Rockin' Ewe Stockdogs

TMT...mmmm....maybe later....

2012-02-16T10:45:00.001-07:00

1. Jorgen would like to know what skill would you like to have that you don't currently have?

Decision making...why do you think its taking me this long to get the inside of my house painted?! I still haven't decided what I'm going to do with my third bedroom...the main decision I'm trying to make is whether or not to put a bed in there (it would have to be a twin size) to make it an "overflow" guest room or to just make it my den/craft room...

2. If someone were going to play you in a movie, who do you think it would be?

I have no idea...I'll take suggestions but I also want the power to veto said suggestions! :-)

3. Kelsey wants to know what is a quality that you admire in a dog but would never fit with you?

A dog that is so pushy that you can't get them backed off...Mo has always been pushy, but I think maturity is really starting to sink in and I'm able to get her backed off (like our Saturday run at El Presidente...so happy with her!)...if it would continue to be a lesson in frustration for me, I would probably stop running her and just use her for setout...

4. If you had just enough money to pay someone to do one chore for you, what would it be?

Clean the house! That's one chore right? No...well, then I think it would have to be clean the bathroom...

5. Are you a procrastinator, a doitnower (I made that word up), or something in between?

I don't call it procrastinating...I call it priorities! :-)

TMT 2012: #6

2012-02-09T15:40:00.001-07:00

1. Robin wants to know what your ideal number of dogs is?

If I had a place with acreage and my own stock, I think I could do up to 6...all at different ages (probably 3-4 years difference) and at levels of training and trialing...its a number that is managable for traveling (with the proper vehicle)...the ideal number doesn't also include auxillary (non-working) or guardian dogs does it? :-) They likely wouldn't all be loose in the house at once...I would rotate them in groups of probably three...

2. Lora wants to know if you find that your dogs are better or worse after time off from training?
It depends on the dog...When Mo was younger and just started regular training, life would inevitably get in the way and she wouldn't get worked for a month...and I think it was really good for her. Right now, I think Zane would benefit from some work on a daily basis...and not having my own stock makes it difficult but I'm going to be trying to get him out several times a week.
3. What is your favorite power tool? What power tool do you wish you had?
I only have one...a wireless drill...which I love...I finally broke down and bought one after having to borrow one from a friend several times...it really comes in handy when the neighbor's huge dog loosens one of the fence boards...or when one of their Shar Pei's (same neighbor) is standing on the woodpile on their side of the fence and gets a foot stuck between the boards and I have to loosen one of the boards to free its foot...

I can be a bit accident prone when it comes to sharp things like knives (I've had some pretty bad cuts...some that I probably should have gone to urgent care to fix up, but I didn't), so I don't know that I should own another power pool as most of them have blades...that rotate...and that would draw my fingers to it like a moth to a flame...
Although its not powered, this is my new favorite too! Its a stylus for my Kindle Fire that Carolynn gave me...no more finger prints on the screen!

4. What did you want to be when you grew up?

All I ever talked about was being a veterinarian...I only made it through my freshman year of college as a biology major...then I thought I wanted to go into business to work in the music industry...I don't remember how long that lasted...and when I finally graduated, I had a degree in Political Science...because I thought I wanted to go to law school...after interning/working for an attorney for a year, I ended up in banking...
5. How many of your friends are not "dog people"?
Do you mean people that don't have dogs? Or people that don't like dogs? I don't think I have friends that don't like dogs...and those that do like dogs but doesn't have one is rare...of my friends outside of the "dog world", I think I'm the only one that competes with dogs...but they are cool about it...even when it means that I don't see them as much because I'm probably off at some dog trial. :-) I have really great friends!

This and That Thursday...

2012-02-02T17:00:00.002-07:00

1. Julie would like to know one frugal tip this week.

Just one? Buy bulk! Especially for spices! I've also switched to buying my pasta in bulk. Its definitely worth purchasing some good airtight containers for purchasing in bulk...

2. What are you reading this week?

I'm not reading anything at the moment...I have lots of books on my "to be read" list...you can find them in my Notes on my FB page or on my Books page on my blog! I always love getting recommendations as well!

3. Barbara wants to know: do you hit the snooze button on the alarm clock, and if so how many times?

Umm...this is embarrassing, lol...I'm really bad about hitting the snooze button! I recently had to buy a new alarm clock...it has a lovely feature that when you hit the snooze button that you can pick how long to snooze in 10 minute increments, lol...for some reason, I like getting up slowly...so lately, I hit the snooze button for an hour, lol...I told you - embarrassing!

4. If you had to travel in a sedan (or if you already drive a sedan type car) and you had five or six dogs, how would you handle it?

I drive a Saturn Ion...with three dogs...Zane doesn't really like to ride loose for too long so if its a longer trip or we're going somewhere and he needs to stay in the car, I put my smallest crate in the backseat and he stays there. There is enough room between the crate and the door for Kip or Mo to hangout...I usually have Kip in the front seat as he just lays down and goes to sleep. Kip doesn't really like to travel away from home, so he usually stays with a friend, which helps with the distance traveling. I guess if I had five or six dogs, I wouldn't have a sedan...I think the smallest vechile I would have is an Outback (and maybe pull a dog hauler) but I would prefer to have a truck.

5. How much do you filter what you put on your own blog?

I don't really filter what I say...my filter is more about how much I say...its really easy for me to go off on tangents...I'm definitely a "get to the point" kind of person...

MrChewy Review

2012-02-02T11:15:00.002-07:00

I was emailed by the people at MrChewy. They offered me $50 to spend on their website in exchange for a review of their website. They offer over 70 brands to choose from, free shipping for orders over $49 (or orders under, a flat shipping fee of $4.95), and you can even schedule repeating orders. Another nice feature was that I didn't have to pay sales tax!

The website was easy to use and nagivate through. I ordered my stuff on Thursday, late afternoon, I received an email Friday morning that the stuff had been shipped and I received my order the following Thursday. The items were shipped from PA via FedEx. The box and items were in good shape.

I wish they carried Nature's Variety Instinct LID diets. Mo and Zane have different food sensitivites and this is one diet that they can both eat.

The biggest problem I had was deciding what to choose! I ended up buying a couple of small bags of kibble and some treats. I like to keep kibble on hand for traveling or if I've slacked on have the dogs raw diet prepared. If I decide to go back to feeding mostly kibble and if MrChewy carried Nature's Variety Instinct LID (and probably even if they didn't), I'd setup the scheduled orders for dog food. Having it delivered to the house would be great, especially since the closest dog food store is almost 20 minutes away.

TMT #4

2012-01-26T15:00:00.000-07:00

1. How do you search for and then choose a trainer?

Word of mouth or referral...I didn't have to do much searching though...after attending a P*trick clinic, Jodi setup group lessons with DD and the rest is history.

2. The dog world is small and... uh... talkative. After choosing a trainer how do you handle those people in your life who don't believe in that trainer/trainers methods and criticize them to you?

People have a right to their opinion and you're welcome to express them to me once but if you can't get past your opinion about who I train with or how I choose to train my dog and continue to hound me about it, then we're done.

3. Do you believe that a person's personal life should influence your choice of a trainer? (i.e do you believe a person's choice to be a party animal outside of work would affect your choice?)

If I don't mesh with a trainer, then I'm not going to train with them...I don't know that their personal life has much to do with it.

4. When you have a break through moment with your dog, do you feel that moment makes your connection stronger with that dog and makes the next step in training easier?

Of course! On both counts! I think when you have those break through moments, then communication between you and your dog becomes more clear.

5. Do you stick with just one trainer, or do you go to multiple sources for help?

I've only had one trainer and the current method is working for me so I don't want different methods getting mixed up in my head. If I come across a problem that DD and I can't figure out, I'm sure I would outsource my help from someone that DD suggests to help me.

TMT #3

2012-01-19T16:00:00.001-07:00

1. What is one lesson you've learned this week?

I should have watched the show 24 when it first aired! I think I only watched the last 2 or 3 seasons...Now I'm watching it from the beginning on my Kindle Fire (for free with my one free month subscription to Amazon Prime...which I will be signing up for)...

2. Who or what might you have been in another life? What might you be in a next life?

I don't know who or what I might have been in another life or in the next, but I think it would have been interesting (albeit dangerous) to have lived during the Tudor dynasty.

3. What unusual things do you like the smell of but don't usually admit?

I can't think of anything unusual...I like the smell of sharpies and gasoline...not mixed together...although, maybe I would...I also love the smell (and taste) of good tequila...

4. What are your thoughts on continuing on vs. retiring when a trial run is going badly? How do you decide? Where do you draw the line?

I don't recall having to retire a run because it was going badly...and honestly, I don't recall retiring a lot of runs. The last time I had to retire runs was at Lacamas this past year because Mo was not handling the pressure of the field during the cross-drives, but our runs were not bad (up to that point). With these runs, Mo was driving the sheep up the field instead of across because to get them turn in the correct direction, she had to flank into the pressure, which she refused to do. When I go to the post, I don't ever think about having to retire my run with Mo...maybe I'll reanswer these questions once Zane starts trialing, lol.

5. This is a call for questions or subjects you'd like to talk about - I'd appreciate suggestions (and please come link up so that I'll be sure to see your post), so here's your chance!

I'll work on this and get back to ya!

Wintery Wednesday

2012-01-18T15:15:00.000-07:00

We finally got some snow!

This is Jake...he belongs to a friend...he's a Great Dane mix (or at least we're pretty sure he is)...if I remember correctly, he's not much older than Zane, maybe by a few months...he's a very sweet dog. He and Zane get along great and spent lots of time playing outside...

And here's my gang enjoying the snow!

Mo's out of focus but I love the color of my young maple tree...

Kip's out of focus, but I love the look on his face...

Stop! and eat some soup...

2012-01-12T15:00:00.000-07:00

1. Stopping your dog - what do you prefer? On their feet? On their belly? Some combination?

Stopping? What's that? Early in Mo's training, I insisted on a lie down...only to learn that with her eye, keeping her on her feet is what I needed to do. If I give her a lie down and she either lays down or just stops, I'll take it...I'm happy when the forward motion comes to an end.
With Zane, I will be using stand more than lie down to get him to stop...now I need to untrain myself from saying "lie down" all the time...
In the end, I would like a dog that stands and lays down...

2. At what point do you start teaching this?

I think it would have to depend on the dog. I suppose it has already started with Zane, now that we're generally working out in the field...although I don't think I've really used either term with him very much in his training so far.

3. Do you have a favorite dog? I won't tell.

When I'm not feeling good or lazy, Kip...he's more than happy to just lay around the house...
When I need to laugh, Zane...he's always doing something that makes me laugh...including breaking out of a canvas crate and destroying a picture of Kip (something tells me that Kip is not his favorite dog, lol)
In my mind, Mo can do no wrong...I'm going to say that probably 99% of the time, Mo is my favorite...

4. What is the #1 thing a dog can do to push your buttons?

One of the first things that I teach my dogs is a recall, so if they don't come when called, I get quite annoyed...

5. Brrrrr... it's winter. What is your favorite soup recipe?

I just made Beef Barley soup this past weekend and it rocked! I think its my new favorite!

1 1/2 lbs beef stew meat
3 med carrots, sliced (1 1/2 cups)
1 large onion, chopped (1 cup)
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2/3 cup frozen corn, thawed
2/3 cup uncooked medium pearl barley
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1 can diced tomatoes, undrained
5 1/4 cup beef broth
1 cup frozed sweet peas, thawed

Spray 5 to 6 quart slow cooker with cooking spray. Cut beef into bite size pieces, if desired. In cooker, mix beef and remaining ingredients except peas.
Cook; cover on Low heat setting 9 to 10 hours.
Stir in peas. Increase heat setting to High; cover and cook 20 to 30 minutes longer or until peas are tender.

Its back!

2012-01-05T17:30:00.002-07:00

1. What is your favorite new toy? I know you have one, so you might as well go on and fess up.

My Kindle Fire!

2. If you're going to be caught under the mistletoe, who would you LEAST like it to be with?

Hmmm...Deuce Bigelow is a good one...why can't I think of anyone else off the top of my head...they must be bad enough that I've blocked them from my brain...

3. New Year's Resolutions - for your dogs - share!

Get Mo to stop after the lift.
Work on Mo's "look back".

4. New Year's Resolutions - for yourself - share!

Start jogging and/or biking
Exercise the dogs more

5. How did you handle the holiday food situation?

I didn't hold myself back, lol...I was at my parent's house...that means lots of homemade Korean food!

Maybe I'll ask some questions next week...

2011-12-30T09:45:00.000-07:00

Jorgen took on a second week of TMT...

~~What are you wearing…~~..What is your favorite clothing to wear?

I love just wearing jeans and a t-shirt...and if I'm cold, my beloved OSU Beavers sweatshirt. I have been known, on occassion, to lounge around in my pjs all day...

What do you think your dogs thinks about you?

1) I'm lazy and should be constantly dispensing food to them like a Pez dispenser
2) I'm lazy and should load them up in the car and take them to work sheep
3) I'm lazy and should spend more time throwing balls or toys for them to fetch

Are you happy about the past year trialing, do you think next year will be better?

I am very happy with the progress that Mo and I have made over the past year and of course next year will be better! I was very happy about Mo and I finishing courses (I'll never forget finishing our first "big" pro-novice course at Fire Ridge last year!). I have also been happy with our first two runs in Open. I'm hoping that as Mo continues to mature, that her confidence will continue to grow and that it will show on the trial field. Thankfully, I have a dog that has no problem coming in on the shed, so its my lack of experience that holds us from getting our shed at trials. I'm hoping that with more experience that I get, I'll be able to hold up my part of completing the shed at trials.

If you would ask a TMT question that you did not have to answer, what question would you ask?

I don't think I would post a question if I wouldn't answer it myself.

Jorgen asks the questions last week...

2011-12-27T21:30:00.001-07:00

Jorgen wants to know: Why do I like dogs? Why do I compete?

Why do I like dogs?
What's not to like about this?

Why do I compete?

I think had I been able to, I would have been competing with dogs since I was a kid (hard to do when you are in a military family and move a lot). So, I think this is something that has been coming for a long time. It gives me goals to set and to hopefully one day acheive. Trialing lets me see what I need to focus on at my next training session. It gets me out of the house, to drive to new places and meet new people...otherwise, I might just be a hermit in my house with dogs...and probably a bunch of other animals...

I think Ann is a bit on the muscle...

2011-12-20T15:25:00.001-07:00

I think Ann has been hitting the egg nog a little too hard...she has a bunch of questions for handlers who trial, who work home flocks, who work commercial flocks.

What your perfect dog?

Do you like a dog that is really on the muscle?

No...you can't stop a dog that's "on the muscle"...ditto to everyone that said that they hate this term and why.

Do you like a dog that needs a steady stream of whistles?

Whatever works best for the handler and dog and like Jorgen said, as long as each whistle has a purpose and the dog takes them...then your just nagging your dog (per P*trick) and teaching your dog that s/he doesn't have to listen to you. I personally don't want a dog that I have to micromanage.

Are you a maximal or minimal whistler?

I'm not sure where I currently am...but I would like to be a minimal whistler.

Do you like a natural dog that feels the sheep and just needs a little direction here and there?

I would love a dog with natural feel for its sheep. I don't want a dog that I'm constantly telling to come on or back off.

Do you like a dog that prefers certain type of sheep?

Nope...I would like a dog that can rate his sheep and work them effectively no matter the type.

Do you like a dog that wants to partner up and be a really good team player?

Who doesn't want a dog that wants to partner up and be a good team player? I don't want to fight with my dog on the field...that leads to the "dark side"...

Do you like a dog that really knows what s/he wants and you, as a handler really has to manage?

No, sounds like a frustrating and unfun way to be with your dog. What I want is a dog that wants to work and wants to work with me.

Do you want push?

Yes, but just the right amount at the right time...is that too much to ask for? :-)

Do you want a good listener?

Most certainly...but not to the point where the work is mechanical...again, I don't want to micromanage my dog...

Do you want try? (Not tri.)

If there is no try, then what do you have?

Do you like a dog who gets the job done, no matter the sheep, but it’s a big job to get that dog listening?

No, I would find that extremely frustrating. If its a big job to get the dog to listen on a certain type of sheep, then I would say that those sheep do not suite that dog...I think for some dogs that can be worked on by getting them more positive exposure to them (like I'm doing with Mo with range ewes) but for some dogs it just wasn't meant to be.

Do you want it all?

Having it all means something different to everyone and I don't see a problem with wanting it all. I think most people have an unrealistic idea of what "it all" is and it frustrates them to no end that they cannot get it.

Can you have it all? Since I don’t know enough to know what I don’t know, what do you want? What do you like?

I think as long as your goals are attainable and not completely unrealistic, then you can have it all. I want to continue to learn from my mistakes and get better...always be going forward and not backwards.

Mo has been a great first dog for me. I love this dog for everything that she is and isn't. She is really the one that got me hooked into working stock and has taught me a lot of lessons over the past four years. I can see where I lacked in her training and did not commit to her giving me the work that I expect (such as square flanks everytime). She gives me her all...perhaps a little too much. Having a dog with a lot of eye is fun to watch but can be difficult to handle. When my friends (who don't know anything about working stock) watch Mo work, a good number of them say, I would want a dog that looks like her when they work...I always tell them, "That's what you want until you have it." I also think that some of her problems might stem from our early Novice-Novice runs when the sheep would get away because she couldn't hold the pressure of the draw. It seems like sometimes, especially when setout is at a good distance, she seems to panic after lifting the sheep. She is trying too hard to keep the sheep together (which causes the zig zagging we seem to have most of the time during the top half of the fetch) and doesn't want to lie down when I tell her, in fear that her sheep are going to get away.

At this point, Zane feels like a complete 180 from Mo. His approach to sheep seems much "softer", if you can image what that looks like. He seems to check with me to make sure that he's doing the right thing. For the most part, he stays off of his sheep, but has no problem coming in either. I have this feeling we're going to have a lot of fun together out on the trial field.

Sleddin' and Sheddin' 2011

2011-12-13T22:00:00.001-07:00

Sleddin' and Sheddin' did not go as well as I had hoped...I didn't get a stop at the top, a stop after the lift or a shed. Mo acted a bit weird on her outruns...the first day she stopped and acted like she didn't see the sheep...I had to redirect her twice. Until that second redirect, she was running with her tail a bit up in the air...when she got the second redirect and must have really seen the sheep, the tail automatically went down. And then it happened again on Sunday. I had no control of her at the top on either day. I'm really not sure what was going on.

There were areas of the course where the dogs couldn't hear really well or the sound was distorted and there was a spot with some weird pressure because a lot of dogs would not take a come-by flank. On Saturday, sheds were hard to come by...Mo and I had one really good opportunity for a shed, but didn't get it done. On Sunday, we had a heck of a time on the cross drive (the no-I-will-not-go-come-by pressure problem) so we only had 45 seconds to shed.

The trial ended with an awesome silent gather tie breaker by Rob Miller and Rex and Deb Eliason and Victor. Rob and Rex went first...and had probably a near perfect outrun, lift and fetch. Deb and Victor had a big task ahead of them...and was very close to meeting it! The sheep just went around the fetch panels, which made Rob and Rex the winners. Other than that, the runs were probably pretty close to being identical. I wish I would have gotten them on video. We all told Rob that he was no longer to whistle Rex through an OLF, lol.

One good thing that happened over the weekend was I got to spent some time with Oakley, Zane's littermate. Patrick will be starting her on sheep soon.

Here are Oakley and Zane hanging out...

We had another vistor during the trial...Grandma Lana...she's 13 years old...sweet, old lady...

Grandma Lana wishing someone would send her to pick up the sheep...

Surprise! Its Tell Me Thursday!

2011-12-08T21:00:00.000-07:00

1. What are your plans for the holiday season?

I'm heading to Portland to spend Christmas with my parents and brother (I'm assuming he's coming up from California). The time will be spent shopping with my Mom since I won't do any shopping before I go and spending time with my friends. I didn't go last year, with hopes that my parents would breakdown and come to Idaho, but they ended up with some emergency foster kids and couldn't come. I'll be campaigning for them to come to Idaho next year.

2. Do you decorate? If so, what have you done so far?

I only really decorate if I'm going to be at home...I have some window clings and a holiday welcome sign up outside and this is what I have in the house...

