"Nell is a kick to watch as its like the razors edge between brilliant and out of
control"
I received a neat "chat with a friend" email yesterday and well, I just loved this sentence. I guess when I puts quotes framing the artwork designed by words, it is not really plagiarism but I so wanted to take credit for this as my very own. Oh well, it is not. but I am plagiaristically stealing ideas and using them as my thesis for today's blog. Note: spell check is denying my use of plagiarism as an adverb...oh well, I just wanted to confess this so my talented writing friends don't turn me in....
So yes sirree, Bill...Nell's runs can be brilliant or end with disaster. We don't ever seem to be "grey" in our runs. Please note that I am not talking about SW's conversations on grey but rather "grey = of a neutral tone, intermediate between black and white, that has no hue and reflects and transmits only a little light" Nope, Nell and I are not grey!
"I have not seen Gyp before but she seems to be the best of her mom and more"
It's funny, I don't see a whole lot of Nell in Gyp. Just this past May...at the end of the month, I confessed at a KK clinic that I was not planning on running Gyp in nursery this year. KK kindly suggested a bit of grey be added to that black and white statement.....she said something along the lines of "be ready, you might be surprised". At that time Gyp was the easy kind of dog that allowed me to be a know-it-all. In an effort to help Gyp develop her deep-rooted genetic talent, I was backing off formal training and was sticking to big flock work and all the home chores. We've had our hinnies handed to us a few times helping the shepherd at his day job. I've never picked a pup from a litter born here and raised it up.....what an amazing gift of a journey watching Gyp sort, become, develop...bloom right before my very eyes....more each time I take her out. After her brilliant run on Friday of this week, I was told she is ever so much like her father, KK's Jake. I wondered about that.....as I sort her out and learn how to partner with her. She is so different from what I already have: not quiet so much eye, a little plain but ever so clever and, dare I use the word, fun!
"Bella, ( I have come a long way baby ) is such a talent."
I'm still sorting the Buck Clinic.....thinking over/over thinking all I saw and how those I respect most mirror that training. I keep coming back to "observation"....as I watch Bella struggle with the last remnant of tension and the symptoms that present themselves if I am aware. It is so easy for me to see disobedience or "being bad" and I also wonder at the end of the day if "why" matters? My responsibility to sort this tension is to stay fair and yet I continue my quest of death to my temper. I think I might have stomped my foot at the post as I tried to ineffectively communicate to Bella that she might consider listening and trusting this frothing at the mouth handler that wanted to run up the field for some "moral" support in minding the commands. Where I felt the hunt for heads and pressure....others I respect felt dead warm air and tall grass kept the sound waves from reaching the dog's eardrums...leaving the dogs to figure out what the heck was going on and hunting heads and pressure would at least keep the sheep on the field. I also sit in awe at my friend who can watch the sheep come out onto the field as they are set and talk about their plan for a run. I find myself hiding behind a tent so my dog can not see the sheep exiting the field stage left. and walk out onto sheep nose deep in donated leafy alfalfa.
I'm not ready to write my "all the things that went fabulously, wonderfully right"...of which I had many this past trail. I am really proud of my dogs! But that said, I am longing to see: accurately, egolessly, honestly all the tiny details merged with the whole big picture. I need to work on my skills of observation...dog/sheep/me.....the response to correction both dog from me/ sheep from dog....and mix in a bit of willingness to change my actions and reactions on the fly..all why staying flat-line calm and using subtle finger whistles. That is really not asking so much, is it?
Well, I just got a call my round bales are getting put up today....come and get 'em as thunderstorms are rolling in. Time to continue channeling my inner squirrel.....storing up for winter.
Seize the Day!
Your comment about seeing "being bad" and wondering if "why matters" hit home. For some reason, when struggling with my dog in his training and thinking he was just blowing me off, I remembered a professor I had in one of my education classes where I was learning to be a high school teacher. He said that students never give a wrong answer. Gasp! You just have to figure out their logic. Based on their logic, if you can sort that out, their answer makes sense. So, I thought about that and started trying to figure out my dog's logic when he didn't take a command. More often than not, his response makes sense when I understand his logic. So, to answer your question, yes, I think the "why" matters. I had been training like my dad parented when I asked "why?" He'd say, "Because I said so." End of discussion. I found that only led to frustration with my dog because I wasn't really considering him or what he wanted, only what I wanted. I was starting not to enjoy this thing I had loved called stock work. Then, I started training from the point of view of figuring out my dog's logic and why he responded the way he did when he didn't take a command. And, things changed. I started observing my dog and learning from him and my handling style softened a bit. All of this is still a work in progress, but we are working on it.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoy your blog and your willingness to share your "thinking out loud" with readers. You give me a lot to think about.
P.S. Here's an example of understanding my dog's logic. We compete in ASCA arena trials. My dog was having an issue driving my sheep through panels. He would drive them up to the panel and then go to head and turn them and take them back through the panel, never driving them out of the panel. We were fighting about that a lot. And, then, I was thinking about his reaction to my flank command to send him between the fence and the sheep to send them through the panel. Instead of doing that, he'd flip to head and take them away from the panel. I finally realized that my dog is a control freak and my sheep are very light, flighty Barbados. It finally occurred to me that the dog was afraid he'd lose the sheep if he drove them through the panels. He was concerned about them bolting away and down the field. (That had been happening, so his concern was justified.) So, I broke things down into steps and just worked on him bringing the sheep through the panels so that he could see he could control them coming out of the panels. Now, he's more comfortable with that task but not completely there yet. His logic was right. He could lose his sheep coming out of the panels. My job is to teach him that he can control them if he drives them through.
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