Perfect.......Habits

Chapter two instalment of "Chez Clinic Experience`"......Habits.

Nell is the first dog I have trained to open....Bella is the second....these are the two dogs I am running right now.  Go figure that habits I have developed in myself as I trained them up stuck while I run them on an open trial field.   Light Bulb, Ah ha Moment! I get the progression of training the dogs but things I did when I ran them as youngsters have not gone away now that they are big girls.  An example is: when my dogs are young I generally stop them before I ask them for some new directions; either forward out of a flank, or flanking out of forward.  It does indeed help create a nice flank or tidy there for walking on.  The idea of losing this habit with my more trained dogs: giving stops I don't really mean as they have become more markers that something new is coming....well it was a darn interesting theory for lots of fabulous over thinking and tons of discussion in my mind!  Back to the idea: can I run stop-less?

I've also caught a slight case of panel-itis again.  Darn it anyway, those drive panels are so freaking hard to see for these eyes.  And I don't often practice, as in never, panels.  Maybe I need to practice panels for me to see if I am hitting them....oh and I do have another eye appointment.  All this said, I'm going to follow the prescription for panel-itis because this disease is affecting all the dogs the worse I get. 

Habits.....I guess that is a really good reason to keep attending clinics.....sometimes the development of habits are not readily seen by the habitor/habitee.  Clinics.....and watching taped runs of myself.....with a dash of looking at pictures from LaCamas!  Habits.....it's time to kick a few.....

Seize the Day!

God-dog

Certainly a clever palindrome but still I have one:  A god-dog....sort of like a god-mother but not fairy.  Or maybe she is.  Hmm....well, I am babysitting my god-dog in the girl fashion and so I interrupt my regularly scheduled "bare all memoir" to show what my life has been like for the past few days......

Meet my god-dog: Mist

She is four months now...just beginning to enter that awkward stage...and had NO idea that so many border collies could live in one place!

She likes to hang with the alpha of the pack.....and licks Snook's lips to get tender growls from her.  It's a love/hate thing.

She has become quit courageous here.....running out and around the sport court with the big dogs.

haha that is her there behind the fence of the court...terrible photo but ever so cute

I feel a bit bad for Mist....at her home, her pack plays with her as well as cuddles her.  Here, well she is a non-event.  No dog really likes her...nor do they dislike her.  No one wants to play or include her in their reindeer games.  And Grace and Gyp just want to see her go home......

My husband adores her...and me, well, I've looked into my crystal ball and see some serious fun ahead of us!  Take time, grow up, it will all make sense....Mist.  There will come a day when the other dog's won't matter to you......and the sheep will be what you live for.  Until then....

Seize the Day!

Perfect.......Whistles!

Indeed, I attended a four day handling clinic with Scott Glen.  A friend was teasing me (so that was my interpretation) that I was either in desperate need...that I required four days to learn what others might in two days.....or he had better watch his hinny from all that I learned in four days from a Jedi Master.  I think I am somewhere in the middle....but no need to watch anybody's hinny.  As one can imagine, four days of a clinic makes for fabulous blog fodder...broken down into clumps of how I remembered it....here is chapter one.

Today I'll bear my soul about whistles!  I have been working at finger whistling for two years, as a friend pointed out.  It has been just this past spring/summer that I had the courage and consistency to attempt to run my dogs on them.  In an effort to die to perfectionism...and an "all or nothing" personality disorder.... when I run my dogs now, in addition to taking my two pinkie fingers to the post,  I wear a my mechanical whistle...using it when I need to. For the clinic....I jumped off the cliff of safety and committed to leaving my brass whistle hanging from that beautiful lanyard off the rear view mirror of my truck. 

