Shedding Dogs

What did we work on this week in agility? Tried to do some sequencing with Bryn, flanking wasn’t our issue, now it’s just guessing and doing strange things. Which she can definitely do, but it’s also true that she’s FINALLY coming into season. So that makes it 9 months, and I’ll admit I would not complain at all if she changed to every 9 months. I don’t think hormones effect her that badly, but she does definitely get more sensitive and slower. So far she is neither, but I can now blame anything and everything on hormones for the next few months. So, yes, running Bryn in agility remains hard – but she also is having a really good time, so I’m not going to complain.

Bryn in herding impressed the heck out of me though. I had an opportunity to add her to a shedding clinic with Ian I was taking Asher to over the weekend – 2 days of just shedding. I honestly wasn’t sure if she was going to be able to do anything, but, good lord, that girl has grown up! This ended up being a great learning experience for her – shedding has so many elements that require her to keep her cool and make good decisions. Bryn made good decisions! Like, the whole weekend! Color me surprised, not one embarrassing mess. Really, all I can ask for is that it wasn’t a total train wreck, but she actually acted like we HAVE trained some skills.

So, yes, Bryn COULD just wait patiently while I messed with sheep, and got better at it as the weekend went on. It’s definitely something that she needed to understand – sometimes her job is to do … nothing. This was a great format for baby dogs (and adults, in my mind), short and sweet sessions working on stops, square flanks, responding and moving with the handler and working together for a goal. As usual, when it comes to sheep Bryn had zero issues with being ready to work the entire weekend. I thought the flighty shetland sheep would cause her to get frantic – but no, she had no problem working them thoughtfully. Such good work for the baby, when did she actually learn to do things?

Super proud of the Bryn, we didn’t put all the elements together – just worked on setting up the shed, spreading out the sheep, getting the hole, getting her focused on the sheep that I wanted. Separately we worked on coming through on the fence, which she was really starting to understand the concept and really didn’t have an issue focusing on the group I wanted. Now, getting her not to blast through at a million miles per hour is still an issue, but huge progress, that girl is not far from doing a shed. Assuming I can do my job, which is questionable, but hey.

Having Bryn feeling so easy and willing to team up and work on even weird things, I really was impressed with her and wanted to get working on her herding skills again. Options remain limited for work, but this 2 days of work was great for her. So we’re going to try to enter another clinic with Ian later in the month, but as you can only enter one dog, I have to decide between Asher or Bryn, or try to split it. They both have a lot of things to work on, so it’s a hard choice. Really want to get this Bryn up and running though, she’s so much fun! And, yes, obviously this is her passion in life – I hope I can at least somewhat help her reach her potential. I think she’s a hugely talented dog – I’m just not a talented handler, so that’s frustrating. Time is also a big issue as well, we’ll never have a lot of opportunity to practice.

As for Asher, he also did very well at the clinic. He feels much more mature and much calmer and thoughtful about what I’m asking for. 4 year old Asher does feel really nice, it’s a good age. This clinic was more for me than for him – I knew he could shed, I just struggle to set it up correctly and be clear with him what I want. I had taken a shedding clinic with Ian years ago with Haku and it was super helpful, and, yes, even more helpful now that I have dogs that can actually shed! I have a much better understanding of what I’m SUPPOSED to be doing, but that doesn’t mean that’s what will actually come out. Asher also has a much better idea of what exactly he’s supposed to be doing with shed once he comes in, rather than just staring at me. As he does always want to come back to me, when practicing we’re supposed to send him off to work the sheep he sheds off and always bring the group back to me, rather than come back and then send to gather them all up to try again. Once again, he seems like he finally caught on to the idea that I really DO want to have two groups of sheep out there, and he should only be working the group I’m indicating.

Outside of shedding, I was happy MOSTLY with his work – except for always coming in too hot on his outruns – like normal. His issues with shedding were, not surprisingly, flanks that were too fast and too big – just like in the rest of his life. That’s been on the homework list forever, getting him to actually slow down and take small flanks. Right now he literally does not have those.

