Good Bye 2011

This week I have felt like the luckiest girl in the world.  Christmas was very very good....having the family home and wanting to be.  Then.....I've shared since the first months of working Ms. Snook on sheep 7 or so years ago....I've always dreamed of the big field gather off a huge field of rye grass right there by I-5. 

Tuesday brought a full day of this type of work....true confession......there was good work and not-so-good work....but it was work! Gathering a field of 400 near term ewes then moving on to gather yet another field of 600 or so of the same.  The second field had a couple ewes with lambs at their side, complicating the gather, along with a lot of terrain.   I feared after the not-so-good, I would never be called again....and yet the rain made for necessity and ewes and lambs requiring evacuation...beggars can't be choosers thank goodness.

I followed the sheep guys with the trailer to the field sending the SOS.  We drove through about three of these, each time me cursing the lead truck.  They assured me later that, since there was little current....we were safe! 

It was a very eerie feeling driving through the lake....water everywhere. Needless to say, once the ewes and new born lambs were gathered.......I took a different route home!

Today, I sent the old year out with yet again more dog work.

Nell is really starting to shine working for me.  She is trusting me and I her.  This morning, amidst a bit of fog, we gathered a field and then drove them on to a beautiful new growth grass field.

Watching the ewes as they drifted out onto the new field was just darn right breath taking.

Bella had a go with some ewes back at the main ranch.  She has been loosing her head and choosing not to be a team player a little on the big flock work so I was glad to be able to get a hold of her with the flatter field. 

The last of the work did not bode so well for me today.  I was to help gather about 350 lambs and push them across a little creek, then over a road into a new grazing field. The gather went splendid but the lambs would not cross the creek.  Nor would they cross the dropped electric fence.  I ended up working Bella and Nell together trying to create more push and well, it got very exciting.  We called uncle and I learned a really good lesson today.....just as with trialing, real work does not always go as planned!  The sheep foreman started telling me stories of other days that had not gone well, and, it felt good to laugh...even the best sheep men need to "know when to hold 'em and know when to fold 'em"

One of my goals for 2012 is to learn a little bit more about sheep.  I am thankful to these sheep guys for giving me that opportunity to learn! I hear their lambing barn calling my name and am hoping for some time to go give an obstetric hand in the coming weeks.

I gave hubby Grace for Christmas.  He loves her so....and she him. She gets all goo goo eyed and whiny when he walks in the door every single night.  He is training her to go mountain biking with him and she seems to be loving it.  He did whisper in her ear that she could continue her sheepdogging....but only when he did not need her. A boy and his dog......

As the final sentences are added to the very last page of 2011.......I continue to listen to the lessons learned and reflect on all the blessings that came my way.  Tomorrow starts the new book of 2012....the clean, bright page ready to begin to capture the latest adventures in a life well lived.  Happy New Year everyone!

Seize the Day!

Dream vs Fantasy

It is indeed that time of year for me......the spare moments are filled with review of 2011.  Last year I made a pretty darn comprehensive vision board

which included goals such as: find three fields to haul out to for practice; qualify Sally to run at the 2011 National Finals; create an on-line training course.  Now as I sift through the year I see how these dreams played a huge role in how my life unfolded.  I did indeed find three fields to haul out to but need to get permission from the owners of two.....I have one field at this time. I did not qualify Miss Sally to run at the finals this year.....we did come close but no cigar.  And much to my thrill of witnessing a dream come true, along side a friend,  I did indeed create an on-line training course to help people just like myself get better at training sheepdogs, regardless of where they live. 

Since the vision board was so comprehensive and BIG stuffed with dreams that might take a while to actually see come to fruition, I've decided this year to use the same vision board and fill in the details a little more, change some to be more specific, and add new dream pictures to put over the dreams I've decided to let go of.  As I sort and challenge myself to dig deeper and raise the bar, I've been listening to some Dreamers talk, share and motivate.  One speaker shared...the difference between a dream and a fantasy.......fantasy being something filled with "whens" and "if onlys" and "shoula coulda woulda's"....while dreams are are nurtured in the heart and grown out of intention, conscious and unconscious decisions, faith, and belief.  I choose to be a dreamer!