3. a. Favorite recent dog photo? b. Photo that shows your mood today (or one word)?

4. There's been a discussion on the BC Boards about "don't train for the novice classes... just train for open and the rest will fall into place." What are your thoughts on this?

I don't watch the BC Boards that closely (I generally go there if I'm bored but then after reading a couple of posts I find out that I'm not that bored) so I'm not sure what discussion has taken place. To a degree, I guess it makes sense unless you want to stay in Novice. When I talked with Dianne about moving up to Open, she told me that I wouldn't be able to compete in Novice anymore...my reply: "That's fine." Really, why would I want to compete in Novice again? I feel that Novice is really for the truely "new to trialing" and if they are getting good and proper training from someone that is knowledgable, then they shouldn't really need to be in Novice for any great length of time. My feeling is that you should train to your goals for you dog (at the same time being realistic in your goals for your dog).

5. What are your top five cannot-do-without-them dog items?

5. Dog crates, not that I use them a lot when we're at home.
(I bought another one Laura - but its not a hard crate, a practically new, but used (and cheap!) folding soft crate for traveling when space is limited)
4. The indoor/outdoor mat that catches most of Zane's water dribble after he's had his head in the water bowl.
3. FortiFlora, for days when the dogs (and I mainly mean Zane) eats something they shouldn't have (and I mainly mean kitty krunchies...and I don't even have a cat!) and I have to clean it up the consequence...
2. Bones for the dogs to chew on.
1. Dog beds (or my bed), heaven forbid that the dogs sleep on the floor!

Tell Me...Hump Day...

2011-12-07T13:30:00.003-07:00

Ann wants to know: What are your goals for yourself as a handler and for your dog(s) at the big trial this weekend?

Well, Mo and I will be competing in Open for the first time. My first goal is to get our shed. As I've heard from many people that the shed "starts at the lift". That being said, my second goal is for Mo to have a soft lift (which she has been doing lately) and goal number three is for her to lie down right after lifting the sheep. Maybe those need to be in reverse order...

My goal for Mo is to always have a positive experience. Although, it seems to me that even if I fall of my rocker during a run, Mo is always ready and willing to go again.

What...What is that?!

2011-12-03T17:30:00.000-07:00

Is that...paint on the wall?!

From L to R: Soap Suds, Swan Wing and Pressed Linen

Not dry let, but I'm kind of leaning towards Pressed Linen...the other two are too white...

Question of the week...

2011-12-01T21:30:00.001-07:00

Lora from Rocking Dog Ranch poses the question:

What would you NEVER name your dog and why?

With the exception of probably one name (Max), you won't catch me giving any of my dogs any names that come up on a Top Ten list. The reason why you won't see me name any dogs with a name that comes up on a Top Ten list is because its on a Top Ten list. Any other name really is a possibility...I like a lot of the traditional names for border collies...and yet, neither of my border collies have a traditional name...hmmm...I'll need to make it happen some day...

Time to wind down...

2011-11-22T18:36:00.000-07:00

It has been a crazy month...hopefully now that winter is here and the holidays are upon us, things will slow down...
I was sick after Fire Ridge...at first I didn't think I was sick...I had a sore throat and was sneezing (with my allergies, its not too uncommon for me) so I figured it was from all of the dust I'm sure I sucked in while at Fire Ridge. Then the Friday before Halloween, it hit me...I'm sure the Applebee's that I went to lunch that day was not happy to see me in their restuarant. By Friday night, I knew I was toast...I spent most of Halloween weekend in bed or on the couch...with the help of lots of raw bones for the dogs (including Jodi's so I had seven dogs that weekend!), I was able to get a lot of rest. I ended up not going to work for a couple of days. Being sick put me behind schedule for getting ready for the AHBA trial at Janie's. So the first weekend in November, I went out to Janie's to help get the courses setup. I had to get it done that weekend because the following weekend I was helping at BARC's three day NADAC trial...
The Thursday night before the NADAC trial, I picked up the judge from the airport, ran him to the trial site to tweak the course so we wouldn't have to get there really early before the trial, ran him to his hotel and then met up with Jodi, Mark, Justin, Colleen and Mary at our favorite Thai restuarant for dinner. Colleen was in town for work. I got to see Jossie, Jam's littermate.
I was the "judge wrangler" for the NADAC trial, which meant picking him up from his hotel every morning, making sure he got to eat and dropping him off at his hotel in the evening...not an easy task for someone that hates to get up early in the morning...thankfully our judge was very nice and easy going. I was also the volunteer coordinator for the weekend...I didn't have too hard of a time keeping all of the volunteer spots full, so that was nice. I did yearn to run Kip a couple of times during the trial, but it was also nice to just being able to sit and watch everyone else run their dogs.
A few days after the agility trial, I went to see Dierks Bentley with Jodi and Mark. It was awesome as usual. The Eli Young Band and Jerrod Niemann opened. I wasn't very impressed with The Eli Young Band but Jerrod Niemann was really good. The morning of the Dierks Bentley concert, my manager asked me if I could go to an economic breakfast the next morning...it started at 7am...in downtown Boise...not really able to say "no", I just prepared myself for a really long day...I actually got to the economic breakfast early! We had a Thanksgiving potluck at the office the day of the economic breakfast, so between getting up really early and pretty much eating a Thanksgiving Day dinner that afternoon, I could only hold out until 4:30. Plus I had someone coming in from out of town to stay with me. She is a new student of Dianne's from Nevada was staying with me while she took lessons with one dog and put her young dog on sheep. While she worked with Dianne during the weekend, I was at Janie's managing the AHBA trial. I stockhandled and did the secretarial work...I'm actually kind of glad that it was a small trial, lol. Of course it was windy on Saturday until the trial was over and then the weather was really nice. The weather was better on Sunday...the sun was out more than it was on Sunday.
Now looking ahead, other than the Sleddin' & Sheddin' Trial in December, going to Portland for Christmas and coordinating the holiday/New Years Eve agility practice (and this is the only thing that really requires any real work out of me), there isn't much on the calendar...and I think I might keep it that way!
I've been working Zane with Dianne once a week. He is coming along nicely. Next week we're going to do one round in her arena and then move out to the big field!

I really need to work Mo since we'll be running in Open at the Sleddin' & Sheddin' trial. We could use some practice shedding.

I guess somethings never change...

2011-11-03T17:30:00.000-06:00

Give thanks, play games and stay warm...

2011-11-03T01:30:00.002-06:00

1. What are you thankful for this week?

I'm thankful that my dogs (and the other four I had over Halloween weekend) are well behaved and didn't bother me while I was sick...

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

I don't have dogs that squeak or shriek...thankfully, my dogs are pretty quiet (mainly bark when someone knocks on the door, rings the doorbell or when they're playing)...which definitely helps good neighbor relationships. My dogs learned "quiet" pretty quickly.

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

I think you definitely need patience to be successful....Success is a windy and bumpy road and you need to be able to deal with anything that comes across your path to it...

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

Although I haven't played a board game in awhile, I love Pictionary, Trivial Pursuit and Taboo. Back when I had my Xbox, Halo was my most played game....although The Simpson's Road Rage game was pretty fun, lol.

All of the dogs love to play fetch...They love to run around with other dogs...Mo and I play "The Claw" if we're hanging out on the bed together...Kip likes to play "If I wiggle my nubbin' and turn in circles enough, you won't put me in that crate"...Zane plays a similar game "If I lay nicely on your bed or one of the dog beds, you won't put me in that crate"...

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

The biggest issue I've had with the cold since I've moved to Idaho was my feet...I couldn't find socks that kept them warm enough...but the Bogs that I bought last winter have pretty much saved my life (and my feet)! I'm generally warm by nature, so you won't really see me too bundled up in the winter...IF I'm wearing a coat, I'll usually just have a t-shirt or maybe a long-sleeved shirt on underneath...that depends on how much moving around I'm doing...I can usually just go with a sweater/sweatshirt and t-shirt or long-sleeved shirt.

Happy Halloween from Rockin Ewe Stockdogs

2011-10-26T20:08:00.002-06:00

Before the pictures started...

Kip and Mo...

Kip is more than happy to sit nicely for a picture...

Mo quickly wished it would stop...

That's more like it Mo...

And you can't forget Zane...

Happy Halloween from Rockin Ewe Stockdogs...

That'll do Zane...

(Photos by Jodi Darling)

Fire Ridge Vineyard SDT

2011-10-26T10:00:00.000-06:00

Mo, Kip and I went to the Fire Ridge Vineyard SDT this past (four day) weekend. I decided to take Kip since I hadn't taken him with me to anywhere I had traveled this year. By Sunday, he was done with living in his crate, lol. Zane stayed with Jodi, getting into plenty of trouble with Jam and Reese.
I ran Mo in Pro-Novice. I pretty much haven't worked her since Lacamas in August. I worked her at Janie's once and she did get some "sheep time" while we were helping set in Hailey for Trailing of the Sheep. These were the best runs we've had at a "big trial".
On Thursday, we showed up just in time to get to the post for our run. Mo wanted to go to the away side, so that is the way I sent her. She was tight so I stopped her and tried to get her kicked out...by giving her a come-by flank! She kept giving me this confused look, but it didn't click in my head that I was giving her the wrong flank. We didn't hit any panels, but we did complete the course. We got a low score, but that doesn't bother me. On Friday, our run was even better...I gave her the correct flank when trying to get her kicked out on her outrun...she kicked out when she felt she needed to, which was not when I told her to. We missed the fetch panels, got the drive panels (if I remember correctly) and missed the cross-drive panels (which was completely my fault). We got the pen, completing the course. Our score was much better, not close to winning, but I felt that it reflected our work better. For Saturday, I decided to not give Mo any redirects on her outrun since she was: 1) not taking them when I gave them and 2) was kicking out on her own. Why loose points giving her redirects when she's not taking them and she kicks out on her own? So, I didn't give her any redirects and she kicked out nicely on her own. About the first 2/3s of the fetch was nice and straight. She actually slowed down when I whistled lay down. When they started to drift to the draw, I gave Mo a hard lay down so that when I flanked her to get the sheep back online she would be wide...she didn't lie down and our fetch went all wiggly after that. We hit the drive panels and got all but one through the cross-drive panels. The one that didn't go through ran up the "hill" that the panels were on...I thought we were going to lose her, but thankfully she stopped and looked back at the rest of the group. Mo's look back isn't that great...and neither is her work on singles so I just stopped everything. I flanked Mo out of the path for the single to regroup and waited. She came back, thankfully! We went to the pen and completed the course. I need to look at the scores again, but I think for the weekend overall, we placed 12th out of like 27 dogs...
When we weren't on the Pro-Novice field, we were up at Open setout...The sheep for Open were really nice. They didn't really fight us or our dogs and set pretty nicely. Mo and I did set a couple sets of sheep on Saturday…while the wind was blowing like 35-40 MPH! Thankfully, Saturday was the only windy day…the other days were pretty much perfect!
During the double lift, Mo stopped a couple of ewes that decided to break back to the setout pen...I was getting the next set ready when I heard Susan call for help...Mo stood right up when she saw the sheep coming back and held them...She didn't really want to walk into them to turn them until I was there...It was a good confidence boosting situation for her.

This is George, the guaradian dog...he's very sweet and good at his job...

(photo by Dawn Pucci)

Mo is going for the wind-blown look...

The wind blew hard enough to blow over our porta potty...

I took every opportunity to work Mo on the flock after the trial days were over. We would allow the sheep to graze on the field for a little bit and then move them up to their night pen. It was good mental work for her having to keep the flock together and driving them (vs fetching them to me, which is what she really wanted to do). Her eye loosened up quickly and I was able to get some really nice and clean flanks from her. By the time we got the sheep to the night pen, she was tired, but she continued to give me everything she had...she has a lot of heart and "want to"...

This was Mo's last go in Pro-Novice...I'm moving her up to Open. We'll see if I decide to run her at trials with range ewes or just at the trials with farm flocks...training will now be focused on keeping her back off of the sheep...and shedding...

My second favorite time of the week...

2011-10-13T10:00:00.002-06:00

Thursday's do run a very close second the weekend...especially weekends when I don't have to get up early in the morning...

1. What is your favorite Little Debbie snack? If you hate Little Debbie then I bow down to your greatness. (I suppose you can include some other favorite snack. Maybe it'll inspire me to get over LD for today.)

Its not that I don't like LD, its just that I'm not a big sweets eater...especially chocolate...I like salty or sour/tart snacks...

2. What do you use for laundry detergent?

I currently use Tide HE...do you know anything about making your own soap for HE washers?

3. Tighty Whities or Boxers? (this, obviously, is open for interpretation)

I have quite a selection in that drawer...it just depends on the day and what I'm wearing...

4. Dogs: On the bed? In the house? On the furniture? Never? What are your rules?

I don't mind having a dog on the bed...Mo is usually the one that sleeps with me, but she gets annoyed with my tossing and turning so she usually ends up getting off sometime during the night. Kip won't sleep on the bed with me because not long after I adopted him, I kicked him in the head on accident...and Zane has slept on the bed a few times but he usually gets restless in the middle of the night waking me up and ends up going back in his crate...My dogs are house dogs...generally unless they need to go to the bathroom or chewing on raw bones, the dogs don't want to be outside...there really isn't any room for me and a dog on my one couch but if one wants to get up for a quick snuggle session, I'm all for it...One rule I do actually enforce in my house is that there are no dogs walking in front of me when I'm going down the hallway...because they usually end up stopping and I trip over them...usually when I'm carrying something...like a crate...its really annoying!

5. Favorite dog-related website (aside from my blog, obviously har har har)? Favorite NON-dog related website? Can be blogs, or whatever

Dog related website: I can't say that I really have any other than the other dog blogs that I read...I will on occassion go on to BC Boards...but I have to be really bored...I've never posted anything...I mainly look to see what the "hot topics" are and look at pictures...

Non-Dog related website: I, too, love The Pioneer Woman and I love browsing Craigslists (it's a sickness, really)...

Workin' on the weekend...

2011-10-10T22:30:00.000-06:00

Mo and I spent the weekend in Hailey, ID helping Susan in the setout pens for The Trailing of the Sheep Sheepdog Trial. The weather was perfect! Once the sun came out, it warmed up nicely into the mid-50s.

Saturday morning from setout

These sheep were some of the biggest/tallest sheep that I have ever handled. If they decided to jump out of the setout pens, they did with ease. For the most part, they behaved and once they were out of the pen, they set easily. On Sunday, we did have one run away ewe and one set that was just an entire of sheep that were determined not to be set.

The pens were made out of wooden panels, which were heavy and not easy to move around....which is why I spent most of today in bed or on the couch and taking plenty of ibprofen. It wasn't only my back that aches...I think I somehow strained my lower right leg...I was limping pretty good yesterday, even while taking ibprofen. Today, it got to be elevated with some heat and ice. Its still aches but I'm not limping anymore.

On Saturday morning, we noticed that the part of the flock that we were not using to set were coming down from the valley where they were (supposed to be) staying. I volunteered to take Mo and move them back up the valley. It was quite a walk but it was a really good experience for Mo...she had to cover a large flock of sheep and had to stay off of them as to not pick a fight with them, which is Mo's biggest problem when working range ewes. She helped me load the sorting pens when the flock got small during the end of the day and she got to push the remaining sheep down the field when the trial was over on Saturday. She also held a single ewe that jumped out of the pen (it was a good thing I happened to have her out). This ewe was pretty determined to run down the field but Mo did a good job holding her while I opened up the "bad girl pen". Man could these ewes jump! We always had to double count the set that was about to come out because there was always a chance that a ewe jumped back into the pen behind the setout pen or an extra ewe could have jumped into the setout pen. Then Mo got to push the sheep down the field once the trial was over for the day.

On Sunday, Mo got a little bit of pen work, but at the end of the trial is when she got to work. We got to take the sheep from the exhaust and move them up the field to be put back with the remaining of the flock. While the last run was going, I had Mo gather the sheep in the exhaust pen so that they would be ready to push out when the last run was over. We just about got the sheep to the field when Don Helsley flagged me down to let me know that there was a tie for the combined weekend score (Don with Ash and Lavon Calzacorta with Tess) so there was going to be a silent gather as the tie breaker...this meant putting the sheep back in the exhaust...which was okay with Mo! Mo exhausted Don's sheep after his gather and then we pushed the sheep back out after Lavon was done with his (Don and Ash won the top combined score for the weekend). Mo wanted to hold the flock to the fence line, but I didn't want to walk up and over all of the small knolls on the side of the field...it took a little bit of work but I got her to get the flock off of the fence and more towards the middle of the field. Like Saturday morning, it was good work for her to keep a large flock together and moving while staying off of their butts.

I have this weekend "off"...and then I leave next Wednesday afternoon for Milton-Freewater for Fire Ridge Vineyard SDT. I'm going to be working the Open setout and running Mo in Pro-Novice for the last time.

If I had a million dollars...

2011-10-06T09:25:00.003-06:00

1. If you won the lottery (a big one... I'm talking stupid muchos cash) what would you do with the money?

I have spent some time thinking about this! I have convinced myself that I need about 100 acres...I would build a "moderate" size house...a couple of spare bedrooms, an office, a HUGE kitchen and a dog room with runs that are both inside and outside...maybe a small guest house...there would be plenty of room to hold trials on large fields...I want two, yes two, indoor arenas (one for agility and one for herding)...I would grow my own hay for my sheep, cows and horses...A truck for pulling the camper around...and a hybrid for driving into town (which will probably be quite a distance)...I would also gift some money to family, friends and charities...I would also like to have a small rental portfolio...

2. After winning the lottery would you work a day job? If so, what would you do?

If the day job is running the farm, then yes...if not, then no!

3. Do you have any auxiliary dogs? Auxiliary dogs are dogs that are not essential to your main purpose (usually tiny, but not always). If you don't have an auxiliary dog what might you choose?

I suppose Kip would now be my auxiliary dog now that I'm not longer competing in agility...Unless I win the lottery, I probably won't really have any more auxilary dogs...

4. Do you have a favorite crock pot recipe (or other recipe) you can share?

Crockpot Lasagna
Serves 8 - total time = 25 min prep + slow cooking
This meat sauce starts quickly on the stove, but hours in the slow cooker add depth.
1 lb Italian pork sausage   Course salt and ground pepper
1 lb ground beef sirloin   1 can (6 oz) tomato paste
1 med onion, finely chopped  1 can (28 oz) crushed tomatoes in puree
2 med carrots, finely chopped  9 lasagna noodles
2 garlic cloves, minced   2 cups shredded part skim mozzarella (8 oz)

1. In a 5 quart Dutch oven or heavy pot, cook sausage and beef over medium high, breaking up meat with a spoon, until no longer pink, 4 to 6 minutes. Add onion, carrots and garlic; season with salt and pepper. Cook until onion has softened, 3 to 5 minutes. Stir in tomato paste, then tomatoes, bring to a boil and remove from heat.
2. Spoon 2 cups meat mixture into bottom of a 5 to 6 quart slow cooker. Layer 3 noodles (breaking them as needed to fit), 2 cups meat mixture, and ½ cup cheese, repeat with two more layers (refrigerate ½ cup cheese for topping).
3. Cover slow cooker, and cook on low for 4 to 6 hours. Sprinkle lasagna with ½ cup cheese. Cover until cheese has melted, about 10 minutes.
Per serving: 376 cal; 12.9 g fat (6.1 sat fat); 33.7 g protein; 32.2 g carb; 4.3 g fiber
Note: I didn't use the carrots. I substituted the crushed tomatoes in puree with a can of spaghetti sauce. I also added some parsley, oregano, thyme and basil to the sauce before putting it in the crock pot. I also added parmesan cheese to one of the layers.

The wait is finally over!

2011-09-29T23:28:00.000-06:00

Dianne texted me on Monday wanting to know if I wanted to put Zane on sheep...um, yeah!

I'll tell you...

2011-09-29T10:02:00.000-06:00

1. What movie do you love but are too embarrassed to admit you love it?

If you ask me if I love a movie I'll tell you, no embarrassment here...I also love Ace Ventura (like a gllooovveee-a!)...I love Wayne's World (Party on Wayne, Party on Garth)...I totally head bang when they play "Bohemian Rhapsody" while driving around in the Mirthmobile...