The first day, I did not think it went too bad...my finger whistling, that is.  I used Bella as "the dog of the day" and the focus was outwork....not so many whistles needed with that dog or portion of the trial field.  It is really "cool", "neat", "fantastic" and well just darn right "fabulous" to see so many friends picking up finger whistles.  There was one gal at the clinic that I have always admired how quiet her whistles are...always!  She might blow a hard one every now and then but mainly her mechanical whistles are sweet, melodic and a real joy to listen to.  Drawing a card from the deck of excuses, I was sure her whistles were like a symphony because she has been doing this a while, mechanically.  As she walked out for her first session, she confessed she is motivated to move to finger whistles and then, she pulled her fingers out of her pockets....slipped two into her mouth...and low and behold...they were quiet, indeed quiet as a choir of church mice!!!! 

 

The next day, Nell became the focus of my attention...running last in the pouring rain.  With Nell, :) I whistle more...which could be another chapter so I will leave it at that.  Anyway, back to the rain and finger whistling: my hands got really wet, my fingers bright red prunes with less feeling than on a nice warm dry day...and my whistles....well my whistles were VERY loud.  When asked to soften them, they got louder!  Who knew?  Who knew that on rainy days, a finger whistler must guard against wet, prune fingers much like a quarterback keeps their hands dry for quick, accurate passes and hand-offs.  I've always wondered about those handy towels hanging down the front of a QB's uniform. A quick google search shows those as a "sports towel" or a "football towel".  Put one of those on my Christmas list...the bad list, not good. So, I got my second whistle installment form this clinician...probably my fifth all around because I have heard it before with my aluminum whistle AND my brass whistle......whistles are about nuance: a subtle distinction in expression.  Giving up came to mind......

 

  

Here is what I am thinking/learning....I have always had a tendency to blow my whistles loud; hence the five installments of shades of whistling.  I have to work at being quiet...in so many ways.  I will master my quiet/loud/nuance filled finger whistles or die trying. It is good to have supportive people to challenge me to raise the bar......friends and mentors speaking truth......today I am thankful that it was not sugar coated! Quit, Give Up, those are not words I have ever lived by.....time to pony up, work a little harder...and get a "sports towel".

 

Seize the Day!





Good Morning, Joe

Good Morning, Bryan....What's new?

Oh dear, not sure if this is good or bad, but I have Monty Python on the brain....right before a clinic!

"Frank was just asking, what's new?.....Hey look, Howard's being eaten!"

I've been thinking lately about "why" I blog. I know there has been discussion about this in the past but I've been evaluating that again. I blog for myself....to sort through my journey of life....which is funny how the dog training, working, and trialing, mixed in with the raising of sheep, is a huge, accurate pictorial metaphor of my whole life! I blog like a journal...which is a little frightening because it is public and people read it, sometimes. Although I have heard there are those who like my blog roll on the far right and visit to use those doors. (glad to be of help, Joe). My blog is a bit of venerability; a piece of myself. Maybe by sharing the wicked wrestlings of my right and left brain....I can give others hope that this journey is amazing....dogs/sheep/life! And maybe, just maybe, my blog is like an OTA meeting, "Hello, my name is Lora and I am an over-thinker" They say the first step is admitting......my blog is certainly that in white on black!

"Makes you think, doesn't it? I mean, what's it all about"

What my dogs have taught me so far:

*Don't be afraid to make mistakes
*If it is not working, try something different
*Be fair. Be firm and fair.
*Be consistent
*Be clear -mean what you say - say what you mean
*Be quiet so that loud has meaning
*Frivolous chit chat is never a good idea, to yourself or to your dog
*Just like people, dogs interpret......it's the telephone game. Work to be understood
*Use the smallest correction and fit the crime; sometimes disappointment works.
*On the other hand, don't nag....making an impressionable correction might be what is needed.

"For millions this life is a sad vale of tears
Sitting round with really nothing to say
While scientists say we're just simply spiralling coils
Of self-replicating DNA."

* Choose wisely       

* Pay close attention to Intention
* Hone skills of Observation
* Strive for Supple: tension free in self and dog
* Stay cool....tempers and anger create fear not relationship
* Listen, listen carefully
* Study: thoroughly, complete, wholeheartedly
* Become

"So just why, why are we here?
And just what, what, what, what do we fear?
Well ce soir, for a change, it will all be made clear,
For this is the Meaning of Life - c'est le sens de la vie -
This is the Meaning of Life."