Being an over thinker I am ruminating over the whys of my dreams right now......last week TMT asked "why do you trial?" and that got me thinking about why the heck I do any of what I do?   One very successful woman, when asked what her greatest struggle is, said, "my voice."  When I heard that I instantly thought, WOW Really? Her too?  That voice, the one inside that says "you are not good enough", "you will never get this", "you are too________".....that very same voice that gets stronger when fed by insecure others that make it their business to attend to any business but their own.  It was very freeing to hear her admit that struggle and then hear some of how she deals with that voice to free the truth belief voice to take over. 

Here is what I know.....I am a passionate do-er......I want to dream big and leave fantasy out.......money might be a motivator but having a greater purpose is what drives me-FIND THAT PURPOSE......I need to surround myself with people who believe.....if I learn from them, my disappointments will make me stronger.....I will keep my eyes on my journey, share the journey with those who are honest and game, and allow others their journey....I must be true to myself......and always

Seize the Day!

Merry Dog-like Christmas

Today is Christmas.  I am not sure why this one day can be surrounded and filled by so much obligatory expectation. Jorgen over at Strider, Mereckx and Ben asked Why do you like dogs?  And I answer with......

Dogs live in the now......

Dogs cheer what others might see as the mundane....

Dogs enthusiastically live the day.....

Dogs might not always listen...but they do when it counts most....when a heart is breaking or is filled with jubilation....they listen....

Dogs don't care if the house is clean, if there is dog hair in the food, if the truck is muddy, nor do they care about Christmas decorations.....

Dogs don't keep record and rarely hold a grudge.......

Dogs love unconditionally.....

Today, I wish you a Merry Dog-like Christmas.

Seize the Day!!!!

Work

The shepherd skipped town...who could blame him.  New Zealand would be a nice place to visit for Christmas especially if there were family longing to see flesh and blood in person.  Of course it is summer there, a different view of the Christmas glass.

When the shepherd is away, the mice get to play.  The ranch owner being dog-less and maybe a little soft of heart.  Okay that can't be it....desperate might be a better word. The ranch owner, being dog-less and desperate, called me.   Me, well, I've dreamed of these days. 

After a successful ewe gather with Nell, Bella drew the lambs.  Lambs, the death of my best laid plans.  Not terribly flocky, nor a leader amongst them.  One of the most incredible scenes I have been witness to is a whirlpool of lambs...circling, circling...whilst the center lambs hold firm.   Lemmings following blindly needing a confident dog intervention.

The ranch owner might be a prankster.....or my Bella might have forgotten to count.  Be that as it may, I got a second chance at yet another fine day of "real" dog work...bringing in the left overs, or the whoopee cushions....whatever really happened I took it and gave Miss Nell the Christmas gift of lambs after her mature sheep gather of two days ago.

Today was a 4-wheeler kind of day......not so much of a work out for me but a necessity as the day was leaning towards Christmas Eve day.

The field was gathered, the lambs driven into the sorting barn, the count as it should be at the end of the day.

"And I, I took the road less traveled by.....and that has made all the difference."

Seize the Day!!!!

Winter Solstice

The days are going to start getting longer....and that, my friends, is something to celebrate!  Insert Snoopy Happy Dance Music.

The week I took off from my routine life to visit Disney Land the 2nd....I mean, Canada.....has left me chasing my tail for Christmas preparations.  We sat down as a family and went over traditions that have meaning for each of us....and those will stay and be honored.  The rest have been stored in the attic for next year. I'm hoping this year is filled with surprise as some of the expectations are released and we can embrace the day as it unfolds. 

This past week saw the processing of lambs at the ranch.  Generally, I butcher in early November but this year I was a little late.  I always feel a bit of heavy responsibility as we butcher lambs, all of which are done right at the ranch.  The folks who come and buy year after year, and the new folks who are beginning to see the value of farm rasied/farm killed lamb add to my goal of making the sheep help pay for my passion.  Although I have to admit....I feel a heaviness of heart as I clean and bury the remnants of the week's work.  Life is not to be taken for granted. My friend Elissa from Magnolia Farms captured the essence of what my heart feels.....

The Perenial Plate

Happy Winter Solstice!

Seize the Day!!!!

