The Urban Herder

K9 Addisons Calendar with Beag

If you remember one of the funnier lines from The Jerk, Steve Martin comes out for his apartment yelling “I AM SOMEBODY, I AM SOMEBODY.” It was delighted that his name was in the phone book . . .

Well now Beag is somebody because she is officially Miss January in the K9Addison’s 2010 Calendar. All the proceeds go to research into K9 Addisions Disease. Beag was diagnosed with Addison’s almost 2 years ago. After a lot of ups and downs now seems to have stabilized and is once again happy and healthy, but will always require medicine and quarterly electrolyte tests to make sure she stays that way.

If you are so inclined and need a calendar, please consider buying the K9Addison’s 2010 Calendar. Miss January is SO worth it!

-bikeguy

Dave and Rev

Scot and I had a trial this weekend. Our very first AKC trial and 3rd trial in all orgs. We had a run each day in Course A Started, basically the beginning level in course work. We had GREAT results! The photo is most of the ‘bling’ we earned. The only item missing is a cool leash for Reserve High in Trial.

On Saturday we had a second place in class and 2 place highest points for the day with 95 points. We were only beat by a german shepard with an AMAZING 99.5 points. (Way to go Melissa!). On Sunday we placed first and lost the tie-breaker for Reserve High in Trial on Sunday (2nd place points overall). Please note that Melissa and Levi stayed home on Sunday.

I am so stoked and now even more severely addicted to the sport.

-bikeguy

Here is a photo from Scot and I practicing the week before (by Tony Spiker)

Hey that's me! Oh, and Scot

Terry held a AKC prep trial at here place this weekend and I fired off a few frames, and Tony Spiker shot a few of me. Thanks Tony!

You can see them on my gallery here:

Trial Prep photos

-bike-guy

Dylan fetches at Valley Center

If you are interested or came here looking for the photos from the USBCHA Trial in Valley Center this past weekend you can find the photos here.

On Thursday after much prodding of my instructor I headed down to Valley Center to do some work with Scot in a large open field. After much thought I realize this was probably not the best idea.

Don’t get me wrong, it was a great workout. You can get an idea of what we did from Terry’s latest post. Scot got a good workout and I learned a bit, but as we were toward the end of the session it was about 40 minutes work in the middle of more than 4 hours of driving, on a work day. Fortunately I can take the dogs to work, but it was way too much driving for the amount of herding we got to do.

I need to work out a better solution. I want to improve and hopefully even win a trial or two. But there HAS to be a better way.

- the urbanherder

October 31 & November 1, 2009 – Valley Center, CA USBCHA Sanctioned Judges: Albion Urdank and Terry Folsom

Open ($45): 300+ yard outrun, lift, fetch, drive, pen, shed Pro-Novice/Nursery (

$40): 150+ yard outrun, lift, fetch, drive, pen Ranch ($35): 100 yard outrun, lift, fetch, pen

50% payback of entries to each class. No Limit on # of dogs per handler per class.

Farm flock. Courses may be changed at discretion of trial committee, and may run to a standard. Handler’s Meeting at daylight for Open on Saturday and Sunday

Late entries may be permitted if trial is not full, at entry fee +$10 per run.

Directions: From Valley Center Road, turn east onto Woods Valley Road. At stop sign, turn left onto Lake Wohlford Road. Trial field is on the right, approx. 1/2 mile. RV parking available, no hookups.

For more information, please contact Terry Parrish at blazingbc@aol.com or 760/739-8673.

Download the registration form

-bikeguy

I recommend this article for anyone who has a dog, particularly if you think you know what your dog is thinking.

Inside a Dog’s World

A variety of things have kept me away. None which are all that important, but now that things have settled down I hope to keep active posts again or finally. I guess it depends on how you think of it.

Last weekend I finally got back on sheep with Scot. Terry Parrish had a clinic near Murrieta this past weekend. It was on doing the AKC A Course. It was an outstanding experience. You can see some photos here.

All three groups, Advanced, Intermediate and Started were all included and each handler got 3 runs with plenty of tips and critique included. Scot and I are in Started otherwise known as beginners. Our first run was choppy and full of handler mistakes. Second run was solidly better as I began to remember what I was supposed to be doing and was better able to watch sheep more and Scot less.

The third run was nearly flawless. My only real mistake was keeping Scot too still. I would have had points deducted for him losing contact or nearly losing contact. But otherwise it went great. I got better at remembering to give the commands a fraction BEFORE Scot needed it as well as just generally relaxing on course. Scot needs the commands earlier than I had to with Beag because he is so fast that I have to anticipate where he’ll be versus where I want him by the time I get the command out and it registers.

Now I just need to get some practice in and remember to actually register for a trial or three.

See you there!

I am a big fan of twitter. You can ‘hang out’ with all types of people. Mine are hockey, cycling and dog fans. Below is a grab of the conversation. And below that the very cool demonstration of urban bunny herding. Please note the very excellent backup work by the boy . . .