First AKC Herding Trial!

We attended and helped host our first ever AKC herding trial over the weekend, and it was a LOT of work! The trial had both sheep and geese to herd, and was held at a local park that has horse arenas. We had to build the holding pens for the animals, sheep-proof the arenas, and practically terraform the place on Friday. Then on Sunday we had to take it all down again. Various bumps in the road on the way to success included the person making our awards bailing two weeks before the trial, poisonous castor bean plants growing on one of the competition fields, and finding a baby rattlesnake hanging out in a sheep pen on Saturday morning.

This is an old picture, I didn't have time to get pics at the actual trial.
Photo by Candy Lidstrom

Oh yes, and Godzilla and Zip and I actually competed in this trial! I was so busy helping that actually participating felt like an afterthought. The girls did great though! They were both entered in Started A, the most beginning of the big kid herding classes. There were more than 20 other dogs in the same class, many of them handled by herding instructors and people with a whole lot more experience than I have. Amazingly, Zip and I won third place on Saturday! We scored 93 out of 100, which is pretty amazing given that scores over 90 are considered very, very good. Godzilla and I got a qualifying score of 71, I'm more proud of that than Zip's placement. Moving sheep nicely is so, so hard or Sis!

Sunday didn't go quite as well. Zip and I got a qualifying score of 94, better than Saturday but no placement because everyone else did amazingly well too. Godzilla was seriously under exercised by the time her turn arrived, and we were dismissed from the ring for too much sheep biting. I laughed, told my dog she was wonderful, and paraded out of the ring like we had completed a perfect run. I know my dog will always do her very best for me, and I want her to feel like a million bucks every time we walk into a show ring of any type.

So Zip now has two legs towards her first AKC herding title. Godzilla has one leg, and I know how we can do better next time. The trial is over, and we are spending the week resting. And putting stuff away. So much stuff. Only three months till the next trial!

Paw5 Enriched Life Challenge: Day 5

Yesterday was the fifth and final day of Paw5's Enriched Life Challenge! Paw5 has challenged dog owners to make their pets' lives even better, through several different types of enrichment. We've spent the last five days taking trips, visiting friends, and trying new toys and games. I have included my cats in the challenge because I think indoor cats could really use some thoughtful enrichment activities.

Yesterday was super busy, as I spent the day helping set up for a herding trial, but we still managed to fit in some enrichment. I took James and Solstice out to explore the yard on a harness and leash. I found that an XXS Ruffwear Webmaster harness works very nicely for my cats. Taking indoor cats outside requires some planning and foresight, they don't tend to want to follow you like dogs. Getting outside to nibble the grass and explore the yard provides the Hellions with a ton of sensory and environmental enrichment.

Ru stayed home with my mother while I was out setting up for the trial. She has music students on Fridays, so he got to listen to some piano and clarinet duets. Fridays at home provide some sensory and social enrichment for Ru.

Godzilla and Zip went with me to set up for the herding trial. They got to run around and explore at the park, and see lots of our good dog and human friends. Zip even got to see three of her litter sisters! They also got to watch the geese that will be herded in the trial. There were fifty of them. That's a lot of geese! It was a day filled with sensory, social, and environmental enrichment for the girls.

The dogs and I have had a lot of fun with the Paw5 Enriched Life Challenge. It has inspired me to think more about enrichment for Ru and the cats, and made me appreciate how much Godzilla and Zip get out of our daily routines. We still haven't tried DogTV yet though, I will have to report back when we have the chance.

This is Zip

This is Zip. Her dad is Batman, possibly the best dog ever. Brisbane hated intact males, except Batman. Everybody loves Batman.

Batman's owner is my boss out at the sheep ranch. She breeds really amazing working border collies. Zip was originally placed as a puppy in a home that didn't work out. Though her owner had signed a contract agreeing to return her to her breeder if things didn't work out, she was sold or loaned to someone else for a while. At some point she jumped or fell out of the back of a pickup truck, and was quite possibly running loose for as long as a month before someone else found her and located her breeder. The person that found her originally wanted to keep her because, lets be honest, Zip is a fabulous dog. After a while they changed their mind, and Zip finally landed safely back with her breeder after two years of weirdness.

That's the cool thing about good breeders. It's tough to be totally anti-breeder when you know that the dogs they produce don't end up burdening the shelter system. I've known breeders to take back their dogs after a decade, to fly across the country or drive nonstop for days to retrieve them. A lot of rescues work the same way, but I suspect they adopted the concept from the most responsible of dog breeders.

Ears stand up for sheep and tennis balls.