Theory....An Over-Thinker's Paradise

While in Canada, I was reminded that I have not "trained" much with Scott Glen.  "Trained" in the fashion of starting a young dog , laying a foundation and building the dog from the start with Scott's unique vision.  My journey with sheepdogs, with a focus on USBCHA trials, began with Patrick Shannahan.  A few years later, I met Jack and Kathy Knox and I would say that those three people and their methods are the foundation for my training style.  I have indeed taken a few (okay THREE) shedding clinics and a handler's clinic with Scott, in addition to some private lessons.....all of which the topic was my handling of my dogs....with a few discussions on training thrown in for good measure.  Though I heard the training insight, I never really understood what was being shared or the importance of the training's application.

When I start a new video project, the months and days before the first "roll" are filled with anticipation and excitement.  Much like starting a new book that has received rave reviews....the first line unfolding into a paragraph; the words tasty morsels.......that is exactly how I feel as I slip the headphones over my ears the first morning and tiptoe quietly into the world of a person and their thoughts, just as they occur, while a dog finds its inner calling and begins to understand.  I often find myself lost in the moment...amazed at the crisp picture of the dog and sheep...unedited words describing what the sharp eyes of the reviewer is seeing.  Lost in the dance as it unfolds....trainer to dog...dog to sheep.....the whys and hows and what ifs all bringing forth understanding and confidence.

I can't help but stumble out of my trance and find myself changed a little, looking for some of what I saw through the trainer's eyes, while working my own dogs.  As I left my 10+ hours of filming behind me, I headed into a couple of lessons with Scott, me personally seeing my dogs just a little more clearly then I did when I had arrived.  Both lessons, one with Nell and one with Gyp, were discussions on handling but the thrown in training made so much more sense to me.  I will confess much of my lessons were discussion about my "stop" and how I use them while running Nell.  Gyp is pretty much a clean slate right now.....I've not addressed "feel" or "method" much with her.  I was fascinated working her with a little bit different style of training while Scott talked me through what I was seeing. 

I'm home now...although it looks like the crisp cool weather grabbed hold of my bumper and caught a ride with me. I've spent some quiet time thinking over methods of training dogs: similarities, radical differences, styles of dogs, end results.  Scott's parting words from my Gyp lesson were something along the lines of  "it would not be good for a dog to be trained in one method one month and switched around to another method another month."  There are many great and successful methods to training up a dog...as proven by all the top handlers that train different from each other and yet their dog's work great.  The secret to success is consistency, understanding, and accurate assessment of the dog's response, or lack there of, to the training. I'll continue to sort and weed and plant as I find my own method of training.....while being thankful for the help of those graciously willing to invest and believe in me and my dogs.

Seize the Day!

In Other News

Due to the fact that I was on anther planet for a week and lost total track of time......I missed posting THIS!!!!

COFFEE WITH A CANINE

Enjoy!

Seize the Day!!!!

Hello Kitty Strikes Again!

Yes indeed, Jenny Glen is the newest inductee into the Hello Kitty Stock Stick Society!  Clever Jenny has matching boots!  I'm just a tad jealous.  I feel a whole line of Hello Kitty accessories coming on.....with all this enthusiastic HKSSS input.

Tomorrow wraps up what has turned into a really fabulous vacation of sorts. 

Hello World

Seize the Day!!!!!

Alta Pete Farm

I headed out real early Monday morning, can't say bright and early because the sun was smart and still resting behind the mountains. I grabbed a friend in George, Washington and continued my adventure all the way to Alberta, Canada and a visit the Scott and Jenny Glen.

Today, we began our work......

...my girls LOVE the snow.  I feel like the little boy in The Christmas Story...."I can't put my arms down!"  Despite the adventures with Mother Nature....I am having so much fun.  I'll be back with more pictures.....

Seize the Day!

I'm Outta Here!

I'm so very excited......I'm packing my clothes and loading the truck.....heading out Monday morning bright and early to Canada!  I'm excited and nervous and can't stop checking the list of things to take..... over and over.  I went to Cabela's to get some winter necessities...now my feet might stay a little warmer.  I'm going with a friend and two of her dogs...thank goodness, because if she wasn't going I might chicken out.  Passport...check.  Rabies certificates....check.  I'm hoping to blog a bit while I'm there but who knows.....I just might be having too much fun to blog.  Or my hot spot might not work.  I'll be back...with fun stories full of adventure and learning I am sure.  Watch out, Canada....here I come!

Seize the Day!

Really?! Tell It To Me........

