Tears of pain...tears of joy..

Tears of pain....



We lost another one....little Lily has passed, I was sent an e-mail from her owner this morning, he is heart sick. Just this past weekend he started her on cattle, just this weekend she met her demise after venturing into a quiet country road at the wrong time.

This loss is right on the heels of her sister Dora, we sent Wayne's pick Lucy (littermate to Lily) to the family to fill Dora's pads. Dora was a special one, here is a post about her the day her family picked her up, she went on to being a handy cattledog and 4-H Champion http://leaningtreebcs.blogspot.com/2009/07/farewell-sweet-dora-we-wish-you-well.html





Tears of joy....

I recieved another call today, the proud owner of Lily's littermate Lacy, called to tell us again how blessed they are to have her and how wonderful she is. I shared the news about Lily, an extra hug tonight for Lacy.

As promised...Puppy Pictures. More can be found at our website: www.waynescustomleather.com/dixiexrickypups.htm

I have a favorite, can you guess which one??

Your Busted!!! No Compromises.

Today was the third day that Ricky took over all of the chores here at home. This is not only a test for him but also for me, can I maintain the changes that Marc made in his attitude while progressing in his training. As far as training is concerned he is trained, he has his directions, he has a stop, a walk up, he controls his stock, he sheds, looks back and has a variation of speeds and intensities that I can tap into with just subtle tone changes in my voice or whistles. What he lacks is experience and seasoning, dealing with adversity and coming out on top on the other side.

As I went out with him to do chores I noticed that he was doing an exceptional job staying in his place, just to the right and behind me, he is not allowed to wear or switch sides, it is his job to stay there until I give him a different job. We made it all the way to the hen house, fed the ducks and started to move on to the sheep barn, no slips on his part. For a moment I thought maybe just maybe we could make it through our entire chore routine without him slipping from his place, then it happened, the mistake. A quick correction and he was right back in his place, he almost looked embarrassed that he made the mistake.

We moved on and fed the sheep, I had Ricky move the ram and Tetra out of the barn, Tetra is known for taking a dog. Tetra and Rick had a moment of face to face time, typically day after day Tetra takes a shot at Jake before getting a nose or ear bite and moving on, she held true to her habit yesterday and the day before but not today, today she yielded and moved on with her twins. Reflecting back to the trial this past weekend Marc pointed out that Jake tends to blink when confronting a cow, he has a moment where he looses his nerve and the cow will try to take him reading the weakness. Typically Jake fights through it and wins in the end, but it seems to be a pattern. What I realized today was when Tetra changed her routine it was due to Ricky not blinking.

Before leaving for Marc's I had only rare opportunities to see it in Ricky, there was one cattle trial where he went eye to eye with a cow at a gate, the cow declared uncle and moved on. I had another chance up at Platte, SD during the trial but the cow elected to try Ricky anyway at which point he was almost stunned and didn't know how to respond. This past weekend at the trial we had two more opportunities, one was when we backed a cow backwards down an alleyway, the other was when a cow wanted to enter an alley with Ricky in it. She said no, he at first wanted to negotiate leave the alley way and go for a heel, I refused to allow him to negotiate and after three attempts he finally stepped up and bit her square on the nose.

Ideally I would like to have a dog that makes that move as a natural reflex, but I'll take one that develops it, calm, quiet, flat footed this is not open for negotiations attitude. Truth be told, Ricky may have originally possessed the proper reflex, but if I missed it and inapproaprately discouraged it I may have taught him to not use it.

Anyway, back to the original story, after completing sheep and horse chores Ricky and myself were returning to the house, he tucked in just behind me to my right, so close that I almost have to bend over backwards and twist to see his tail to confirm he is there, when I became aware of him creeping up. My thought was to wait for him to make the mistake and then correct him, but then I realized that I had quickened my pace in an attempt to hold my position just in front and to the left of him...wait a minute..I just caught myself trying to help him be right... CRACK...correction time! No Negotiations! I busted my dog in the act of bending and shaping me, the master of negotiators has been stopped in his tracks! He looked beyond embarrassed this time.

I have to say that at the moment I realized I was speeding up for my dog I heard Marc's voice asking my why I was doing it. As luck would have it I have seen the same situation occur over and over with other students of his, he always reminds us to watch closely, any issue that he helps his other students through will eventually happen to us and by not getting wrapped up in our own dogs and issues we will be able to learn from others and know what to do when our day comes.

On a side note, in an effort to keep our relationship from slipping Ricky is now living in the kennel. I know that bringing him back into the house will just give him more opportunity to shape me and get me to bend to him. This is a change that I will be making with all of my young dogs, they will get house time so as to learn how to behave in the house, but once they have learned the lessons they need to learn, back to the kennel to ensure that each interaction I have with them is positive from a training/relationship standpoint and of high quality.

