From My Two Best

FEMALE

MALE
FEMALE

FEMALE

MALE

Mom and babies are doing great.

Growing Up

Sibs.

Logan's beginning to leave the goofy stage and closing in on handsome.

Pups being pups.

I still think Emma is truly a wicked lookin' pup! :-) Both Emma and Logan are such well behaved, friendly, fun puppies. I'm blessed to have them both.

Goings On

Well, I made it thru the day at work yesterday. Thankfully I didn't have to be there until 9am. There were still plenty of people and we still had way too much "blitz" merchandise to get to the floor. (we aren't supposed to call it "blitz" anymore because of the death in NY last year- now it's "The Event"...) There was still quite a lot of merchandise on the floor last night and as I mentioned, we didn't even get it all to the floor. People had full buggies though. I think parents have a hard time with the notion of a "light Christmas". I know we have in the years that it should have been. I bought one Christmas present on my lunch- a computer game for Charlie that Ben said was half price at the $25 I paid for it. It was a long day working 9-8. I had an hour to cut- and I was thankful for that! We pulled a lot of pallets of freight yesterday as the blitz stuff goes in the action alleys. This meant the blitz stuff needed to be condensed and the real merchandise for the 3 action alleys needed to be pulled off the trailer and pulled back out to the floor... Stack bases with 200 cans of yams on one side and, 15 cases of welch's sparkling cider etc are damn heavy!! Where are the stack bases of paper towels and foam plates when you really need them! LOL! Oh well, does a body good right? Last night I got caught in a check point on the way home. I once again got by with my 9 year expired WI DL... (but current military ID) He asked me if I thought driving around on a 9 year expired DL was right... I said I knew it wasn't. He asked me why it's been 9 years. I didn't want to tell him because in 9 years I've only been pulled over 3 times and have just been told to get myself a VA DL... I told him I wasn't really sure why. He said "it's not suspended is it?" I told him of course not- I don't even have a ticket on there. He ran it of course, and I got the familiar "Please just go get a VA DL, and if I do stop you again I will give you a ticket- I will have to." I asked him if he knew if I would have to re-take all the driving tests. He said (laughingly) "after nine years, ma'am I really don't know".

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Going to get all the k-nines worked and played with today. It's a little chilly, but it's sunny and will be close to 60 by afternoon. My ram is gone and I have another should-be-bred Dorper ewe. I'm looking forward to working with the young dogs again around the barn and paddock area. It's going to help Kit's lift a lot and it's a wonderful place to work Clare and Ivy. Everything is practical- there is not drilling. Best way for them to learn. If I had a big enough farm they could learn thru simple chore work. I don't, so I just pretend. All the dogs are doing great. For a short amount of time I second-guessed my choice of housing due to Ivy's choice to lie down and stare (like she does the cats) and Clare's choice to leave me a couple times when I was "drilling". My dogs live together (kenneled only when in season), and on the whole property (fenced in). I have never had an issue with this. My dogs love one on one with me and all my dogs have unwaivering work ethic. Work ethic is something a dog has or doesn't. Letting pups grow up in a "pack" is socially correct and it does not produce dogs that would just rather do something else. Poor training (in the sense that you have asked too much of the dog over and over, or have been unfairly hard) is a good way to squash work ethic. I think where people that don't raise their dogs in a "pack" get misguided is when they witness a pack with poor leadership. Poor leadership from both the human owner, and maybe even worse, poor leadership from the canine leaders. I'm lucky I had wonderful dogs for my puppies to grow up with in the very beginning. Each generation is a reflection of those very first dogs. I waivered on the work ethic possibly being compromised by the young dogs having "too much freedom". Being among their pack where they aren't getting into or watching stock, aren't running about mindlessly etc is not too much freedom. I have not and will not raise kennel dogs. Plain and simple. Some feel that in order for a dog to give you his best he must be kept up unless with you. BS. Not with a good dog. Not with proper leadership. Not with good training. A good dog is always going to want to work and try his heart out for you. If he doesn't, than he is a second class dog in my opinion. With the right leadership a dog is not going to leave you. He isn't going to stay with you because of fear, but rather because he views you as his leader- and the leader is respected and trusted. (trust is where most dog-human relationships fail) A good trainer is going to know when a dog is truly not trying/not listening and when there's a break down of communication. If you have a dog that trusts you, & respects you and he's not giving you what you want, then there's a huge (more than most trainers think) possibility that he is not understanding. Not understanding and not doing are not even remotely the same- yet so many, so many handlers treat it the same- with a correction! Keep correcting a mis-understanding and quite quickly you are going to start killing that work ethic you once had- because you're losing the trust the dog once had for you. All dogs are different and some can be squashed over and over, and some cannot. I believe a lot of trainer require a dog that can be squashed. There are various reasons. Sometimes they are not really that great of an owner/trainer, but a lot of times it's because they train dogs for a living and they do not have the time to train at the dog's mental speed. But back to my beginning thought... I will not change the way I raise my dogs, it IS the right way to raise them. As far as Ivy and Clare, I was temporarily impatient and unfair. Neither of them responded to that. Well let me re-phase that, they both responded to it- but it was not a positive response. Clare worked, but not with her heart and Ivy would freeze up. I was drilling them long before they could handle that, and I was not letting them work with their gut- which is where pups their age should be working from!! I'm thankful once again for my friend Carol who told me I was putting too much on them, and I needed to lighten up and make the work exciting... I have not changed their housing, only my training and I have my keen, happy pups back!! :-) My dogs live as a family. The people (myself foremost) are the leaders and then among them they have their own social order. I allow this social order unless I witness unfairness- which I don't very often. My dogs certainly have rules (more than most "pets" in fact) that are expected to be followed each and every day and they need that. My dogs also have a routine- another must. They are fed, turned out, put up, worked, played with etc on a very predictable schedule.

