Just a few lambs

This little guy arrived on Friday
Tuesday this little ewe lamb joined us....

Wednesday was a two-for, a pair of twin ewe lambs!!

This is a shot of Tuesday and one of the Wednesday girls.

Puppies due March 27th!!!

We are expecting the next litter of Bea x Jake pups on March 27th, 2010. Vicki is due around the 6th of April, we have our fingers crossed for another healthy pup so that our hopes are not all dependent on Ricky, the pups from fall. Hopefully all this snow will be gone by then.

Things have slowed way down here in central Iowa, the snow has me beside myself. I've been spending a lot of time on club business (www.iowastockdog.com). I was able to get the books balanced and closed, annual report approved, year end awards purchased and sent off for embrodiery work, helped to organize and advertise a judges clinic/meeting and soon I will be compiling the next newsletter. Before you know it the trial season will be here. The Judges Clinic will be on April 10th, we are planning on a trip to Missouri to attend the LC Cattle and Sheep trials on May 1st & 2nd, our first Iowa trial will then be right around the corner in early June.

We are also lambing, two down, 13 to go, I'm so glad that we reduce our numbers prior to winter. But, I'm also limited as to what is available for working dogs, basically nothing....so right now the only dog working is JJ, he is my right hand sorting dog and coming along great. We had a break through at the River City Expo that I had not recognized until we arrived home. JJ has a tendency of getting excited and when he get's excited he can't hear. When we were at the Expo I had to tune on him a bit for going bonkers during the Personal Protection Demos. He wanted to jump in and do bite work too. Rather then crating him up and avoiding the situation I used it as a training opportunity and working on his self control. Each time he lost it I corrected him, by the end of the weekend he was happy to just observe the other demos and actually could execute commands while watching the other dogs.

I had not thought about this training helping with our stock work, but it sure did. JJ was having a tough time working in close wanting to escape and loosing his head prior to the weekend, now I have a totally different dog that jumps at the opportunity to try something new. Another trainer once wrote, "With obedience, comes confidence", I want to take it one step further "With self control, comes the ability to be obedient; with obedience, comes confidence."

I've had many argue that what we do with our dogs away from stock has nothing to do with how they handle stock, I disagree. Relationships are relationships, the abilty to control oneself is not going to improve when situations get exciting. The adage, "you have to learn how to crawl before you can walk; and you have to learn how to walk before you can run" comes to mind.

So, even though I have not been getting the dogs out to work we have been training, each time I open a crate I have an expectation that I hold the dog to and test to see if the dog can hold themselves to that expectation. The same is true on a recall or a simple lie down when we are here are around the house. I watch when the dogs a playing for lapses of self control and use that as a training opportunity to teach my dogs that they need to maintain control at all times in all situation regardless as to level of excitement. It's all building blocks, setting a foundation so that when the snow clears and the ewes have lambed will be able to get the most out of our training sessions on livestock.

Enough for now, I'll try to get back into the grove of posting updates. BTW, another snow storm is due in on Saturday...yippee.....

Duck - Sheep - Duck - Cow - Duck...poor Jake

This past weekend was a busy one for us, it began on Friday evening at the River City Expo in Council Bluffs, Iowa where Jake and I presented a herding demonstration with our Indian Runner Ducks. Saturday Morning we competed at the Winter Warm up Sheep Dog trial near Elkhorn, Nebraska, Jake and I placed 3rd, yippee, one place out of earning USBCHA points, go figure.

We then rushed back to Council Bluffs for a Saturday afternoon demonstration....with ducks. Then turned around to go back to Elkhorn Sunday morning to trial on Cattle. I still don't know how we ended up, as soon as our run was over we were loading up to once again return to Council Bluffs for our last Duck demonstration.

Jake and I are both bushed!!! I am really pleased as to how Jake handled all the stock changes, he took it in stride and adjusted as needed. The sheep were challenging some dogs couldn't get them lifted. The cattle were difficult, they didn't want to stay together and took on the dogs. The duck...well, the ducks got smart.

We are preparing now for an ice storm, here are some pictures of our trees that are covered in hoar frost, I just pray the frost melts off before the ice accumulates. I moved all the vehicles out from under the trees, I'll be surprised if we don't lose some good size limbs.

Merry Christmas!!!

Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!

Rams For Sale

Here are a few shots of the three rams we have for sale. Jake helped me get them positioned.

Here's the horn shot

Setting up the group body shot

Now let's single them out and photograph them individually.

That'll do, good dog Jake.

The Changing of the Seasons

Winter has arrived here in Central Iowa!!! Last weekend we enjoyed 50 degree weather this weekend a snow storm and windchills near to below zero. I have never been so ill prepared, sure hoping that Mother Nature will be nice to us this winter. This afternoon I will be busseling around moving livestock, setting up heated water tanks, pulling water buckets from dog runs and replacing them with easy to deal with dishes.





