I am finding getting whistles correct a tough task. I can blow everything but the stop pretty well and semi-consistent. Scot already knows whistle from his time with Terry, but I guess I need to get closer to the pitch that she uses before he will take mine when I give it. The only whistle he seems to take consistently from me is ‘walk up.’
I had planned to spend time practicing this past week, but my buddy managed to eat something he shouldn’t have and spent most of last week shitting on my floor (not his fault), then puking on my floor, followed by several days of recovery. Fortunately his energy and appetite never really wavered so I didn’t worry much. If it had been Beag it mostly likely would have been a different story.
I had a lesson with Terry this weekend and it was good, mostly breaking down my whistle issues and what I need to work on going into what is, for me, open season. Moving away from pen-type courses to open field. She told me what I had already noted myself above and just reiterated what I needed to work on.
So my goal for the next few weeks is learn that damn whistle. Feels like it’s taking forever.
I really have no good answer for this question other than ‘right here.’ But I have been totally uninterested in updating this blog or my other one over at bike-guy.com. There has been stuff going on, but I’ve been too lazy to write about it. Until now . . .
BCCGLA Trial, Jan 30, 2010
Because my herding instructor has yet to find a place anywhere near LA I have not being working Scot anywhere near the amount of time I should, yet I have been lucky enough in the last 2 trials, both AKC, I have participated in to finish no lower than 2nd place in each run (total of 4 runs).
I entered the AKC trial up in Leona Valley held by the Border Collie Club of Greater Los Angeles up at Task Farms. Because of the distance I only entered the Saturday events. Since Scot had very little work in the last couple of months, I took a half-day off and went down to Terry’s to work him a couple of hours.
Since both runs were Course A I worked in the pen and only Course A obstacles. Terry made me work very ‘light’ sheep. With all the recent rain the pen was very muddy in places and the sheep really didn’t want to go through the mud making driving all that much more difficult.
In my first AKC trial a couple of months ago I ran Started and finished 2nd & 1st so I had one more Started run if I scored qualifying points so I practiced as if I were running Intermediate which limits where the handler can move, meaning there was more driving and less fetching.
During this practice I learned something new working with Scot. In driving if the sheep are facing the direction awayfrom Scot I use ‘walk up.’ If they are facing Scot then command is ‘watch ‘em’ or if I need to be a bit more emphatic then it’s ‘get ‘em.’ The other nugget I picked in this lesson was using ‘here’ and ‘there.’ They are similar to come and stop but less so and hopefully meaning Scot won’t come off the sheep as using come will do.
I probably made 10-15 attempts at running the course and only really made it through completely and correctly once. I was really frustrated and I know Scot was as well. But on Saturday, it’s clear Terry knows what she is doing. Not that I doubted this, but it’s always fun when it shows up in my performance at a trial.
The Trial – first run
The was the first trial of any kind that I had entered that was run by Terry, so I was on new territory. Fortunately there were a couple of her students entered and that helped me tremendously. It gave me a anchor, someone to talk to, a base from where I could be comfortable in a new location. (Thanks Cheryl!).
The weather was beautiful, but when the wind blew it was freakin’ COLD!. Scot and I were the last run in the last group, Started. But since I am still insecure when comes to these things I was there plenty early. I found a spot to park and went to look around and get a sense of the place and where I needed to go, etc. Then I let Beag and Scot out, on leash, to get them to stretch out from the hour plus drive to the high desert.
As the morning drug on I knew I had to let Scot (and Beag) run loose and ‘take care of business’ before hitting the ring or I’m certain Scot would squat and take a shit right in the middle of the run. Not fun, rather embarrassing and a penalty in scoring. Fortunately I had been introduced to the owner of the facility earlier so I ran him down and asked where I could safely run the dogs prior to our turn. It certainly helped both of them.
Since I was last I left Scot at the car for the handler’s meeting and then went and got him a couple runs before mine. This run was Started, so if I qualified I would be moving up to intermediate in the afternoon run. I wasn’t very nervous, but still made 2 stupid mistakes that almost certainly cost me first place. When I started him on his initial outrun I wasn’t far enough to his right and when I asked for a ‘go bye’ he started an ‘awee.’ I corrected him, but the damage was done, points gone. The other mistake I made on this run was letting Scot and sheep get too far ahead of me moving to position 4 ahead of the cross drive meaning I was out of position for a sweet transition to the cross drive. I am certain those 2 things were enough to drop me to second and felt them acutely as we left the ring. Scot did as I told him either through voice or body and the fault was all mine. I even had co-operative sheep, this set was neither too flighty or too heavy. They were perfectly content to stay with me on the fetch which made it easy.
Actually I was surprised with 2nd, but very happy of course. I felt I had done well enough to qualify, but second surprised me. So now I was set to move up to intermediate and was very glad Terry had me practicing driving instead of fetching.
The Trial – second run
So the second run was a much shorter wait even though I was still last in my group since intermediate runs before started. This time the sheep were much lighter and took off from the hay when Scot got close at all. We had no control until they got all the way to the top post. So I gathered them up and and drove them around the cone in the correct direction. From the cone all the way to the hold at the exhaust gate it went, what I thought was quite well. I had pretty much figured I was toast for a top 3 finish after a lousy fetch so I was pretty relaxed for most of the run. The only issue at all came at that last hold when Scot charged the sheep during the hold, but even that was minor. I was happy but not expectant, so when I got a second again I was really surprised. As it turns out I won that place by a measly half-point, but hey, I’ll take it.
Overall a great experience, but damn my expectations are going be pretty damn high if I manage to keep this pace up.
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
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
Dave and Rev