Not sure how I got on that.... but I better get going to the feedstore and then enjoy this beautiful day!! Maybe I will take some pictures. Emma and Logan are really growing up. Emma is full of ticking now and is such a stunning girl! She is my kind of girl. She's rough and tumble and is going to move right on up the pack order, but yet she's very biddable and loving. Perfect! :-) She's dead serious about sheep- but will not be on them again for many months- except I may take her to Carol's and let her go around sheep a few times just for her to see. Logan is getting his adult coat and looking handsome. He's a pup with a good amount of bone. He is the lone dog in the house right now. Ben has claimed him, and that's fine. Logan will make a wonderful pet for Ben. What would be nice is if Logan is one of those "easy" dogs on stock and I can help Ben train Logan to just do simple chores at home. That way in a few years when I have more stock and I leave more often (and longer) for stockdog trials Ben will have not only a buddy- but a reliable chore dog. :-))

Border Collie Day

Well it was far from what I would call a "nice" day, but I spent a good part of it outside with my dogs anyway. I went across the road with the trained dogs and it felt so good to send them further and have them do some distance driving without all the pressure of the yard and barn. They all did a very nice job. Toss got a little confused a few times with the additional distance on the drive. (under only whistle direction) He is SO forward and for some reason was taking the stop as being wrong and would look back at me with confusion. He just needs distance and whistle work. I was proud of his outruns and how he held the long fetch line on his own. All the others went out nicely as well. Gwen tested my nerves on her outrun. She is such a big outrunner. When I sent her, she went way out to the far side of the uncut soybeans.... I wasn't surprised by her path, but it was still a little unsettling waiting for her- given that's it woods beyond the soybeans and if she had continued to just run the back side of the soybeans she'd a mile away before they ended... I waited confidently though, and sure enough she popped out of the uncut soybeans in just the right place. Her drive work was the best she's done yet. :-) Cruz has never made a better outrun, and I think he is finally understanding that last piece of the puzzle. Today I actually saw him looking ahead at his sheep on the way out- that is not the norm for him. Deal and Gwen do it every time. It was a delight to see to Cruz relaxed and thinking during a send of that distance. His form was much more confident- vs. just plain fast.