Laura over at Crooks and Crazies started this cool "Tell Me Thursday" event a while ago...and a bunch of blogging friends joined in telling their deepest secrets to Laura weekly. Whenever I had blogger's block, I knew TMT would get me going again.  Laura recently went into early TMT retirement and I was excited to see eyeherdewe launch a Tuesday event, which has come and gone.  Yet people continue blogging their answers to the questions hanging out in Internet space.  I've been looking for some profound, heady, zen/Buddha/ninja type of over-thinker's question...and all I could come up with was this.  This one question that was a topic of discussion at a recent trial......

WHAT WOULD YOU NEVER NAME YOUR NEXT DOG????
and why?

For me, I would never name my next dog: Tucker, Debit or Itch.

Not that any of those names are not nice names.....I know a few very nice Tuckers and Debits....however, I sometimes yell my dog's name up the field to them from the post so many hundreds of yards away. I know how Tucker (yelled in my voice) would sound, echoing through the valley at say Big Willow.  And probably the preface of "listen here you little mother" would only add to the Tucker name misunderstanding from a judge.  Same with the "gawd" that might happen before the Debit or the "you little" before an Itch.

For me, I will stick with the safer, more traditional names. 

Seize the Day!

I Like It, I Love It, I Want Some More Of It.....

The last trial of the Willamette Valley Sheepdog Trifecta was on Saturday.  I'm very sad to see this series come to an end.....but what a group of trials it was!

There was a lot of camaraderie and friendship being shared...

a lovely fire to keep warm while watching.....

a very nice field......

some fabulous dogs.....

a few challenging sheep....

a very good judge.....

a gracious hostess

and at the end of the day... there were the winners.......



Judge Jo Ferguson, Lynn Johnston, Ian Caldicott, Elissa Thau, Laura Vishoot
Jesse & Joe Kid

 Ian Caldicott and his Joe Kidd were the champions yet again this year.  Lynn Johnston and Jesse were the reserve. 

I really had a great time....I just love running three open dogs!  I could go on and on with all the over-thinking I took away from my runs! Each of them so different and yet a common theme showing up with each that is challenging how I view my handling.  I managed to achieve one of my personal goals in not touching my brass whistle once.  I do confess I thought about it on all three runs and most especially on Nell's!  For all the discipline, I have a blister on my top lip and I know I need to work on the nuances of these finger whistles...especially the quiet side as I have the loud whistles down!

It is time to begin the December journey through my goals of 2011.....sorting out what dreams lie ahead for 2012!

Seize the Day!!!

Black Friday, RDR Style

It's Black Friday, and while others are waking up in tents in front of Best Buys.....I decided I would have my own little Black Friday Fun...ala Rocking Dog Ranch style.

How fun would it be for my friends and I to play a little game...one I learned down at the Border Collie Training Center...which of course is on a much bigger scale down there because all the dog work is bigger down there!

Denise and Brite stood in one corner.....

Adele and Jill in another corner....

And I was mid-field with Grace....

We practiced gathers off each other.

I loved how the day played out.  We used lambs which really showed each of us how our dogs were doing.  It was also interesting to watch the dogs sort out lifting off a person and another dog.  We ended the day by doing a few outruns out of the draw without anybody holding.

After Denise and Adele left, I worked the rest of the girls.  Shedding with Bella, Nell and Sally and then doing some flock work with Gyp.  Then Nell and I wormed the lambs and Snook helped me clean a few stock tanks. 

I would way rather spend my Friday after Thanksgiving out working dogs.  Of course I did not get any holiday shopping done but heck....I still have one whole month till Christmas!

Seize the Day!

Giving Thanks.....

I love Thanksgiving; it is a day where materialism is absent and sorting through all that I am thankful for centers me.  I love having my boys home and am very glad they want to come home! I enjoy cooking the turkey dinner....taking orders from my husband and the boys as to what they want to eat for the day.  Since the beginning of our family, we have made it a tradition to step away from any hectic holiday stress and go see a newly released movie in the theatre on Thanksgiving day.  It really is a special day.

Today, as the turkey cooked...I zipped out to the ranch to do my chores.  While there, I took inventory of my farm life thanks.

I am so very thankful to have a little place of my very own.  I'm thankful for a  flock of hearty ewes, some bred, and lambs with hay in the loft to feed them, shelter that they seem to love, and a very good guard llama.