2. Ann wants to know: How far do you drive/travel to attend trials, clinics, lessons? How far is too far?

I think the farthest I have traveled to a trial is to northwest Washington...if I think my dog will do well and as long as I can get as many runs as possible, the distance doesn't really matter to me. The farthest I have traveled for a clinic is eastern Idaho. I haven't gone to many clinics...

3. What is your theme song (circa Ally McBeal)?

For some reason, circus music has a tendancy to pop into my head alot...which is weird because I've never been to the circus and I'm scared of clowns (which is why I've never been to the circus)...

4. Laura S wants to know: If you had to choose a new dog activity, one that you had never done before, what would you choose?

I think Earth Dog looks like fun...Schutzhund is something I would also look into...

5. What would your dog choose (or scribe, if you're Pippin)?

Kip would totally go for competitive frisbee...this boy is a nut for a frisbee...I think Mo would like flyball...unfortunately, I wouldn't be able to stand all the barking...Zane would really be up for anything...he's cool like that...

Goals...

2011-09-22T11:00:00.002-06:00

Going forward over the next six months, what are your goals?

For me (not in any particular order because if I did put it in order, #10 would be #1, lol)

1) At least know what colors I want the inside of my house to be...I don't want to go as far as having the job completed...
2) Have all of the landscaping completed...which now includes having to replace sod in a couple places in the backyard thanks to Jam and Zane...
3) Would like to have new living room furniture
4) Would love to have a truck
5) Get the carpets professionally cleaned...just in time for me to rip it out and replace it with hardwood floors (or something like that)
6) Have new screens put on all of the windows...and maybe a new screen door for the back slider...one with one of those pet grates so that the dogs will stop busting through them...
7) I would love to have a storm door installed on the front door
8) Get some shelves in the garage
9) Working with my chiropractor to get my neck and back to a place where I can start jogging again...and if that isn't going to happen, get my butt back on my bike and start riding
10) (Just because 10 rounds it out nicely) Win the lottery so that all of these things (and more!) can happen

The dogs...

1) Zane: Get him on sheep! I am going to prematurely check this off because I know this will be happening next month (woo-hoo!)
2) Mo: Get her ready to move up to Open...my personal feeling is that Mo is not going to be one of these Open dogs that runs at the "big" trials...she is pretty much running an Open course (without a shed of course) at the trials we have at home and some that we travel to...if anything, I would like to really start getting the experience so that I feel more prepared when Zane is ready for Open...
3) Kip: Keep him happy and healthy...we're not doing agility anymore but he doesn't care...and he does seem to really be happy that I've put him back on a raw diet...

This break is brought to you by...

2011-09-15T11:15:00.000-06:00

Tell Me Thursday...

1. If you're not at the 2011 Sheepdog finals this weekend what are you planning to do?

I'm planning on watching the finals on the internet, duh! Although, I will also be taken care of things around the house...I've been really working on getting the house rearranged and getting selling things on Craigslist that I don't need/use...and that money has been going towards things that I do need...like the upright freezer I bought last weekend (yeah, finally!)...and on Sunday, may have to switch back and forth with football depending on the what morning games are on tv. :-)

2. One item you NEVER walk onto the trial field (any trial field, or training class will suffice) without?

I always make sure that I have a goal...sometimes its getting sheep to my feet, finishing the course or just getting numbers instead of letters on my score sheet...

3. Katy wants to know if you have a pre-run ritual that you observe?

Other than going to the bathroom, I don't really have a pre-run ritual...I have more of a post-run ritual...I make sure Mo pees BEFORE jumping into the dog water. :-)

4. How old were you when you had your first real kiss?

I think I'm going to have to say 18...it happened while I was on a band trip to Hawaii during spring break...I don't know if any prior to that could have been labeled "real kiss"...

5. Bonnie wants to know what you do for yard mud control during the winter?

Basically, I throw sod down, lol...this past winter, I had sod put in on the side yard closest to the backdoor...and this spring I had the entire backyard done with new sod...I'm hoping that this will negate the mud issue I had last year...I also bought one of those big indoor/outdoor mats and put it at the backdoor...it has a dual purpose...catch whatever the dogs are tracking in AND trying to keep the floor dry from Zane's leaky mouth after drinking half the water bowl, lol.

Oh happy Thursday!

2011-09-08T10:00:00.001-06:00

Its Thursday so you know what that means!

1. What is the biggest thing that grossed you out over the past week?

Nothing...it takes quite a bit to gross me out, lol. I used to work at a vet clinic and have seen a lot of "gross" things...but you kind of just get numb to it...want to know what does/did gross me out? Remember the show Fear Factor? Yeah...when the contestants had to eat the live bugs and animal parts...gross!

2. What do you feed your dogs?

Kip and Mo are currently eating Nature's Variety Prairie Lamb & Oatmeal. They also get canned mackeral, sardines or salmon once in a while. Zane is eating Natural Balance LID Lamb & Rice...he also eats California Natural Lamb & Rice. I am working getting the dogs on raw...Kip and Mo have been on raw before so it won't be a big deal to them...Zane, however, is a different story...he seems to have a pretty sensitive stomach, so I'm going to be going very slow with him.

3. If you could move anywhere where would you live?

Right now I would love to live in a place where I don't have to worry about other people caring about what my front yard looks like, lol. I don't want to live in the middle of nowhere, but I would like to live farther outside of town with some land so that I could have some of my own livestock. And it would have to be in Idaho...I love it here!

4. What is the funniest thought that occurred to you (or thing that happened to you)?

I can't really think of anything...Um, Loretta, you can't say that you got your ass kicked by a tunnel bag and not tell us about it!

5. If you couldn't have your breed of choice what would be next on your list?

Before I got Mo, I was thinking about getting a Brittany as my next agility dog so maybe a Brittany...although I have always been a fan of Rottweilers, Dobermans, German Shepherds and Pugs (that's a weird one to throw in the mix huh, lol)...I have a special place in my heart for terriers thanks to our Patterdale Terrier, Pentium...I think my "old lady dog" is going to be a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel...so it really could be any of those! :-)

Labor Day Weekend

2011-09-06T11:15:00.000-06:00

After being gone for almost two weeks, there was plenty to do this past weekend...some of it got done, some did not...My main goal for the weekend was to get the house clean and clean house I did! I'm ready to rip out the carpet and put down something else. I really hate to vaccuum. I'm hoping that the areas I want to lay something new is small enough that it won't cost me an arm and a leg.
I put a couple of items on for sale on Craigslist...I have a couple more I want to put up. I'm wavering on whether or not I want to sell my golf clubs...I haven't used them in a couple of years...and the more I get into training and trialing the dogs, the less time I have for golf...and golf is another expensive hobby...
On Saturday, I spent the morning and early afternoon driving around...I took a trip down to the Capitol City Market (aka Boise Saturday Market) on Saturday. I picked up some buffalo femurs for the dogs and tomatoes, onions and freshly roasted Anaheim peppers for salsa. I also placed an order for some lamb bones and beef knuckles for the dogs to pick up this weekend. I also stopped by one of the dog supplies stores that I shop at (which I haven't been to in a while) and picked up a couple of lamb bones there. I stopped at a butcher shop in Meridian and picked up a great deal on boneless, skinless chicken breast. I also stopped by the Nampa Saturday Market and was able to find some fresh cilantro for my salsa. I walked around downtown Nampa for the first time...looked around in some of the second hand and antique stores.
On Sunday, I spent the afternoon with Janie...we went around to a lot of second hand and antique stores. A couple of the ones I really wanted to take her to were closed for the holiday weekend so we'll get to them another time.
Most of Monday was spent cleaning the house...did I mention I hate vaccuuming? Throughout the weekend I also cleaned up the back patio, which was easy to do as my agility equipment went off to new homes...I also pruned back my tomato plants...which seems to helping the remaining tomatoes ripen up...the bushes were so thick that I don't think the tomatoes on the inside were getting any sun. My peppers continue to grow like gang busters. I'm not sure what is going on with my pole beans...some of the beans seem to be going bad early...I got some this weekend and hope to sautee them with the yellow squash that Jodi gave me...
While I was on vacation...well, more like on the road...I did some serious thinking...scary, I know...I made the decision to no longer compete in agility. I'm going to be starting Zane this winter so that means even less time, energy and money for agility...so instead of doing agility half-assed, I'm just going to stop and focus on stockdog...I'm sure plenty of people already saw this coming. I've already sold most of my equipment (I have a single winged jump and a set of 6 weave poles if anyone is interested!). I will probably still be at the trials helping out, I just won't be competing.
This week's project is to get the table that I'm donating to BARC to be used as their height measuring table refinished so that it can be used this weekend at the trial...that will be one more piece of equipment off my back patio. I have a set of single jumps that I think I'm going to donate to BARC's next raffle...I won them at a raffle so I don't really feel right about selling them...unless someone can convince me otherwise. :-)
The USBCHA National Finals start next week...I'm looking forward to keeping an eye on the runs...and rooting for everyone that is from Idaho! As well as Zane's sire Suede, who is owned and handled by Linda Tesdahl.
Speaking of Zane...I can't wait to get him started on sheep at the end of October...I can't believe that I have been able to wait this long! He's seen sheep...just hasn't been let loose with them yet. He is just a great dog to have around...and he's maturing into a very handsome dog if I do say so myself. :-)

TGIT - Thank goodness its Thursday!

2011-09-01T10:00:00.002-06:00

Here are three reasons why I'm glad its Thursday -

1) We're have a taco bar potluck at work today - yum!
2) Its Friday tomorrow!
3) Its Tell Me Thursday!

1. What five things can't you live without?

1. My dogs
2. Chapstick
3. My family
4. My friends
5. Coke

2. How do you transport your dogs? This question suggested by several peeps, including Mara.

My dogs are currently being driven around in a Saturn Ion, lol. For around town, it works just fine. For long trips, I have been taken Mo and/or Zane and leaving Kip with a friend. Even though I can actually get three crates in my car (it's quite a trick!), he just doesn't travel as well as he used to (which wasn't very well to begin with) so he's much more comfortable staying with someone he knows. I have been looking for a small truck but I've had a difficult time finding one I like.

3. What role does obedience play in your training or running of your dog(s)?

In the very beginning, when I call my dog off the stock, I want them to come off the stock. Its hard to say when I want my dog to do what I say in training and trialing - 1) when I want Mo to stop on an outrun because she's too tight (which she does probably almost 100% of the time), 2) when I want her to lie down at top of the field for the lift (she has recently starting doing this for me every time) and 3) when I want her to lie down right after lifting the sheep (we're not there yet). Other than not taking my lie down after lifting the sheep, she is generally pretty obedient. If she knows that I gave her the wrong flank, she'll stop, turn back to look at me as to say, "Are you sure about that?", I rethink about my command, once again discover that my dog was correct and then give her the correct flank, lol. I know that I tell Mo to lie down too much which has a tendency to get us into trouble. I am trying to trust her more...and she is actually learning to trust me as well.

4. At what point do you start putting commands on your dogs?

For me, if the dog is ready to trial, I want them to know their flanks. The dogs seem to pick up the flanks pretty quickly so I usually don't really worry about it.

5. Do you talk to strangers in elevators? Question posted by Laura #1.

Uh, no, lol. I have a fear of heights so being in an elevator is a bit stressful for me...especially if there is a view outside...if this is the case, my back is to the window and I stare at one of the walls, lol.

Whirlwind vacation...

2011-08-30T15:30:00.001-06:00

I'm back from my annual "August vacation". For the past few years, I have been taking a week to two weeks off during August. My first stop is the Lacamas Valley SDT in Camas, WA, which is hosted by Lynn and Allison Johnston. They have a beautiful dairy farm that they open up for the trial. The trial consists of three days of Open runs, three days of Pro-Novice runs, two days of Nursery, two runs of Novice-Novice and concludes with a Double Lift Final. Although I was running Mo in Pro-Novice, I felt that my main focus while I was there was to do a good job helping Susan with setout on the Open field.
My goal for our Pro-Novice runs was to finish the course...and it didn't happen with either run. The PN field is very tough...The draw and pressure to the setout and exhaust is very strong. I couldn't get Mo to hold the pressure on the fetches so both were off line and we didn't hit the fetch panels. I retired our first run once the sheep were just past the fetch panels. I retired our second run after having a great first leg of the drive. The crossdrive was to the left, which meant Mo had to go into the pressure to turn the sheep...which she wouldn't do. She ended up driving the sheep back up the field diagonally until she felt released from the pressure...obviously, that doesn't really work, lol. I retired our run at that point. Needless to say, our days of running in the PN field at Lacamas are over.
Our time in setout was much better. I didn't use her much on in the morning on Thursday and Friday since those were the days we were running. But she got a workout on Saturday and Sunday during the double lift. Jorgen Persson was also up with me and Susan at setout. He has two dogs, Merckx and Ben. Unfortunately Merckx hurt his foot on Thursday and Jorgen ended up pulling him from his Open runs. Ben wasn't running at this trial so he got some work helping set sheep.
The best way to set the sheep at Lacamas is actually to do the setting yourself and just have the dogs out there in case of emergency. We did have, on occassion, a lamb with the wild idea that it didn't have to play...if it beat the person holding them, then that is when we would bring in the dog. For the most part, the dogs won but a couple did get the opportunity to get put back into the shuffle. The dogs (and people!) made some pretty good saves if you ask me. By Saturday, once the sheep saw the hay, they would make there way to the stack and eat happily, which didn't require much work on setouts part.
On Sunday, I ended up helping set the first set of sheep for the double lift with Dave Vikland, who has Kelpies. I thought the sheep were going to give us more grief than they did because it was a new spot that they were being held and set, but they didn't give us too much trouble. I think we only had one lamb that we put back. Dave and I split setting and pen work. Once the double lift was over (congratulations to Lavon Calzacorta and Tess for winning the double lift and to Patrick Shannahan and Andi (Zane's dam) on their 3rd place!), Mo and I gathered the sheep from the exhaust and pushed them up to setout so that the collars could be removed. The sheep had been let out before we got there so they were all over the field...as we gathered and put together the packets of sheep, someone yelled up at me that I had missed one...ugh! I grabbed a couple of the sheep to draw out the single (which it turned out that I missed another one in some really tall grass around the pond). Mo and I slowly got the sheep going up the field...Jorgen and his two dogs joined in to help, thank goodness...I was running out of dog. We got all of the sheep back into the setout pen and put them through the chute one more time to get the collars off...now that was a chore! Those collars have super strong velcro to keep them from coming off the sheep. Although it was four very long days wearing the wrong shoes (I forgot my good, standing/walking all day shoes!), I will be back next year!
Once everything was finished there, I drove down to Lebanon for a quick visit to Gram and Papa. This little town has changed a lot since I lived there! I got to see some old friends, walk around and shop in the stores downtown, take the dogs down to the river for a swim and sleep! Oh glorious sleep! I did get to see my parents for a little bit before having to leave for Seattle/Bellevue for a training session for work. I spent the night at Carolynn's the night before I needed to be there. I got to work Mo on her new sheep on the pasture that she is renting. The weather couldn't have been better! I actually got to see Mt. Rainier for the first time...and it was out three days in a row...I wonder if that's a record, lol. Carolynn was nice enough to watch the dogs for me while I was gone.
I met back up with Carolynn the next day at her pasture and had to help her with a ewe that got a bad tear on one of its back legs from a dog. We did a quick instinct test, with Mo as backup and then worked our dogs for a little bit. We went back to her house, I packed up and went back to Gresham for a bbq that a friend was having that night. I stayed up way too late (for me) and sacked out at Heidi's house. I woke up in the morning to crepes! The girls played with the dogs in the backyard while I got packed up and ready to go. Then it was the long drive back to Nampa...
Because I had to be up in Seattle for work, I missed both BARC's NADAC Games trial and the Western Idaho Fair SDT that Don Couch organizes.
The next trial that we're going to is Fire Ridge Vineyard SDT in Milton-Freewater, OR at the end of October.

Tell Me Thursday

2011-08-25T21:45:00.001-06:00

1. How do you teach recalls to your dogs?
I have used treats/toys in the past but most recently, I have used my adult dogs to lure puppies to me.

2. What is your favorite Restaurant or type of food? Clearly I have food on the brain much of the time.

I've been on a pretty long Thai food kick! I can't seem to get enough!

3. What is your favorite interest outside of dogs/livestock/sports?

I love to read! If I had a drafting table, I would get back into scrapbooking...my back just can't take me leaning over a regular table anymore...

4. Describe your path from where you started out to where you are now! (For example, how did you get from Novice to Open? How long did it take? Train dogs? Buy dogs? I'll take answers for any sort of discipline, or even how did you go from wild dog that didn't listen to well behaved dog - interpret this however you like.) This question was suggested by Pippin.

I started out with Kip, my Aussie that I adopted from the local humane society. He has separation anxiety so I started working stock and agility with him. He is now just an agility dog. I have trained Mo by myself. We are currently running Pro-Novice and NC Open occasionally. She does have her HTCH from the AHBA and I think I'm going to start running her in ASCA trials again. She will be turning 4 years old in November. Mo has been quite the challenge because she has a lot of eye. We (still) work a lot on getting her eye loosened up.

5. Is there a dog that you raised that, if you knew then what you know now, you would have raised them differently? Question posed by Jodi.

I wonder how Mo would work differently if I didn't insist that every time I told her to lie down meant that she had to lie down. And I wish I was better at teaching my dogs not to jump on people...other than that I'm pretty happy with my puppy raising!

Tell Me Thursday...

2011-08-22T11:30:00.000-06:00

Yeah, its Monday but I have a good excuse...I was at the Lacamas SDT setting sheep...

1. Who is your newest dog? Where is he/she from, and why did you choose this particular dog/breeding? This question posted by Jodi.

Zane is my newest dog...he's eight months old...He's from Patrick Shannahan (Andi x Linda Tesdahl's Suede). I had been searching for another dog...maybe an older puppy, like a year old or so...or a younger started dog. My attempts at getting such a dog had been twarted by much faster handlers seeking the same dogs...one day Patrick called me up and said that one of Andi's pups had become available and he thought I should come over and take a look. Nothing against Patrick or Riggs, but I didn't really want a dog related to Riggs...just because there are so many of them out there. I went over anyways and got to meet Linda as she was out there picking her pup. It was nice to be able to talk to her about Suede since I knew nothing about him. With Patrick's confidence that this breeding would be well suited for me, I picked Zane...and couldn't be happier...even though he hasn't even been on sheep! I can't wait to get him started this fall/winter.

2. What traits drew you to this dog or breeding? (also by Jodi)

This wasn't a breeding that I was looking at...and actually, I was on the mile long waiting list for a Vangie x Rex (Rob Miller) pup...See above as to how I got Zane...

3. What's on your feet right now?

Nothing...and there is no way I'm posting a picture of my feet...

4. What are you reading right now?

I am currently reading two books...which is very uncommon for me...The first book is "Sarah's Key" by Tatiana de Rosnay. Its about the Velodrome' d'Hiver (Paris, France) roundup in the summer of 1942. The characters are fiction but most of the events are not. The second book is "The Intimate Lives of the Founding Fathers" by Thomas Fleming. This book showcases George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton and James Madison. This book looks at the relationships of these men and the women in their lives.

5. What upcoming trials are you looking forward to? If you don't trial dogs I'll take whatever activity that you're looking forward to.

Well, I just got done competing with Mo in Pro-Novice at the Lacamas SDT. We ended up having to retire both of our runs...Unfortuntely I'll be missing the trial that happens during the Western Idaho Fair due to work...I believe our next trial will be Fire Ridge Vineyard SDT near Milton-Freewater, OR. Its at the end of October.

Tell Me Thursday

2011-08-11T09:00:00.000-06:00

It's the newest craze...all the cool kids are doing it...from Crooks and Crazies...

1. In sheepdog training (or lets call it *any* type of training), how do you keep from taking yourself, your dog, your lack of progress too seriously? posed by Ann
This is what I do for fun with my dogs. I am always reminding myself that I'm still new to this and my dog is young. Not all dogs are going to be national champions...or even an Open dog...you have to recognize your dogs abilities and limits. Be happy with what your dog CAN do for you and don't dwell on what they CAN'T do. If I took this too seriously and became frustrated with a lack of progress, I would probably quit.

