and here are some dog pictures from the last few months.
Saturday, February 12, 2011
Snow and dogs
Here is a video of the dogs playing in the snow pre-blizzard.
and here are some dog pictures from the last few months.
and here are some dog pictures from the last few months.
More longarm quilting
Wednesday, December 01, 2010
Rule of 10 - for stockdogs
Fly and I had a great herding session today, again! Her stop is getting better and better. Laurie says she saw some indicators today that Fly is learning the meaning of 'come bye' and 'away'! We worked on a wider flank and partial flanks. Partial flanks means I only let Fly go about 2-3 hours on the clock , then ask her to 'lie down'. I'm still amazed by the amount of control i'm getting with her! See rule number 1 below.
I found this wonderful list at workingaussiesource.com. I think I've heard all ten of them! Number 1 in just the last two weeks.
1. TRUST YOUR DOG!
2. LEARN TO WALK BACKWARDS
3. KEEP MOVING
4. WATCH YOUR SHEEP!
5. KEEP YOUR DOG OFF THE SHEEP
6. DON'T WALK STRAIGHT ONTO YOUR SHEEP
7. PUT A GOOD STOP ON YOUR DOG
8. BE AWARE OF WHERE YOUR DOG IS
9. DON'T FOLLOW YOUR DOG
10. ALWAYS BRING THE LARGER NUMBER TO THE SMALLER NUMBER— DO NOT CHASE A SINGLE
THAT'LL DO!
I found this wonderful list at workingaussiesource.com. I think I've heard all ten of them! Number 1 in just the last two weeks.
THE RULE OF TEN
by Jay Homan, Rose McCleod, & Darlene Lasko1. TRUST YOUR DOG!
2. LEARN TO WALK BACKWARDS
3. KEEP MOVING
4. WATCH YOUR SHEEP!
5. KEEP YOUR DOG OFF THE SHEEP
6. DON'T WALK STRAIGHT ONTO YOUR SHEEP
7. PUT A GOOD STOP ON YOUR DOG
8. BE AWARE OF WHERE YOUR DOG IS
9. DON'T FOLLOW YOUR DOG
10. ALWAYS BRING THE LARGER NUMBER TO THE SMALLER NUMBER— DO NOT CHASE A SINGLE
THAT'LL DO!
Sunday, November 28, 2010
Come bye and Away to me
Fly and I had an awesome day herding! Laurie says it was the best yet. Fly was nice and relaxed and 'going nicely' around the sheep. She was on the edge of chaos which Laurie says it good! Now that I have control of Fly, we were working on letting Fly loosen up and get back her natural speed.
The last two months I've been working on getting 'respect' from Fly. She is doing great now, sits and waits at the gates, Lies Down when I tell her (without yelling) and finally does a 'That'll Do' and almost runs off the sheep! I was able to stand 20 feet away from the sheep with Fly on a down just waiting , not running off like a crazy puppy.
So, with that control, I was able to get her going around the sheep , on wider circles so we can work on flanking commands , Come Bye (clockwise around the sheep) and Away to me (counter-clockwise). It's hard to learn how to move properly and which side of the sheep to be on. Fly and I are learning together and today it came together nicely!
We started with a nice pickup at the beginning, and had two more nice ones throughout the session. Fly and I walked out away from the sheep , NO LEASH :-), and i put her on a down. Then i walk toward the other side of the sheep, not on a direct line but away from Fly, I then let her start walking, then ask for her to go around. It wasn't perfect but I'm finally learning to take advantage of any fast running by continuing to move away from Fly. This gives me the distance she needs from the sheep and allows me to set her up for another flanking command.
Things I'm learning and need to continue working on:
The last two months I've been working on getting 'respect' from Fly. She is doing great now, sits and waits at the gates, Lies Down when I tell her (without yelling) and finally does a 'That'll Do' and almost runs off the sheep! I was able to stand 20 feet away from the sheep with Fly on a down just waiting , not running off like a crazy puppy.
So, with that control, I was able to get her going around the sheep , on wider circles so we can work on flanking commands , Come Bye (clockwise around the sheep) and Away to me (counter-clockwise). It's hard to learn how to move properly and which side of the sheep to be on. Fly and I are learning together and today it came together nicely!
We started with a nice pickup at the beginning, and had two more nice ones throughout the session. Fly and I walked out away from the sheep , NO LEASH :-), and i put her on a down. Then i walk toward the other side of the sheep, not on a direct line but away from Fly, I then let her start walking, then ask for her to go around. It wasn't perfect but I'm finally learning to take advantage of any fast running by continuing to move away from Fly. This gives me the distance she needs from the sheep and allows me to set her up for another flanking command.
Things I'm learning and need to continue working on:
- TRUST my dog. Fly WILL lie down when I ask her so I have to allow her to be natural and FAST (which can be scarey) because I now CAN control her.
- Send Fly to the sheep butts, not the heads. This allows her to turn the sheep, instead of running into them.
- Take advantage of Fly leaving the sheep. Use this time to get some distance and prepare for her return. Get ready for a flank command when she gets back!
- NEVER say a flanking command in a harsh tone.
- Make sure she is moving BEFORE I give the flank command since she doesn't know them yet. We are still learning.
- KEEP it FUN! If I shut her down, then Fly is not having fun. Today was wonderful, I could see she was having fun. I stayed loose and relaxed.