Zip came back to the ranch not long after I quit doggy daycare in favor of sheep. I needed a dog that could move stock in close quarters without biting them, and Zip needed a job to do. For a while she lived at the ranch, and then she started escaping in her off hours. I lost Brisbane a little over a month ago, and never had the heart to pare down my dog setup. Everything, from the crates in the bedroom to the car full of agility gear, was still set up for two dogs.

So Zip has come home with me. When she's not herding sheep, she gets to chase tennis balls and sleep on the bed, and join me and the crew for all our adventures. Like Sis, she'll do anything for a tennis ball. Zip LOOOOOVES toys. She's still trying to figure out what to do with all of them. I am rapidly learning the difference between random-bred dogs, and dogs produced through very careful and deliberate breeding. Zip is amazing, her parents and siblings and aunts and uncles are all amazing. I now have a border collie, I've gone to the light side. (Cattledogs are undoubtedly the dark side.)

Book Review: Shorty and I

I had high hopes for Jean Mueller's Shorty & I: A Guide to Raising Young Herding Dogs in the City, recommended to me as a guide to teaching herding skills like flanks without the livestock I had always considered essential. "You can teach herding training in your living room," they said. "Just ignore the dominance theory training stuff," they said. Well, the book turned out to be 50% personal experience dealing with chronic illness, 48% force-based training, and 2% slightly useful information.

Photo by Erin Koski

The author, Jean Mueller, lives with a chronic illness that often leaves her very tired. She had several dogs with issues she was unable to solve before she got sick, and ended up dogless before Shorty the Australian Kelpie came into her life. This book is basically about how she raised Shorty to be a herding dog when she often didn't have the energy to do more than sit on the floor with him.

Unfortunately, Jean suffers from the same misconception that has haunted dog training for decades. She thinks that dog social structure relies on physically dominating lesser members of the pack, and that silly things like who goes through a doorway first have everything to do with who is the boss in the dog-handler relationship.

Slightly more educated dog owners know that dominance theory was debunked by the same scientist that originally described the whole concept. We know that dogs like to run through doorways because it's fun, and we teach them polite door manners by deliberately teaching them what we want them to do when the two of us arrive at one.

Photo by Erin Koski

Ms. Mueller teaches door manners by pressing her puppy down to the floor and holding him there until he gives up trying to walk through the door. She believes that this teaches him to respect her as the leader, but actually it just confuses the hell out of him until he finally figures out that she won't manhandle him if he waits at the door. She also forgoes teaching a leave-it cue or anything resembling it, in favor of thwapping her puppy with a fly swatter whenever he tries to investigate anything on outings. She teaches a down-stay by standing on a leash attached to the puppy's collar, preventing him from getting up for 30 minutes or more, until he is resigned to his fate and learned helplessness sets in.

It's worth noting that all of the author's training tips rely on the handler being able to physically overpower the dog. This is one of the major flaws in training based on dominance theory. Her methods really only work on young and malleable puppies, and then only on the really biddable ones. Many adult herding breed dogs are too strong to hold down by standing on their leash, or to shove flat on the floor. Few would tolerate that sort of unfair handling, either.

The bits about herding training are also somewhat forceful, and entirely the opposite of the way my dogs and I are being taught. Mine start by learning the joy of moving stock, and we gradually shape that drive and joy into control. Ms. Mueller teaches her dogs control first, how to approach a toy very slowly and only move toward it when given permission. Again, this is via forceful methods that require the handler to physically overpower the dog and may not be regarded as fair by an adult dog. The only useful thing I got out of this book was the half a page or so on teaching flanks by sending the dog around a large object like a chair with a toy as a reward.

Overall I was not impressed with this book. The title really ought to be "A Guide to Raising Young Herding Dogs in the Suburbs Where You Can Keep Ducks in Your Yard". The bits about the author's illness were moderately interesting, but in general the anecdotes felt like they were stuffed in there to fill out the page count. The author's accounts of her difficulties with previous dogs made me feel a bit sad. The overall message there was not really one of triumph over adversity so much as how you can give up on your broken dog and start over with a new puppy.

Herding Capability Tested

Brisbane, Sisci and I participated in an American Herding Breed Association trial this weekend, and the dogs each earned their Herding Capability Test title. These are our first herding titles ever! I also helped set up and run the trial, which was a wonderful and also exhausting experience. Our venue had horseback riding arenas, which required some modification in order to use them for sheep. The biggest project was tying snow fencing along the rails, and shoveling dirt onto the bottom of the new fence to hold it securely in place. We had a wonderful crew comprised of many of the handlers in the trial, but it still took several hours to get everything set up the day before the trial.

