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

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

01/02/2013 Looking Ahead Winter Recap

Happy 2013, everyone! I don't do the whole New Year's thing. No partying till midnight. No resolutions. It's pretty much just another day around here, except that I have to remember to change the date when I write a check. And really, who writes checks any more?? The critters don't know the year has flipped. They know its winter. Maybe their year doesn't really flip until spring, when lambs are born and everything starts to bud and grow, and the sun takes on a warmer cast even on the cold days. <shrug> Who knows. January does mean, though, that I'm looking ahead to what I have planned for the year and trying to figure out how I'm going to accomplish it. The biggy on my radar this year (again) is getting some cattle for the dogs. It's very problematic and is a huge item on my list. Made even huger, in

11/05/2012 Sometimes, A Girl Just Needs a Job

Right before I switched servers and lost all my old posts, I wrote one about Shaine and the issues we've been having.  All basically my fault, and I'm determined to work through them.  A large part of her issue is the slash-and-burn-technique and generally driftiness. It's pretty much comon knowledge that working dogs love to have a job.  Many of them need to see that there's a point to what they're doing, or they find other things to do instead.  To that end, I've given Shaine a job. Which also meant a huge, and I mean HUMONGOUS, leap of faith on my part. I promoted Shaine to pen/sorting dog -- a job usually reserved for the more reliable, dependable, able to shut their prey drive off, dogs.  The job entails bringing all the working sheep -- which includes 15 of this year's lambs -- into the take pens and then helping me sort them into groups.  Often

10/24/2012 Coyote Classic 2012

The Coyote Classic is fast becoming one of my favorite trials.  Even though the weather has a tendency to be a bit cool, sometimes wet, and usually breezy, Deb & Tom Conroy go out of their way to make everyone feel relaxed and at home.  The stock is excellent -- with some of the best cattle I've had the opportunity to trial on anywhere.  And the folks that come to trial, help, and judge, are just plain good fun. It's a good thing the trial is so enjoyable, because my runs weren't as good as I had hoped they would be.  I had one consistent problem -- no crossdrive.  Yep, that's an issue all right.  Quinn's best scores were in the take pen.  The dog has a great one.  His drive up to the first panel isn't so shabby either.  Coming off that first panel, however, he sucks to the fence and