I had a good time with the young girls in the paddock and barn. Ivy was fantastic. She's very strong and fearless, but has a wonderful head on her shoulders. She never clapped down, not once. I even took them out of the paddock and around the yard for a few loops, and she hung with it. :-) It was fun to do so much work with her and never have to say a word. :-) That's such a nice thing for them as well- they can just learn. If I'm not saying anything, the pup can soak in so much more stock sense. Young dogs need to just do to learn. Learning the verbal commands comes later. Right now Ivy and Clare need to learn stock- not commands. Right now it's my job to make that happen for them. It's when you put too many things on a young dog at one time that you run in to trouble and as handlers we don't always remember what all a young dog is taking in each time she's on stock. And quite frankly, if I can't just shut up and just let my young dog do it's job, then it's probably not a dog worth spending a whole of time on! Young dogs need to learn via simple "jobs/chores". I knew this a long time ago, and had gotten away from that.... I kind of started just working on sends and fetch lines... it was boring. I was bored, my girls were bored and we all got a little frustrated... The last two sessions of going back to working them like they are doing something practical has made a world of difference. :-)) Kit did a lovely job in the barn. That was good work for her. She was quiet and settled the whole time and can now flank completely relaxed in the 12x24' barn. I sent her a couple times in the yard and had to stand (myself) closer to the sheep. She's like her father. She is going to take some time to put an outrun on. But the rest is already there- even close at hand inside flanks during a drive. The back-to-basics work has been a huge plus for Kit too. I'm very, very happy with all of my dogs right now.

Well, apparently a billion dollar aircraft carrier cannot pull into a pier because of fog. What a bunch of bullshit. Ben was supposed to be home yesterday, but probably won't even be home tonight. I miss my husband.... (and now after 2 days off I work till the weekend.)

Time To Suck It Up

Well, day 2 of ugly weather. I worked in the house yesterday and got caught up on some much needed rest, so I need to get outside today. I'll need to pull on the Gor-Tex and head out to work and play with the dogs. It's not pouring, but drizzling like all day yesterday. I think it's a little warmer today and not windy like yesterday. I'm anxious to work the young girls in the barnyard and barn again today. I think I'll do some gate work with them as well. In and out of the paddock etc. I'm looking forward to my ewes lambing so I have at least double what I have now. I may even go ahead and buy a few more lambs off someone over the summer. I have some really talented dogs and I need to get back to working like I did 2 years ago. It's been an emotional 18 months for me, but I've come around and I've decided these dogs, and training them for stockwork is my passion and I am not going to let anything get in the way of that! I don't think everyone finds their real passion, and fewer yet get to live it. Admittedly, my "picture" is not completely painted, but it will be and I have an awful lot right now I need to remember I'm blessed to have...

This payday I need to look in the trading post paper and see if I can't find some local horse-quality hay. Ben and I had talked about it and I really need to go get 20 bales of good hay and put it on the atv trailer to store it. Right now I'm paying almost $9/bale for alfalfa hay at the feed store. I prefer to feed alfalfa and little to no grain, vs lower quality hay and more grain. I miss the mid-west and it's abundant alfalfa fields! Hay here is pretty low quality. I know some people have bought really nice hay from people that run up to PA to bring a huge trailer load back. I hadn't fed any corn to the birds or sheep until this week. I try to hold off until I think they need that "heat" during the night. I bought a bag of corn and a bag of sheep feed and bird feed and mixed the one bag of corn into the 2 bags of other feed. So it's not a lot of corn. Now that the ewes are looking bred I'm going to feed the some grain-corn mix once a day.

My mama-to-be is getting pretty big. (she slept with me again last night) I'm really getting excited as I have thought long and hard and worked so many different "kinds" of dogs, and for better or worse these 2 dogs are the "type" I love to live and work with. These 2 dogs will no doubt be the foundation of many generations of dogs for me. Better dogs, more notable bred dogs, dogs with more trialing proven ability? Of course. But these are the 2 dogs for me. In my short amount of time training Border Collies, I have worked with so many personalities and styles. More than most people will ever have the opportunity to work and own. Even among the dogs I currently work with there is a huge range, but I have my favorites. Even out of these 2 dogs there will certainly be individuals, but I do believe there will be an "Ali dog" stamp on all of them. So far the pups I have raised have not fallen far from the tree at all. There is no doubt who's out of and who's by who out there! What is my type? Heart. Without heart the most talented dog on the planet is useless. Work Ethic. Talent means nothing if a dog won't work "till the cows come home". Biddability. Talent means nothing if a dog is in it for himself. Those are the big things, the things that matter to me. Of course ability should have been written first, but that was a given. And not that looks matter beyond being functionally built- but I love a pretty face with an intelligent expression.