I'm thankful to be able to raise lambs for friends....giving them the gift of fabulous tasting farm grown lamb raised and butchered in the best way possible.

I'm thankful for good neighbors that help whenever I'm in desperate need and allow me to graze my sheep on their lovely field.

I'm even thankful for my chickens....funny little critters!

I'm also thankful for my barn cat...she who was hit by a car 5 years ago and chose my barn to recover in.  Barn cat, who keeps me company during winter lambing and actually does keep a few mice away.

All this because of that one August day 7 years ago....when I took Miss Snook out for an "instinct test" and my life has never been the same!


Grace





Gyp


















Happy Thanksgiving!!!!

Seize the day!!!!
                                                                                                                                                                                                                    

E:60 Junkie

I don't watch much TV.  When I do, my all time, hands down favorite show is

E:60

E:60 is produced by ESPN news and covers a way different side to competition.  Over and over, there are stories about "athletes" that have over-come....be it environmental as it was with the basketball player who's mom kept the gang away so her son could go on to play at the college level; physical as with the Vietnam Veteran who is an at-the-knee double amputee that golfed 18 holes at St. Edwards; the long distance runner who was diagnosed with leukemia and attempted to run all the way across Canada;or  the story I linked, an emotional one about an 8 year old boy that participates in triathlons with his younger brother that has Cerebral Palsy.  Of course ESPN mixes in stories that make your hair stand on end, or behind the scenes with a famous athlete, or stories about "what ever happened to such and so"...but it is always the stories about "over coming" that bring awe along with cheers and a bit of a tight throat fighting a few tears.

My first thought is always...WOW! they have overcome so much.  Then I can't help but wonder.....what makes some people dig deep and become so much more than what their handicap/challenge should allow?  I ponder, why do some never get beyond their handicap/challenge?  And why do some, without a handicap to be had, become stuck in boredom and apathy.  Is it a gene,  personality trait, circumstance, up-bringing, faith, luck, support from others, discipline, stick-to-it-tiveness, desire, visualization,  Law of Attraction...what is do these over-comers have inside them, even as young as 8!? How do I grab a hold of some of that "what" to move beyond excuse to become more than a survivor but one who seizes the day and lives the dream.

For me, watching these stories unfold inspires me; encourages me to forge ahead all the while keeping my challenges in perspective.  Recently, I received and email that said, "Decide to be one of those people who pull it off!" and that is a very good decision!

Seize the Day!

A Time to Learn

Winter trials are a learning time for me.  I feel the freedom to step back and try some new ideas without the pressure I put on myself to "make" them work.  I love looking at the communication relationship and sorting what is working, what is not working, and what I might want to add.  Though Nell wondered what "ridiculous" meant at Boo & Baa, personally I am trying to loose the nonsense and blather. 

This past weekend was a real nice winter trial at Magnolia Farms.  The sheep were a uniform group of lambs....some worked, some never worked...but sorted so each dog got a little of each.  The field was not huge...but was loaded with complications that must be address.  Dog-legged fetch, changing draws, and a bit of terrain...plus shed/pen/single if a person got that far.  The judge was a good one, for sure!

Sally was feeling fine and certain she did not need no stinkin' handler.  I walked.  I loved my Nell.....always will.  She is trying really hard for me so now I need to adjust me.  I am most certainly a work in progress.  I played with some ideas that came from my Scott lesson and liked the result.... though my Nell was a little confused in the change in me...I'll stick with the change as I work with her to help build it into how we run.

Having recently moved Bella to open, a couple of ideas stick in my brain.  One is that she is doing pretty well and though sometimes she reverts back to a little tension, she is settling down just as quick.  The second is that she is learning and needs freedom to experience time and miles.  Last year, Nell gripped out twice on lambs at the regionals.  Now a full year later, after providing plenty of experience, she has learned to work them.  I (and my friends) remind myself to not get upset with imperfection....give Bella room to learn.  Third is my confession from the shedding clinic, I did not introduce Bella to shedding with a good concrete  foundation...hence her shed needs to go back to basics.  I felt these lambs were a good challenge to shed....especially because of the whole lamb experience on the course.  No excuses from me, the shed did not end well...but I could see the progress in our relationship as there was no tension grip and she did come through.  What I did see was a dog that was trying to understand but was in over her head and a handler that should have set it up a little better for success on a new-to-open dog.  I also was pretty happy with myself for not yelling at her while she was in over her head.  That, to Bella, is like gasoline on a small match.....the ending might have been much different in a tragic sort of way.

