Strider, Merckx and Ben

Do you ever watch the handler when they send their dog at a trail? Do you notice how some of them are always full of tension, white knuckle grip on the crock, nervously fumble for the whistle.  Others are completely relaxed, turning their back to the dog when they are working their way up the field, hanging up the crock, setting the timer, slowly adjusting the hat and taking out the whistle, just in time for the first flank. I think you will see the same thing with start line stays in agility.

Why is that?

Tonight I went training with 3 dogs, Speck, Ben and Merckx. To get the sheep out to the training field we shed some sheep of a larger group, bring them through a couple of gates, down a steep hill and over a muddy section and into the field.

With Speck I walk most of it backwards, laying him down at the pressure, helping him to take every step right, not letting him loose the sheep.

With Ben I shed the sheep, walk into the gap and help him push the sheep down the hill. Letting him work on his own but always keeping an eye on his work, helping him where he might need it.

With Merckx I line the sheep up, tell him “these” turn around and walk out to the training field, never looking back.  He knows all the tricks. 

When I tell Speck to lay down he fights me, scoots on his belly, slide sideways, not out of spite but because he think he might lose his sheep. He doesn’t trust me, doesn’t know how to trust me. With Ben and Merckx it takes little more then a whisper, Ben is not always completly convinced that my suggestion is a good ide and he sometimes comes up with his own solution.

My goal when I train my dogs is to lose that tension between us.
If I would pick one thing that I am good at as a trainer it is to build a good relationship with my dogs.

Next weekend we will make another backwards fall at the post, I trust that my dogs will catch me.

Instead of working my dogs I was just watching the sheep grace and the lambs play.

Instead of going for a run I walked to the store and got ice cream.

Instead of packing I am watching Bruce Lee movies.

Instead of driving 800 miles north to trial we play with a stuffed toy.

Instead of driving 400 miles just to watch I should sit in the couch and eat cheetos.

Instead,,,

This upcoming weekend we are going to Sterling Acres, up in BC, I always like going north. I know it is not technically true but to me it feels like the first “real” trial of the year. Appropriately it is just down the road from where I got Merckx, where it all begun, where the slopping rabbit hole opened up.

The season will be a busy one, not sure it is possible for me to do more trials unless I give up my current corporate life style and go pro.

Still searching for the reason I am doing it, why I am chasing the run and striving for the pure communication and I am still working on my 10 years of experience, 10000 hours of practice and 100000miles traveled. That illusive finesse and wisdom that might only be found at the post.

Somewhere on the road to there I hope to find myself in the spaces in-between and in the cracks of life. And I am hoping to have some hearty laughts with good friends on the way.

Many trials and locations will be nice to visit again; some of them are starting to be filled with traditions.
I will have an Oreo Sundae in Port Angeles.
I will have crappy Chinese food in Walla Walla,
The sea food potluck at McDonalds.
In Lumby I put Merckx in the front seat, roll down the windows and sing “Your Hometown” for him.

Those are the small things in life that makes me happy.

Not sure what this season will bring but I am intent on doing my best to be content with whatever might come our way. The goal for this year is to run my dogs the way that is best for them, not for my ego or for the score.

So, Skål and cheers for another season, the year of young master Bender.


Photo by Carolyn Harwell

I think this post might circle back to a number of TMT’s somehow, what would you do different, what have you learned, etc.

A couple of weeks ago we had the first Colton trial, I think it went mostly well. Sunday afternoon I was setting sheep with Merckx for 10-12 runs. I was doing the pen sorting and walked them out about 50 yards to the person that was holding them. 

The first set Merckx does everything I ask him to do, it goes pretty well.

The second set he does it all by himself, no word from me.

The third set Merckx adjust some minor positions to make things a little bit smoother, a little bit to the left, a little bit closer. We still have the sheep peal of to the left and Merckx have to run behind the pen to pick them up every run.

The seventh set Merckx looks at me when it is time to bring them out, look at the pen, jumps the back gate into the sheep and pushes them straight out, perfect result.

