worked beautifully and she was happy with herself. 

The sheep and I were completely in awe, and hungry.

We struggle with ambiguity. That's the royal 'we'…. I think Jai just wants things to be quieter. 

It seems that even though I KNOW different things change any given situation with dogs and sheep and handler and there are no hard and fast instructions that work in every situation. ( I know this because Dianne has told me, I've heard P*trick say it, I've read it, I've discussed it drunk and sober with people who care and people who don't….and now I will RHYME IT FOR YOU to prove that I know it:

Different dog, Different Sheep

Flat terrain or very steep

Hot day, cold day, windy day, fair

wool sheep, range ewes, those turds with hair

Bad mood, happiness, stoic, in a snit

there is no recipe; from great to it goes striaght to shit)

(I didn't say it was a GOOD RHYME).

Anyway.  It seems like we get guidelines.  We need to work with guidelines.  We can do this.  Sometimes, though, we wonder why it's okay for our dog to NOT take a flank because she was RIGHT and ….sometimes…though it turned out okay, it's NOT alright because she didn't take her FLANK.  I know that getting THIS and learning to WORK WITH THIS and RESPOND CORRECTLY TO THIS… is all experience. It's about give and take.  Partnership.  I understand this, but don't feel like I'm competent enough to judge it.  I do love partnership. If anything, I tend to want to give my dogs MORE control.

When my children were small…really small….still in diapers, maybe, even, my mother used to get on me about my way of dealing with them,

"WHY do you ARGUE with [her/him]?" she'd ask. "Why are you holding a DEBATE with someone who can't form a SENTENCE?"

"Cienna," I'd say, "I don't know about having another juice box.  You're pissing yourself.  Really.  There is a cousin on your father's side who pissed herself through her teens, right up into adulthood, and eventually married someone who cleans the traps at fish hatcheries.  FOR FREE!! Though I can't remember apple juice being involved, what I'm seeing regularly in your pants is really reminiscent.  I want more for you."

"I want JUICE!! "

"Yes, I see that…and hydration is important…and this is organic apple juice, so there is a part of me that thinks it's okay….but….frankly, this is your third in a small space of time…and here's something I didn't tell you before. That cousin: I think her name wash Rowshell, yeah…spelled weird…and I don't think she was the ONLY ONE PISSING HER PARTICULAR PANTS."

"I WANT ONE!"

"Hmmmm… yes. No, I think not this time. Try me again in an hour when you haven't pissed yourself. I'll put you in a little dress. We'll both feel better!"

I have matured and this dog business is teaching me to be MORE of a leader than motherhood did…but, still, I tend to negotiate with my dogs.

When I ask Jai to go Come by, but she seems to prefer an away….or straight up the middle….I don't know…perhaps I should cuss? Ask her again? I will ASK HER AGAIN, then throw in some foul language for emphasis,

"JAI!! COME BY!! WHAT THE HELL!?"

But if she persists, I start wondering,

"Hmmm…I wonder what she sees or feels that I do not?"

By then DD is yelling, "LIE HER DOWN AND MAKE HER TAKE THAT FLANK!"

Which seems really decisive, but not very democratic.  Still, she is the one winning these things. 

Yesterday I worked Jai in DDs small pasture.  It was foggy, like my head.

I hadn't seen Jai in almost a week. I had been out of town for work and left her with DD because my home is like a crackhouse, figuratively speaking, with my spouse letting dogs eat directly from his mouth and ride in cars up and down boulevards barking at everyone who makes eye contact; place 1-900 calls to cats….  It's better for our Longterm Goals for Jai to be in a more stable environment than chasing balls repetitively and sleeping in 700 thread count sheets with 6 other dogs and a man who can't say No unless it preceeds 'Katy'.  When I'm home things are a little more controlled and we sleep on flannel sheets. 

Anyway.  I expected that when I picked Jai up she'd fall all over herself and me with the raw unfiltered happiness of being reunited with the Center of Her Universe. I pictured how calm I'd be – stoic, really; demo to DD my firm hand of control.  Yes, I missed the dog, and was excited to work, but the most important thing was that she Respect my Leadership and not lose her dignity in the moment.  We'd start things off right.  Then we'd go out into the pasture and work and miracles would occur because they always do in my head and DD would actually shed real tears and ask my advice on how she can turn one of her nigglesome training issues around because obviously I Get It.  I'd say, Yeah, maybe later…and then…as I sauntered into the pasture I wouldn't fall over a burm. DD wouldn't laugh.  My dog and the sheep would, under my guidance, fall into some heretofore illusive Rightness. 

I wore shoes that do not tie. Boots. I walked into DDs shop and, as she let her group of dogs out, I went to Jai's crate, calmly.  Then ….channeling someone else's high strung aunt, I cried,

"JAI-BIRD!!! MOMMY'S BACK!!!"

When I opened Jai's crate she darted out, as in my vision, but she kept going, past me and out the shop door and into the yard with the other dogs.  A single tear and stream of bad language happened as DD said, sensitively, as always,

"I never let her rush in front of me like that.  That isn't good…. You need to make her stay behind you…when she tried that crap with me I threw a can at her and that worked…"

Meanwhile, I could not decide if Jai was having kibble for dinner, or I was taking her out for all you can eat meat buffet… Zamzow's celebrated Yappy Hour… A ball game.  Would she prefer 710 thread count cotton?  My inner Calm Authoritarian was getting high off of my spleen fumes. 

Eventually I stuffed the frankly borderline apathetic Jai into her crate in my car and we left.  We didn't work dogs as it got to be too late and my fantasies looked more like cartoon squirrels chasing eachother than anything I could use in training. DD and I drank wine instead.  I pretended I didn't care,

"Did she seem to miss me? Should I call next time and have you hold up the phone to her enormous ears?"

DD stared, wordless. Ignoring me. Poured more wine.  Suggested that I come back and work the following day.

So, yesterday we worked in the pasture.  It was foggy. Jai was, as always, pretty easy to work, except she gripped no less than 3 times. Gripping is not a new behavior; she's pretty predictable. She will grip when sheep won't move,  especially with added pressure, which in this case was the fog.   When she is contemplating The Grip, she slows way down and her stare intensifies, her movements become like swimming in thick oil.

"When she slows down like that and does that cadgy movement…she's going to grip. You need to call her to you."

Still, I get confused when I should let her grip because the important thing is that she goes in, finally, instead of staying way off, and when it's time to intercede.  Her issue is confidence, not gripping.  I don't want her to grip unless its necessary, or one of the sheep seems unpopular.  Like a sheep who should be shunned…some of them are just, frankly, unattractive…some seem snooty, like they are asking for it.

"Do you see what I'm saying?" DD asks.

Sometimes, though instead I say 'Yes'…. She has that can somewhere. 

I think I let EVERYONE rush in front of me, by the way. I think I'm finally going to start carrying a purse, like most women; a hard plastic purse full of rocks, instead of 'stuff, random feminine things' ….  I will rattle it in warning. It seems to work with Jai…

Next trial is January, hopefully. We'll be ready. We will win.  Totally.