2. How many crates do you have? For reals.
I have 5...I really like the Furarri type crates so that I what I have been "collecting". I would like one more 450...and then I will try and sell the non-Furarri crate that I have...its nice to have plenty of crates for when I watch my friends dogs...that's my story and I'm sticking to it!

3. How do you keep your dogs in shape?
I will admit that I am bad about physically exercising my dogs on a daily basis...especially during the summer. I do more mental exercises in the house to try and keep their minds from becoming mush. We do play fetch outside...until the neighbor's dogs barking and jumping against fence has annoyed me enough to go back inside the house. I will run Kip on the agility equipment that I have at home.

4. Who is your favorite movie/tv star eye candy at the moment?
I can't say that I really have one right now...I haven't gone to the movies in quite a while and I don't watch a lot of tv during the summer...ask me again this fall, lol.

5. What is your livestock situation? Have your own? Borrow? Herd the cats? (You can subsitute other equipment for livestock if you don't work stock with your dogs).
I don't have any of my own livestock...but I have friends close by that do. :-) Although I have sheep nearby, I haven't been working Mo very much...between the weather and just being plain busy, there just hasn't been much time to do it...

Wild 'N Woolie

2011-08-09T14:30:00.001-06:00

Mo and I made a quick trip down to Coalville, UT this past weekend for the Wild 'N Woolie SDT. This is the second year of this trial and it is organized by Loreli Judd. Loreli gets grant money to help with the trial and she puts it to great use! Plenty of freebies for handlers and if your run placed and were "in the money" you were "in the money". The prize money is great for this trial...not that Mo and I got any part of it, lol. We ran Pro-Novice twice on Friday.
Our first run was okay. She stopped at about 1 o'clock on her outrun, she looked at the sheep and then at me. I told her to "get back" and she completed her outrun. The sheep were drawing to the setout pens pretty hard and I was concerned that she wasn't going to get them down the field, but she got it done. We got around the course...it wasn't pretty but we did it and ended up timing out at the pen. During our second run, she stopped again at 1 o'clock and I gave her another "get back". We once again got around the course...not our best driving work, but we got it done. Trying to get the sheep to the pen was more difficult this time around. We had one ewe that wanted to break for the exhaust. Mo worked the ewe nicely and got it to the pen...without much from me other than "good girl". I thought we were going to time out at the pen again, but we got them in right at the end. Her confidence is building when working the range ewes. I'm hoping it was a good idea to get her on range ewes before Lacamas in a couple of weeks. Our goal for Lacamas is to finish the course. A nice score with a completed course will be the cherry on top. :-)

The boys are doing well. Kip is blowing his coat so he is getting brushed on a daily basis...which is is not enjoying but he has got to be feeling better...I know I am without the clumps of white hair all over my house. Zane is doing great...he's as goofy as ever and is growing up to be a good lookin' dog. They had a great time at Jody R's house while I was in Utah with Mo. They got to go for walks along the canal and plenty of swimming in the canal.

In garden news, I got to pick my first Roma tomato this weekend...it was tasty! I have two more that are just about ready to pick. I have a feeling that most of them are going to ripen while I'm away at Lacamas...so Jodi will have the pleasure of enjoying them.

How does your garden grow?

2011-07-26T19:00:00.001-06:00

Here are my first two pickle cucumbers and some garden salsa peppers

(not my first).

I have no desire to make pickles...I'm going to do other things with them...like put them in sour cream and garlic...and vinegar and onions...mmmm...next year the cucumbers are going to get their own barrel...

The peppers are the only things that have really been doing well...which is too bad because my tomatoes are still not ripe! I have been giving the peppers away. These are going in the freezer in hopes that I will actually have tomatoes this year and for use in the winter in chili and cornbread. Some of my Romas are starting to turn orange so I'm hoping I'll get some soon...my Better Boys are still green and growing...

Other than patiently waiting for the garden to get going, not much has been going on...summer has definitely arrived as we hit 100 (and 100+ in some areas) over the past weekend. The heat didn't hit its peak until mid-afternoon on Sunday so I was able to use the swamp cooler in the living room for a good portion of the day to get us through the hottest hours.

I did get the dogs a kiddie pool to cool off in...the only one really interested in it is Zane. Kip will get it in if I ask him (he's such a good boy) and Mo acts like she hates the water...which she doesn't...as seen by the pictures that Carolyn took of her when we visited, lol.

Mo and I will be headed to Utah the first weekend in August for the Wild 'N Woolie SDT. We will only be running in Pro-Novice as Open is full. It should be a rather quick trip. Pro-Novice is running Friday so my entire weekend will not be used up.

The weekend after WnW, I have a couple of friends visiting from Portland...I'm very much looking forward to the visit! And then it will be off to Lacamas!

Pictures from Athena

2011-07-12T14:00:00.000-06:00

Here are some pictures that Kelsey took while we were in Athena at the Caledonia Games SDT

Caledonia Days SDT (aka Athena)

2011-07-11T13:30:00.000-06:00

Mo and I had a great weekend at the Caledonia Days SDT in Athena, OR this past weekend. We truckpooled with Jody R and Kelsey. Between the three of us we had 7 dogs so we used Jody's horse trailer to haul the dogs and it worked out great! Not only did it hold all of the dogs with room to spare and it was great for making shade in the hot afternoon! We "camped" with Katy and Susan under the one shade tree at the site (which was at the high school). We brought plenty of food but I still needed to get an elephant ear, deep fried veggies and a corn dog. Unfortunately, the vendor that did Rippers was not there this year. We got there Friday afternoon so that we could get setup and settled in before it got too late...and ended up being invited to a surprise birthday party for our fellow stockdogger and silversmith Amy Raymond up at their ranch in Helix.
Karen Mahoney took over putting together the trial this year and she did an awesome job! She added a jackpot/time and points trial for both days and a "running of the sheep" event for the kids. We changed up the order on Saturday so that the spectators could watch the Open and Pro-Novice dogs in the afternoon, so Novice-Novice went first. Then there was a break for the parade...the co-host for the trial brought a flatbed trailer for trial participants to ride in the parade to try and get more people in the stands. Once the parade was over, Pro-Novice ran and then Open.
Mo's Pro-Novice run was okay. She was quite tired from helping me at setout. I didn't actually have to use her that much, but just being up there can tire a dog out. There was a big crowd and the cross drive panels were right in front of the grand stand...and Mo was feeling the pressure. Getting her to turn the sheep towards the pen was the hardest part of the course for her. She had an awesome outrun, lift and fetch, as well as first leg of the drive and cross drive. Mo was originally supposed to run first in Open but I asked to be moved to the end since she really needed a break. And it seemed weird to me that since I was running non-compete that I was running first. Our NC Open run was pretty good. Her outrun, lift and fetch were great again...she was feeling the pressure at the cross drive panels again but we got the sheep to the shedding ring. We actually got the shed pretty quickly (our first "competitive" shed!), but quite a bit of our time was lost at the cross drive panel so we timed out on our way to the pen. We didn't get too far in the jackpot/times and points run. It was quite warm, the sheep were done being pushed around and my dog was tired. The "running of the sheep" with the kids was fun. Mo got to push all of the sheep for that and was enjoyed it...its not very often that she gets to be pushy with the sheep. :-)
Our big day was Sunday. We went back to the "normal" trial format, Open, Pro-Novice and then Novice-Novice with another jackpot/time and points at the end. I was looking at the wrong running order and ran first on Sunday by accident...but it couldn't have worked out any better for us! Mo lost no points on her outrun and lift, 1 point on her fetch and 3 points off her drive! Our set of sheep had one ewe, an older lamb and two young lambs. The two young lambs were not going to come off the hip of the ewe while I could have singled that older lamb all day long...so we didn't get the shed or pen. Our score ended up being 76...if we would have been competing, we would have tied for 5th place! Our Pro-Novice run was just as nice. Our score was a 76 as well I believe and we ended up placing 3rd! We have never hit so many panels at one trial, lol. And she gave me a down at the top every single time. We ended up 3rd in Pro-Novice for the overall weekend. We almost finished our jackpot/time and points run. We ran out of time when we had to put the sheep through a trailer. I will draw up a picture of the course and post it. It was challenging but fun. I hope we do it again next year.
I did bring Zane with me. Kip stayed with Jodi. He doesn't seem to travel as well as he used to. Zane got to play with plenty of dogs, including the Zurcher's new puppy, Zeb (Rex x Vangie). Those two had a great time and would pick each other out of the large group of dogs when they were out together. Zane also got to see one of his litter sisters, Oakley (owned by Patrick, but was hanging out with Mary Hamilton, our judge, for the day). They also seemed to quickly pick each other out as playmates.
So overall, it was a fabulous weekend. We all had a great time hanging out and running our dogs.

Holy cow...

2011-06-28T13:00:00.000-06:00

1) Cows are not as scary to handle was I thought and

2) Mo will work cows...

I helped out on Sunday at IHA's AKC herding trial handling the sheep and cows. I had never handled cows before so I wasn't sure what to expect. These were young Jersey crosses...they had big, soft brown eyes...almost made me want to get close enough to try and hug them...they were quite gentle and didn't give me or any of the dogs trouble. After the trial was over, I took a few of the cows into the arena to see if Mo would work them. Once they were away from where the sheep were being held, she concentrated on the cows. There was no hesistation in her work. When one would just stand there and stare at her, she walked up to the head with confidence and waited until the cow turned (guess what, no need to bit the cow's face off to get the cow to turn!). Now I want to find someone local with some cows for Mo and I to work. Since Mo is done with her AHBA trialing, I'm going to start back up with ASCA.

I have actually been doing some non-dog activities as well (gasp!). This past Saturday I volunteered at the Make-A-Wish Foundation's Ultimate Urban Challenge in Boise. At my station, which was at a Gold's Gym, the participants had to learn a short, choreographed dance routine and do it well enough for the judge to pass them. It was pretty comically watching the participants trying to learn the dance...especially the men, lol. I didn't know about this event until it was too late so now that I know its going on, I'm going to put a team together and participate next year.

The previous weekend I spent Saturday morning in Emmett with a friend participating in a fundraiser walk...I couldn't tell you what the group or cause we were walking for, but that didn't matter to me. I got to meet some of her co-workers, who were a hoot! My friend is pretty much a speed walker so she and a couple of her co-workers left me and two other people in her dust, lol. We didn't care...we walked, talked and admired the neighborhood landscaping. Then we all went to a breakfast put on by the local Kiwanis Club. They were going to walk around downtown Emmett but I had to get back home because I was watching Echo and her puppies while Jodi was out of town for the weekend.

I think I have the rest of my summer planned out. The trial in Athena, OR is in a couple of weeks. It should be a fun, relaxing weekend. My two best friends from Portland are coming for a visit in August and then of course, the Lacamas SDT. And in September, I'm going to Moses Lake to visit a friend that I haven't seen since I moved to Boise.

Zane is doing great...growing up and being a puppy. He is one of the happiest dogs I have ever met, lol. I haven't found anything that fazes him or breaks his spirit.

Zane is watching the birds in the backyard hunt for worms...
he doesn't like having birds in his backyard...

Just a few pictures...

2011-06-13T21:45:00.001-06:00

This is the border I bought for the flower bed in the front yard...

this is also around the tree in the front yard...One of two cedar flower boxes I bought off of Craigslist...

the other one is on the other side of the garage...There are bulbs planted in the middle of this barrel that I'm still waiting to pop up...

These are my Big Boy tomotoes (I also have some Romas in another barrel)...

My first jalapeno! There is another jalapeno starting on my other plant...

and both have several buds that should start producing soon...

My cucumbers...

The pole beans I planted from seeds!

Key Pennisula SDT

2011-06-06T10:30:00.002-06:00

Mo and I went up to the Key Pennisula SDT this Memorial Day weekend (the boys stayed with Jodi). We ran Open Non-Compete on Saturday and Sunday and Pro-Novice on Monday. I left Nampa early Friday morning to get to Carolynn's (BCxFour) early enough that we could get out to Fido Farms for a quick practice. It was a nice drive and didn't feel like it took as long as it did.

When we got out to Fido's, we ran into JB Brick who was also there getting some last minute practice in with her dogs. We held the sheep for each other played fetch and each of us took a turn working on other things as well.

We were the last Open dog to run since we were running Non-Compete. There was the OLF, three panel drive, pen and then shed. The sheep were pretty light and dogs had to stay off of them to move them nicely. I sent Mo to the away side, even though my instinct told her to send her to the come-by side...I really need to start going with my gut because she crossed over on her outrun...stupid handler...I don't recall hitting any panels...Mo did not want to continue the drive after the second panel and draw down the field was pretty strong. We would have had the pen like three times but I kept screwing it up. Mo was taking every down I gave her which threw off my timing and I didn't adjust. We timed out at the pen so we didn't get to attempt to complete a shed. On Sunday, we were late and thankfully there were more Non-Compete Open runs so we got put at the end of those. Mo was just crazy on the muscle. She was very tight and speedy. The sheep were freaked out! There was three panels again for the drive, maltese cross and no shed. We got half of the maltese cross, but the sheep were so freaked that I called our run. On Monday we ran Pro-Novice...our best run...ever...Mo was a little tight on the outrun, but took my down and get back at the top (yeah!). The sheep bolted to the right. Mo picked them up and put them right back online for the fetch...right down the middle of the field and through the fetch panels (woo-hoo!). Nice turn around the post and first leg of the drive (which was back up through the fetch panels). The second leg was partially blind...the best way to get this completed was to let the sheep naturally drift to the left and have your dog hold the pressure...Mo did this nicely but just as the sheep were coming back into the view and thisclose to the panel, Mo stepped in and they just missed the panel. The third leg of the drive was to the right...I can't remember if we were high or low...the FOURTH leg of the drive was back through the fetch panels, which we made (the drive was shaped like a martini glass). I can't remember if we made the pen or not...I'll have to find our score sheet. We were both calm and relaxed. She gave me nice, calm, square flanks. The reason for the tight outurn was because it was a fenced, smaller field. She wasn't so tight that she should have really affected the sheep, but the sheep were very light and known for taking off.
Overall it was a great weekend. Be sure to go to Carolynn's blog, link above, to see pictures she took from that weekend...including one of Mo in a field of buttercups that just makes me so giddy! It's now the desktop picture on my work computer...I'm showing everyone in the office and I can't stop staring at it! :-)

I had entered the Whidbey Island and Ewesful Acres trials but there wasn't any time for Non-Compete runs so I'm not making a second trip back up to the Puget Sound. Our next trial is Athena...I haven't heard anything on the trial so I'm hoping its still on.

Jody R, Kelsey and I are carpooling up there and have some fun plans for our weekend up there!

I've decided to run Mo in Pro-Novice at Lacamas again this year...we were so close to finishing our runs last year (we timed out just before completing our drive) that I want another go with the goal of penning those darn sheep! We will be spending most of our time up in the Open field helping Susan and Kelsey set sheep. It should be a good time!

Landscaping

2011-05-10T18:45:00.001-06:00

I finally bit the bullet last month and decided to have my landscaper pretty much redo a large portion of the backyard and redo the flowerbed in the front yard. The backyard was not level, had lots of little divits, had portions that where weeds grew, portions where grass grew and portions where nothing grew. With the purchase of my used agility equipment, I needed the yard to be level. The front yard was bare with the exception of two rose bushes (and one of those was dead).

Here is the before picture of the front yard

Here are the before pictures of the backyard

The after picture of the front yard - the flower bed is much smaller (as shown by Zane). I am planning on planting dwarf boxwoods close to the house and some annuals close to the yard. I need to take a picture of the flowerbed border I bought - cute! Flowers will also be planted in the barrel. I also want a shepherds hook (or two) to hang a hanging flower basket.

And sod was laid where the rose bushes used to be
Here are the after pictures of the backyard - I will be planting some shrubs along this fence line to try and block the visual stimulation for the neighbors dogs

And here are two of my barrels for my potted garden (with the old backyard)

I took the black ornamental fencing down since the dogs are being crated in the house while I'm not at home (Kip started to dig out of the backyard). I haven't decided what to do with it yet.

Playing catch up....

2011-05-09T11:30:00.002-06:00

Things went well at the NADAC trial, although Kip was acting weird. I think it was because I had him in an x-pen with Mo, who doesn't rest, so he got no rest and was stressed. I think it was the cleanest weekend we have ever run but since he was mentally exhausted, we were over time for most of the runs. We did get a four Qs (1 Touch N Go and 3 Regular - Kip is one Q shy of an Outstanding Novice Agility title). I ran Mo in the two Tunnelers runs on Sunday, which she Q'd. She now has her Novice Tunnelers title. I'm too busy and lazy to post the videos...

I had Mo signed up to run in the USDAA trial next weekend...I decided to pull her. She is just not ready. I haven't had the ability to work with her as much as I had planned. At this point, I don't know that I'm committed enough to train/work with her in two different things. For me, working stock with my dogs is my favorite and highest priority.

I spent this past Saturday morning at Race for the Cure. I worked the donation booth with my manager and another lady from work. I had to get up before the sun was up (not something that happens very often!) to be downtown by 6:30am. The weather ended up being quite nice for the event. It was great meeting and talking to people...as well as taking in the donations! I'm looking forward to doing it again next year.

I spent Sunday morning out at Patrick's to help set sheep for the Novice Prep clinic trial. Susan set sheep for the Pro-Novice runs and I set sheep for the Novice and Pre-Novice (I had to reset the start pen for each run). Mo did pretty well considering she hadn't worked sheep in a while. It didn't take long before she understood the task and then I didn't have to say much to her. She gave me really nice, square flanks when asked and held the pressure to the draw nicely.

Now its time to start getting ready for the Key Pennisula trial during Memorial Day weekend. I need to practice shedding with her since we are going to run Non-Compete Open during the first two days.

I'm looking forward to going to Big Willow on Friday (well, the second half of the day) and Saturday. Linda is running Suede on Friday towards the end of the day...I'm really looking forward to seeing that. Unfortunately I'm going to miss the Double Lift Finals on Sunday due to the USDAA trial. Maybe if Suede makes it to the Double Lift I can have someone take care of my duties at the agility trial...

Nice weekend...

2011-04-11T09:30:00.001-06:00

It was a nice weekend here. We had some rain spitting Saturday morning but after that it turned out to be a great day. The plan was to go with Jodi to drop Zip off to Phyllis for a bath and to pick up some used carpet for her and Dianne...we ended up spending all morning and half of the afternoon driving around Meridian, lol. By the time we dropped Zip off and got the carpet loaded, I was starving so we decided to hang out until Zip was done. We got some food (and this was when I realized that I forgot about taking Kip to agility!)...still no word from Phyllis so we went to this "antique" shop in downtown Meridian...then to the paint store (I got my paint samples!)...then to the meat shop...and then we picked up Zip and went home...I was exhausted so I took a nap...one serious nap...for a few hours...when I finally got up, I did laundry all night but not much more. I was up early on Sunday (I just couldn't sleep in for some reason). I didn't get to work right away, I enjoyed a cup of coffee and an episode of "Auction Wars". I opened up the house and got to cleaning. I started in the master bath, which really needed to be cleaned. Then I worked my way through the house. I cleaned the floors, my least favorite chore...and I even wiped down the base boards...probably now my second least favorite chore. I was done by mid-afternoon...so I took what I felt was a well deserved nap. :-) It wasn't nearly as long as the one on Saturday. I decided that it was time to go work outside so I dug up some weeds in the front yard. I rolled out the wine barrel planter I got off of Craigslist and filled it about halfway with gravel. Now it just needs some dirt and plants! I worked Kip and Mo in the backyard on the agility equipment...mainly contacts and weave pole entries for Kip. Even though I didn't put the paint samples up on the wall, I feel like I had a pretty productive weekend. Janie and Kirk picked up some full wine barrels for me and Kirk is going to cut them in half for me. They are going to go in the backyard for my planter garden this year. I'm looking forward to growing some of my own veggies this year. I know I'm going to grow tomatoes but I'm not sure what else.

