I have been going thru some of my old sheepdog clinic notes and thought that this one would be a good subject to approach.
I am so bad at being reactive instead of proactive when it comes to running my own dogs on sheep. I can see it with other people, but find it so hard to put it to action with myself. I can so understand what is being said and then I forget about so many things that I have been told. Shame on me.
Here are some of my notes from Carol Campion that have made me think about this again.
"You need to actually figure out the pressure, etc., before you ever send your dog. Then handle the dog to keep AHEAD of what MIGHT happen rather than playing catch up. A stop, or there, or early flank, those are the kind of things that dictate to the sheep what they will do rather than fix what they have done."
"Give the dog what he/she needs, be it a there if the sheep are easy or heavy, and a stop if they very light and need room. She lets hers pick where to turn in on them, but decide how much dog I need for the lift."
"Don't think of downing your dog at the top so much as controlling him as much as you are just maintaining contact. If left along too much at the top, or anywhere else and then you try to step in to help, you are too late. Need to be more proactive. Need to be in contact much sooner."
"You need to be more proactive, if you see a potential for a bad spot or a problem area, then be prepared for it and try to set up your dog sooner to be successful. Don't wait until the problem pops up."
Here is some more that was directly related to a run of mine with my Jag.
"Think of it as more contact with you(me) rather than control from you(me). She thought that I kind of left him to figure out stuff too much for himself. (Which I did) Then if it wasn't what I wanted I was behind on timing because my intervention and direction was needed earlier for precision work."
The above was so true of me when I was running Jag. I sure hope that I can improve on myself with my upcoming dogs.
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Kensmuir Heart of The Rose trial
These are the only two pictures that I took while at the Kensmuir HOTR trial. They are of the sunrise on the first morning of the trial. I was too busy the rest of the time to be able to tote my camera along.
The trial went well. I was super busy the first day and then just regular busy the second two days. I had to sort the lambs away from their moms each morning. I wish that I had taken a picture of the t-shirt and jeans after the second day of lamb wrestling.
We received a lot of compliments on the trial and hopes that we'll continue to have trials.
I should say that our runs did not go well. The grass was tall which made it difficult for the dogs to find their sheep. Cash found his sheep on his first run after a couple more aways to me. He did not get out to his sheep on the second run as they moved around, the spotter and her dog then moved and Cash figured that they were her sheep and he started looking for sheep somewhere else.
I pulled Corbie from her second run as the first one did not go well at all. She was heading out very nicely on the come by side and the spotter started flicking her whip at the sheep and her dog. Every time she flicked her whip Corbie would stop and I'd give her another flank command. I finally had to walk all the way out to help her. She did go up to the spotter and wanted to jump up on her and greet her, she corrected her for jumping which might have added to her fear. The judge did give us a re-run, but by then Corbie was way too scared to go out there even tho the spotter on the second run was very still.
Steve's run with Stryker did not go well either as he couldn't see his sheep at all and didn't get out to them. Steve pulled from his second run which was just as well since he wasn't feeling that hot.
Friday, May 21, 2010
Irises of 2010
I know that I have been bad at blogging this spring. It has been a busy spring with lambing, work and trying to get a veggie garden in. I just wanted to share some pictures of the irises that are blooming right now. These are some of the first ones to bloom so far.
We had some rain over night and early this morning and I was able to catch some rain drops on the flowers.
And I know, this isn't an iris. It is one of the last of the tulips of this year. I was very lax in getting any pictures of the tulips and we had some nice ones this spring. Reminded me of the tulip garden that my Mom had when I was growing up.
We are helping with a trial this spring just over the border in Wisconsin. I have been very busy helping with setting up this trial. Hopefully once we are done with the trial I'll be more on the ball on blogging, or maybe not. We'll see. The trial is over the Memorial Weekend and hopefully I'll get some pictures from the trial to post here.
We are helping with a trial this spring just over the border in Wisconsin. I have been very busy helping with setting up this trial. Hopefully once we are done with the trial I'll be more on the ball on blogging, or maybe not. We'll see. The trial is over the Memorial Weekend and hopefully I'll get some pictures from the trial to post here.
Lambs of 2010
We are finally finished with lambing for this year. This is one of the lambs who was born on 5/20/10. This is a little girl and we'll be keeping her.
This is the other girl born on 5/20/10 above.
This is mom with the girl and boy born on 5/20/10.
The pictures below were taken on 5/2/10 and are of the rest of the lambs born this year.
The pictures below were taken on 5/2/10 and are of the rest of the lambs born this year.
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Training article by Clinton Anderson in Horse & Rider
These are some excerpts from an article by Clinton Anderson. What he writes about in this article made a lot of sense to me in regards to stockdog training.
"Don't Get Emotional!"
When training your horse, don't let your feelings confuse the issue at hand.
"People get so worried about their relationships with their horses and so wrapped up in the whole natural horsemanship thing they forget the bottom line" You've got to get the job done."
He learned this when he was about 15 or 16 while training horses in Australia with Gordon McKinlay. He was just getting started with natural horsemanship, and was working with a big black mare with a bad attitude. In keeping with his early training, as soon as that mare would do something right, he'd instantly reward her with a pat, a treat, and a little break.
He was basically trying to bribe her into loving him and loving what she was doing. Problem is, she was actually getting worse by the day.
Gordon took one look at this belligerent mare after Clinton had been working with her for awhile and said, "Clinton, you've done a pretty bad job on this horse."
Clinton said, "Gordon, I've been working with her seven days a week, and doing everything you taught me, trying my best to get her wehre she needs to be, but she's just got a bad attitude."
"Well, he replied, "you'd better step up to the plate and get the job done because this mare has to go home next week, and the owners aren't going to be happy when they how bad she is after being here for six weeks."
