2009 Herding Reflections

I am very happy that Diane, my herding instructor and friend, has given me nearly 2GB of photos she has taken over the past year or so of me working with Scott and Mattie. As I look through the library of images, I am actually quite surprised of all I've accomplished in the past year with my two dogs.

I haven't actually counted but I think I ran Scott in 12 USBCHA Pro-Novice trials in the past year - that's about one a month I guess. I've learned a lot, such as the basic shepherd whistle commands, the nuances of pace, timing, control, draws and pressure and how it all varies with different courses, sheep and even weather. I've also learned how to have a rewarding working relationship with my dog and I've learned a lot about myself as a handler.

Running such a well trained, powerful and stylish dog such as Scott has its advantages and disadvantages. As an advantage, Scott has the ability to rate his stock and adjust his power to suit the stock naturally. This makes my job much easier as the dog is applying the proper amount of "push" so I have to think about one less thing out there. It really becomes my job to utlize Scott's power and control of the sheep he has but keep him "listening" to my commands to push the sheep around the course as accurately as possible. However, as I found out over the past year, as a new handler with a dog like Scott, Scott was totally aware that he can get away with "stuff" on the course (like slicing, gripping, flanking to his own desired side, etc.). Thus, I will say the disadvantage of being a new handler and running a "pro" dog like Scott is not being able to tell when he is "self herding" and blowing me off. After a few clinics and lessons and quite a few trial experiences, I am finally beginning to see his "cheatin' ways" and I'm getting quick enough and assertive enough to correct him so that we don't completely get off track on the course.

In our first few trials, okay probably our first 8 trials, Scott was definintely in charge and we were making some "interesting" mistakes around the courses. I suppose it's a testament that Scott and I make a great team though as we don't seem to make the same mistake more than once or twice. At some trials we'll lose tons of points on our outwork, while on some we'd lose it all on the drive. Once or twice we couldn't pen at all, and sometimes we were just too slow and timed out. It seems that once I think we've fixed a problem, a new one comes up! I am thankful that Diane is usually watching my runs and is extremely observant as to what I am doing right and what I am doing wrong.

Lacamas SDT, Camas, WA

Heading to the post: On the River SDT, Acme, WA

Winter Series, Acme, WA

Carnation Fun Day SDT: Carnation, WA

On the River SDT: Acme, WA

Winter Series, Acme, WA

Winter Series, Acme, WA

Scott fooling around, Lacamas SDT

On the River SDT, Acme, WA

My herding training with Mattie is also coming along well. We are out at Diane's farm about once a week now and although we are still in the round pen, Mattie is turning into quite a nice little farmdog. In fact, this past weekend was Mattie's first time with ducks and she did very well.

When we first came out to Diane's, Mattie and I had some big problems, mostly because we both lacked confidence in one another. Let's just say that if you're a passive-aggressive handler you will have a passive-aggressive dog. Anyway, Mattie is a Smithfield Sheepdog and the breed is notorious for being "sporty" on stock and being a bit of a biter. Honestly, Mattie wasn't the best choice of dog to start herding with but she is my dog and she isn't going anywhere so I will just need to work it out. Mattie can definitely move stock - no one argues that. She does have quite a bit of power to her but she doesn't know how to reliably wield it yet. She exhibits a bit of "eye" like a Border Collie but will also growl like a Rottweiler and nip/bit/tear like a Australian Cattle Dog. She's quite a gem and perhaps in 3 more years we'll be able to rely on her to move just about anything.

Mattie comes to balance naturally on stock, she has learned her come-by and away flanks and I even got her drive sheep 30 feet through a panel in a calm, controlled manner while practicing at Fido's Farm in Olympia. I am very pleased with how far she and I have come this past year. My goals for 2010 with Mattie is to get into bigger spaces and start working on driving. The Smithfield is a drover and I feel that she'll be an excellent driving dog. My other goal for 2010 is to run Mattie in a Novice trial next Winter (arena trial perhaps). While she may be able to do the work required in a novice trial, it will be difficult for her to ignore the distractions of the trial itself - specifically, the offleash dogs in the parking lot! We'll take it month by month and see where we're at.

So that's my reflection on the past year with regard to my herding with Scott and Mattie. It's been a great year and I'm looking forward to the coming year.

Thanksgiving: Food & Herding In That Order

Although it's now half over, the Thanksgiving weekend has been good. For our Thursday feast, Jerill and I picked up my mom and dad and headed over to my sisters house in Redmond, WA. In total, there were 10 of us eating, er, that is "giving thanks." I brought a ham, roasted root vegetables and a winter spinach salad.

Here is the ham I made (picture taken after glazing but before the final phase of cooking). Yes, that's a pineapple ring with cherries in the ring. It was glazed in an orange glaze (made from scratch). I even scoured the ham and inserted roughly 25 cloves into it.

Here are the roasted root vegetables, in the oven. Included in this are carrots, turnips, parsnips and fennel. Baked in olive oil with fresh thyme - very tasty.