But, hey, who needs functional flanks when you can enter a herding trial at the end of the month? Ian ended up adding 2 pronovice runs to the trial and I decided now was the time to have our disastrous trial run for the year. Between working at Ian’s this weekend, going to another clinic in a couple weeks and then 2 runs at the trial – maybe we could get our shit together somewhat for a run at a trial that was not a total disaster? We will try, and I love things that are local, makes me way more interested in sheep things when I don’t have to travel 4 hours to get there, I just hate traveling.

Fun weekend, glad that I signed up and super glad both dogs got to work. Very beneficial for all of us and excited to have a few goals this month. They’ll probably explode in my face, but hey. I wish they had a little Ranch class for Bryn to run in at the trial, I feel very confident she could do that. Technically I COULD enter her in nursery (I think she’s still young enough?), but that kind of driving is way about her head at the moment, and she really needs whistles at that distance (which she does not have). Someday she’ll get to do a trial that I can be horrified by, just like Asher.

I really do adore border collies, really fun to spend all weekend surrounded by them. So much devotion to their work, they are remarkable creatures.

AKC league is back, and we had our first course. It did NOT have 8 backsides, so I was thankful. Didn’t do any warmup with Asher, ended up running it 1.5 times. The first time I didn’t trust him to get the weavepole entrance as Bryn just COULD NOT seem to get it. So when I did a weird awkward rear cross on the flat instead of the backside blind I had planned he went offcourse. Turns out if I run him like he’s trained he does just fine! He did knock a bar, but I was happy. That Asher, he’s feeling more like a real dog these days!

Bryn … well, she does not feel like a real agility dog these days. We did warm up, but it didn’t seem to help us – she did all the individual elements actually pretty darn well, but together it was a train wreck. Yes, there was flanking but mostly she had shit obstacle performance. She was not driving to the end on her teeter (even though we practiced it and she was fine), couldn’t get the weavepole entrance (even though we practiced it), then kept popping out, couldn’t get a treadle rear in sequence (that she did perfectly in warm up). Flanking, stalling, so much ridiculousness. I honestly don’t know if we ever got a ‘score’, but, hey, we tried. It could have been worse, it has been worse – but we will continue to move forward. And possibly toss her in the pool next week afterwards, and Lori has her pool set up to swim after you run.

At home she couldn’t get her weavepole entries either, had to bring out the 2×2 and go back to working soft sided entries. I blame hormones. One step at a time, she’s a heck of a sheepdog, at least.

Martine got sick so Navarre didn’t get to go on his agility weekend with her. We’ll see if they can get together later this summer. Haku had his vet appointment and we’re trying Legend infusions for the next few weeks. So far I can’t say I notice a difference, but hey. We’re going to try those instead of daily gabapentin right now. We are going to daily galiprant however, and hopefully we can keep him moving. No issues hiking or anything else, he’s still doing well despite the mobility issues.

Meanwhile, boy does everything look SO PRETTY. This is such a gorgeous time of year. It’s been fun as we have been cleared to walk the dogs in the orchards around the property, and they are SO HAPPY. Nothing like adding an extra 100 acres to your romps. And when the orchards are mature it’s just going to be such a beautiful place to go. I really do love it here, so perfect.

I continue to have some serious puppy fever, for whatever reason. I think because I had committed to breeding the borderborderpap litter next year I had already planned to add another puppy next year. Which still isn’t terrible timing, and I have apparently decided is happening one way or another. I have no idea what I’ll end up with though. Bryn baby? Rooster baby? Random borderpap? Completely random dog from another source? I really want to do a better job with this babydog’s upbringing, stupid covid. And, yes, this dog will collect and not flank in agility. I’m sure they’ll have a completely OTHER set of problems, but I’m kind of over these. Anyway, keeping my eyes open to possibilities …