3 Ds seminar

2011-04-04T11:45:00.001-06:00

Mo and I participated in Stacey Sullivan's 3 Ds (direction, distance and discrimination) seminar this weekend. We had a working spot on Saturday and I audited on Sunday. Stacey used gates to train her dog, Sheila, in the 3 Ds. It was amazing to watch all of the dogs respond to the gate work. I think everyone was suprised as to how well their dogs responded and how quickly they were able to get some lateral distance from their dogs. Both Mo and I were mentally exhausted on Saturday. The gates are really going to help both of us - Mo to understand what I am asking for and its going to really help me be consistent and clear with my handling. I'm still processing all of the information. After the seminar on Saturday, I decided not to enter Mo in the NADAC trial that is at the end of this month for two reasons: 1) continuing the gate work will definitely help us getting through the courses and 2) she needs more work jumping 20 inches. Mo is not collecting enough when jumping at 20 inches (like she collects when jumping 22 inches). Since Kip and Mo stayed home on Sunday during the seminar, I took them to a local park that had some green space and played fetch with them via the Chuck It. They loved it. They haven't really had that kind of exercise in a while. Zane did really well hanging out at the seminar on Sunday. I did cover his crate, which I'm sure is what really made the differnce. He showed off his "sit" and "lay down" for everyone, lol. He gives lots of direct eye contact which surprised people. I also let him run through a tunnel a couple of times. He is so cute and has a cute personality. He's almost getting big enough that its getting hard to pick him up... There isn't much planned this weekend so if its nice outside, that means maybe some yard work and working with the dogs at home. I'm also planning on making a trip to the paint store this week to get some paint samples thrown up on the walls...

It's finally here!

2011-03-29T22:10:00.000-06:00

The new look and name for the blog is finally here! Thanks again to Carolynn for creating the header and template for Rockin' Ewe Stockdogs! The blog address will be changing to http://rockinewestockdogs.blogspot.com/ so be sure to update the link if you follow the blog.

New name and look coming soon...

2011-03-28T19:00:00.001-06:00

The new blog name and look is coming soon thanks to Carolynn of BCxFour + 1 more. She offered to create a blog header for me so I said yes of course! I have seen some of the drafts and they are awesome! When I got home from work, I took my new-to-me agility equipment out (thanks Phyllis!) of the garage and set it up in the backyard. I setup the dog walk, weave poles, single winged jump, triple winged jump and a table. It will be nice to be able to come home after work and work the dogs on some equipment. I worked weave poles with Mo (using 2x2s)...she picked up right from where we left off...and I think she's going to be weaving in no time. I also had her do the dog walk. She was hesistant at first, but once she was starting to get comfortable, she was moving nicely and giving me a nice two-on, two-off. I also had her jump the triple, which she did nicely. I worked with Kip a bit on the dog walk. He is much more inclined to do a running dog walk than two-on, two-off, so that is what we are going to work on. He is weaving 6 poles nicely...I really need to get the six weave poles that I purchased from BARC...I'll pick them up this weekend at while I'm at the Stacey Sullivan 3D's seminar with Mo.

Cramming

2011-03-28T12:00:00.000-06:00

Our next agility trial is April 22nd - 24th and I feel like I'm cramming in the training with the dogs. I have Mo's lessons scheduled until the trial. I need to get Kip some training time too. Mo went up and over an A-Frame for the first time yesterday at our lesson. She "army crawled" up the first time...it was actually quite funny. After a couple more tries, she was up and over and giving me a great two-on, two-off at the bottom. We also worked on some small jumping sequences. I'm buying some dirt time before each of our next lessons to work on Mo's jumping. She is in such a hurry that she is knocking bars occassionally. I am planning on entering her in Jumpers and Tunnelers at the trial. If her contacts go well, I will also add Touch N Go. I'm not confident that she will have weave poles by then just because of lack of training them. I really need the weather to start cooperating so I can train at home...I recently purchased some agility equipment from Phyllis...her dog walk, triple jump and a single jump. I would really like to get the dog walk outside. The dog walk is what Kip also needs the most work with. I need to decide if I want to get him to commit to a correct running contact or make him give me a correct two-on, two-off. I'm also planning on entering Mo in the USDAA trial in May. I really hope to have her doing weave poles by then so we can just enter in everything. There are plans for sheepdog trials. I am planning on going up to northwestern Washington Memorial Day weekend for the Key Penninsula SDT. I am planning on running Mo in Open Non-Compete the first two days and then in Pro-Novice on the last day. I am also planning on going back up there in June when they have two back-to-back weekends of trialing. I'll be going to the trial in Athena, OR again this year. Its just a nice, fun trial to go to. I'm going to Lacamas to help with setout but I haven't decided if I'm going to run Mo or not. I'm also working with Janie on getting a June AHBA trial setup at her place. Zane is doing great (he's about 13 1/2 weeks old)...no new pictures...he is just as cute as can be. He has the best personality. He's very much into playing with Mo, but if its just the two of us, he is a snuggle bug. I'm getting a desire to actually do some painting in the house. I have gone so far as picking some colors and taping the swatch up on some walls. I also moved the dogs from the spare bedroom to my "den". I am in the process of picking out some furniture for the spare bedroom. Heidi and Shelley are coming to visit this summer, along with Heidi's two little girls, Madeline and Isabelle. I am really excited for their visit. I've worked up quite a list of things to do while they are here. The girls seemed pretty excited when I mentioned the water park. Its going to be a busy year...

Also Known As...

2011-03-16T21:30:00.000-06:00

I've had Zane for almost five weeks now...and he already has a few nicknames: Gilligan (he's my good buddy), Gump (stupid is as stupid does) and Poopsy (need explaination?). He also likes to bark at Kip (because Kip pretty much refuses to acknowledge him) and Mo (because he wants whatever she has) and run around with things in his mouth that he shouldn't have (such as a shoe, my work bag or something he scored off a table - yes, he can pretty much get up high enough to pull stuff off of tables...and get on the couch or one of the kitchen chairs...). He is really good about hanging out in his crate...especially when its time to eat...

(I don't do naughty things...you must mean that other puppy...)

Dox went back to Dianne last week. She has put him on sheep several times and likes what she sees. I can't wait to see him on sheep.

Kip turned 7 earlier this month. He got to spend the night free of "the puppies", a special dinner and slept on the bed. He seemed pretty happy even though he had no idea what was going on. :-)

I recently got together with Dianne and Janie to discuss what activities we wanted to do this year. We are planning two trials, a seminar and lessons. Now that Mo has her HTCH, I can help out more during the trials. I am going to start scribing/timing more so that I can work on becoming an AHBA judge.

I've been working on agility with the dogs since that is the next trial we have. I haven't been able to do much though...two weeks ago, Zane was sick the morning of our agility lesson. I almost took him to the emergency vet but just as I was ready to take him, he started to get better. Last weekend, I wasn't feeling good Saturday then I woke up on Sunday with a migraine....and the wind was blowing really hard so even if I didn't have the migraine, I don't know if I would have gone. No agility class this weekend because: 1) there is an AKC trial and 2) I'm going to Portland! A good high school friend is turning 30 so there is quite a birthday bash planned so I'm making a quick run over to help him celebrate.

The weather has been changing quite a bit...take today for instance - it rained all morning and into the afternoon...and then it started to snow in the middle of the afternoon! Then by the time I left for work, the clouds were parting and the sun was shining. We have received quite a bit of moisture, in the form of rain or snow the past couple of weeks. The grass in my backyard is starting to turn green, as are some of the fields that I pass by to and from work...which only means that it will soon be time to mow (booo!).

Beware...cuteness overload...

2011-02-22T19:00:00.011-07:00

Dox and Zane are buddies.

Dox can be pretty cute on his own...

But for me, he doesn't hold a candle to Zane...

Kip and Mo are adjusting to Zane nicely...Mo is already playing with him a little bit and Kip isn't trying to eat him whenever he walks by. :-)

I did run Mo at the El Presidente SDT a couple weekends ago, but don't feel like there is much to report because it was much of the same...although I'm told our run on Sunday was our best run yet...even though it didn't really feel any different than the others. We don't have any SDTs until the Dirt Blowin' trial in June. It will give us plenty of time to work on things.

There is a NADAC trial in April. I need to get Kip out and practice. Mo will be having regular agility lessons until then so we'll see what I get her entered in.

This blog needs a new name...

2011-02-13T20:30:00.001-07:00

because it is no longer just Kip and Mo....

Redtop Zane

(Redtop Andi x Linda Tesdahl's Suede)

Don't worry...more pictures to come...

Another year gone...

2011-02-07T10:30:00.002-07:00

The weekend started on Friday, which was the day before my birthday. Friday morning started off with donuts from Pastry Perfection (I had a bismark), then I went to lunch with my co-workers at Mazzah. Honestly, this is one of my favorite restuarants. I had the beef kabob platter and overstuffed myself. Then I had dinner with some friends at Brick 29. I had the Black Angus Flat Iron Steak with garlic mashed potatoes and chimichurri sauce, it was delicious! When asked if I wanted a free desert for my birthday, I passed, but my "other stomachs" said that actually, I would like dessert. :-) We got an orange infused creme brulee with cranberry compote...I'm glad we decided not to pass it up. :-)
I attempted to sleep in on Saturday but it was hard since Dox wanted nothing to do with staying quiet in his crate after waking up. I spent the day cleaning the house and running errands so that I could spend Sunday relaxing.
On Sunday I took Mo to an agility lesson at noon. She is now taking all jumps at 20 inches, with a single bar and not trying to run under them, woo hoo!. We are doing some small sequences and starting contact work. She went through a closed chute and had a table in the sequence for the first time. With the El Presidente SDT this weekend and the AKC agility trial next weekend, we're going to be going two weeks without lessons.
After the lesson, I ran a couple more errands and then took a nap. I woke up about half way into the first quarter of the Super Bowl. I have no ties to Green Bay but I have been a Packers fan for quite some time and was so excited that they made it to the big game....and was on cloud nine when they won! Go Cheeseheads!

Unexpected surprise...

2011-01-30T09:34:00.001-07:00

Look at what came in the mail yesterday...

I thought we needed three more points before this would come but I guess the points for HTCH start as soon as you get a Level III title...I'm happy to have gotten this "at home" and just a couple weeks after Mo's third birthday. She has definitely been "the dog" for me in every aspect.

The Big Freeze 2011 videos

2011-01-26T20:45:00.003-07:00

Here are the videos of our runs at The Big Freeze SDT

The Big Freeze SDT

2011-01-26T19:00:00.002-07:00

aka The Foggy Hill SDT, The Stick in the Mud SDT

I had a good time at The Big Freeze SDT this weekend. We completed the course both days, woo-hoo! Mo crossed over on her outrun on Saturday, which killed our score...again. She did listen well on Saturday. The fetch was offline pretty much the entire way down. We hit both drive panels but our lines were wiggly. I really like it when we get to the pen because: 1) it means we actually got through the entire course and 2) penning is something that we are generally good at so it means a high possibility of completion.

There was no cross over on Sunday, but because she came in tight and flat, she pushed the sheep and the top part of the fetch online. She did not take my down whistles while at the top, she was jacked up. I ended up throwing my arms up in the air and shut up...and she put the sheep through the fetch panels (by pure luck I'm sure) and gave me the longest and straightest fetch we have ever had...maybe I should take that as a hint...Then we had a nice turn around the post and the drive started off nicely. And then about halfway down, it got squirrely and we missed the first set of drive panels. The second part of the drive was looking good but once again got squirrely near the panels and we missed those too. We got to the pen again so I'm seeing an up-trend in our trialing.

The El Presidente trial is in two weeks. Looks like I really need to get working on Mo's outruns and stopping at the top when I tell her to. I'm really looking forward to the "trialing season" starting. I love going out to the trials, hanging out with everyone and working with my dog.

I'm having issues trying to get the videos posted but I'll keep working on it and see if I can get it to work.

Oh help me...

2011-01-18T18:30:00.000-07:00

I've re-entered the world of Facebook. I had a FB account back when I first moved to Idaho (before it exploded into what it is today) to help keep in touch with my friends back in Oregon. It didn't really take long before I closed my account because I just didn't have the time or desire to deal with it. I have caved to the peer pressure and reactivated my account.

Dox update

2011-01-09T22:35:00.000-07:00

I haven't put up any pictures of just Dox in a while. Trying to get him to sit still is like me trying to not eat the loaf of homemade bread sitting on the counter. When Dox first came to the house, his right ear was down and his left was up. While his adult teeth were coming in, his left ear fell down. And thank goodness all of his puppy teeth have finally fallen out...1) no more needle teeth, 2) no more blood on all of the toys and 3) no more stepping on the teeth that had fallen out of his mouth.

Now they usually look like this, with the right ear down and left one is back up,

like his half sister Mae. He even has the single freckle on his muzzle.

Sometimes, they are both up...

And sometimes they are both pinned to the back of his head, lol...

He is as sweet as he is cute.

He wants nothing more than to sit in your lap and have you lavish your affection on him.

Christmas weekend

2010-12-28T13:00:00.001-07:00

I had a nice Christmas at home with the dogs. I can't believe how close I got them to sit next to each other in that picture. If you look closely, Kip is leaning away from Mo just a little bit, lol.
I was supposed to meet Jodi and Phyllis out at Don Couch's to work sheep, but I woke up with a migraine. It left me in bed most of the morning so I missed out. Jodi came over and we had a nice dinner. After Jodi left, I felt the need to get out of the house. I think I had a bunch of pent up energy after spending most of the morning in bed. I hopped in the car hoping to find a store that was open...nothing was open. I ended up making a big loop, stoping at a Redbox and renting a movie. I took the dogs on a walk to return the movie at the Albertson's down the street on Sunday. It was probably close to a 4 mile walk roundtrip. It felt really good to be out in the beautiful weather walking with the dogs.
I took yesterday as a vacation day from work. I had plans to go out to Dianne's to work Mo and let her see Dox...who is growing like a weed! I was just looking at him standing still (which doesn't happen that often) and was noticing how much he has grown in the past month that he's been with me. We ended up going out to the Helsley's to work sheep. The field is nice and big...and hilly. It's quite a workout for you and your dog. We did some nice, long outruns. I would stop Mo about 1/3-1/2 way down the fetch, flank her around and have her drive the sheep back up to Dianne. Mo did some very nice downs at the top and some very nice soft lifts. After Dianne needed a break from setting sheep and to work her young dogs, Mo and I did the rest of the setting. Mo loved getting to do all that work but doesn't like giving up the sheep...she looks worried when she knows another dog is coming to lift the sheep. I didn't have to say much when sending Mo to pick up the sheep to reset them. She held the pressure nicely and brought them to me in a nice, calm fashion. If Dianne doesn't leave town for the weekend, I'm hoping to get back over to her place to work again...maybe practice some shedding.

Merry Christmas

2010-12-25T12:00:00.000-07:00

Daisy Peel Seminar

2010-12-20T21:15:00.000-07:00

"Tell your dog which direction you want to go, not which obstacle to take." - Daisy Peel

This was my first agility seminar. I should have entered Kip in the seminar and not Mo. I thought Mo would be more committed to taking the jumps but she wasn't and we spent a lot of time just getting her to take the jumps. If I would have brought Kip with me, I would have swapped dogs but I can take what I learned and apply it to how I handle Kip. For me, there were too many working participants in the seminar. Maybe semi-private or private lessons would work better for me.

Daisy started off the seminar with going over the six things that dogs react to, no matter what handling system you use or create, in order of priorty to dogs:

1) Motion - (natural reaction) Moving forward tells your dog to go forwards and slowing down/stopping tells your dog to stop and/or turn

2) Shoulders - (natural reaction) The direction that your shoulders are pointed, in relation to your dog, can tell your dog to: 1) move forward (when your shoulders are facing away from your dog) or 2) stop and/or turn (when your shoulders are facing your dog)

3) Location - (natural reaction) Your location in relation to an obstacle (in front, behind) and your distance to an obstacle

4) Eye contact - (natural reaction) Direct eye contact tells your dog to stop and indirect eye contact allows your dog to continue moving

5) Hands & arms - (trained reaction) Inside arm (arm closest to the dog) is a forward cue and your outside arm is a turn cue

6) Verbal - (trained reaction) Your obstacle verbal cue (jump, walk it, weave) are forward cues and your recall (here, come, the dog's name) is a turning cue.

Probably the most valuable thing that I learned was that you don't have to yell/scream your dog's name or verbal turn cue or jerk your shoulders out of joint to get your dog to turn/pull them off an obstacle. Because your dog will react to you slowing down your forward motion, you can "pull" your dog off one obstacle and cue them to take another. Since most of the video I have is us trying to get Mo to just take a jump, I'm not going to put all of it up, but the video I have put up is a portion a video showing how stopping my motion gets Mo to turn to me, instead of taking a tunnel, after a few attempts of course. We were not allowed to say the dog's name or give the verbal cue for turning (here, come, turn or whatever you use). We were only allowed to say "jump" to tell our dogs to take the jump that was before the tunnel, but after that, we had to use our motion to "tell" our dogs to go in a different direction. It really was amazing watching how quickly the dogs learned to not take the tunnel but instead turn towards the handler and take the jump without any verbal cues.
(I have been trying to get this posted for the last couple of days. I have gotten tired of trying to get some audio added to the video, so unfortunately, you just have to hear the original audio)

Snow day pictures

2010-12-01T12:30:00.000-07:00

It stopped snowing outside so I decided to grab the camera and the dogs to take some pictures in the backyard.

This first one is the snow up on my roof.

Here are Kip and Mo fetching a toy.

My handsome Kip waiting for me to throw the toy again.

Here's Dox waiting for me to do something. He hasn't quite picked up the whole fetching thing yet. He just likes to run with the big dogs.

Good boy Kip. See, I told you the snow was fun!

Dox is trying hard to get Kip to like him.

Kip and Mo waiting patiently.

Don't even think about it puppy!

Mo always seems to be in a good mood.

What's that look for Kip?

Everyone having a good time.

As I was working on this, Mo started to bark out in the living room. I went out to see what was going on and one of my new across-the-street-neighbors that I haven't met yet was shoveling my front walk and driveway! Now I have even more motivation to do some baking.

Snow day

2010-12-01T10:30:00.001-07:00

We're having a snow day in the Treasure Valley. I called my co-worker that rides a commuter van from Emmett around 7:15 this morning to see if she was on her way to work. She was but slowly. I told her that I would try to come in later...yeah, not going to happen. The snow is coming down harder and faster now than it was at 7:15 this morning. Looking out my front window, I don't see any tire tracks so I don't think anyone on my street has attempt to leave this morning. Mo and Dox have spent some time playing in the snow. Dox is taking a nap right now so maybe I'll get some video later. Here a couple of pictures of the backyard:

And as you can see, Kip is ecstatic about the snow:

Can you call it a "Fall Trial" when there's snow on the ground?

2010-11-29T19:00:00.001-07:00

I had a great time this past weekend at GSH's Fall AHBA trial. I had a good time getting the prizes together for the winners and watching some really great runs. The weather stayed pretty nice the entire weekend. It got chilly as the sun went down and it was windy on the backside of Janie's house for the first part of the Trial A course.
Trial A's course was difficult, but probably the most "realistic" as far as real farm/ranch work goes. You really got to feeling like you were doing chores. Trial B's course, was in the bigger, more open fields. It was fun having to put the sheep through "weave poles".
Mo ran really well for me during all four runs. She hadn't worked sheep since the AHBA trial in October so I knew she was going to be very pushy....which she was, but she listened really well...even when I would give her the wrong flank whistle. The High in Trial on Saturday went to Jody R and Circle. Mo and I got Reserve High in Trial on Saturday with a score of 92 on Trial B, which won us a new Costco dog bed. It was going to go to Dox for the xpen but he wasn't interested in using it, so now Kip is using it in the living room.
We took High in Trial on Sunday with a score of 94.5 on Trial B. Jodi and Echo got Reserve High in Trial...and High Combined Score for the weekend. They beat us by one point for the coveted embroidered chair. Congrats to Jodi and Echo!
Mo and I got 4 more championship points, so we are now up to 7. I have been thinking about going up to Washington or maybe Nevada to finish up. But since I didn't win the chair at this trial, I may wait until our spring trial to finish up our last three points and go for the chair then.
I'm not sure what I'm doing this weekend, but next weekend is the Daisy Peel seminar and the Sleddin' & Sheddin' SDT. We'll be going to the seminar on Saturday and the sdt on Sunday. I don't think there is anything else planned until mid-January. Maybe I'll actually get to do some agility training with Mo...