Before I set to work I thought I would post and long delayed update.





Last weekend we had a blast at the Yellow Rose Cattle Dog Trial over at Platte, SD. If you ever want to take in a trial this is a great one. It is held in an indoor arena with really nice but challenging cattle, along with some fun sheep for the open handlers to prepare for the Denver Stock Show and Rapid City, the figure 8 is a hoot. In addition, they host a Cowboy Christmas Craft Show and a little Cattle Congress with guest speakers. Many people, great shopping, awesome baked goods and smells, we ate way to much.





Wayne and I shared the handling job on Jake, he ran in the Open Cattle division and I ran him in Open Sheep. Both of us are pleased with our performances, the sheep proved challanging, out of approx 25 handlers, some big names, I think only 3 were able to navigate the Y-Chute, Laura Hicks, Pete Carmicheal & Bob Johnson showed us how to do it. Jake and myself made it through the Figure 8 and onto the Y-Chute making what I thought was a serious bid for a top run just to find a brick wall and timeing out, but we were in good company.





Wayne is kicking himself for not approaching his cattle run differently, they ran just over 30 dogs, taking the top 10 back to the finals. The most difficult obstacle was the Maltise Cross, he realizes know that if would have just settled for a low point count and moved on the the pen and exhaust with was worth an ample amount of point he may have been able to get to the finals. But, instead he and Jake worked hard to try to get that Maltise Cross mastered. But, that's ok, Wayne was pleased with his dog, and we were able to get on the road heading home, it was a 6 hour drive. According to Bob Johnson the finals did not get done until 10pm, we were home just after midnight.





We also took a couple of young dogs with for the ride. Weasel (Riley x Jake) was injured last week trying to take on one of Wayne's cattle dogs through the fence, she found herself being drug under the panel but didn't fit. Took all the hide off her front legs and tore her bads up severly. She's back nearly 100% now, no longer needing crate rest but she still have house privilages and she's riding it for all it's worth.





Toby (Bea x Jake) also rode with. On Friday evening Wayne had the opportunity to take him in on some roping steers, we also saw his litter mate Meg take her turn, she is owned by Val who lives near Platte and sets the cattle via horseback for the trial. BTW, Val does and awesome job!! Meg has been helping Val move calves off the feed bunks so she had an idea of what to do with the cattle, but Toby, he has never seen a cow in his life. You wouldn't know it though, off to work he went, first driving them with Wayne and then frustration Wayne by flanking around and driving them back at Wayne. Guess it's time to get a stop on the boy, and a left and a right...could we get so lucky to have it come easy and naturally...naa it's gotta be too good to be true.





I think we need to repeat that cross, sooner as opposed to later, so if anyone knows of someone in the market for a pup we will be taking deposits for the next litter. I'm hoping that we did not miss Bea's heat cycle, if we didn't she should be breedable in the next few weeks giving us February/March pups ready to go home in May/June.

BTW, my book by Tully Williams arrived, you gotta order it though I could see it being way over many peoples heads and I wonder if they would know it.... There was one dog that really caught my eye at Platte, it was a nice smooth coated female by the name of Abby owned by Bob Wagner. Some research revealed that he purchased her from Juan Reyes...he just so happened to be running a male just over a year old that could very well turn into this years Nursery National Cattle Dog Champion and I would not be surprised if he didn't make a run at the Open Finals, the dog's name is Zack, watch for him.... But we will see, I might be mistaken.

What is even more impressive to us, we watched older dogs that have more expirence with cattle get stopped in their tracks by those roping steers. In most cases a second dog had to be sent to help. Not with ours, thinking that they would be a much needed challange for Jake Wayne took him in before the pup, Jake went right to work with them, though he did emit some of his trade mark barks warning them before he would hit a nose, I kinda wish that would go away...








Puppies!!!!!!





Here's a fun picture for you, Ricky (Vicki x Jake) and one of our female Dottie x Tough Australian Cattle Dog pups those little white slugs I posted about a number of months back, oh yeah...they were born on the same day.

This is a Male

This litle red girl is a Snot, she's going to be a heeling machine, and has a heck of a temper




This is Mouse...he has earned house duty, his brothers and sisters think it's fun to make the mouse squeek, so he's been in playing with the big dogs. He's not a wuss, steps right up, but he has a soft bite and is not able to fight his way out from under the biting monkey pile.



I was going to place him in a pet home thinking that he was going to be too soft, but boy is he smart, and he is showing some traits that we want to explore further. Besides what else do I have to do but pick up after the little pack rat...as I have been typing he has brought me my boot, a towel and now the bathroom rug.

Here's the little female again, you thinking 'Tude??

Different methods of getting Vicki Stopped!!!

Anyone want to take on a little red hot shot.

Big brother is going to pay for something he did!

Time to run, gotta get ready for our big snow storm.