Gloomy

It's icky outside. Cool, wet, and drizzly... What really stinks is that yesterday they almost completely picked up the beans across the road. Darn! Had it been nice today I'm sure they would have finished it. There's plenty of room to go out there and work dogs, and I might- or I might not. Ben is supposed to be home this afternoon. I've done a little cleaning and need to run to the feedstore. I'm looking forward to finishing my little "pig lot" this winter. I'm going to use the last available side of the barn. That way, just like the geese will have, the pig will have a lean-to built off the side of the barn. I will need to buy 3 more cattle panels. I don't think I'll need to buy a pipe gate. The chicken pen has two. It has a 4' gate as well as an 8' gate. The 8' one isn't necessary. I've been reading what I can find about pig care, and none of it seems complicated. The most important thing seems to be to get it butchered before it reaches more than 200-225#. I'm hoping the guy that said he would take my ram tomorrow will get here tomorrow. I don't want him around when the ewes lamb. I might need to find another male goose because this summer one of them died, and I have a feeling it was the male. I would like to have another half a dozen or so geese to better keep up with the dog training. I'm starting to get excited because my last new bundles of joy for a very, very long time will be here in just a couple weeks. Last night their mama didn't eat so I let her inside to sleep with me since I don't have her spot in the kitchen set up yet. She took to that like a duck to water! She got on the bed and never moved all night! She even went back to bed with me after the boys got on the bus this morning. :-) Well, time to get on with my afternoon. I'm anxious for them to finish the field so I can put some cones out there and do some course-type work with some decent distance! :-))

Almost My Weekend

I work tomorrow and then it's my "weekend". I'll be glad to have two days in a row again. I've been really tired this past week. Friday the boys missed the bus because I turned off my alarm at 5:30 (it was my day off) and fell dead asleep until 7:02!! Bus arrival? 7:06... And last night I was in bed by 8:00. I work 11-8 tomorrow, but I'm about to ready for bed so I can get up and do a few things before work. Ben will be home Monday afternoon! :-)

I worked most of the dogs on Friday. Some on geese, some on sheep. The young dogs I worked in the paddock and barn. I used to do that all the time when my now trained dogs were young, and I need to get to back to that with this new group of young dogs. Ivy did much better in this situation. She did a fine job bringing them to the barn, scooping them out of the barn, etc... Yes, I let her "yee-ha" a little, but my only goal (and by yee-ha I don't mean take a hold and not let go etc... but letting her get up in there some? Yes indeed.) was to get her heart in the game and keep her on her feet as much as possible. This seemed to be a lot more exciting for her than just simply fetching them about the yard- and I have to agree. Kit needs this type of work because she tends to be a little hot and heavy in the tight spots. She's more mature now and more confident, so I was able to fuss at her a bit when she was a tad bit too much. After just a couple to-the-barn-in-the-barn-out-the-barn, repeat, she settled right in. I'm a firm believer that if a dog can't do stall/small barn/trailer loading etc, then you probably shouldn't send him 200 yards on an outrun. Even if he can do the outrun. If they don't have the skills and stock sense to work close and tight and do it with quiet authority, then you're setting your dog up for failure somewhere on the course. I think it usually shows up in the lift and the drive.

I did not play with Emma on sheep or geese and plan to keep her from them until the 1st part of the year. She is incredibly keen and confident, and that is not going to just go away. There's nothing she needs to be doing on stock at 5 months old...

Well, it's 9:07 and I'm draggin', so it's time to let the dogs out for their last drink and pee before bed. I ordered Dylan's new frames today and they should be in around Weds. $106. Not too bad I suppose. The exam was covered via insurance and I get 20% off the frames at work, so I guess I shouldn't complain. One in glasses and one in braces... Even WITH insurance Charlie's mouth is $200/mo!! Oh well, what's the option? There isn't one!