- Give her a job. This is like number 6. If she has work to do, it's more fun for her! Again, this means letting her GO.
Sunday, November 21, 2010
Longarm quilting progress
I've been doing a lot of quilting lately and I've been pretty happy with my progress, especially since my class with the dealer. Here for your viewing pleasure.
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| My attempt at 'McTavishing |
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| Love this 9-patch by Janet Mehmert. |
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| open feathers in the border |
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| Cat tails to go with the kitty theme |
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| The back of the kitty quilt, more tails in each corner. |
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| continuous line with a twist, love this idea and how it turned out. |
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| The back of the quilt above, again love how this turned out |
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| close up |
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| my attempt at 'sticky buns' free hand |
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| the back |
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| table runer, the green swirly print was my inspiration |
I won a giveaway!
A few weeks ago I won this awesome giveaway from my friend Gerry! I was forced to loan the recipe book to my daughter but I still have everything else! And I love the little note pad. Thanks Gerry!
awesome apron.!
Doesn't that look scrumptious?
Thursday, October 28, 2010
Clinic with Gordon and progress update
We haven't been herding much lately because its been trials time and Laurie is busy helping with trials or competing with Bandit so Bandit can qualify for the 2011 Aussie Nationals. I attended an AKC and ASCA stockdog trial to see how these things work and to get Fly used to the environment. It happened that both of these trials were at the same farm in Washington MO. It was nice to meet some people and I even got some experience moving stock when I was drafted to help at the ASCA trial.
Fly and I got about 10 minutes of work after the first trial day of ASCA. It was light attendance and we were just getting the stock ready for the next day. We basically ran a 'started' course, thru two gates, along the fence. Fly did pretty good considering it had been 3 weeks since she'd worked any sheep.
I met Jerry and Sharon Rowe from Kansas who have been in the Aussie world for about 40 years plus. I then audited one day of his clinic and learned about the sheep pressure 'bubble' and how when dogs get too close into the bubble, the sheep explode. Very good explanation! Also , Sharon helped me with getting respect from Fly . I realized that I'd been letting her get away with badness, pulling me around the field, etc. We are making good progress here! Now all the dogs have to sit/stay when I open a door, I go out first, then they come out and sit/stay again while I close the door. THEN they can be released. Its definitely taking a lot of the doorway chaos out of the picture! I also need to work on 'with me' when walking with Fly . She is NOT allowed to be the boss!
Finally we had another lesson and we are working on smoother outruns. Fly has a tendancy to cut in too close. We need to round out that 'outrun' and make it smoother and calmer. Then Tuesday of this week we had a clinic with Gordon Watts. Back in June we tried to go but Fly wouldn't work for Laurie and I wasn't ready either. Gordon said 'big improvement'! yay! Fly worked well and Gordon helped me out the outruns.
What I need to do is be on the far side of the sheep before we start with Fly on a stay. Then ask her just to walk, as in fetching. THEN I can turn a bit as I described in an earlier post, this sets Fly up to do a little outrun to get around the sheep. I use the 'shhh, shhh ' sound to tell her to go around. The fact that she is already walking helps keep the whole process calm. I can also add the 'come by' and 'away' flanking commands to teach her direction. We had a 2nd session at the end of the day , very short, and we did MUCH better. Gordon also stressed that short quality sessions are MUCH better than training too long and getting bad results. Can't wait for more sheep time!
Fly and I got about 10 minutes of work after the first trial day of ASCA. It was light attendance and we were just getting the stock ready for the next day. We basically ran a 'started' course, thru two gates, along the fence. Fly did pretty good considering it had been 3 weeks since she'd worked any sheep.
I met Jerry and Sharon Rowe from Kansas who have been in the Aussie world for about 40 years plus. I then audited one day of his clinic and learned about the sheep pressure 'bubble' and how when dogs get too close into the bubble, the sheep explode. Very good explanation! Also , Sharon helped me with getting respect from Fly . I realized that I'd been letting her get away with badness, pulling me around the field, etc. We are making good progress here! Now all the dogs have to sit/stay when I open a door, I go out first, then they come out and sit/stay again while I close the door. THEN they can be released. Its definitely taking a lot of the doorway chaos out of the picture! I also need to work on 'with me' when walking with Fly . She is NOT allowed to be the boss!
Finally we had another lesson and we are working on smoother outruns. Fly has a tendancy to cut in too close. We need to round out that 'outrun' and make it smoother and calmer. Then Tuesday of this week we had a clinic with Gordon Watts. Back in June we tried to go but Fly wouldn't work for Laurie and I wasn't ready either. Gordon said 'big improvement'! yay! Fly worked well and Gordon helped me out the outruns.
What I need to do is be on the far side of the sheep before we start with Fly on a stay. Then ask her just to walk, as in fetching. THEN I can turn a bit as I described in an earlier post, this sets Fly up to do a little outrun to get around the sheep. I use the 'shhh, shhh ' sound to tell her to go around. The fact that she is already walking helps keep the whole process calm. I can also add the 'come by' and 'away' flanking commands to teach her direction. We had a 2nd session at the end of the day , very short, and we did MUCH better. Gordon also stressed that short quality sessions are MUCH better than training too long and getting bad results. Can't wait for more sheep time!
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