Photo by Candy Lidstrom

In order to earn the Herding Capability Test title, a dog must pass the test twice under two different judges. This is a pass/fail test that basically differentiates between herding the sheep and just chasing them around. The test is done in a small pen so the dog and stock can't go very far if things get out of hand.

The requirement for the first leg of the test is to move the sheep around in a controlled fashion, which is something I've been able to do with Brisbane, Sisci, Ranger, Annie, and even Ru occasionally.

Photo by Candy Listrom

The second leg of the test requires a bit more control. The dog must be able to stay still from the time the leash comes off until the judge gives the ok, which is not very long. Then the dog and handler need to move the sheep back and forth between two cones a couple of times. It is not necessary to go around the cones, they just give a nice point of reference to move between. Finally, the dog must have some sort of stop, usually 'down' or 'sit', and recall to the handler on command. These are fairly loose requirements, even a step towards the handler counts as a recall as long as you aren't making a flying tackle as you dog blows past you toward the sheep.

Brisbane did awesome on both legs of his test. He is no longer having foot issues, but he often gets tired easily and doesn't normally like going all the way around the sheep if he can avoid it. At the trial he was in good spirits and happily ran circles around the sheep for as long as I let him. He has always had a nice stop and recall, and waits impatiently for me to let him work as soon as we get into the pen with the sheep.

Photo by Candy Lidstrom

Sisci is still pretty sure that herding is all about biting the sheep, and training her is basically a process of stretching out the time she behaves herself in between taking cheap shots. The judge for our first leg on Saturday said I could stand to relax a bit because my dog does good work. He has border collies.

She was much better behaved for the second leg of our test, but decided to scream at me the whole time because she knew I wouldn't let her bite the sheep. That judge said I knew what I needed to do to keep my dog from hurting the stock. She has Belgian sheepdogs.

Photo by Candy Lidstrom

On Sunday we also got a much-needed California rainstorm, complete with high wind and occasional hail. The trial went on as planned, and everyone got completely soaked because there's just no staying dry when it's raining upside down and sideways no matter what kind of rain gear you've got. My dogs got to do their tests during a short break in the rain, but nearly everything else happened during the downpour. Everyone did surprisingly well, including the dogs that did their tests in the hail.

As soon as the last dog finished their run, the sheep were whisked back to their nice warm barn. The dogs all rested snug in cars and RVs. The utterly sodden people went to work rolling up snow fencing, loading posts and panels into trailers, and returning the site to the condition in which we found it. The sun came out just as we finished loading up, and shone on our very drippy handing out of ribbons and awards. At that point it had been raining almost nonstop for six hours. It was beautiful, and wet.

Hello 2016!

I'm not a big fan of new year's resolutions, but I thought I'd do a post welcoming the new year anyway. I have lots of plans and hopes for 2016 and it's probably worthwhile to put them down here.

Brisbane

Photo by Erin Koski

Briz will be turning 11 years old this April. He has developed some arthritis in his hips and front feet over the last year so he is now on a couple of different pain medications. We visited a rehab specialist and developed an exercise plan to help keep him fit and active as he ages. Now that his allergies are under control, I'm hoping his skin and coat continue to improve.

In 2015, Brisbane earned his Novice Trick Dog title, his Coursing Ability Advanced title, and attended his first herding trial. Our amazing herding instructor is hosting a trial next month where Brisbane will hopefully get at least a leg towards his first herding titles with the AKC and AHBA. I will be volunteering at this trial and am hoping to learn a lot!

A couple of days ago we learned that the mass on Brisbane's cheek is not a tooth abscess. The cytology report should hopefully come back on Monday and then we'll know more. If it turns out the be the worst case scenario, I plan to make his life as enjoyable and comfortable as I can, and enjoy all the time I have left with him.

Photo by Erin Koski 

Sisci Godzilla

Sisci joined our family in 2015 and earned her Novice Trick Dog title. She will also be participating in the herding trial next month and will hopefully be getting legs towards her AKC and AHBA titles. 

We started agility this fall and hope to continue attending practices and classes and possibly even trialing by the end of the year. We also started playing with discs, and would like to find a club or group to get involved in. Maybe we'll join Sisci's parents and sister at dock jumping, too. Really, there's nothing she can't do.

Photo by Erin Koski

Ru 

Ru will be sitting on my lap for much of the coming year, as per usual. After five years he may finally be starting to grasp the concept of a nose touch on cue, and I am currently failing to teach him to spin in a circle.

I bought some fleecy fabric recently, and I'm hoping to make Ru some four-legged super-warm pajamas this winter.

