Monday, February 21, 2011

The Weekend in Review

Thursday was the big departure day. Wayne and I drove all night arriving in West Plains, Missouri at about 4am. We took a nap, found a place for breakfast and then off to meet with Marc. We spent the entire day on Friday working dogs, trying to take it all in, looking for bad habits, on my part and trying to replace them with good ones.

Marc worked Ricky for us, one word, "Wow", Wayne just shook his head and said "Money well spent". He is by far not perfect, he will still make mistakes but to watch him out there working while listening to Marc was pure pleasure.

I have a lot of work to do on myself to even get a fraction of what Marc gets out of Ricky, I tend to be too aggressive with the tone of my voice which causes Ricky to be too aggressive with the sheep. Marc helped me identify what changes I need to make, ask don't plead or throw verbal tones. Communicate with Ricky to tell him he is right or when he is wrong. A person could really see it in Ricky's posture when he and I were communicating well, he was soft and fluid and would stiffen up and get tense when I slipped back into telling or dictating.

Wayne took Jake out and worked him for a bit out in the open field with Marc looking on, working on Jake's flanks and outruns. It took a bit but you could see change begin, Wayne is finally beginning to understand what he needs to do to help Jake be correct in his method and is showing the ability to reshape what Jake offers. Boy, did it ever pay off the next day at the Cattledog Trial, I think Jake gave Wayne the highest quality of work that I have ever seen. He didn't win but was able to get the work done in a very respectable fashion, ending up in the top 25% each run, it just wasn't fast enough to land him in the money. But, that ok, the quality of work he offered is the same as money in my book.

I ran Ricky in two Open classes and the Nursery at the trial. Our first open run was more of a training run for us, work on correct work and good communication, keep things calm and correct. Each time I began to get amped up Ricky would return the favor, but now I can get him calmed back down where as before sending him to Marc I was unable to. When Ricky get's strong, he get's bitting, on the heel and hard, he transfers my aggression to him as a indication that he should get aggressive toward the cattle. I just have to keep reminding myself, calm creates calm, so don't be surprised if you see me of meditating before a run in the future...

By our last Nursery run Ricky and I were beginning to click, he was showing me some of the same work both in style and quality that I saw him offer Marc, rating, being patient...quiet calm control.

We have a few things that we need to work on from a cattle handling standpoint and getting Ricky to understand what it is we are doing, but that will come. I'm don't want to rush or create excitment in an effort to get Ricky to do what I want, I want him to understand what the job is and do it calmly, quietly and with confident power. I have a vision as to how I would like to see each interaction with the cattle handled, now we just need to get to shaping.

I'm a bit spoiled with Jake, Jake knows that when we put cattle in a pen that it is his job to hold the gate, or that when we are loading a alley that he needs to make the needed adjustments to force the cattle, he understands the jobs, Ricky does not have that expirence so I have to help he through the jobs which is where I failed miserably during our runs actually costing us the possibility of a high placement. But, that's ok, there will be more trials, it will all come together one day, the thought of what is possible gives me goosebumps. All we need now is seasoning and time, so long as we don't get derailed we should have a really fun summer.

Here is a video link of Roy, a dog that Marc has, he is a cousin to Ricky. Wayne watched Roy work on Friday and is still talking about it, he really would love to make Roy his own though we know it would be impossible, something about that dog resignated with Wayne. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-TvlEUOZJM

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