The Sheddin' and Sleddin' trial is coming up and I can HARDLY WAIT…  if by ' can hardly wait,' I actually mean 'haven't really prepared nearly enough with either dog but I'll write a check for anything these days. I BOUGHT A NEW WHISTLE!!'

I did. An aluminum one. It only whistles on one side and spits back at me tonelessly on the other.   Just as I deserve.

Some part of me seems to believe that buying a new whistle is equal to a few hours of practice.  Like buying how-to books or instructional dvds, even if you don't watch them, the INTENTION ALONE moves you forward.  

If DD or P*Trick put a foil cap on my head and made me sit in a sensory deprivation chamber (dog crate) chanting COMEBY and AWAY for food treats, telling me this would improve my timing, I'd do it. Only if they charged me a shit ton of money and gave me a sweatshirt in the end, though. There is NO SUCH THING as a FREE LUNCH.  I believe that.

Anyway: Though Pat's hearing seems to be less sharp and he has cataracts in both eyes, he seems to be listening to me better, slowing down.  He's in good physical shape.  I'm running him as long as he still seems to have fun.  

Jai hasn't been gripping in practice, though she rarely does, and her flanks are better.  She's about 60% in taking the right flank without a correction.  I'm about 70 percent in asking for the right one without cursing.

Thankfully ProNovice won't have to do any complicated Sheddin'.
Or Sleddin'….

Just Liftin' and Driftin' …Flannels and Panels.  (My pants are flannel lined, as the fields are panel lined).  Yank Ewe and Thank You…

Yeah. Our poetry, of course, demands most of our time these days.

So, we'll see what we get, besides, hopefully, decent weather. 

I miss the relative ease of just answering questions TMT style.  Don't any of you have questions we can all answer?

I'll start. I don't have a fancy button or sophisticated method of linking any blogs that might want to participate…because I'm LAZY…so if you do, just comment. Questions will be answered, blogs will be read.

Here's mine:

How has sheepdog work changed you as a person OUTSIDE of the work?

I'm wearing flannel lined pants from a feed store.  That's huge! 

I view and experience communication very differently, and not just with my dogs.  I am more relaxed around people.  Most people who didn't know me before this are surprised when I say I am really fundamentally shy, introverted and solitary.  I primarily communicate via email and writing because I'm much better at it.  Face to face I can almost appear … either so quiet that humming seems reasonable or so randomly jabbering and odd that humming would be a relief.  I used to have to be dragged from my house to attend any sort of social thing. I might agree to this once a month, if there was enough alcohol.

Now people stay at my tiny house in Greenleaf with me and outside of my habitual running/walking/hiking…I am maybe ALONE, REALLY ALONE once a month.

At least all my old friends FINALLY know FOR CERTAIN that I'm not the unibomber.

I can't say exactly what it is about working dogs that has helped me relax with people, maybe it's as simple as learning to fail publicly, or seeing that everyone struggles with the same things and we all have similar feelings about it.  Communication with any type of animal is not that dissimilar.  I've always felt very different and removed from people and I don't as much any more, especially with people who work dogs. Or at least it doesn't matter to me.

Okay.  That's pretty basic.  I wish I had something more clever, but what can you expect from someone wearing pants from a feed store.  Give me something better!

1. What are you thankful for this week?

Next week. I'm thankful for next week.  I'm grateful for last week and the week before can go fuck itself.

2. How do you deal with a squeaker/shrieker/noisy dog?

I click and treat it away.  I click and treat the silence.

CLICKCLICKCLICKMOTHERFUCKINGCLICK TREAT TREAT TREAT.  Or I drink. One of these things works better.  It's hard to say which, what with all the drinking.

3. Barbara wants to know: what would you say is ONE skill or attribute needed to be successful?

A clicker. HUGE bucket of treats. 

Being observant, persistant and wanting to succeed bad enough to fail for years.

