07/27/2014 Jig’s Journey ~ Patience is a Virtue

When you've become spoiled by traveling with a dog who is an old hat at being in the truck, hanging out at trials, and just life on the road in general, it's hard to remember when he wasn't that way. Until you start traveling with a young dog again. A lot of the comfort and easiness of a seasoned dog comes from time and miles. Some of it comes from personality. Some comes from  actual training. Part of Jig's regime involves learning that ever-elusive trait of patience. See, I want my dog to be able to quietly sit and watch other dogs working. That's hard for a girl with a lot of drive, who has also inherited her father's Not Right gene. The Not Right gene means that when she sees something she deems as Not Right, she feels she must fix it. Most often this occurs when another dog is working

07/24/2014 Jig’s Journey ~ Texas Here We Come

I recall mentioning earlier this year that I was going to try and post more often. I keep meaning to. Really. Other things keep getting in the way. But I've decided that to keep you entertained *cough* and me motivated, I'm going to begin chronicling mine and Jig's journey to Nationals. It will be a good way for me to keep track of our progress…or lack thereof, and push me to get out there and train. So, herein lies the first installment of…um…Jig's Journey. I took Jig to Nationals last year and, I admit, that was pushing it for a young dog without a lot of miles on her. It wasn't horrendous, but it wasn't much to write home about either. We're going again this year because Nationals are vacation for me. A chance to meet up with people I don't see often enough, watch a lot of dogs work, and

05/02/2014 A Weekend of Stockdog Sistahood

"What did you do this weekend?" "Worked dogs, hung out with my SBSDC Sistas--" "Worked dogs? Is that like training them to do something." "Um

03/24/2014 First Trial of the Year

The first trial of the season is always a bit nerve-wracking. This year, what made it even more so, is the fact I haven't done any training since last year. But, it was only a duck trial, and only Quinn ('only'--ha, ha!). Still, the pre-trial jitters kicked in, adrenalin started pumping, and I questioned my sanity for ever deciding to put myself through this time and again. Once I'm out there to start my run and it's just me, the dog, and the stock, everything else disappears, and the judge becomes something of a hazy, indistinct image at the edge of my awareness. I usually always think my runs are worse than what they turn out to be. There are the occasions where I think they were better than the judge does, but those are pretty rare. I'm pleased to say, our first trial Sunday was a huge success. Quinn qualified

03/06/2014 Oh, How Ducky!

So as I'm sitting here twiddling my thumbs, waiting for some semblance of spring to peek through the layers of snow and ice smothering the earth, and pondering upcoming dog-related events. Specifically, the UMASC duck trial to be held at Conroy Farm in MN on the 23rd. Yes, the 23rd of this month. You know, only a feather over two weeks from now. Excuse me momentarily while I panic. I've entered Quinn in this trial for two reasons. One, it's an excuse to spend the weekend with a couple of my sistas. Two, Quinn needs one blasted duck leg for his Advanced Duck Title. Okay, there's a third reason: I'm certifiably nuts. You see, ducks are not my favorite creatures. I don't care to live with them. I don't care to work them. I don't even care to eat them--dark meat. Blech. As a handler, I used to really suck at ducks. They

02/07/2014 It’s Not the Groundhog’s Fault

Spring is on the way. It will arrive as it does every year, when Mother Nature decides it's time. Until then…brrr-effing-brrrrr. Dang cabin fever is getting to everyone. It's probably even working under Phil's fur. Doesn't matter what the weather is, though--wind, snow, sub-zero--chores still need to get done on a daily basis. As I mentioned before, I had been taking Grady and Quinn with me. They double-team the sheep, push them off the gate, and try to keep them off me while I put the hay out. A couple days ago, Jig's usual game of Frisbee got pre-empted by external forces. I decided, as long as she was with me and needed something to do, I'd let her help with chores. I admit, my brain may have been frozen. For those of you who haven't been around dogs and livestock, I want to point out that different dogs have very different

01/22/2014 Not Again?!!?

So, it's brain-numbingly cold again. The kind of cold that freezes your nostrils shut, and makes your eyeballs scream at you for leaving only them uncovered, while the rest of your face enjoys the blissful warmth of entrapped breath. Having been born and raised in Wisconsin, I don't often whine about winter. I more often whine about heat and humidity in the summer. But this winter…it's starting to wear. Don't get me wrong, like Quinn, I love snow. I don't mind crisp nights when the snow crunches underfoot. But this lovely Polar Vortex thingie…it is one huge bucket of suck. (Ha! Got to use that in a Blog post, too. Awesome.) The dogs are going absolutely buggy. They can't be out for too long--though they'd stay out until they were frozen solid if I gave them the option. There's no working them in these temps, except to do chores, and then

01/17/2014 Look Who’s Back

Hard to believe it's been a year since I last posted on this blog. Bet you thought it was never going to happen again. It's been a busy year, that's for sure. I don't think anyone wants to read through a complete recap of my 2013, so I won't bore you with that. Plus, I'm not sure I'd remember everything. It had its highs and lows, as they all do. The best high was finally realizing my lifelong dream of becoming a published author -- which just goes to show, it's never too late. I think that made my mom's day as well. If you want to know about that, you can visit my author blog My Random Muse or stop by my Facebook Page . The lowest low was losing Shaine at the end of October. Something I still ache over. What does 2014 hold? Who the heck knows? I

01/08/2013 Weekend Training Review

The bad part about three days of working dogs, like all good things, is that we have to stop. Friday night's work session was a bit of a disappointment. Shaine didn't want to work at all, Jig was not her normal Rock Star self, and Quinn was . . . well, okay. It was clear, as far as Quinn was concerned, I'd been lax again. Saturday and Sunday, however, were much better days. *Whew!* With Quinn, I intended to work on driving and firming up our inside flanks. Well, we all know the time worn saying about plans. Sometimes, when you want to work on one thing, something else crops up, and you realize that's your core problem. With Quinn, it goes back to his foundations -- or lack thereof. We spent a great deal of our time on sheep working on our flanks. Someone let him get it into his head that