All the exhausting work was worth it. We pinpointed why Dare was so bad in Fla and Ga. He isn't used to anyone being in the arena and it freaked him out. He doesn't like someone holding sheep for him so guess what he is going to get lots of?
We set up a duck ring or the last go round and he did a perfect outrun and stopped beautifully on the lift and then I didnt let him have the ducks and called him back. The next time he couldn't even do the outrun because it had just dawned on him that there were people at that end and it was toooooo scary. He completely shut down . He might as well have had his eyes closed on his outrun,he was that far out of it. He did that in Fla too when Amy was holding sheep for him.
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Saturday, January 29, 2011
Clinic Day 2
Had some great aha moments. Dare needs to do outruns more with someone else holding the sheep or standing in the field. Jan kinda freaked him out and another person didn't make him much happier. Worked a good exercise that I had forgotten about. Flanking him around the livestock and making him stay at a certain distance and then stopping him and asking him to walk up and flanking there or asking him to out and flanking 20 or 30 or 50 ft out and staying at the circumference. Also walking straight up on the livestock and catching the fading quicker. Teaching him to hold and not let him flank . All really good work today.
Dually was fading today and not taking his walkups so will work on that. Also not letting him overrun the ducks and to pace himself better. He was a good boy.
All the dogs and handlers did really well. I was very pleased with my students and their dogs. Everybody brought food and it was goooooodd!!
Dually was fading today and not taking his walkups so will work on that. Also not letting him overrun the ducks and to pace himself better. He was a good boy.
All the dogs and handlers did really well. I was very pleased with my students and their dogs. Everybody brought food and it was goooooodd!!
Friday, January 28, 2011
Day one Jan Wesen Winter clinic
Why is it the cold exhausts me so much? I can barely see straight tonight. I got up at 6 to make breakfast for Jan and feed the animals and make sure they were ready to take over to the arena. Nat called to say she was on her way, but I needed to get over there and set up so I left Kathy and my camper guest to help Nat load sheep. I took Jan, the dogs and the ducks.
We still had to set up pens for the livestock and create a divider across the arena to work in. Bob H was there to park the cars and help me along with Cindy,Laura, etc. We set up the enclosed stall to heat and of course had trouble with the heater which turned out was the electrical plug not the heater which has of course another story about returning heaters that really aren't broken. Then the we kept tripping the breaker in the tack room where the coffee pot was and 2 crockpots and another heater. Got that straightened out sort of and on to the next issue. Can't remember what that was. In between dogs, the owner had to take horses out thru the middle of the arena and feed and water them in the middle of the day. Not too much of a big deal.
Lunch was good. Everybody brought something and the food was good and plenty of it. Thanks.
Hopefully enough left for the rest of the weekend. (we'll be fine).
The dogs all did well I thought and we started a couple of new ones. One dynamite sheltie and an 8 wk old pup on ducks. The ducks held up well except for one bite and I am not sure if Dually did it or the dog before him. The duck will live ..
We still had to set up pens for the livestock and create a divider across the arena to work in. Bob H was there to park the cars and help me along with Cindy,Laura, etc. We set up the enclosed stall to heat and of course had trouble with the heater which turned out was the electrical plug not the heater which has of course another story about returning heaters that really aren't broken. Then the we kept tripping the breaker in the tack room where the coffee pot was and 2 crockpots and another heater. Got that straightened out sort of and on to the next issue. Can't remember what that was. In between dogs, the owner had to take horses out thru the middle of the arena and feed and water them in the middle of the day. Not too much of a big deal.
Lunch was good. Everybody brought something and the food was good and plenty of it. Thanks.
Hopefully enough left for the rest of the weekend. (we'll be fine).
The dogs all did well I thought and we started a couple of new ones. One dynamite sheltie and an 8 wk old pup on ducks. The ducks held up well except for one bite and I am not sure if Dually did it or the dog before him. The duck will live ..
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Next Puppy
oK It's official. Jan Wesen is breeding Tempie to Mr Man(Dare's sire). It wont' be until next winter. I'm first on the list after Jan, but she wants a bitch and I probably want another dog. So ... will I have 5 dogs or not when this pup is born? I hope so.
New Storm coming
We can't seem to get away from the snow this winter. We has 4-5in this morning and another 6 coming tomorrow. I baked and angel food cake from scratch for my sister's birthday today and we were supposed to get together tonight , but she isn't feeling well so it got canceled. I may have a great deal of cake to eat..
The first winter Jan Wesen clinic starts on Friday and I am tying up loose ends today. I called to get the porta potti delivered tomorrow before the storm. I emailed my insurance company to get the address of the arena on the liability policy. I pulled the cooler out of the cellar and cleaned it. Soda was on sale at the grocery store so I picked up 4 12 packs. yay.... Gotta go check plates and utensils and get the coffee pot out . Hmmm what else. Heater for the viewing area and plastic to enclose it. Kathy and I are going to the arena tomorrow to set up and see what we will need for the livestock when we bring it up.
I'm just about out of grain so I need to go buy some tomorrow along with propane for the camper. One of the clinic participants is going to stay in the camper. I'd like her to not freeze to death.
The dogs are bored. The snow is too deep to walk in for me. They can hop but I hate to struggle thru it so I haven't been going out with them. It's really funny to me how the dogs act when I get home from somewhere else. Dare is usually really grouchy. Growling at the other dogs much more than normal and then the next day he is fine. I guess it's just Dare that gets weird. It's almost as if they have to reestablish pack hierarchy. He only does it when we travel and come home even if all the dogs go.
