09/23/2019

Spend any time on this blog and you'll discover the overlying theme is all about the journey. Specifically as it pertains to living with, training, and trialing my dogs. Like all journeys, this one has had its shares of ups and downs. Sometimes the rough patches seemed like they would never end and made me question the sanity of it all. I believe a lot of journeys are like that. We fight with them because our focus is on the end and we lose sight of the fact that it's everything happening along the way we need to pay attention to. Even the little things. Especially the little things -- the successes, the failures, the stories, the laughter, the tears -- they're what's important. They're what shape us and our journey. Hard to believe, I know, but I can sometimes be a bit impatient. I have, in the past, fought

08/21/2019

It's been a long time since I left a trial feeling anything other than disheartened, slightly beaten down, and wondering why I keep throwing uncooked spaghetti at the wall. That's not whining or a plea for sympathy, just the facts. My attitude was based solely on my mindset which, admittedly, was far from good. I was so focused on all the wrong things, I could no longer see all the good things that were happening. If you're a regular reader, you might remember my mentioning a good arse kicking I received from several of my friends and mentors a couple months back. Obviously I carry my brain in my arse, because that tough love served to reset my attitude and that caused a chain reaction. This past weekend was Outback ASC's fall trial. Along with two days of arena trials, they held a cattle farm trial. No secret Jig and I love

07/18/2019

I was doing some website updates, transferring domain names, switching servers, panicking when I thought I lost everything… again, etc. etc. and suddenly realized it's been over a month since my last post here. Yikes, right? But, you know… And then there's been this stretch of heat and humidity which are two of my most unfavorite things. Okay, enough with the gifs, that's not what any of us are here for. Let's see, short recap; my last post was about how I was talked out of benching Jig and only running her in farm trials because I wasn't having the success I thought I wanted. Since then, a second person whose opinion I value, concurred with the first. Actually, several folks concurred. So, I'm sticking with it and with Jig because I have a lot to learn yet. Jig has some stuff to learn as well. Stuff I should have taught her

04/12/2019

First Trial of the Season ~ Part Deux If you read my last post you know how the end of the weekend went, but how did the rest of it go? Of course I'm going to say it didn't go as well as I wanted, but it seems I always want more than I'm realistically prepared to achieve. I had to remind myself (and be reminded) that last year Jig and I went to two weekends of trials the entire year. One in the spring, one in the fall. That's it. This year we were able to train maybe 3 or 4 times prior to the trial. So expecting to lay down some awesome runs was me being unrealistic. Story of my life. Not to say I wasn't happy with a lot of what Jig did. She showed me the training we've been doing is paying off. No crack ears, quiet, calm, responsive

10/25/2018

If you've spent any time reading this blog, you will know Dillon has been a challenge. There have been times when I questioned if we would ever overcome our many issues. Many times frustration overcame good sense and I took it out on him by being blatantly unfair. All I can say is it's a good thing Dillon loves me as much as he does. He's willing to forgive and forget just about all my transgressions. And it's a good thing I pulled my head out of my backside and started training to his strengths instead of pounding on him for his weaknesses. I've gotten in some steady work on all the dogs the last week or so. None have shown more improvement than Dill. He gets to do the bringing in and sorting, then I'll give him a break and take him out after Jig and Cian for an actual

09/04/2018 The Year of Training Pays Off

At the end of last year I was so frustrated and upset with how the trialing season went, I decided to take a year off. Not so I could sit in a corner and lick my wounds, but because I was determined to fix as many of mine and Jig's issues as I could. I'd had enough of our melt-downs and non-qualifying runs. She's a better dog than that. I like to think we're a better team than that, though I'm definitely the weaker partner. I gave myself one trialing goal: finish Jig's WTCH. We needed only one cattle leg to do so. Jig and I both love working cattle though our methods are at opposite ends of the spectrum. I want nice, quiet control, power when required, and no rodeos. Jig seems to like rodeos, and has been known to actively go looking for a fight. After our failed attempt at

08/24/2018

I have a tendency to mention the problems I'm facing during training, but the video clips accompanying those posts are usually ones in which things are going fairly well. Today I'm going to step out of my comfort zone and really put me and my dog out there with a few clips that illustrate our problem areas. Apologies in advance for the quality of the video. I had my cell phone strapped to the fence post. Also, if you're thinking this group of sheep was a bit light, you'd be right. They're light on purpose. And one more side note, I feel the need to point out that I'm not picking on Dillon. He just happens to be the 'problem child' at the moment. That's not to say we're not making progress. A session or so after this video was shot, he took a Go Bye from about 60' off the

08/04/2018

So much for weekly updates, right? What's the excuse this time? Let's see

07/09/2018 The Year of Training – Another Piece of the Puzzle

Between the 4th of July falling in the middle of the week, and another blast of heat and humidity, I didn't get a whole lot of training in since my last post. I got in one very short session with Jig and Dillon on Tuesday evening, but the weather got the better of us. The weather and the damn bugs. They're the only ones who seem to enjoy these hot, muggy days. I have a tendency to get a bit cranky after too long a stretch, and that's not very conducive to training, or much of anything else. One of the things I was watching for when I worked Dill, was whether or not his chiro adjustment affected his Away. It didn't. Not yet, anyhow. I'm thinking that if he has been physically uncomfortable going in that direction, it has become a habit of necessity to move a certain way. That's

06/30/2018 The Year of Training ~ Update Numero Uno

I bet you all are sitting there, tapping your fingers on the table, looking at the calendar (because you have nothing better to do with your valuable time), and thinking I've gone and missed my first week's update right out of the gate. Wrongo. I wanted to wait until after Dillon and Jig had their chiro adjustments to see if there was any news to share. I was also busy putting together some short video clips. Let's jump right in with Dillon. Dr. Robin came out on Friday morning for Dillon's first ever chiro adjustment. He was not amused. It took quite a few treats and lots of patience on Dr. Robin's part to allow her to work on anything other than his front end. The findings were that, yes, he had some restriction in his neck, a few spots on his spine, and in his pelvis, all on the left side.