Best Money Spent

Ricky took over the #1 chore dog role yesterday, not just because I used him but also by the quality of work he provided. This is a different dog, he is way more relaxed then I have ever seen him which allows me to trust him most anywhere around the ewes and lambs. Even when one of the ewes with new lambs took advantage of the situation and pounded on him he just stayed put, took the hit and walked up calmly with authority. The reaction the ewe had was priceless, I think she expected him to retreat or blow a gasket, the fact that he stayed the course threw her for a loop, she quickly gathered up her lambs and moved on and was rewarded, Ricky didn't even offer his old tendency of getting the last word via a cheap shot.

That little change in Ricky's attitude was worth the money and time spent, and for the most part was what I was struggling to get. I felt confident that over time I would get there and wear Ricky down but I also had a feeling that Marc could get there quicker leaving me to enjoy the summer trialing and using my dog instead of fighting with him waiting for him to give up battling with me. After using him yesterday my feelings have been confirmed, we can now move on forward gaining more expirence handling different livestock in different situations. I have faith that handling Ricky after he has been so drastically changed by Marc will help me find my way on the next dog so that I don't end up stalled in the same place with a different dog.

Patty is the next young dog in line for training. She is a different cat then Ricky, softer with a ton of feel and drive. My thought is that she will have more in common with Jake when it comes to what she offers and the trials and tribulations we encounter during our training sessions.


Puppies...

On a different note, Ricky's first pups are 3 1/2 weeks old, I'm going to try to get some pictures of the tribe (3 males/3 females). Early evaluations of temperment and reaction to pressure has revealed one male with hyper sensitivity. Yesterday Dixie corrected him and he went off by himself to sulk. His future as a top notch stockdog is bleak, we will have to wait to see if he will be able to handle the pressure of pet life, for use as a hobby herding dog or if with proper handling combined with strong stock drive if he can learn to overcome his temperment, stranger things have happened, Jake comes to mind.

There is another male that is outgoing and bold, he shows great resolve to get what he wants, he is not easily discouraged and takes corrections from mom in stride. I like him, but time will tell as to how trainable he is.

On the female side we have a brash female that has quite a temper and she bites like a little tiger shark, good thing she does not have teeth yet, I would have harpoon marks on my hand. And then there is the little peanut that stays back out of trouble but stands out from the pack by displaying cute little attention gaining antics.

That leaves a male and a female that are not giving me enough to get a good read on them yet, the male is outgoing and appears to show signs of boldness and the female...well...she is just a black and white puppy.

It's amazing what these little pups can show us at such a young age if we are just willing to look and be open minded, granted these evaluations tell me little to nothing about stock drive and talent, but I feel they do help me determine what I have to work with from a training and relationship standpoint, along with helping me identify weaknesses. There are some traits that I have no issue dealing with and actually look forward to seeing, some that I refuse to work with and others that I find a challenge and I want to take on just to see if I can.

We will have another Ricky litter due in about 60 days, Kess whose sire and dam are both imports had her first cover yesterday. I am also planning on mating Ricky to Bea, this spring/summer. I know it seems like a lot of pups but I want to get a solid idea of what type of female yields the most talented and trainable working pups, we will then determine which females we will keep for the future.

The ultimate goal is to be able to produce more pups simular to Ricky, strong, talented, early starting and relatively easy to train. Ricky was a useful stockdog having all his commands and able to be used on cattle and sheep at the age of 12 months out in open fields, Wayne even took him out horseback, a person could have gotten a lot of work done with him before he went out for training. His work was by far not shiney and trial worthy, but it was very useful, though I did win a paycheck in November at a trial with him. His time spent with Marc was about refinement and fine tuning, the part of training that I have yet to master and actually wonder if I want to, much easier to let Marc do it and I wonder if the handler/trainer change is in the long run really good for the dog.

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

I Fear Failure

I Fear Failure....there you have it I said it!!

This past month I have had myself in a tissy worried about what will become of Ricky and whether or not I will be able to acheive my dreams with him, quite frankly dreams that I have not even had yet. To be truthful, I don't know where I am going, I only have the loose goal of brining Ricky around to being the best dog that he can be.

I spoke to a good friend yesterday that was surprised to hear that I am lost and don't know where I am going nor where to begin moving forward, she reminded me that the best way to fail is to be afraid of failing, you will cause what you fear.

So...new day, one step in front of the other, here we go, let the voyage begin!!