"Readers are plentiful, thinkers are rare" (Harriet Martineau)

Have you ever looked at your pup and asked yourself, is he/she the one?

Sorry I have not posted in a couple of weeks, I've been doing a lot of thinking and keeping it internally. As I continue to train the dogs I find that keep asking myself the same questions, "What is this dog not doing naturally?" and "How can I help him learn it?"

These questions lead me into a direction away from the training field and generate other questions, "Why does one of my dogs naturally understand when another does not?" and "Can I select my breeding pairs in a fashion that will produce pups that naturally understand so I don't have to teach them?"

Bare with me here, I know that some people think I'm crazy, just go out and buy a dog that is a product of dogs you like, train it and be happy. I have a problem, I'm not finding many dogs that I really like, I might like bits and pieces of what they dog, but I don't like the entire dog. I have dogs that I like, but I don't think I would like them if someone else had them. I look at each one individually, try to identify their short comings and strong points and then try to figure out how the puzzle fits together in an attempt to construct the perfect dog. But, what is a perfect dog???

A number of years back I read an article in the Stock Dog Journal where the author presented a chart of different stock dog traits, as I recall he indicated which traits were inherited, which you could improve with training and which you just had to accept. At the time we were focussing on our Heeler's, I had not even thought of training them and trialing them leaving that to Wayne, so the article was just novel and really did not mean a lot to me.

But, that article has been nagging at me recently, I've been asking those questions that the chart tried to answer as I am working my dogs. I began the quest to find that article again, unsuccessfully mind you. I wrote the present editor of the Stock Dog Journal, Nicole Rhodes, she steered me toward Tully Willams, a breeder, trainer and stockmen from Australian and this book:

http://www.amazon.com/Working-Sheep-Dogs-Practical-Landlinks/dp/0643093435

You gotta read the preview pages, and I gotta get it. On the first page of the preview you can find the website of the author, Tully Williams:

http://campaspeworkingdogs.com/

I've been to that site before, I don't know why I have taken in all the information that is there, (get the title of this post now?? "Readers are plentiful, thinkers are rare" ) Guess I was reading that day and not thinking.

On that site there is a "Products" page, among other that have a lot of insight. I am patiently waiting for them to get back to me, I want the campanion DVD...yes a DVD that shows you what the author is talking about in the Natural Instinct section of the book!!! Gosh, I hope that I won't be disappointed in Book and DVD that I am in the process of purchasing!!!

I also wanted to share a poem from the site:

"Old Blood"

Find me a real dog, bred down

Many lines from the great old Yolong Russ

A dog of brains and ability, self-reliant

Of cover, and balance, and the searching cast

Hard dogs and tough One good line, the last

Unfashionable now

When soft dogs, weak dogs, and brainless

Turn-tailers proliferate

The steady strength and cover despised

In ignorance, inexperience

The good dogs have thinned, died out

Still, a remnant remains, a handful Natural dogs, and clean

Real sheepdogs not quite yet

A relic of the forgotten past

As a priceless pup demonstrates

The old blood, throbbing in its veins

By Tully Williams

It is interesting that a poem can strike such emotion in me, I can't help but wonder, is that what I am seeing in my dogs, bits and pieces of that relic from the past?

My quest, though not changed just better defined...to put all the pieces together into one great working dog, or rather, it's the goal of what we want our lines to consistently produce. It's the Holy Grail of Stock Dog breeding, but I wonder how many have truely looked deep enough into their dogs, or if they just accept the hand that is drawn and train their way through with no questions asked.

Also, how many dogs were given up on that had the right piece of the puzzle, but they did not have the rest. We are so fixated in finding the best dog available that has most of the pieces, should we be instead looking for the not so perfect that possess the missing pieces?

BTW..Julie, if you read this... don't neuter that dog!!!

No Fences

Yesterday the fields surrounding our little piece of Iowa Realestate were harvested. It took them all day and well into the night. We awoke to a clear view all the gravel roads that we have not seen for months. I took advantage of the situation and turned the ewes and lambs out to scavange for a few hours. There are no fences, the sheep are pretty good at staying in the fields, if they leave the field you can typically find them grazing the green of our driveway or along the perimeter of the farm. When vehicles come down the gravel road all the sheep high tail it toward the house.

They are hard to see, but there are sheep out eating dropped ears of corn out in this field. They are spread from one side of the picture all the way to the other, and some grazing on the grass in the driveway.

See....Jake just brought them all in!!

Hopefully by spring JJ will be able to take over the duties of bringing the ewes in while I watch from the house armed with my camera and a cup of coffee.

It's sorta strange that things I do with Jake, things that I never would have imagined doing when I was exclusively working with the Australian Cattle Dogs. I would have never just turned the ewes loose, heck this past spring I turned the ponies out with them, Jake had it covered.

Someday I would like to be able to have these same tasks handled by one of our cattle dogs.