Post Thanksgiving Day report

2010-11-26T19:00:00.000-07:00

I had a wonderful Thanksgiving Day. Several friends came over to enjoy dinner at my house. I cooked the turkey, ham (provided by Jodi), a couple of side dishes and some appetizers (spinach dip and deviled eggs). Everyone brought something to share.

Of course my day couldn't start without having to make a trip to Wal-Mart to pick up a few last minute items. I've cooked turkeys before but always under the supervision on my dad so this was my first year going solo. I stuffed the turkey with apples and onions since someone was going to be bringing the dressing/stuffing. I will make one confession - I got so distracting trying to get the turkey in the oven, since I was running about 30 minutes behind, that I forgot to put anything on the turkey before sticking it in the oven. When I went to baste it for the first time, about an hour after putting it in the oven, I realized what I had done. I grabbed a stick of butter and started spreading it all over that turkey. The turkey turned out beautiful. See for yourself...

Here's a picture of the entire spread:

I hope everyone else had a great Thanksgiving as well!

Meet the temporary resident...

2010-11-22T11:00:00.001-07:00

This is Dox. He is owned by Dianne. He's 12 weeks old. He'll be living with me until he is ready to start on sheep.

I was hoping he'd be a handful as to dampen my desires for a puppy but he has been great (so far). Kip doesn't like him, but that's not a surprise since Kip just doesn't like puppies. Mo loves to play with him outside but once they are indoors, she doesn't want to have anything to do with him.

Weather Report: Nampa, ID

2010-11-20T08:45:00.000-07:00

Here is a quick report on the current weather conditions in Nampa, ID.

I see a pattern emerging...

2010-11-15T18:15:00.000-07:00

I had a great time at BARC's fall NADAC trial this past weekend (even though I didn't win the set of weave poles in the raffle). Other than the match and one practice (I believe) I haven't done any agility since April so it really did make me realize how much I missed it.
Kip ran in all of the courses on Saturday and Sunday. He ran in Novice except for Jumpers (elite) and Tunnelers (open). The running order for Saturday was Jumpers, 2 rounds of Regular, Chances and then Weavers. Jumpers started out great, until we got to the 9th jump and I didn't know where it was. I stood in the middle of the ring looking everywhere for this freakin' jump...and it was right in front of me. :-) Needless to say, no Q. The first round of Regular was going great until we got to the dog walk (the second to last obstacle)...which he promptly flew off of at the down contact. For the second round, the course was reversed so the dog walk was the second obstacle in the course. I led out to the end of the dog walk. He made that contact and the rest of the run was great so we got a Q and first place. We didn't get a Q in Chances or TouchNGo but I can't remember why. The last course of the day was Weavers. I was thinking we would finally get our first Weavers Q but we didn't. By then Kip was mentally done. He wasn't focused at all.
On Sunday we ran two rounds of Regular, Chances, Jumpers then Tunnelers. I believe we had another fly off on the dog walk in the first round of Regular, but then got a Q and first place on the second round. Kip did a great job with the distance portion of Chances but didn't get the discrimination (he was supposed to take a tunnel over the dog walk). Our run in elite Jumpers was probably the smoothest run we've had in a while and we finally got our first elite Jumpers Q and a first place. We also got a Q and first place in open Tunnelers. Overall, Kip did really well considering the lack of practice.
And now onto Mo...since my big plans to get Mo ready to be able to compete in Tunnelers, Jumpers and Weavers were put aside for stockdog, Mo only ran in Tunnelers. We had two bobbles, only because I wasn't where I should have been. Even with the two bobbles, we got a Q and first place. With stockdog slowing down for the winter, I am looking forward to agility training with her. Oh, and she turned three on Sunday as well. :-)
I didn't have anyone video my runs so I think I'm just going to purchase copies of the qualifying runs from Three Pines Productions.

Agility match

2010-11-07T19:30:00.001-07:00

I took both Kip and Mo to the Wolf Creek Agility Club fun match on Saturday in Baker City, OR. Jodi agreed to come with me to take pictures of the dogs during their runs. Unfortunately, due to the match being held indoors and the large barns doors being left unopened (due to the number of novice dogs), Jodi was unable to get any photos.
There were two rounds of Tunnelers and then two rounds of Regular. I entered Kip in all of the runs and Mo in just the two rounds of Tunnelers. Kip did really well this weekend. He was very jazzed about running. He place first in round one of Tunnelers and second in round two. I'm not sure where he came in during the two rounds of Regular since we left before the scores were available. I pretty sure he didn't hit is dogwalk contact during the first run so I'm guessing we received a fault for that. When we got to the portion of the course that was closest to the crowd, he started to stress. It was hard to get him to focus and complete the weave poles. By the time the second round started, most of the crowd had left so Kip ran much better. He missed the weave pole entrance the first time, but hit them perfectly during the second time through them. I apparently have my contacts-preferred Kip back because he did not want to take the tunnel that was under the A-frame, lol.
Mo was a lot of fun to run in the Tunnelers courses. She barked quite a bit during the first run, but I think it was mostly due to excitment. She took my direction well. Unfortunately, the timer was having an issue with the stop watch so we did not have a time. The second run was even better than the first. I thought she was commited to the second tunnel so I moved to meet her at the end in order to direct her to the third tunnel, but she reacted to my movement and I pulled her off. She barked at me and entered through the wrong end of the tunnel. Although she is a speed demon, she watches for my cues and reacts quickly.
Next weekend is BARC's NADAC trial in Caldwell. Kip will be running in everything and Mo will just be running in Tunnelers. I am looking forward to running both of my dogs. :-)

Halloween 2010: No tricks, just treats!

2010-10-31T23:00:00.005-06:00

This weekend the Idaho Herding Association held an AHBA trial. There were people there that I know through agility running their dogs in the HCT (herding capability test). They all did really well! They all came back on Sunday for a second go. I talked to just about all of them I think about what to look forward to if they decide to persue this, who to go to for training, etc. I'm hoping we gave them a bit of the bug and we'll start seeing them take lessons!
There were two runs each day, one sheep and one duck. We were told that the sheep were "light"...um..."light" is not the word I would have used to describe the sheep, lol. Is there a word for "lighter than light"? These sheep had only been worked by corgis and so when Jody R and Circle (the first team up) had the sheep running up and down the arena, I knew that Mo and I were in trouble. Our run was very fast. We ended up with a score of 78. We got three of the sheep in the pen, by luck. And we got the ribbon pull. Jody R and Circle came in first (81), Don Couch and Shay second (80) and Mo and I rounded the class in third. We were the only dog running in Level III ducks. We got an 86. We got High in Trial with our score of 86 on ducks.
Jodi (D), Don, Dawn Marie and Jake (one of Don's "boys") came over for dinner. I made homemade chili and my first loaf of bread! The bread was quite tasty, if I do say so myself, as was the chili. We had a great time just sitting at the table eating, drinking and talking. I haven't laughed like we did on Saturday night in a while.
Today, Mo and I were first up on sheep. Our run was much better. Mo pretty much had to be on the opposite end of the arena from the sheep to keep them from bolting. I really wanted to get the pen, but it just was not going to happen with these sheep. We got the ribbon pull pretty quickly. We ended with a score of 82. Jodi and Echo came in first with a score of 95 (it was a really good run, including a pen!), Mo and I in second and Jody and Circle in third (I don't remember what her score was). We had a better run on ducks today than yesterday, ending up with a score of 90. Jody decided to enter Circle in ducks, even though Circle doesn't really like ducks. She ended up calling her run while at the pen because Circle was having a lot of trouble trying to get her set off the fence. We got Reserve High in Trial with our score of 90 on ducks and ended the weekend with three points towards our championship.
Next weekend, I'm taking the dogs up to Baker City, Oregon for an agility demo/fun match. Then the following weekend is the NADAC trial here in Caldwell, then a weekend off and then Gem State Herding's AHBA trial the weekend of Thanksgiving.

Fire Ridge

2010-10-26T14:30:00.001-06:00

I headed out to Walla Walla on Wednesday after work. I joined up with Dianne to caravan to Mary Hamilton's place. I stayed with a friend of Dianne's, Erica Gordon. Erica and her husband, Randy, are fabulous! Erica ran her dog Tate in Novice-Novice. Our first run was on Thursday, with Lavon Calzacorta judging. The Pro-novice/Nursery outrun was difficult as it was a blind outrun. The favored direction to send dogs was to the right...not Mo's strong side. If you sent to your left, you would loose sight of your dog and would not be able to redirect, if you needed to, until it was too late. Dianne was at the Open field so I wasn't able to "consult" with her on which way I should send Mo. I ended up sending her to the right. Like our first blind outrun practice, it took some convicing to get her going, but she did end up completing the outrun to the right. Mo was working on getting the sheep down the field when two decided they didn't want to so they turned and bolted back up to setout. The other two decided to join them shortly thereafter. I retired our run. I'm pretty sure that Lavon has judged a couple of our runs in the past...not any that we were able to complete, but I swear one day, he will see us finish a course!
On Friday, Laura Vishoot was judging. I sent Mo to the right again, hoping that she would be good since she knew where the sheep were set. She was good until she saw the sheep...then she crossed over to the left! I stopped her to try and redirect her back to the right, but she was not having any of that so I let her go to the left. She came up behind the sheep nicely. She got them pushed down the field a little and then they tried to bolt to the left, going behind the ridge. I sent Mo and hoped for the best. We quickly saw the sheep's heads coming back over the ridge. She tried hard to push them back online but they pushed back just as hard and weren't online until after they missed the fetch panels. We had a nice tight turn around the post (a hay bale for you to stand on) and a nice first leg of the drive hitting the first panels dead on. The crossdrive was low but she got them pushed through the panels. The crossdrive panels were really close to the ridge, so I did a quick recall to Mo to make sure her away inside flank was square enough to not push the sheep over the ridge. It worked and we had a nice turn at the panel. The line to the pen was perfect and the sheep walked right in! I was so excited that we finished the course! I was on cloud nine all day long. :-) Our score was 40, but most of the deducted points should have come from the crossover on the outrun and the offline fetch. I couldn't find my scoresheet so I'm not sure how my drive/crossdrive and pen points looked like.
On Saturday, Diane Pagel was the judge. I decided to send Mo to the left since she was adamant about going to the left on Friday. She started out nicely, but once she saw the sheep, she decided to crossover (again!) to the right. I stopped her and tried to get her to go left, but once again, she would not have it and went to the right. I just sighed and let her go. She got them down the field, keeping them from going over the ridge. We missed the fetch panels by quite a bit. The turn around the post was not as nice but reasonable. The drive to the first drive panels was not as straight as Friday's but they went through. The crossdrive was low again but the sheep went through. The line to the pen was not nice as Friday's but it looked like they were headed to go right into the pen again, which they didn't. They circled the pen a few times before we got them in. Not as nice of a run as Friday, but I was excited that we finished the course a second time. Our score was 41, with most of the deductions coming from the crossover on the outrun and the bad fetch.
After our runs, Mo and I worked the pens for Susan up at setout for the Open runs. I have never worked setout pens before so I pretty much did whatever Susan told me to do, since she is the setout queen. I used Mo for returning sheep into the pen that did not get set and for filling the larger hold pens. Once Mo understood what we were doing, I didn't have to say much to her. She did a good job at standing up to those big wool ewes. People were very complimentary of the setout work we were doing. Susan and I set the second set of sheep for the double-lift on Sunday and we had a nice flow with the first setout...until the awful wind and hail that started during the second to last run! I felt sorry for the last two runs of the double-lift. I had a hard time getting the sheep ready to push out for Susan to set and Susan had a hard time getting them set because she couldn't see. Other than that, I had a good time with Susan, although my arms and legs are a bit banged up from the experience.

Jodi, this one's for you!

2010-10-05T18:00:00.000-06:00

The last time Jodi came over, she told me that I needed to hang something on the outside of my house...so Jodi, here you go...

Relaxing is for suckers...

2010-10-04T20:00:00.005-06:00

but sometimes I wish I was one of them. I got up early on Saturday (well, early for me...on a Saturday...) to go to See Spot Walk 2010, the Idaho Humane Society's annual fundraiser. A lot of BARC members were out of town trialing so we just had a booth this year. We had a tv setup to play an agility dvd, but because of where we were setup, we could only see the video during the first couple of hours of the event. We had quite a few people asking about the demo so hopefully we'll be able to do it next year. I took care of some errands before getting home then just did chores when I got home.
On Sunday morning, I was up early again and took Kip to a chiropractor. Wow, did that make a difference! He's not fully extending his right back leg, but it's much better than it was. His movement is much more fluid. He's going back right before I take off for Fireridge. Then I think I'll take him in before the NADAC trial next month.
After the appointment, I went home, ate, layed on the couch and fell asleep. By the time I woke up, it was time to go to agility practice. We ran a USDAA Grand Prix course. Kip did really well considering I haven't been doing any training with him. He even surprised me with completing 12 weave poles! I had Mo do some small sequences of jumps and the tunnel. I am really going to have to be aware of my body position and movement when running with her.
After the agility practice, we headed out to Dianne's to work sheep. Dianne sorted the sheep we were going to use then had me and Mo take them through the back gate and across the canal bridge to the open field next to her neighbor's house. We first worked on driving up the field and then doing a cross-drive. Our next turn, we did a blind outrun, our first. Dianne told me that when Mo had stayed with her, Mo wouldn't do a blind outrun. I walked between 1/3 and 1/2 way up to the sheep, which were hard for me to see because it was raining pretty hard, I didn't have a hat on and my glasses were wet and fogging up. I sent her on the come-by side, shhhhing her a good portion of the way. She stopped between 10 and 11 o'clock. I reflanked her and she completed the outrun and fetched them nicely to me. We did a couple of cross drives and called it good. For our last run, we did another blind outrun, but this time to the away side, which is her weak outrun side. It took some convincing to get her to go to that side but she eventually went. Once she saw the sheep, she kicked out nicely. We did a couple of cross drives and were done for the day.
Like I said in my last post we are busy! I have things planned for 6 out of the next 8 weekends between agility and stockdog. I've also entered the Daisy Peel seminar that BARC is hosting in December. We are participating in the foundation handling and jumping. If the seminar doesn't fall on the same weekend as one of the winter stockdog trials, then I will also plan on auditing on the second day for the contacts and weaves portion.

Busy little bee...

2010-09-29T20:00:00.004-06:00

Things seemed to be pretty busy lately. I have had something going on each weekend for the last few weeks so I'm feeling like I'm not getting anything done.
I dropped Kip off Saturday morning at the vet office to have xrays done. I spent the time between dropping him off and the afternoon appointment with Mo. I went to Bed, Bath and Beyond and picked up a few things. We went to downtown Boise to the Saturday market. I didn't realize they didn't really want dogs in the market (there weren't signs the last time I was there) so I walked on the sidewalks where there were no vendors. No one seemed to mind...and of course, Mo draws quite a bit of attention and she loved all of the petting that she received. There were a couple of pet/dog vendors there. Mo got plenty of samples. I also picked up a couple of lamb bones for the dogs to chew on. There was still time to kill so I took Mo down to the little dog park in Meridian. I figured it wouldn't be too crowded with it being the day of ORST vs. BSU. There were only a few people there. Mo was not getting along with one of the another dogs, so they ended up leaving but I left shortly there after. I went down to the Meridian Saturday Market and picked up a Pampered Chef cookbook. They are recipes that take less than 30 minutes to cook.
The results from Kip's xrays were insignificant. They ended up doing xrays from his neck all the way to his knees...there were almost a dozen xrays. The initial report from Dr. Dalton showed that there was nothing obviously wrong that would cause his symptoms. His spine, hips, knees all looked great. Dr. Dalton also sent the xrays off to a radiologist. The report from the radiologist was also said that there was nothing significant. We discussed possibly doing a tick panel and/or laser light therapy (which he has had one treatment of already back when I was on vacation). I do treat the dogs for ticks and fleas. I've only seen ticks on the dogs once a couple of years ago when I went to the foothills with Jodi and Colleen. For now, I'm treating him with an anti-inflammatory and trying to remember to do the stretching exercises. Since he doesn't refuse to do anything, Dr. Dalton says that he can do as much agility as he wants/is willing to do. I'm not going to enter him in everything in NADAC trial in November. I have been working with him on his weave poles and will be getting him to some practices in a couple of weeks (if I can find a free day on the weekend!).
I'm very limited, in regards to equipment that is, on what I can do with Mo for agility training. I have two jumps and a set of 6 weave poles. I am planning on making a trip the The Home Depot to get some PVC so I can make more jumps. I want to start doing jump chutes and jump box exercises. I am using the 2x2 method for weave pole training. She's picking it up pretty quickly. I have found that she is more drive and is much more focused when I use a tug toy verses food. And the barking has not been nearly as bad as it was like a year ago when I was planning on starting her. I will just run her in Tunnelers, Jumpers and Weavers (if she's ready) in November. The first USDAA trial next year is in May.
And things are not going to be really slowing down during October...this Saturday is the Idaho Humane Society's Annual See Spot Walk fundraiser. I'll be there representing BARC. Then the following weekend, I'll be in Baker, OR as the stockhandler at an AKC herding trial. After the trial, I will be driving to Hailey, ID for The Trailing of the Sheep SDT. I don't have anything planned (yet) the weeknd after that but I leave on the 20th after work for Milton-Freewater for Melinda Eden's Fireridge SDT. And to finish out October, Idaho Herding Association is having an AHBA trial Halloween weekend.
I still have not come up with a new name for the blog...please feel free to throw out any ideas you may have.

Trying on something new...

2010-09-18T23:00:00.000-06:00

So I have made some obvious changes to the look of the blog. We'll see if it sticks. I'm thinking about changing the name but I haven't come up with anything yet. Perhaps I'll write more tomorrow. It's getting late and Jodi is picking me up in the morning for a herding demo in north Boise.

I realized something this weekend...

2010-09-13T18:00:00.000-06:00

I miss running agility...and I haven't even quit yet! I spent the weekend helping out at BARC's USDAA trial. With my plan on phasing out agility, I wasn't planning on running Kip in USDAA. But now that Kip's agility career may be coming to an end sooner rather than later, I have realized that I'm not ready to be done with agility (I guess we'll find out if I will ever quit agility). Hopefully we'll find out what is going on with Kip's back and/or right hip and if he will be able to continue to do agility at the end of the month. I talked to agility trainer that is "down the street" from me about possibly starting Mo this winter. She has an on going beginner class so I think I will start her in October. I'm going to restart some foundation work with her and probably start weave poles. Be on the lookout for updates on Mo's agility training.

Pictures from Portland

2010-09-01T11:45:00.005-06:00

My allergies are running amuck right now. I woke up on Monday with a sore throat thanks to post-nasal drip. I woke up yesterday morning only able to breathe out of my right nostril and with so much pressure between my eyes I thought my eyes might pop out of my head. I only ended up working for a half day yesterday, not able to take the sinus pressure/headache anymore. I decided to just stay home today. I can now breathe only out of my left nostril and my nose is very raw and bright red from all of the sneezing and blowing my nose.

While I was in Oregon, the only pictures I took were while I was at the Oregon Zoo and Portland's Rose Garden.

A view from the top of the Portland's Rose Garden.

Pictures from the Oregon Zoo:

Mountain Goat

There is a dinosaur exhibit at the Oregon Zoo right now.

Here are Madeline and Isabelle digging for dinosaur bones.

Vivian the Malayan Sun Bear. My dad was able to call Vivian to this log so that everyone could get a nice, close up look at her.

Zebra

Giraffee

Itchy and Scratchy, Babirusa Pigs

Marge and Maggie, Babirusa Pigs

From the Wild Life Live show:

Chinook the Bald Eagle

Apollo the American Kestrel

Najla the Eurasian Eagle Owl
Pierre the Hooded Vulture
(see Pierre in the video below helping the zoo raise money)
Madeline and Isabelle checking their wingspans

The polar bears enjoying some "snow" on the warm day.

The "snow" is actually the ice that comes from the local ice rinks.

After the Wild Life Live show, people are encouraged to come down to the stage and make a donation to the zoo. Pierre, the Hooded Vulture, is ready and willing to take your donation. Here is Madeline and Isabelle making a donation to the Oregon Zoo with help from Pierre the Hooded Vulture.