This evening I head out to Southern Missouri to meet with Marc and pick Ricky up, we should have most of the day tomorrow to get myself up to speed before heading out to Mountain Home, Arkansas for a Cattledog Trial on Saturday. Marc and Heather have been awesome, without Marc I would not be where I am now, which I think is a good place...oh that failure thing again....yes, I'm in a great place!

I am planning on posting updates about our travels so that followers can join the ride, this could be a incrediable journey.

Tony McCallum

Indy, sire to Wynnona

We were paid a visit in December by Tony McCallum, the cattledog breeder and trainer from Australia. One of the purposes for his visit was to see our Australian Cattle Dogs for himself. While here he worked with Tough for a few minutes, he was able to get Tough to produce a quality of work far beyond our imaginations.





Tony has given us some ideas and suggestions in regard to the future of our Australian Cattle Dog program which will include a bit of outcrossing in an effort to push back the dingo traits, that he feels our dogs are showing to strongly. It was kinda satisfying to hear Tony refer to our dogs as the "Old Blue Dogs" and that he was pleasently surpirised to see what saw. Have no misunderstanding, we have a long way to go with the breeding program, but now we feel like we have a vision of the path that we need to take to get to our goal, which is a quality working cattledog.





With any luck your first pups that will hopefully start us down that path will be here by the end of February, Wynonna appears to have settled, but we are not getting our hopes too high.

Dreams, Goals and Aspirations

It seems as if things have been slow over the last couple of months, but upon reflection they have been packed with news and events.

All but Angus, the male pup I picked from the Bea x Jake litter, have moved on to new homes, even Wayne's pick Lucy. Lucy went to replace her older sister Dora, who met her demise while playing in the yard with the kids. One second she was there, the next out in the road, unfortunately so was a car. Dora had proven herself both working in the feed lots and also as the a Champion 4-H project. More about Dora can be found in the "Farewell Sweet Dora" thread, we now bid her our final farewell, she was a good one.

We have puppies!!! Dixie a daughter of Jake has delivered 3 males and 3 females, the sire is my young dog Ricky. This is Dixie's first litter, we are excited about their arrival and seems to be so are others as we have already recieved calls from prospective buyers though we never really spoke about the intended breeding. We are only going to take deposits for 2 of the 6 and all will remain here until we can evaluate their start on stock (16-18 weeks of age).

We made a huge financial decision at the beginning of January, we decided to take the leap and send Ricky out for training. The weather here in north central Iowa has been less then appealing, leading to little to no training or open field work. So, I sent him down to the warmer open fields of far south central Missouri to get some open field work on sheep. He is with Marc Christopher, who is responsible in more then one way for where we are today, reports have come in that Ricky is doing great. Outrunning, shedding and basically getting ready for the open field trials. Good thing, as we have less then 60 days to gain qualification for the National Cattledog Finals and just under 120 before the National Finals.

I was able to combine the trip down to Marc's with a Open Field Cattledog Trial which was held near Fort Smith, Arkansas. Jake and myself acheived a huge milestone, our first USBCHA Open Class win. Woulda, coulda, shoulda...if I coulda have kept a little better lid on Ricky he shoulda have been second and woulda been qualified for Finals. Oh well, we will have another chance in two weeks, actually 4 chances, at the Mountain Home, AR trials that I intend on attending when I go down to pick Ricky up from Marc's.

Here is a video of Marc with Ricky's cousin Roy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-TvlEUOZJM

I mentioned that Marc is responsible in more ways then one for where we are today, well not only did he change our thinking and help us get on the right path from a training and breeding direction, he was also the breeder of Ricky's grandsire Ken and at one time trained his granddam. Basically old Vicki is a result of Marc's breeding program in a indirect way one generation removed.

Other news, Wayne and I recieved invitations to a 10 dog invitational Cattledog Trial which will be held at the Indiana Horse Fair the first weekend of April. Jake and Ricky will both be running, we will have two gos, one Saturday morning and the second Sunday afternoon. What a great opportunity to show our dogs to the public, we can't wait.

I have a few goals for the next few months, first to get Ricky qualified for Cattledog Finals. We have one open field cattle trial coming up down at Lyle East's at the end of March. I then plan on competing at a couple of open field sheepdog trials prior to finals to help tune for Cattledog Finals, sounds strange doesn't it, tune for a big Cattledog Trial by going to Sheepdog Trials. Comes down to that I'm not too worried about how Ricky handles the cattle but more that I can keep in communication with him out in the open field. The sheepdog trials will help me test where we are and should reveal our weaknesses so that we can work on them prior to Finals. There is another goal as we attend the sheepdog trials, to end up having Ricky qualified for National Sheepdog Nursery Finals which will be held in September near Carbondale, Colorado.

This will certainly be a jammed packed spring and summer, I'll try to share the ride.