4. Pippin wants to know: what are your favorite games?

I don't do many games.  Cards, I suppose. Lately I've played poker with friends and that is fun. Scrabble pisses me off, but I play it because I feel like it's good for me.

5. What are some of your strategies for dealing with winter?

Hot baths and big fires. I love snow, but I hate rain and I hate the half-hearted weather. I don't like short days.  I don't sleep much so short days and long long nights seem to mock me.  If I lived in Alaska I wouldn't.

Previously I've attended the Helsley/Shannahan Sheepcamp to address My Suck in general terms.  The experience of having these two really excellent trainers evaluate me and my dog and then offer suggestions for improvement is not just immediately helpful…infact, for me, initially it's just information that makes sense but will take years to sink in. (PLUS LUNCH!!)  The information for me needs to metamorphisize into response; I believe that I get it when I can finally physically feel the concept, not just parrot it back for food treats.  Years.

This year I went into Sheepcamp with something specific in mind.  I wanted to work on whatever I had to work on to get Jai to stop getting us the Ironic Thank You off the field.  Naturally this included ideas that I've heard for the last three years but still fail to employ.  (Warning: HELSLEY HAS A TIDE BOTTLE FULL OF ROCKS!)

"Watch your sheep, not your dog."

It's taken me three years and I still stare at my dog as she's coming down the field. I tend to want to position her like I would the cue ball on a pool table.  Her trajectory a straight line from her eyes to my corner pocket through the sheep.

"Your dog is using her eye wrong. She's using it to stop motion, which you have to start again, and then the sheep eventually get sick of this stopping and starting thing and shit happens."

P*trick didn't really say shit, he said something like,

"Those nappy-headed car seat coverfucks start gettin' up in a bitches grill."

Patrick addressed Jai's eye and how she was misusing it, basically picking the fight.  He had me flank her, correct her for overflanking to catch a nappy assed ewe eye  – keep her flow going and the sheep moving.  She relaxed, visibly more comfortable in moving the sheep. She stopped laying herself down.  Just a few of these exercises made a huge difference in her confidence.

Helsley wasn't worried about her grip and told me that I needed to stop being worried about it also or it would continue. I need to get it out of my head and start thinking about the Big Picture.  I need to picture what I want and convey that to my dog.  Again I am reminded of the mountain biking analogy of

"Look where You WANT your wheels to go, NOT where you DON'T want them to go…"

For whatever reason this observation by Don was when I noticed that I was still watching my dog and not the stock.  Jai was fetching sheep straight to me, but to do so, because of the draw, she was adjacent to the group of ewes, not behind.  The Dog Watcher in me wanted to flank her slightly to line up with my corner pocket, and would have…but that would have messed everything up. 

When Don had us pen, he kept insisting I call Jai in,

"Call her in!"

"Do you have a marinade on hand? We're going to need it…"

"No we're not, call her in."

She looked so poised to grip. Her concentration was all on the sheep, she had her lateral movement thing going…I mean I would have laid money on it….but I always lose bets. 

"WATCH YOUR SHEEP!"

So, I called her in and she moved the sheep into the pen. No grip. 

Sometimes the information you get from trainers seems contradictory and that is what makes this such a tough learning curve.  It IS CONTRADICTORY….because there are variables that change and need to be adjusted for.  The dog, the sheep, the draw.  Pants.  It takes time to collect enough tools and information, for these concepts and strategies to become inherent enough to be second nature.  To physically feel the communication between you and your dog and the sheep…the pressure, etc.  Meanwhile you stand there and whistle the wrong flank and scream until you get it and your dog thinks you are okay at feeding and petting but why can't you wait in the car while she works…your dog thinks you are whistling a fucking hole in her head so she puts one in a ewe or two.  The circle of strife. 

Anyway, I loved sheep camp.  So did Jai. 

More later about our Puppy Sheep Kit and the All-In-One Trial Tool, patents pending.  The other GREAT thing to come out of sheep camp – a sisterhood of invention.