Home Sweet Home

2010-08-30T18:00:00.004-06:00

I've been back from my two week vacation for a week now and I've been working on this post since I got back. I spent the first week in Lebanon with Earl and Esther, my psuedo-grandparents. I did a lot of sleeping and eating. Esther bought me a bread maker as an early Christmas gift (be prepared for complaining about how much weight I've put on from all the bread I'll be eating!) The weather was nice and cool most of the time. The last couple days it warmed up quite a bit. I did go over to Rocking Dog Ranch one day to work Mo. We worked on some wool lambs. I didn't want Mo to go too long without working before Lacamas. I didn't make a big deal out of the work. I made sure that her inside flanks were squared up and that she stayed off the sheep. I headed up to my parent's house a couple days later. They were still on their cruise so I had the house to myself for a couple of days. I spent the few days before Lacamas having lunch or drinks with friends, just hanging out and catching up. I went to the Oregon Zoo with my friend Heidi and her two girls, Madeline and Isabelle. We went first thing in the morning as we knew it was going to get hot. It ended up being a quick trip since I had the dogs in the car. We took the dogs up to the rose garden and walked around. We ended up at the playground to let the girls play. My dad is a volunteer guide at the Oregon Zoo, so of course, a second trip was in order. We went to the zoo one day after he was done at work. He knows the names of quite a few of the animals, so it was cool that they responded to him calling their names, coming up close to the edge of their enclosures. It was quite funny to watch one of the male white-cheeked Gibbons, Gunther, respond to seeing my dad after not seeing him for a couple of weeks. Gunther was quite happy to see him. I took pictures and will hopefully get them posted soon.
Mo and I didn't run until Friday of Lacamas...and we were running second to last in Pro-Novice. By the time we ran, the temperature had cooled down but the sheep were hungry and they were quite content to graze while on the field. I sent Mo on a come-by outrun. The sheep started to wander toward her while she was on her outrun but she kicked out nicely. She listened really well for the lift and covered nicely. I didn't have the fear of the sheep making a break to setout this year like I did last year. The fetch was wobbly down the field but it was much better than last year. Since the sheep have been running all day, the draw to the exhaust was quite strong. The key was to try and get your dog to beat the sheep to post as the sheep ran down the field. Mo had them beat but once they turned around the post, of course, we had one in the group that didn't want to play. I left the rest of the group go to the exhaust. Knowing that she wouldn't grip, I sent her in to bring the sheep back, which she did. We got the drive going, missing the panels. As I said, they were content to graze and they came across a very nice patch of grass to munch on. We ended up timing out during the cross drive.
On Saturday, we ran in the afternoon, but not nearly as late as on Friday. I didn't show up early, on either day. On Saturday, I timed it pretty well. I arrived like an hour and a half before our run. I sent her on the come-by again. She had another lovely outrun (we only lost 1 point). She didn't cover as well as I liked, so flanked her at the top, which cost us a few more points. Our set didn't come down the field like their butts were on fire and Mo decided that she would be a good dog and stay off her sheep. The fetch took forever. Once the sheep broke the plane of the fetch panels (which they did not go through), they picked up the pace but I knew that we were in trouble as far as time was concerned. The sheep turned around the post nicely and then one decided it would try to make a break for it to the exhaust. I stopped Mo and waited to see what she would do...and she made the right choice and regathered with the others. I was able to get Mo to push on the sheep some to try and speed things up. We made the first set of drive panels with a nice tight turn. The sheep were about to go through the second set of drive panels when we timed out. I had Mo gather up the sheep and we headed to the exhaust. Teri, from Texas, didn't realize that I had timed out...she thought I forgot to go to the pen, lol. So although we timed out during both runs, there were elements to our runs that I was really happy about.
For the Double Lift Finals, I watched like the first 5 or 6 runs. I got to watch Alasdair MacRae run Star, I had just missed him run Nap (they had the winning score of 163 out of 170). Patrick had to unfortunately retire his run with Riggs.
I spent Monday doing laundry, unpacking and relaxing...apparently I relaxed a little too much because I didn't mow the lawns. :-) Both dogs looked relieved to be home, especially Kip. Mo takes the traveling all in stride, but it can really make Kip anxious, even though he is in places and with people that he is familar with. I also noticed that his right hip seems to be bothering him again. I did happen to take him down to the clinic that I used to work at because I heard one of the vets had started offering laser treatments. I had them do one treatment, only because I found out so late in my time there, and it did seem to help him with the tightness that he had going on. I've had him back on Deramaxx for about two weeks and we are doing stretches. I have scheduled xrays in September. BARC's fall NADAC trial is in November so I would generally start getting Kip ready for the trial next month but I'm not sure if I'm going to run him in November now.
This past weekend, Mo and I competed in the Western Idaho Fair SDT. Since there were not that many runs, we decided that everyone would have two runs. I had to retire Mo's first run. If you sent your dog on the comeby side, your dog would either go around the setout trailer or would have to run between the trailer and the setout person. I haven't worked Mo on having to work around such things so I was afraid that she would come up short or stop completely so I sent her on the away. She came in flat, pushing the sheep to the setout trailer and she wouldn't walk into them to pull them off. I walked up the field to help her out. I decide on her second turn that I would go ahead and send her on the comeby. She got out to the sheep with no hesitation with regards to the trailer or setout person. The fetch was fast and wiggly. I was able to get control of her as she got close to the post. We had some issues with our drive and crossdrive. I'm not really sure what was going on. After the crossdrive panels, she wouldn't take my flank to bring the sheep down to the pen...she started driving the sheep back up towards setout! I have no idea what that was all about. I finally stopped giving commands and decided to wait and see what she would do. She finally decided to bring the sheep back down the field. I think we got the sheep in the pen the first try.
On Sunday morning, Mo acted like her butt was on fire during our first run. Everything she did was tight and fast. Everything happened so fast that I don't remember if we hit any of the panels...at the speed everything was going, I can't imagine that we did. She finally started to show signs of slowing (ie mentally checking out) at the pen. We did the around-n-around a few times and once I was finally able to get her backed off the sheep, we got them in the pen. I knew that I had to, some how, get her to lie down on the fetch and gain control quickly during the second run. I sent her once again on the comeby side. I got her to lie down just as the sheep were going to go through the fetch panels. The sheep shifted and didn't go through, but when I flanked her to get them back on line, the flank was nice and square. The turn around the post ended up not being too bad. We held a straight line to the first drive panels...it was just the wrong line, lol so we missed the panels. Mo, once again, ignored my flank to start the crossdrive and instead started to drive the sheep back to setout. After a couple of corrections, I finally got her to bring the sheep back on line for the crossdrive. We would have made the second panels but I blew the wrong flank. My brain said away (right) but my mouth blew comeby (wrong). We then had to bring the sheep back to the post, settle and then go to the pen. We did a couple circles around the pen, but eventually got them in. So as always, plenty to work on during practice.
I went bonkers on my front yard yesterday after getting home from the trial. It is looking pretty cleaned up right now...and it should considering I filled three garbage cans with lawn clippings and weeds that I pulled. The weather is supposed to stay nice through Labor Day weekend so I'm hoping to get some more prep work down in the front yard...hey, maybe I'll take pictures!

Thank you Carolynn!

2010-07-26T19:30:00.001-06:00

While Carolynn of bcxfour was in town over the 4th of July, she took pictures of the dogs for me. Here are the shots of Kip while we were over at Janie's:

Here are pictures of Mo working at Janie's:

And here are some pictures of Mo at the Athena trial:

It's been pretty warm around here lately so much has not been getting done outside, although I did get the backyard mowed last night. I'll be headed to the Canyon County Fair on Friday night to do a demo/mock trial with Jodi and the Couch's.

Mo and I got into Pro-Novice for Lacamas next month. I'm really looking forward to my two weeks off and going to Lacamas. I'm spending the first week in Lebanon with my Gram and Papa. The week will most likely be spent sleeping, eating, reading and taking the dogs down to the river. Then I'm hoping to go camping for a couple of nights on the coast with some friends before heading to my parent's house the week of Lacamas. The weekend after we get back, the annual trial at the Western Idaho Fair is happening so we'll be at that trial as well. Hopefully by then the weather will cool down and I can get some more work done outside.

"Where's my wave?!" - Caledonia Games SDT 2010

2010-07-12T22:25:00.004-06:00

I had a great time at the Caledonia Games SDT this weekend in Athena, OR. I drove out with Jody R (and Circle) and Carolynn Harwell (BCxFour) on Friday afternoon. We were all pitching tents so we wanted to get there before dark. I bought a new tent the last time I was in Portland. I got it up pretty quickly and then after blowing up my air mattress (full/double), realized that the tent door was really too small for the mattress! I'm sure I put on quite a show for the people that were hanging out on the knoll behind us while stuffing that air mattress into the tent. There was very little room left after I got the air mattress in there. Kip ended up sleeping in his crate in the car (he won't sleep on the air mattress) and Mo sleep on the air mattress with me. It was quite warm when we got there in the early evening, still hovering in the upper 90s I believe. But once the sun really started to go down, it cooled off and was pleasant. We sat around our little tent town with Susan Linstadt and chatted. We decided to go to the field to check out the course and a discovered curious obstacle...a Y chute. We were happy that it wasn't the dreaded maltese cross (aka the "Couch Cross") on the field since Don Couch was the course director, lol.
Saturday morning's weather started out nice...a lovely breeze kept the temperature at a nice place. Then the heat started about mid-morning and it got quite hot. The course was the OLF, drive, chute and pen (no shed for Open). The Open class had to stay at the post (the goal post) for the chute and Pro-Novice had the option of going to the chute. The judge did not just want one attempt to the chute. If you didn't get them in the first time, he wanted you to retry a couple more times. Everyone clapped whenever the sheep went through the chute. I told our little crowd that I wanted to see "the wave" if we got the sheep through the chute. Mo and I were in about the middle of the running order for Pro-Novice. I believe there were 18 dogs running in Pro-Novice. I sent Mo to the come-by side. About half way up the field, I think someone in the stands dropped something because there was a loud clank which caused Mo to stop running. A quick reflank sent her on her way. She lifted nicely, but our fetch was all over the place and we just missed the panels. Our drive was not pretty...all over the place much like our fetch. I couldn't get Mo stopped fast enough to establish a line. And she did complete circles around the sheep a couple of times. I think both times was right in front of the panels. I wonder if she though I wanted her to turn them so she overflanked and wouldn't stop. Our line to the chute was perfect and the sheep went right through and I beat them to the pen, the line was spot on and they walked right into the pen. Now, when the sheep went through the chute, I looked over and I didn't see a "wave" so I shouted, "Where's my wave?!". Carolynn got a lovely picture of me, lol. I don't know that the judge liked it...I think he deducted a point from my pen...and I don't really care, lol. That was the best part of our run. We ended up placing 10th overall for the day (winning the tie with Terri Zurcher and Bess, I think, on our outwork. I love Terri and her husband Gene. They were both very happy for me that I won the tie, lol).
On Sunday, we were like the fourth team in the running order. I sent Mo to the come-by side again. She was about two thirds of the way to the top and I stopped her to reflank because I thought she was too tight. Of course, after I resent her, I realized that she was fine. Another nice lift and...the straightest fetch that we have ever had. Once we got the the sheep on line, they came right down the middle of the field and through the fetch panels. When they started to get close to the bottom, we had a bobble, but I didn't care. I was estactic with our fetch. The turn around the post was wobbly with the draw of the exhaust and Mo went under the trailer(?) that the judge was watching from and I couldn't get her in fast enough to tighten the turn. We did, however, keep them from going around the pen. Our drive was still wobbly and from my drive score, I don't think I made the panels, lol. There were no complete circles around the sheep so there's my improvement for that part of the run. We missed the chute on the first try but got them in on the second. I didn't get to the pen as quickly as I did on Saturday so the flow wasn't as nice. They went right in once I got the pen open but we lost some points on the pen I think because I ended up having to have Mo hold them while I got the pen open. I'm not sure where we landed in the ranking for the day or overall for Pro-Novice. If I remember correctly, the overall Open winner was Sue Wessels and Lexy, Pro-Novice was Dianne Deal and Fame and Novice-Novice was Carolynn Harwell and Beth! When I get the scores, I will post them to the Idaho Stockdogging blog.
Overall, I had a great time and I can definitely see where Mo and I have improved since this trial last year. Some of the improvements were: not hesitating when I sent her on the outrun, we didn't have to retire a run, we didn't time out on a run and her inside flanks are much improved.
I took a sneak peak at the photos that Carolynn took at the trial and you guys are in for a treat! She got some fabulous shots of the dogs, one especially beautiful shot of Susan Linstadt's Star.
Now we start preparing for the Lacamas SDT in August. I'm currently on the waiting list...I completely spaced the opening of the trial and got my entry in late. I'm hoping that we get in and if not, we'll still be there to help out and give everyone our support.

We're hittin' the road...

2010-07-08T20:30:00.002-06:00

I'm off to Athena, OR tomorrow afternoon for the Caledonia Games SDT. This is the trial last year that was the first time Mo and I ran in Pro-Novice. I'm looking forward to being there to see if I can gage how much we have grown in our work. I'm hoping I'm able to get someone to video my runs. The field is small enough (a football field) that a video should be doable.
I took Mo over to Janie's twice over the 4th of July weekend to work sheep with Carolynn of BCxFour. On Sunday, we worked in one of the small arenas that had an AKC course setup. The first go round, I just had Mo do an OLF and moved the sheep around the course a couple of times. Each part of the course had an objective, usually driving in a straight line. The second go round, I just had Mo drive the sheep the length of the arena a few times, mainly trying to get her to loosen up her eye so that her flanks are not so tight. She did a good job and it didn't take long before she was moving freely. I also worked on her going into pressure and working completely on whistles with only corrections if necessary. On Monday, it was much of the same as Sunday. Carolynn worked both Beth and Brynn. Both dogs are coming along nicely. She took pictures of Mo and said she got some really nice shots so I can't wait to see them (hint, hint). :0)
We went to group lessons last night and it was packed! We're starting to see some new faces and dogs. I love watching new people and dogs start and just see the progress that they make - like Jody R and Circle (I can't wait to watch them at Athena!). They rocked at a recent AKC herding trial. Mo worked really nicely for me during the lesson. I'm hoping this trend continues at the trial.
On a non-dog front - I finally got my entire backyard mowed on Monday! And I mowed the front yard today. Now that everything is under control I can turn the sprinkler system back on. A friend of mine gave me a really good idea for landscaping the front yard (which will fix the space between the fence and the ground in the area the dogs have access to when I'm not at home). I'm getting lots of ideas put together but it's not going to happen until next spring. I need to get to a nursery to talk to some people that know what they talking about to run my ideas by before I actually do anything.

Summer is finally here...

2010-06-27T21:45:00.001-06:00

and someone is happy that it finally decided to show up...(please ignore the dirty window and the tv in the background...I'm currently locked out of my YouTube account...)

And yes, half of the grass in the backyard was knee-high when I took this video (yesterday)...and yes, those holes were dug by Mo...

What the....

2010-06-20T21:00:00.002-06:00

The weather has been a bit...unpredictable out here in Idaho. Yesterday morning, I made my first attempt to mow my backyard...the grass is knee high. I set the blades high and got started. The grass was still pretty damp from the sprinklers and the mower kept dying on me. I decided to wait until the evening in hopes that the grass would be dry and I could get this much needed chore finished. Late in the afternoon, a thunderstorm rolled into town and thwarted my evening lawn mowing plans. I went back out this morning to start mowing again (I had turned the sprinklers off). I got a little bit more mowed before I got frustrated with the still damp lawn. Once again, I planned on getting it mowed this evening...and then this happened.

I ended up getting the inside of my house cleaned up this weekend. I got some pictures of the front yard so that I can go to a nursery and talk to someone about what I want to plant in the beds. There used to be this pinkish colored gravel in this flower bed. And a dead rose bush right in front of the live one. You can still see the small stump that I have yet to dig up. (These were taken before yesterday's thunderstorm.)

This rose bush will eventually come out and be transplanted to Jodi's. I need to find out when the best time will be to do that.

This bush will also eventually be transplanted to Jodi's. I want to plan some perennials here.

This is part of the area that the dog's have access to when I'm not at home. I'm going to get grass growing here and I think I want to plant a small shade tree if possible. And obviously do something about the space between the ground and the fence. This is where most of the rock that went to Janie's came from.

Maybe I'll have more success getting stuff done outside next weekend...

Dirt Blowing SDT

2010-06-14T22:00:00.005-06:00

Mo and I had a great time at Sue Wessels's Dirt Blowing SDT this weekend. It was a great experience for the both of us...new terrain and new sheep (range ewes). I don't know if Mo was entirely convinced that what she was having to move around the field was sheep. These range ewes were huge compared to what we work at home. The weather was great, not a lot of dirt was being blown around...apparently not the norm. It was warm but the breeze and Dianne's shade tarp kept things in check.
On Saturday we ran in Nursery and on Sunday we ran in Nursery and two rounds of Pro-Novice. I was very happy with our run on Saturday just due to the fact that Mo got to her sheep (the set got a little wiggly and setout was having to reset them which confused Mo a little bit so I had to give her a few redirects to let her know that she was supposed to go up there), didn't let them get away and we got around the course, timing out just as I opened the pen. We didn't get one panel but I didn't care. I did a lot more yelling of "lay down" than I should have. Things were moving so fast and she was having to constantly flank around the sheep to keep them from getting away (and I wanted her to lay down because I wanted to try and slow things down), but that is why she didn't lay down...she didn't want to loose her sheep (per the Dianne's wisdom). I should have figured that out while I was standing there at the post yelling at her because she is generally a good listener.
I don't have much to say about our Nursery run on Sunday morning, which was on the flat Open field, not the hilly Nursery field from the day before. When I sent Mo, she headed towards the exhaust, but after much "discussion" she took my come-by flanks and finally got to the sheep at set out. We would have gotten past the lift if I let me dog do what she needed to do instead of trying to tell her what she needs to do. Once she finally got to the top, she covered nicely to keep them from going back to the trailers. She took my lay down whistle....and then she took my away whistle...wrong move, bad handler! The sheep got to the setout trailers. I retired our run. After we got the sheep back to exhaust, Dianne explained to me that I should have just asked her to walk up to get the sheep started down the field...let her do what she needs to do because she was right. Okay...let Mo get to the top, don't say anything except walk up.
We were towards the bottom of the run order for group one of the first round of Pro-Novice. I let Mo watch a few of the dogs before us complete the outrun and fetch so that she could see where there sheep were, then I put her away. I had to give her a couple of reflanks to get her out there. She covered the sheep at the top, I only asked for a walk up. During the fetch she was more willing to lay down but it was still a challenge for me to get her to lay down. Mo had to work hard to get the sheep around the post as the sheep wanted to go to the exhaust. She hesistated a little bit having to walk right into them, but she prevailed. I honestly don't remember what the first leg of the drive looked like...I worked on keeping her backed off. Once the sheep went through the panels, the cross drive was wobbly. When I flanked her after the cross drive was completed, Mo didn't take my come-by flank to turn the sheep towards me and the pen. The sheep drifted towards the fence and Mo didn't move. I tried to recall her then flank but she was not having it...instead she turned and ran to the water tub at the exhaust and called it quits. I couldn't get her to come out of the tub so I retired our run. She didn't want to go into the pressure and I think she was just ran out of steam.
The second round of Pro-Novice was back on the Nursery field. When I sent Mo, I don't think she saw the sheep but once she did, she kicked out nicely and had a nice lift. She covered to keep the sheep from breaking to the exhaust. I think we made fetch panels, but I'm not 100% sure. She got the sheep around the post, through the first drive panels, through the cross drive panels and ran out of time. Obviously nothing was nice, neat or on line. There was lots of wobbling and over correcting but she listened well and kept the sheep from escaping.
She worked her little butt off and showed me that I can (and should) trust her to make the right decisions.

Back to work...