Off to a clinic.....

Seize the Day!

 

What's Worth Doing, Even If I Fail??

Daring Greatly Book Trailer from Brené Brown on Vimeo.


"What would you do if you knew you could not fail? What's worth doing, even if I fail?" ` Beren` Brown


I was chatting with a friend the other day who reads Brene Brown, and was sharing with me how fabulous Brene's new book, Daring Greatly, is.  The impact the book has had on her personal life...giving examples of venerability she has shared, and found amazing support as she broke through her facade of an exterior.  Perfection, Bullet Proof, Facade, Self Preservation.....Authentic, Venerable, Shame Resilience, Daring Greatly.  One of the "things" I love so much about working with my dogs is:  there is no perfect when it comes to that work.  There is the satisfaction of a job well done (or not)...but the dogs whisper to me (or maybe that is true and good caring friends) how I am affecting the relationship, the understanding, the reaction.  I'm the one who can stop the insanity; to step up and try something different ...and the dogs always answer.  If I am unable to pay close attention to the details of the whispers....my dogs continue to do what they do.  However, if I can rise above my ego and really look at what I am saying/doing and what my dogs do in response.....then I can make changes in myself in attempt to add clarity, understanding, partnership, building up, easing tension and growing.

I'm heading off to a clinic very soon.  Packing and list making....I've spent much of the summer, and most certainly all of the fall, trying to step back and see myself/my dogs/my work from a most critical point of view. Not critical as in negative but critical as in honest, authentic, venerable, transparent....me and my part of the journey.  Clinics often make me step out of my comfort zone....letting go of the negative critic, the perfectionist, the know-it-all, the show-how-far-I've-come; all main courses I've sampled, both in dishing and being dished; none of which were tasty nor satisfying.  I've got a clean slate and an empty notebook....my personal agenda is "how can I be a better team mate running the dogs that I have?" Daring Greatly.......failing really is not the worst thing that can happen.....Never doing is.

Remember: The only one who ever really stops you from doing something you need to do, is you ~ Joel, Blog of Impossible Things

Seize the Day!

Down Time

I am taking a little break....from sheepdog trialing "stuff". While I confessed in my last post I was feeling a little lost, I gave up trying to self-remedy that condition and let life sort of manifest itself for now.  I have found that "Lost" is not a destination on my map of life.  And Down Time is not a bad thing, well, at least not right now. 

Today I made a haul to the auction yard....I always feel a little sad driving the truck, pulling the trailer, sheep needing culled, dropping them off at the auction.  On the other hand, I'm a little melancholy on "processing" day too.  I know to be a responsible sheep person, I need to cull and process. Today, being responsible sucked.  Check that off my to-do list.

After the auction stop, I headed down the road to a good friends house for some "girl time".  If you have not read Shannon's story about her felted dogs and the WHY behind them....read about it at Kenleigh Acres Farm Blog  Having a son, myself, that required some serious "outside the box" education, I have a real soft spot in my heart for Shannon's son.  Shannon's "take" on life is such a fabulous elixir so soak in when Lost is the adjective for my noun of Down Time. A group of girl friends were getting together to learn to make these now famous felted animals.  I asked to audit but instead was given the "felting for dummies" mini course....a sheep laying down (no legs to felt) sleeping (no eyes to worry about)...all very free form.  Sigh.

This was a Kiwi bird in the making

Shannon has a never-ending supply of patience.....or fakes it well.  She also lavishes praise, thank goodness.  And the fun making was all in good fun, the best kind of fun making to be had. 

We were treated to a special private show of "Rose, the Disc Dog."

Mr. T has done amazing things with Ms. Rose.  Being a typical border collie, Rose loves having a job to do, and does that job with enthusiasm I wish I could put in a jar and take daily doses of myself!

Being "lost" in not such a bad place to be when there are friends around to bring perspective.  Can't wait to see what the next page looks like in this chapter of Down Time!

Seize the Day!

Merry Christmas, Little Nell

 

Seize the Day!