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This story is ‘doubly’ interesting to me . . .

July 8th, 2010 urbanherder 1 comment

Western ranchers seek new ways to keep hikers, bikers safe from the guard dogs that protect their sheep As an urbanherder, or someone that actively works around sheep I certainly understand the ranchers need to protect their sheep, but as a rather avid mountain biker I sure as hell don’t want to be attacked by [...]

Categories: Odds & Ends, Rants & Opinion Tags:

Finally have updated the gallery with photos from Vista Highland Games

July 4th, 2010 urbanherder No comments

I finally edited and uploaded photos I took at the Highland Games. You can find them in my gallery. Check ‘em out. If you find any you like you can purchase from there.

Categories: Events, Gallery Tags:

I blew it on several levels

June 28th, 2010 urbanherder No comments

So this weekend was a repeat of my first-ever trial. The Highland Games down in Vista This is a border collie only trial and the field is very narrow. So on the outrun it is important that your dog hug the sides to not move the sheep too early off the hay. On Saturday I [...]

Categories: Events Tags:

Check out these blogs on borders and herding

June 15th, 2010 urbanherder No comments

Recently I ran into a couple of great blogs. First is a blog about dogs and dog behavior. Also, as you might imagine, it features a lot of info about border collies as well as of other working breeds. It’s written by a rather famous dog trainer / behaviorist Patricia McConnell and can be found [...]

Categories: Odds & Ends Tags:

Contrast

June 1st, 2010 urbanherder No comments

Funny comparison of my two border collies. Beag who I’ve had since was a puppy and Scot who I’ve had a year this month. They are the same age, just a few days difference. I just gave each a greenie. Beag put it away in about two minutes flat if that. Scot amazingly took his [...]

Categories: General Info Tags:

So you want a border collie?

June 1st, 2010 urbanherder No comments

As I was trolling through my Twitter stream this afternoon I ran across a link to this story: http://elkana.info from @border_collies. It’s short but excellent post about some of the issues surrounding getting a border collie, particularly a border collie puppy. I agree on all points. I would especially emphasize the one about a first [...]

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A great post and the reason I tried herding

May 2nd, 2010 urbanherder No comments

I started herding a bit less than a year after I got Beag as a puppy. I had already tried obedience and agility to work with her and to make sure we had a relationship I could use to make sure I could control her under all circumstances. Building a bond where we could trust [...]

Disaster and getting yelled at

April 26th, 2010 urbanherder No comments

Yeah, I know I ended not only a sentence with a preposition but a headline, but it’s appropriate to this story . . . It’s a tale of getting in a bit over your head and having trust in your dog that you probably haven’t earned. A few weeks ago I went to do some [...]

Categories: General Info, Instruction, Odds & Ends Tags:

A new kind of frustration and handler error

April 26th, 2010 urbanherder No comments

I participated in my first AHBA trial 3 weeks ago down at ActionK9Sports.com I had never done this type of trail before and I was told by my instructor that I should START with level 2 HRD. Unlike the AKC courses I have done, this was working 9 sheep to start and from a pen. [...]

Categories: Events, General Info, Rants & Opinion Tags:

It’s a small world

April 26th, 2010 urbanherder No comments

I went to grab a quick lesson with Terry out at Christy’s place in Norco. I always try to get there early to relax and get Scot in frame of mind that doesn’t include being wired from an hour in the car. Already there was a young lady with 2 Aussies. Turns out she works [...]

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