Herding in the Rain.

I chose to take Party herding today as Beth has a drop in group every Sunday morning. It was raining but rain never hurts. It was quite an interesting experience as Party has never been herding with a group of dogs, only Beth's dog Pogo. When we got there, there was an Aussie herding with her owner; the owner was very quite as was the dog. I brought Party in and lied her down about 10 feet from the ring where she watched intently. Which was my purpose for having her next to the sheep pen.
It was now our turn to go work the sheep. She really did a wonderful job. What I noticed though was she was very aware of the gentleman watching us. A few times she looked worriedly as if to say "why are you here?" When two more people came she again looked worried looking over at them. She never stopped working but she was very leery of them at the fence watching.
It continues to amaze me how talented she is with livestock. She was walking up and moving the sheep beautifully. She also lies down in puddles, mud or whatever, which I noticed was an issue for some other dogs.
After our turn was done we went and laid about 15 feet from the fence, so Party could watch. The next dog to work was a young Catahoula that was very boisterous. When the dog came through the gate Party went nuts barking I was stepping on her leash so she remained in a down position after a moment she quieted down and simply watched. While this dog worked sheep on line Party was fine. However when the dog was allowed to drag his leash circling with the owner yelling and swinging her arms; Party became very upset looking away from the team, yawning and so on. Upon seeing this I took Party another 10 feet back. She was more comfortable at this distance however preferred to lay in a position behind me. I was trying not to look straight at Party but rather keep her in my peripheral vision. I noticed she was still very interested in the sheep.
I am hoping that her confidence level increases with more exposure.
I will keep updating on our progress.

Masters Foreeever!

I am very happy that Party is now in Masters for all classes. I can't say that it was our prettiest run but we got the job done.
The weekend of June 6-7 was Riverside's USDAA trial in Nashua. During this trial Party was very freaky regarding the tent that the computers and PA were under. Freaky to the point of fight or flight reaction. I got her to work through her anxiety by leaving the area and asking for simple hand touches. Since this trial we had a AKC trial in which she was also freaky. At this time I am going to do much more herding and lots less agility. I will have Party in a few that I work for and train her through her anxieties. I hope.
My hope is that by going back to herding she can gain more confidence in the real world. Which should help in agility also.

Mixed feelings and ACE

I started this blog to help with my training but then got upset with myself when things did not go my way. Shame on me....did I think this blog would fix my problems? No, of course not. So I am here to update my success with Party along with my disappointments.

We went to ACE this weekend and I told myself that I would hold my criteria on the contacts. I was going to tell Party to Touch and Wait and simply talk to her more to reassure her. Well I did just that and it worked. Once she slowed coming off the Aframe but stopped on the ground so I lightly praised her and we continued the course. In the other classes she stopped as she does in practice (2o2o) and I praised her emphatically. In one of our advanced standard runs the weaves were going directly toward the judge and Party had a hard time popping out at pole 6 but she got through it and then stuck her Aframe.

Some of our success's include, an advanced gamble leg, a masters snooker Q, and our 3rd advanced pairs leg. Yup, we are now in Masters pairs ;o) Now we just need those two advanced standard legs and we will be in Masters everything!

My disappointment she stressed in the poles and slightly on the table in standard.

The video is of my standard run I loved hearing the comment on the end ;o)

We still have Attitude

We go to the start and woof, woof, her ears are on top of her head and she has attitude! As I lead out she stands in anticipation, I ask her to sit without returning to her, she does. As soon as her butt sits I say Good girl and release her. The break was a "lets go Momma" I lead out to the take off of #2 but was not timing the moving push correct so I continued to get an off course to #5 so we broke down the moving push so that Party and I understood it better. Well, mostly me! Once I got it right she understood without a problem.
I set her up at the landing side of jump 1 I made sure i was positioned so that my body was facing her, I moved lateral as I released her and did not rotate/close my shoulders until she was over 2 I then closed my shoulders indicating #3 I rotated to #4-5 while having my left arm out indicting the jumps, I sent to #6 while moving away straight towards #12 to get #7 and the correct end of the tunnel (#8) the first 2 times I rotated to quickly buying me the wrong end of the tunnel, I then held her longer being more patient and she got it I then signaled #9 with the claw holding it while backing to #10 and pushing her to 11 I then picked her up as she exited the tunnel indicating 12 I drove toward the wall and on the take off side of #12 said SShhh she rocked and nailed her poles I rewarded her with the tennis ball being thrown and she was thrilled. Yahoo Awesome job

Goals....and 1st run

I finally figured out how to up load course maps Yahoo!!

I am sitting here at the seminar today with one of my favorite presenters. I am excited to work with her today as the last time I worked with her was in November and I want to know if we have improved. I know we have but am curious what she says. But I have one goal today and that is to keep Party with attitude. This means I must maintain my job. The seminar will start in about 45 minutes, people are arriving with their dogs. I have Party in the chair laying down behind me, 2 Porties just came in and walked inches from us, Party simply ignored them. :o)

She is back in the chair with me about 3 dogs prior to our turn, she is totally relaxed, ears on her head forward with no signs of stress. Its our turn; I go to the start jump ask her to sit, then woof and lead out to the take off side of 2 Jen has suggested that I do a moving push (my body open to Party moving to the obstacle laterally then releasing her and rotating my shoulders as she takes it) initially I did it incorrect as I took her head to draw the line. But I should have opened my shoulders as i stated above, the result was a knocked bar.

She sits at 1 while I lead out to the take off side of 2 I release her with a moving push over 3 and rotate into the pinwheel my right arm is open on the landing side of 5 then lateral to 6 I raise my left arm to indicate a front cross wrap to 7, throw to 8 running for the DW then I am lateral to 10 release over 10 and into the tunnel, I stay on the back side of the tunnel and have my right arm out to indicate 12 -13 when she comes out, then its climb, touch, (which became a running a frame the first time) the second time I ran it she did her 2o2o while I went to the landing side of 15 said OK to release and celebrated after 16! "Happy, Happy" We went outside to play and she really understands and loves this ritual she is jumping up and grabbing at the toy, play biting me as we go to the field and play with enthusiasm!

Another Adventure Hiking

Party and I joined Seth and Otto for a hike in the rain today. I have not taken her in a few weeks because the ice has been so bad. She did quite well, at first she was a bully to Otto but I asked her to lie down when she did this which she readily did. Then she started to relax with him.
I was totally surprised when she actually played with him! To me this was a monumental thing, as she has always been very worried about black dogs so for her to play with one was a huge step. We then met 3 dogs out on the trial one was a very happy black lab puppy, another a very, very, happy yellow lab and a mix that we have met before. Party charged, then immediately came running back to me as they were very happy to see her, which of course she was horrified about. I had tons of cookies in my hand and kept talking to Party while giving her cookies. The lab puppy was cute as a button but relentless wanting to play with Party so I ended up picking him up as Party was very worried and the minute he was picked up her worry ceased and she simply sniffed him. However, a moment later the yellow lab came running over who was the most happy, play with me lab I have ever seen. Party however thought he was rude and obnoxious. I took him by the collar so Party could have a break and she seemed to say "Thank You". Now that means that I have a puppy in my arms and a lab by the collar while I am telling Party what a good girl she is. It was pretty comical... The owners were visible and on the way they just couldn't get there fast enough. This was not a bad thing though because as I am there with the "new dogs" Party was much more relaxed and was sniffing them in a most appropriate way, something she rarely has a chance to do because the new dogs do not allow her to with all their "Happiness" which she finds overwhelming.
I am very proud of Party even though she initially charged I believe alot was learned in our hike today.

Team Snooker and Relay