I am thankful for the winter trials....I walk away with a box of ideas on how to present information to my dogs, in as many ways as I can creatively come up with, to sort out training and build effective communication.  For Bella, we will continue with the shedding program and add in some close, tight fence work.  I'll continue to work her on lambs when given the opportunity but I won't make her binge on them.  I'll keep to my goal of a tension free dog and continue assessing, not only what needs work between us, but also celebrating what is working well and the improvements that have been made along the way. I will also push myself to make sure I am seeing the journey with absolute truth....not glamorising the bad nor diminishing the progress....nor putting judgement value to either side but being good with what it is.  Ninja/Zen/Jedi at its best.

Seize the Day!

Why Did the Chicken Cross the Road?

Because the lady who lived on the other side of said road is a softy to the core and needs serious counseling for hoarding and codependency!  When these chickens moved in...I did everything I could to get them to go back to where they came from.

I called their home on the other side of the road, I shooed them off my place onto the side of the road hoping they  would cross back, I tried very hard not to care when chicks went missing or midnight carnage occurred from the pesky raccoon that thought the chickens crossed the road to make for an all-you-can-eat buffet. Then I snapped....yes sirree....I went out and bought myself a chick coop, off Craig's List no less.  I then put up my poultry electro-net from Premier, my good neighbor friend came and made the coop a little less drafty and wa la.....I've now got chickens.

Here is the mama hen:

and one of her two hen babies that are more teenagers:

I've got the coolest hen house with three nesting boxes.  They have a place to roost at night....plenty of food and water....I toss them COB every day to keep them happy with things to do.  Shhh don't tell anybody but I kind of like them.  My only wish is......I wish I could have been there the night the raccoon tried to climb the fence and got his hiny shocked!  That would have made this whole adventure priceless! Here's to fresh eggs come what spring.

Seize the Day!

To Shed or Not to Shed.....

I had the most splendid opportunity to take, yet for the third time, a shedding clinic with Scott Glen.  Did I mention this was my third one?  The good news is...I "think" I am getting better.  I did not get made fun of once...well, at least not to my face.  That is a good start!

The host of the clinic was Fido's Farm; lovely setting with a choir of colorful, leafy melody being sung in the back drop of a nice sized field.  Chris, the owner of Fido's Farm, saved some scrumptious lambs for us to shed, which encouraged success as they would split and allow for the beginning dog to come through.


Chris makes a plan with Scott

I moved Bella to open on a whim of a cancelled non-compete open run.  I confessed that I had not done a lot of foundation work with my shed and thus had created confusion in my dog.  Bella has been able to get the shed done but with lack of good form and understanding....leaving us to not get our shed as often as hearing a "good".  Scott took us back to the basics, breaking it down for me in a clear and concise fashion.  Funny story....at the end of the day, Scott put a timer on me and started counting down to add pressure.  Why? Well he told me I was over thinking....and the crowd burst into laughter!  Me, over thinking?  No WAY!  WHAT EVER!

Nell has had the opportunity to work with Scott before in shedding. She is a pretty tidy little shedder and covers my hinny a LOT!!!  That said, Scott was able to see a little something that had been nagging my brain and gave me a good plan on addressing that nag.  We are also heading into better understanding for the International shed.  I think Nell gets frustrated with me letting the sheep go and not understanding that is the plan. 

Chris getting a very nice shed

 In addition to the clinic, I was able to take a few private lessons with Scott.  I love how the three individual slots turned into the very same "idea" over and over and over, from different angles.  I'm still chewing on all that was presented and how it applies to each dog.  "Precision" and "meticulous" are words I'm defining, and sorting application of, to my training and handling.

The most exciting part of the days at Fido's Farm was the kick off to the new adventure that Scott and Jenny Glen have agreed to join in with Little Horse Mountain Productions.  Quite a little bit of filming was accomplished and now Geri and I begin the journey of capturing and editing and polishing this adventure to share!

Now if I could just find a way to sneak my Hello Kitty stock stick into the footage......hmmm.  Might need some girl help with this.

Seize the Day!!!!