2010-06-03T22:30:00.000-06:00

Just a quickie post...Mo and I are finally back to weekly lessons with Dianne. We are going to the group lessons on Wednesday nights over at Janie's. This was week two after not working sheep for about a month or so. Last week, we worked on keeping Mo backed off the sheep without lying her down (which means training me to not say "lie down" when I need her to slow down or stop). During yesterday's lesson, we worked on holding straight lines and having tight turns around the course (and keeping her backed on/pacing well of course). The first leg of the drive is usually pretty nice, with a tight turn at the panels. Its the cross-drive that I fumble on. I am not good at seeing if the sheep are where they need to be to make the panels. I have, pretty consistently, had the sheep too low. We would also do the course in reverse. I was a little bit better doing it that way. We also worked on penning the sheep. Mo did a good job at pacing herself when I asked her to. Next week, the last lesson before Sue Wessel's trial, we are going to work on lifting sheep off of people.
Hopefully I will finally be done with dealing with all of the gravel/decorative rock at my place after this weekend. Janie is bringing one of her trucks over so a friend, her daughter and I can load it up with the gravel. She is going to use the gravel to try and fill in some of the pot holes in her driveway. Janie has loaned me her reciprocating saw so I can cut down the dead rose bush in my front yard and small dead tree from my backyard. My friend's husband also worked on the last piece of fence that is up for keeping the dogs in their area. Then I'm going to whack down the weeds, well my friend is, spray some weed killer, get the dirt as level as I can, try to determine how much dirt I need to have brought in (mainly from having dug up the poles) and get some grass growing. I have a live rose bush and small shrub that are going Jodi. Once all of the plants are gone, I'm going to level and work the dirt a bit. In the flower bed right in front of the house I'm going to plant some simple shrubs and probably bulbs. The small shrub that Jodi is taking is in a flower bed surrounding the tree in my front yard...I'm going to plant bulbs there too. I have a nice, small flower bed near the front door that I want to plant a miniture Japanese maple in.
Busy times lay ahead...

Goodbye old friend...

2010-05-29T19:27:00.012-06:00

My dad called me today to let me know that he had to put our 14 year old family dog, Pentium, to sleep today. Pentium was a Patterdale Terrier that we got from a family friend. She was the first, and most likely only, dog that we have ever raised from puppyhood to death. My parents found out Mother's Day weekend that she was in renal failure. I was planning on being there when the time came because I thought we had more time, but she went downhill overnight. I wasn't going to let her suffer so that I could be there. She was the best dog that our family could have ever had. Pentium loved to ride in the car, fetch balls, snuggle with you on the floor and open her own Christmas presents (or yours if you let her). She is the reason why I will always have a special place in my heart for terriers.

Got him!

2010-05-28T20:51:00.004-06:00

I found out that I had an uninvited guest in my house while I was away at the Jack Knox clinic last weekend. I came home, went to the pantry to get some pita bread and discovered that my guest helped himself to it while I was gone. He was nice enough to leave me some but it was moldy by the time I got home. The next day, I purchase a couple of "mobile homes" for my guest so I could "relocate" him to my garbage can. I don't think he ever came out of where ever he was hiding from if the dogs and I were at home, not even at night. I took the dogs with me to work today and when I came home today, I found that my friend was now "occupying" one of the new residences I had purchased him. Hopefully he didn't bring any friends or family...I left the other mobile home in the pantry just in case...

Busy schedule

2010-05-19T14:30:00.001-06:00

This summer is going to fly by. I spent last weekend at BARC's USDAA trial. I'm not sure how or why I signed up to volunteer because I'm not running Kip in USDAA. I must have been distracted on my Blackberry during a club meeting and offered myself up to help. It was a nice weekend...plenty of dogs with nice runs and lots of dogs with just missed Qs. The courses looked tough but do-able. Although, as nice at it was to watch, I would have rather been at home working on the yard.
This weekend I'm heading up to the Twin Falls area with Jodi for the Jack Knox clinic. I'm just doing a working spot with Mo on Sunday. Hoping to get some auditing in Saturday afternoon. Lessons with Dianne at Janie's start today so I'm going to be taking those lessons weekly and hopefully a lesson on the weekends when Dianne and I are both in town. I entered Sue Wessel's Dirt Blowing SDT that is the second weekend of June. Then I'm planning on entering the Kelly Creek SDT that is during the 4th of July weekend. Then the following weekend is the Caledonia SDT in Athena, OR. And the last trial of the summer will be Lacamas in August. I actually decided to take two weeks off (which is just unbelievable, lol) for Lacamas. I'm going to head over to Oregon the week before to spend some time with family and friends. I'm hoping to go camping on the Oregon coast for a few days with some friends. And I believe GSH is rescheduling their AHBA trial that is usually in the spring to sometime this summer. I am really looking forward to working Mo on stock on a regular basis.
Poor Kip is not going to get a lot of agility work this summer (although he will get to do lots of traveling and hanging out which seems to make him happy). The next NADAC trial isn't until November so I figure I'm good until like September or October before we really need to get going again. And I think that dropping him down to 16" may help in his performance. And I think it goes to show that I'm just not that into agility anymore.

NADAC trial

2010-04-27T15:00:00.001-06:00

I entered myself and Kip in all of the runs this weekend at BARC's spring NADAC trial. We haven't practiced much since the trial in November. He was lame for about 6 weeks earlier this year so that didn't help and I've just been busy, mainly with the house. The few times we did practice he did really well...but then again, he always practices really well. :-)
The courses for Saturday were: Hoopers (novice), Jumpers (elite), Regular Rnd 1 (novice), Regular Rnd 2 (novice), Chances (novice) and Touch N Go (open). Unless you have run NADAC, you've probably never seen a Hoopers course. The obstacles are hula hoops that have been cut and inserted into a PVC stand. The bases are flat to the ground so the dogs just run through them. It's more of a handling course than anything. In Novice, you had to complete three non-test hoops, then a sequence of test hoops, two non-test hoops then another sequence of test hoops and then make at least an "attempt" to exit through one of the two exit hoops. There were four sets of test hoops I believe, so strategy is also involved. I have never run a Hoopers course before and was mainly doing it to get the zoomies out of Kip. Surprisingly, not only did we get a Q but we took 1st place, lol. No more Qs for the rest of the day. We need to work on discrimination because my dog that would take contact equipment over anthing on the course has taken to tunnels so we missed one of the discriminations on the Touch N Go course. :-) On a good note, Kip completed the distance part of the Chances course. We would have gotten that Q if I had not pulled him too much to one side of the final jump in the distance part of the course causing him to miss the jump. There was no hesitation on his part during this course.
On Sunday, we had Regular Rnd 3, Regular Rnd 4, Jumpers, Weavers (novice) and Tunnelers (open). We finally got our third Q in Regular and now have our Novice Regular title. We'll be staying in Novice Regular for a bit longer. :-) Still no Qs in Elite Jumpers or Novice Weavers. The more weaves Kip did during the weekend they better they got. This was our first time in Open Tunnelers. I have kept him back because he has always slowed down about halfway through the Tunnelers courses and we were barely making time. We ran the course in exactly the given course time, lol. We would have had a better time but I fumbled in one spot so obviously I need to work on my handling.
I was also told, after all of the jumping courses were done, that Kip seemed to be struggling at the 20 inch jump height. Perhaps this is why we we've been having some troubles? I did think about dropping him down to 16 inches for this trial but he was practicing at 20 inches without any apparent issues. But then again, he doesn't work as much at practice than he does at a trial. He turned six this year so I'm going to go ahead and drop him down to 16 inches...we'll see if I will be able to handle the extra speed. :-)

Not about the dogs for once...

2010-04-23T21:00:00.015-06:00

One of my interest outside of the dogs is music. I've played a variety of muscially instruments during my life, starting in grade school and through high school. I took private piano lessons during my first year of college (I had to stop because I had injured my back and sitting on the bench became too painful). Because of music, I've had some of the best experiences I will ever have in my life. I got to tour most of western Europe and I was bandmates with two of my best friends in high school. I love a wide variety of music. I love going to concerts and hearing the songs that I love performed live. Country is a genre that I have only been listening to for about 5 or 6 years. One of my favorite artists is Dierks Bentley. I went to one of his concerts the other night. It was a great show! It was at a small venue (general admission and I was in the front row, right up against the stage!) and it was all done acoustically. The concert was the kickoff for Dierks' first blue grass cd, Up on the Ridge, which comes out in June. Here are some pictures that my friend and I took with our cell phones. We didn't think to bring cameras because cameras are usually not allowed at concerts.

What a great weekend...

2010-03-09T09:30:00.004-07:00

It was a beautiful weekend here in Idaho. I spent Saturday cleaning and working on the house before Janie and Kirk came over for dinner. I made Korean food. I got distracted talking that I turned the rice on late so we didn't have rice...and then come to find out that when I was doing the dishes that I actually didn't turn the rice cooker on...it was on "Warm", not "Cook", lol.
Sunday was a dog day. I went out to Dianne's for some more shedding practice. We got a few nice sheds. The biggest thing that I need to remember is to step into the sheep that I want so that Mo doesn't have the chance to flank in front of me. Dianne gave me several trials to think about going to and I think I'm going to be going to most of them. Most of they are close enough that I won't have to take time off from work.
After Dianne's, I headed over to BARC's agility practice. Kip and I haven't done agility since the last NADAC trial in November. He was lame back in January and I think there is still something funky going on with that rear leg but it hasn't been stopping him from doing anything. Our first run through the course was at 16". The first four obstacles were: jump, dog walk, jump, A-frame. The dog walk (along with the weave poles) has been giving us the most problems. I set him at the jump then walked to the down contact end of the dog walk. He slowed down when he was coming down, but still jumped the contact. So we went back to the other end of the dog walk and he hit the contact the second time. He did a wonderful running A-frame and did really well with the pinwheel of jumps. Even though we don't have teeters in NADAC, Kip's really good on the teeter. Then it was a decent turn to the left to 12 weave poles....and he did them perfectly! I was so excited! We ran the course a few more times and each time we ran it better and more efficiently. Our local agility equipment builder brought over the new 24" weave poles that are going to be used at the AKC trials. I ran Kip through those a couple of times. With the extra space between the poles, he moved through them with more drive. Now it's time to decide what we're going to run in the April NADAC trial.

You want me to do what?

2010-03-02T10:00:00.004-07:00

I went to Dianne's on Sunday for a lesson with Mo. I got to spend a little bit of time with Carolyn and her husband, John, before they took back off to Washington. Carolyn got some great photos of Mo while we were standing around and talking. Including some lovely pictures of Mo trying to tell Ranger how she really felt about him...I'm hoping she'll post them up on her blog soon. Then I watched Dianne work Brynn while Carolyn took pictures. As Dianne and Carolyn were headed back to the house to get the dogs situated, Dianne told me to go out and work on getting Mo's eye loosened up, a couple of outruns then work on shedding...the last one brought me to a complete stop, lol. We've had one shedding lesson...and that was back in October. Mo's outruns and lifts were good. I had to get on her about slowing down on the fetch. I had her drive the flock around the field, loosening up her eye. I waited too long before starting the shed work and Mo was tired so our first few attempts at sheds didn't happen. Plus, I found out that I wasn't doing my half of the job. While Mo rested, Jody R. and Circle worked and Dianne explained to me what I needed to do during our next try. Our next go was much more successful. Dianne did have to step in to help me out, but I'm getting the idea. What I really need to work on is getting Mo to flank behind me vs flanking in front of me when coming in for the shed. If she flanks behind me, then she can cover any of the sheep that may try to turn and run back to the flock.
I talked with Dianne a little bit about what trials to go to. I know I'm going to go to Athena in July and Lacamas in August. I think I'm going to go to the Kelly Creek SDT in July as well.

Who needs a gym...

2010-02-22T09:30:00.000-07:00

when you have an entire house to clean? I ended up not going to the sdt this weekend. I cleaned, moved things around and ran errands instead. I got every single thing on my list done...I was hoping that I could get it done on Saturday so I could go to the trial on Sunday but my sinuses started to bother me which slowed me down. The new list of things to do and buy has already started.
I took the dogs on a couple of walks around the neighborhood...mainly to see how other people have their front yards landscaped. I think I need to wait until everything starts blooming before deciding what to do with the front yard.
The few times I left the house, I crated both dogs. Mo did fine, of course. And Kip did surprisingly well. When I came home (I was never gone for more than a few hours at a time), Kip seemed relaxed when I got home. The neighborhood seems pretty quiet so I'm sure that helps with reducing his anxiety.
I'm not at work this morning. My blinds are being installed as I write...no more living in the glass fish bowl, yeah! And my handyman (thanks Jodi!) is starting on patching up the hole in the wall from the plumbing work. He's also going to be changing some light fixtures, fixing my fence gate and a few other things around the house. My biggest motiviation for getting stuff done at the house is that it's going to get harder and harder to stay at the house during the weekends as the weather gets nicer.
I'm hoping to get back to working with the dogs this weekend. Kip especially needs work if I plan on entering the April NADAC trial. He hasn't been on an agility field since the last NADAC trial in November. Our biggest obstacle will be my timing. It seems like whenever a long break like this happens, my timing is always is hindered the most. I need to get in touch with Dianne to get Mo out in the field as well. I'm looking forward to getting back out there with both dogs.

I'm home

2010-02-18T22:15:00.001-07:00

I got moved in last weekend. I got a small plumbing problem taken care of so now it's just getting some little things done around the house. And it's those "little things" that are keeping me from being at the El Presidente SDT this weekend...and the fact that I haven't really worked Mo since she was at Dianne's for Christmas. I did go out to Janie's on Monday (it was a holiday for me and I needed a break from the house!) for a little bit and worked with her. I'll probably go by on Sunday to watch some runs.
It's time to start planning what I'm going to do with the landscaping. The backyard will probably need some grass seed. It looks like the weeds took over while the place was vacant. There is some gravel on both sides of the house that I want to remove. There are also four metal poles that are cemented into the ground on one side of the house...I think they may have used that area as a kennel area, but I'm not sure. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with them yet. The grass in the front yard seems like it's going to be okay. I want to clear out the decorative rocks in the flower bed that runs under the living room window. I also want to remove the bush (rose bush maybe?) that is on the side of the house.
Kip seems to have settled right in. He doesn't really seem to care as long as I around. Mo is getting there (she had a case of the zoomies when I after I got home from work today, lol) but seems a little unsettled at times. I think I'm enjoying the fenced backyard more than the dogs. I let them out, they do their business and then they want right back in, lol. I'm starting to shop around and try to decide what kind of kennel to put in the backyard. I've been taking the dogs with me to work, ie they hang out in the car and I take them for a short walk during my lunch break. I am going to start leaving them in the house for short amounts of time this weekend to get them used to it. I know Mo will be okay because she hangs out in her crate. I'm hoping to get Kip back to staying in his crate while I'm gone.
I'm getting settled in. Everything is unpacked and put away for the most part. Of course there are things I need (more like want) to buy, but that will be happening slowly.
It already feels like home.

Woo-hoo!!!

2010-02-05T10:45:00.000-07:00

I closed on my house yesterday! My parents are over at the house now, while I'm at work, doing some of the small repairs that need to get done. I have Jodi's handyman coming out today to look at the leaky faucet in the backyard and help my dad get the plug setup for my over-the-range microwave.
We got the keys early last night then headed over to Home Depot to pick up supplies. I ended up buying my appliances and scheduling someone to come out and measure windows for blinds while we were there. I scheduled movers for Friday morning and I'm hoping to get the appliances, blinds and DirecTv taken care of on Friday as well.
My parents and I are going to go out to dinner tonight to celebrate my birthday...yes, it's my birthday today! What great timing for the closing huh?

It actually happened!

2010-01-08T19:00:00.000-07:00

I found out this afternoon that my offer on a bank-owned house has been accepted! Woo-hoo! FINALLY! The seller (ie the bank) wants to close by the 4th of Feb...which is cool because it's the day before my birthday! Happy Birthday to me! Now we just need to get the loose ends taken care of (inspection, appraisal, etc), not do any excess spending and try to negotiate a better/cheaper way to get out of my lease (I extended it for 6 months in December about a two weeks before find this house) without having to pay the cancellation fee. I'm hoping that they will let me sublet it to someone for the remainder of my lease. It feels like a great weight has been lifted from my shoulders...

Ohh Kip...

2010-01-08T14:30:00.000-07:00

As if dealing with separation anxiety wasn't enough...I took Kip to the vet yesterday because I noticed something seemed "off" about his rear right leg. I had been housesitting for a co-worker so the dogs have been coming to work with me, mainly hanging out in the car. Monday morning, he didn't want to jump in the car. I took note but didn't really think anything of it since he seemed okay. Then on Tuesday morning, same thing. When I was getting ready to leave, I let the dogs out to go to the bathroom room and Kip was acting funny. He stretched his right rear leg and it was just...weird. He couldn't seem to get into position to pee (he's a squatter). That is when I decided to call the vet.
Before the vet checked Kip over, we talked about his gaits. His walking and trotting gaits have always looked normal, unlike his running gait. He has, what I've been told, a "rocking horse" gait. I've always thought it was a bit weird and wondered if it was an indication of some potential issues (ie hip dsyplasia). He's never shown any pain or relutance to do anything so I didn't do anything about it. The vet palpated and checked Kip all over, leaving the right rear leg for last. He gave her some resistance when working with the right rear leg and she noticed that one of the inner thigh muscles was underdeveloped compared to the same muscle on the other leg. He showed a pain response (licking his lips) when she applied pressure to that muscle as well. He also showed some discomfort when she extended both legs back. The vet had one of the other vets come in (he does the orthopedic surgeries in the office) to see what he thought. He had the same results as she did.
He's going to be on an anti-inflammatory for a week and more rest, leash walks, etc. We also discussed the possibility of needing to do some xrays of his hips and his lower back (the second vet thinks Kip could also have spondylosis in his lower back) if he doesn't respond to the meds or starts to show symptoms after getting off the meds. Even if he does better on the meds and doesn't relapse, I may do the xrays anyways just to know once and for all.

Home Sweet Home

2009-12-28T21:00:00.001-07:00

I'm happy to be back in Boise. I had a good time at home with my family. My parents got me a new computer...which was timely because my computer crapped out on me the Friday before I left. I packed up my cpu and took it with me to Portland so my Dad could transfer the files that I needed. Now I'm rocking a widescreen monitor, Windows 7 and an HP Deskjet printer. Pentium, the family dog (a Patterdale Terrier) is deaf. I want to say she turned 13 this year. Even when I tried to get her attention with a high pitched tone, she couldn't hear me. Other than that, she's healthy as a horse. My brother brought his Wii over to my parents house and we played bowling and golf. It was fun. We saw "Avatar" in IMAX 3-D on Christmas Eve. It was awesome. If you decide to see this movie, you need to see it in 3-D if you can. The previews were for next movies in the "Toy Story" and "Shrek" series and "Alice in Wonderland" all coming in 3-D.
I was surprised to find out that it was 18 degrees when I landed Sunday morning and there was snow on the ground. I took a cab home from the airport then hopped in the car and went to Dianne's to get the dogs. Man did I miss those two. Dianne said that Kip did great. I almost got a smile out of Mo when I let her out of her crate. I got a Elvis-like, half lip smile, lol. She worked with Mo on her outruns and loosening up her eye. I got to work her a couple of times. Dianne said that she had to encourage Mo quite a bit to get her going on her outruns. She had no hesitation during her outruns (on both sides) and was back to actually running on her outruns. She was also nice and deep at the top. She worked well during the drives, flanking nicely when I told her to. Even when I had her walking straight into the sheep, she wasn't all that eyed up.
Even though I just had a week off from work, I'm ready for the three day weekend. Gem State Herding is having a fun day and I'm looking forward to that...hanging out, eating, drinking, working dogs...and maybe snuggling up some lambies! The weather is calling for snow showers, but lets hope it decides not to snow.

A quick note...

2009-12-24T18:00:00.000-07:00

I'm sitting in a movie theater waiting for "Avatar" to start...I have about 50 minutes. We (me and the family) decided to get here early so that we could get good seats. We are watching it in 3-D. Since I have some time to kill, I thought I'd use it here.
The dogs are with Dianne while I'm here. Kip has become good buddies with Dianne's son. He takes Kip when he is doing chores and for romps around the farm. I'm sure Kip is enjoying having some one-on-one time with someone. Dianne has been working with Mo on her outruns...helping her build her confidence during the outrun and sending her when she can't see the sheep.
My brother is distracting me with his new Droid cell phone. He wants me play play Pong with him.
Merry Christmas everyone!