I am interested in trying out Barn Hunt with all three dogs in the coming year. Brisbane and Sisci both enjoy digging for gophers, and Ru might be willing to participate if the venue is warm enough. I'd also like to get into rally obedience, but not badly enough to do it on my own without the support of an instructor or training club.

We are currently in transition, about to move in with my parents for a few months in order to save for a house. I'm hoping to be out of there and in our own place this summer. I am currently learning Javascript, PHP, and MySQL in order to improve the Dog Food Wizard and keep it more up to date. So much to do!

Those are our plans for 2016, what are yours?

A Chihuahua Herding Sheep

I brought Ru along to our herding lesson this week, and we let him check out the sheep just for fun. This is what happened:

 The video is from Ru's second time working with the sheep that day. The first time around he was a bit cautious until he realized he could make them move. Nothing makes him feel like a big dog like bossing around several creatures much larger than himself. He not only had a blast chasing them around, he also maintained his interest for much longer than I expected. Frankly I was surprised he wanted to play at all, but our instructor says she has yet to see a chihuahua that doesn't want to work sheep. I guess they just don't usually get the chance.

What is the most unlikely breed/task combination you've seen so far?

Sheep: The Best Dog Toy

Brisbane and I have done a few herding lessons off and on, starting with his instinct test when he was nine months old. We've worked with three different instructors since then, and each has been delighted with Brisbane's natural aptitude for moving the sheep without catapulting through them like a bowling ball with feet. He has "balance", a trait defined here as the ability to move the sheep from a distance that is far enough to keep them calm, and close enough to direct them effectively.

This is not On the Lamb, I haven't dragged anyone out to take pictures for me there yet.

A few weeks ago I heard about a new place to take herding lessons, back in the town where I grew up. Some of my dog nerd friends and one of my corworkers had all taken their dogs there. The place is called On the Lamb, and when I spoke to the instructor I learned that pretty much everyone I've taken lessons from learned from her.

Instructor Robin was also pleased with Brisbane's herding ability, and suggested right away that we go to a trial. There is one at the end of April, and she doesn't normally recommend students start trialing two months after starting lessons, but Brisbane is just that awesome.

There are a lot of new dog sports open to us that weren't options back when I was trialing Brisbane in UKC obedience. Nosework, Barn Hunt, and the entire AKC mixed breed program came into existence during Brisbane's lifetime. Obedience and agility aren't the only activities available to us anymore, and I'm ready to get back into trialing. Wish us luck!

What activities do you do with your dog?

TBT: Herding Instinct Test

When Brisbane was nine months old, my best friend and I took him to a herding instinct test. This test consists of turning a dog loose on a few sheep and seeing what they do.

 The event was being put on by a collie club, but it was hosted at a ranch run by Australian cattledog people. Their dogs were herding champions as well as working stockdogs, and they knew exactly what Brisbane was as soon as he arrived. Most of the big foofy Lassie-dogs ran into the middle of the sheep and scattered them like bowling pins. A German shepherd even tackled one and tried to bite its neck. Of course, all of these dogs count as having herding instincts. Any desire to chase the sheep counts, as far as I'm aware.

When it was Brisbane's turn, they tied a rope to his collar because they recognized him as a mostly-heeler "cattle-doodle" and expected him to bite the sheep. This was before the designer dog craze, and we called any obvious mix a cattle-doodle. Nowadays we worry too much about people thinking we're actually talking about a deliberate poodle cross, so the term has been quietly retired. At any rate, the heeler folks were happy to see my bat-eared puppy, and Brisbane was happy to see the sheep.

Upon entering the pen, Brisbane immediately backed out of his collar and...herded the sheep. The guy in the cowboy hat just stood there and watched him at first. "He's actually herding them!" The collies were mostly allowed to chase the sheep for a couple of minutes and then rounded up. Brisbane got a ten-minute herding lesson on staying on the opposite side of the sheep from the humans. The pole with the milk carton on the end was used to thump on the ground and make the dog back off the sheep a little. The reward for herding the sheep nicely is being allowed to herd the sheep.

Since that test, Brisbane has gotten to work sheep with two other experienced trainers. Everyone with herding experience has been impressed with his natural ability to herd sheep. We are probably a couple of lessons away from competing, but I had to stop lessons to have surgery a couple of years ago and didn't start again.

I know that Brisbane's mom was a working cowdog, but his natural herding ability always amazes me. After learning that his dad was definitely not anything remotely close to herding stock, I am even more impressed. Dogs with instinct can learn to herd well, but not every herding breed or mix is as naturally talented as my amazing boy.