On Friday, I went to Diane's farm around 1 o'clock and we worked our dogs on some new sheep owned by her neighbors. These sheep have not been worked by dogs much, if at all. I brought Scott and Diane brought her Roo (aka Roo Bear, Roobie Red Lips, Rooster, etc.). We spent about an hour out in this new pasture with these new sheep. With Scott I worked on his fetches and drives with some super "light" lambs - light meaning skittish/fresh/wild. They were quite a challenge, but the greatest challenge of the day was working with the flocks protection llama, Gallo, who wasn't so thrilled we were there to herd his sheep.

Roo is one of Diane's Open class trial dogs. He is amazing and really a strong dog. Roo is also one of the sweetest dogs you will ever meet. He sings too (ask Diane for a demonstration). Here is Diane and Roo shedding off the lambs for Scott and I to use.

Here is a nice picture of Diane with Roo. He is a real go-getter for sheep - you can see he is a little worried that the sheep are taking off behind them. As soon as I took the picture Roo got to fetch his sheep back to us.

Here is Roo driving sheep with the llama in pursuit. Roo didn't really want to mess with the llama, and the llama didn't really want to mess with him so they kept their distance from one another.


Here is my pooch, Scott. He's driving the lambs.

Here is Scott driving the lambs away from me after we "turned the post."


Some more driving of the lambs...

...and, some more fetching the sheep back to me.

Here is a nice straight fetch to me.

N0w, below is another pic of Scott. He is pretty intense in this photo - a bit more than usual. Do you know why? Well, do you see the perfectly round dirt-foot print on the middle of his head (on the white spot)?

Well, this picture of Scott was taken after the llama, Gallo, and Scott had "words" - herding style. After getting a swift kick to the head from Gallo, Scott rectified the situation by pulling out some of his best cattle dog moves. Shortly, Scott had Gallo wrapped around his paw and was able to work Gallo with the sheep at the same time. Apparently, llamas act and work a lot like cows. And, since Scott has such a rich background working cattle, the llama really didn't have a fighting chance.


I love this picture. While I couldn't figure out how to get Scott to come into focus, you can see how satisfied he is with himself in this picture. He loves working the sheep.

Dinner and a car show

I recently purchased a new cook book from the Fireworks store in U-Village. I love that store and find all kinds of cool stuff there. This cookbook is called Seriously Simple and it has a lot of great recipes in it. Over the weekend, I bought the ingredients for a chicken dish in the book and Jerill made the dish last night. It was super tasty!

The dish was Roast Lemon Garlic Chicken and Green Olives...


The finished product! Book on the left, dish on the right. Jerill used green and black olives (Greek style). Also had a side of homemade mashed potatoes and rustic bread. Jerill added in some fennel as well.

Last week Jerill attended the Seattle International Auto Show. I didn't go this year as I had to work. You may know I am a total car freak. I'm not so freaky that I know every single car out there, but I know what I like. I'm into cars that offer AWD, space for my dogs, and necessary ammenities like heated seats, interval wipers and parking-aids (I am a bad parker but good driver!). I asked Jerill to take some pictures for me while he was at the show, especially of a particular vehicle I secretly want really, super bad. He came back with the following photographs. I guess the true theme of this year's auto show is UGLY. I wasn't in love with many of the shapes and styles that came back to me from Jerill's photography assignment.


Here are some of the photos he took...

I think Jerill took this photo for himself. It's an Audi R8 - the top of the line super car from the German automaker. It has carbon fiber siding and accents. It's fast. It's also $156,000. I've actually seen a couple of these driving around Redmond at rush hour!

This is a butt ugly car, in my opinion. I like Porsches but this is grotesque. I mean, 4 doors?? What are they thinking? Give me a Cayenne please.

Another ugly car. But, it's an Italian car, so they can get away with it. The Alfa Romeo. I thought this was a Maserati at first because of the big stupid banner the car is sitting under. It seems the Maserati at least is making a comeback. I see tons of these marks on the road on my long commute. There is even one for sale in the used car lot at North Bend Chevrolet! I'm sure this Alfa Romeo is a little bit more special though; their flagship buttugly car. It does sort of resembe a Bugatti I guess. I'm just not seeing myself in this car... ever.

I know why Jerill took this one. He is really excited about this new Ford transport van. He thinks this will meet all my dog transport needs. It might, but it's ugly and it isn't AWD or 4WD - that' s a problem as I intend to go through snow and storm to get to a dog trial. This truck is pretty affordable though.

Ahhhh, yes. This is the car I want at the moment. I learned about the Porsche Transsyberia earlier this year. It's sort of like a rally car meets SUV. Based on the Porsche Cayenne, the Transsyberia only has two seats; the rest is cargo and off-road equipment I guess. It comes standard with these bright orange accents and wheels. Likely around $90,000 once all the goodies are loaded on. This is an off-roaders dream. I wonder if it's also a hydrofoil so I can get to dog trials overseas?