Ask, then tell.
So here's what he did: For the entire last week of her training, he treated that mare the way he would any other horse. He got in there every day and made the wrong thing difficult for her and the right thing easy. (How many times have we heard that one.) He made her feet move--now. I asked her, and when didn't respond, I told her. He didn't worry about her feelings or her emotions or her attitude.
When she did something right, he rewarded her by simply letting her rest and leaving her alone. When she did something wrong, I made her feel very uncomfortable.
Within three days, that mare's attitude--and her whole perception or work, and of him--completely changed. In fact, in that last week of working with her, he caught her up to where she should've been by that time, despite their initial setbacks. On the day she went home, she was as good as all the other horses that had been ridden for six weeks.
In other works, she made more progress in those last five or six days than she had in the entire five weeks before.
Why didn't she progress in those first five weeks? Because he'd been babysitting her. He had been trying to coax her into liking him and the situation.
What she'd needed instead, and what he finally gave her in that last week, was a taste of, "If you don't like this, try this. If you thought what I was asking you do was difficult and sweaty, how about this?"
Very quickly, she came to realize that what he had been originally asking her to do wasn't so bad after all.
Don't Beg
That mare taught him an important aspect of natural horsemanship that a lot of people don't understand. The reality is this: When you're training a horse, you have a job to do, and you've got to get that job done. Being businesslike about it will give you your best chance of succeeding at that job. Especially with tough customers!
What he has discovered, though, is that for the horses with the worst attitudes, the more you baby them, the worse they get. The less you ask them to do and the less pressure you put on them, the worse their attitudes become.
Conversely, the harder you work them and the more you ask them to do, the better their attitudes get. By always focusing first on the getting the job done, you're always going to get the best possible results with that particular horse.
Before you can have that emotional connection and relationship with your horse, you first have to earn his respect by getting the job done of moving his feet--forward, backward, left and right. It's as simple as that...and nothing to get emotional about."
I know that this is horse trainer's thoughts and such, but they do apply to dog training also. I believe it is Jack Knox who always says, "make the wrong thing difficult and the right thing easy."
I also believe that a lot of people are worried about getting their dogs to "like" them and then become pushovers. I find when I get tough with my guys that they seem to "worship" me more. They don't get mad and want to have nothing to do with me--the opposite happens, they try harder.
"Don't Get Emotional!"
When training your horse, don't let your feelings confuse the issue at hand.
"People get so worried about their relationships with their horses and so wrapped up in the whole natural horsemanship thing they forget the bottom line" You've got to get the job done."
He learned this when he was about 15 or 16 while training horses in Australia with Gordon McKinlay. He was just getting started with natural horsemanship, and was working with a big black mare with a bad attitude. In keeping with his early training, as soon as that mare would do something right, he'd instantly reward her with a pat, a treat, and a little break.
He was basically trying to bribe her into loving him and loving what she was doing. Problem is, she was actually getting worse by the day.
Gordon took one look at this belligerent mare after Clinton had been working with her for awhile and said, "Clinton, you've done a pretty bad job on this horse."
Clinton said, "Gordon, I've been working with her seven days a week, and doing everything you taught me, trying my best to get her wehre she needs to be, but she's just got a bad attitude."
"Well, he replied, "you'd better step up to the plate and get the job done because this mare has to go home next week, and the owners aren't going to be happy when they how bad she is after being here for six weeks."
Ask, then tell.
So here's what he did: For the entire last week of her training, he treated that mare the way he would any other horse. He got in there every day and made the wrong thing difficult for her and the right thing easy. (How many times have we heard that one.) He made her feet move--now. I asked her, and when didn't respond, I told her. He didn't worry about her feelings or her emotions or her attitude.
When she did something right, he rewarded her by simply letting her rest and leaving her alone. When she did something wrong, I made her feel very uncomfortable.
Within three days, that mare's attitude--and her whole perception or work, and of him--completely changed. In fact, in that last week of working with her, he caught her up to where she should've been by that time, despite their initial setbacks. On the day she went home, she was as good as all the other horses that had been ridden for six weeks.
In other works, she made more progress in those last five or six days than she had in the entire five weeks before.
Why didn't she progress in those first five weeks? Because he'd been babysitting her. He had been trying to coax her into liking him and the situation.
What she'd needed instead, and what he finally gave her in that last week, was a taste of, "If you don't like this, try this. If you thought what I was asking you do was difficult and sweaty, how about this?"
Very quickly, she came to realize that what he had been originally asking her to do wasn't so bad after all.
Don't Beg
That mare taught him an important aspect of natural horsemanship that a lot of people don't understand. The reality is this: When you're training a horse, you have a job to do, and you've got to get that job done. Being businesslike about it will give you your best chance of succeeding at that job. Especially with tough customers!
What he has discovered, though, is that for the horses with the worst attitudes, the more you baby them, the worse they get. The less you ask them to do and the less pressure you put on them, the worse their attitudes become.
Conversely, the harder you work them and the more you ask them to do, the better their attitudes get. By always focusing first on the getting the job done, you're always going to get the best possible results with that particular horse.
Before you can have that emotional connection and relationship with your horse, you first have to earn his respect by getting the job done of moving his feet--forward, backward, left and right. It's as simple as that...and nothing to get emotional about."
I know that this is horse trainer's thoughts and such, but they do apply to dog training also. I believe it is Jack Knox who always says, "make the wrong thing difficult and the right thing easy."
I also believe that a lot of people are worried about getting their dogs to "like" them and then become pushovers. I find when I get tough with my guys that they seem to "worship" me more. They don't get mad and want to have nothing to do with me--the opposite happens, they try harder.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)