Dually jumped on the hassock this afternoon to get petted and when he did that, Dare started to come over and Dually went kinda ballistic for him. Lots of deep meaningful growls and I know they meant something because Dare started to come for him. I hate that stuff. Dare is usually fine but he does think he owns me and although any dog can come up to me, he is right behind them usually.
The first winter Jan Wesen clinic starts on Friday and I am tying up loose ends today. I called to get the porta potti delivered tomorrow before the storm. I emailed my insurance company to get the address of the arena on the liability policy. I pulled the cooler out of the cellar and cleaned it. Soda was on sale at the grocery store so I picked up 4 12 packs. yay.... Gotta go check plates and utensils and get the coffee pot out . Hmmm what else. Heater for the viewing area and plastic to enclose it. Kathy and I are going to the arena tomorrow to set up and see what we will need for the livestock when we bring it up.
I'm just about out of grain so I need to go buy some tomorrow along with propane for the camper. One of the clinic participants is going to stay in the camper. I'd like her to not freeze to death.
The dogs are bored. The snow is too deep to walk in for me. They can hop but I hate to struggle thru it so I haven't been going out with them. It's really funny to me how the dogs act when I get home from somewhere else. Dare is usually really grouchy. Growling at the other dogs much more than normal and then the next day he is fine. I guess it's just Dare that gets weird. It's almost as if they have to reestablish pack hierarchy. He only does it when we travel and come home even if all the dogs go.
Dually jumped on the hassock this afternoon to get petted and when he did that, Dare started to come over and Dually went kinda ballistic for him. Lots of deep meaningful growls and I know they meant something because Dare started to come for him. I hate that stuff. Dare is usually fine but he does think he owns me and although any dog can come up to me, he is right behind them usually.
Friday, January 21, 2011
Mouse alarm
4:30 am they started on the blocks of poison in the crawl space. gnaw,gnaw gnaw scrabble scratch yech. They could go to the mouse trap but nooo , they wanted me awake. I tried earplugs but I could hear them right thru them. So an hour later I moved down to the couch where I could not hear them. Fell asleep but Mikey decided he wanted to eat and at age 13 he is kinda demanding. He kept going in and out of the kitchen as I tried to ignore him. He would not be ignored. He decided to tip over the trash and then I had to get up.
Okay 6 in of snow and still falling. I got dressed and went out to feed. The sheep are so happy with their hay they are almost never hungry anymore. They came in and ate, but I almost feel they are doing me a favor. I shoveled the back porch, out to the barn, in front of the barn, in back of the barn , to the camper, to the duck pen , to the driveway and the front walk and stairs. When I was done, it looked like I hadn't done anything because the snow is still coming down. I will have to do it again today before I leave
AS I was coming in from shoveling off the hay bales, I smelled something burning by the tank heater. It looks like it was melting an adaptor that I had the heater connected to the cord with. I removed the adaptor and then the cord ending looked funny so I replaced the whole thing with another cord. Everything is an ordeal because the cord that I needed to use was under the snow and half in the barn and half out. I dug it out and pulled it out of the barn thru a door that doesn't open (frozen shut) and then I decided not to use it anyway and used two other shorter cords which of course was all tangled up. Everything is all untangled and hung up now and hopefully the tank heater is now safe.
Okay 6 in of snow and still falling. I got dressed and went out to feed. The sheep are so happy with their hay they are almost never hungry anymore. They came in and ate, but I almost feel they are doing me a favor. I shoveled the back porch, out to the barn, in front of the barn, in back of the barn , to the camper, to the duck pen , to the driveway and the front walk and stairs. When I was done, it looked like I hadn't done anything because the snow is still coming down. I will have to do it again today before I leave
AS I was coming in from shoveling off the hay bales, I smelled something burning by the tank heater. It looks like it was melting an adaptor that I had the heater connected to the cord with. I removed the adaptor and then the cord ending looked funny so I replaced the whole thing with another cord. Everything is an ordeal because the cord that I needed to use was under the snow and half in the barn and half out. I dug it out and pulled it out of the barn thru a door that doesn't open (frozen shut) and then I decided not to use it anyway and used two other shorter cords which of course was all tangled up. Everything is all untangled and hung up now and hopefully the tank heater is now safe.
Thursday, January 20, 2011
Dare on ducks
I got to the barn early today,because I thought my first lesson was at 12, but it was 1pm so it gave me time to work Dare. For the first 30 minutes he was a kamakazi pilot. I kept my cool and just kept sending him to fetch the ducks to me. He would overflank and then his lift was pushy so they split a lot. Finally he settled down(got tired?) and he stopped overflanking and stopped pushing. It was poetry in motion if only he could do that all the time, but I am going to try and not be so reactive when he does stupid stuff because I know that increases his anxiety and he gets nutty. He has all the talent and he has most of the training but we need to come together as a team and that hasn't happened yet. I'm glad I have someplace to work this year, because I am planning another road trip in April to Alabama and then to Indiana. Whoo whooo here we go again..
There is another freaking snowstorm predicted and it looks fairly heavy. I have to go to Maine tomorrow and I would normally leave in the am but it looks like it will be heaviest then so I will go in the afternoon and get there late. I'm not keen about driving in the snow but it should be light by the time I leave.
There is another freaking snowstorm predicted and it looks fairly heavy. I have to go to Maine tomorrow and I would normally leave in the am but it looks like it will be heaviest then so I will go in the afternoon and get there late. I'm not keen about driving in the snow but it should be light by the time I leave.
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