When I first started herding I would have stopped his process when he was starting to adjust at the third run. This of course would have blocked him from showing me a better way to do the job. Despite the struggle we have at trialing I think Merckx is a brilliant dog, the smartest dog in our house. I know of no other dog I would rather set or shed with.

I am trying to gain the ability to see what is true and understand the real reason why things are the way they are and why things happen a certain way. I think that as a handler and trainer I often confuse this, applying my incorrect predefined opinion, trying to make it true instead of being malleable.

Ben is a very different dog, and as a trial dog he is probably already better than Merckx, as a herding dog he have a long way to go. If handled right he is steady, has great gears and is easy to run. The last trial we had the best run I have ever done, it is an addictive feeling.

 The funny thing with Ben is that once you start to micro manage him he never strives to get the control back

“You told me to lay down so this is on you”

Right now we are mainly working on getting us to switch the control between us. For me to shut up.

“I can tell you to lie down but it is ok for you to get back up whenever you think you have to”

Just because I can run him perfect doesn’t mean I should. He is easy to control and maneuver, I think the real trick will be to give it back to him. My runs will not be useful if they are accomplished with the wrong method.

1.What is the one thing that you view as your biggest training or handling challenge and how do you think you can overcome it?
The lack of holistic understanding, I think the only way to overcome that is to keep putting in the miles and shedding the tears.

2.Name ONE run (agility, herding, etc) from someone else that inspired you and why?
A couple of runs come to mind.

Rob Millers first and second run with Rex and Jen at Lacamas about 4 years ago. I was brand new to USBCHA herding and those are the first runs when I realized how beautiful team work can be. I almost always enjoy watching Rob’s handling.

Scott Glenn’s and Don’s Bluegrass run a couple of years ago, precision and power with so much control. Most of Scotts open runs are like that.

Alistair’s winning run at Lacamas last year for no other reason than it was the closest thing I have ever seen to a perfect run.

3.Name some examples of how your dogs have manipulated you.
They do? Really? No way? Could they possibly be that rotten? I thought we had this trust thing going on.

4.Steffi is looking for dog treat recipes! - I'm tired of hearing about all these dog food/treat recalls so we've started making a lot of our own dog treats. I really need a recipe for low calorie, light colored treats that my dogs can see easily in the grass when we are training distance skills. I've been using popcorn for that but am looking for some variety!
Whatever they get of the sheep when they grab there butts, all natural stuff.

5.One thing - not related to dogs - that you would like to do that you have not done.
Iditarod - Will probably never happen unless I win the lottery, but maybe I will be able to go follow the race on site.
Write a book
Get a patent
Take a summer of and take the RV to all the cool trials.

I went to T Yamamoto on Vashon Island Saturday, her place is called Wolftown or “The project”, it is a really cool place but I will save that for a different day. I went there to work sheep and we learned a lot of neat things. We took sheep out on a forest trial, maybe a mile long and grazed the sheep in a clearing. Not the typical trial work but never the less good work. Following are a couple things and thoughts from the weekend.

If your dog put constant pressure on the sheep without creating movement it takes away power from the dog and makes the sheep mad.

It is remarkable how fast a dog read sheep and learns to know the individuals. Ben was a completely different dog between the Ewe/lamb flock compared to the yearlings. The Ewe flock that had some individuals with attitude Merckx learned to watch his back when he was working and approach each sheep in a different manner.

You know those walkabouts you are doing back and forward on a field between fence posts? It is so much cooler to do those on a real trail. Really moving the sheep to a grazing area, makes so much more sense when put in a real working perspective.

Mentally it feels sort of wrong to bring your herd of sheep towards the howling wolfs, open the gate and turn into towards the fence with the wolfs on the other side.

Remember that scene in the move Buck when he is walking slow on a field and the horse follows his movements. When grazing sheep I got my dogs to follow my movement just a nice, a slight turn of my head made them flank on the other side of the flock, turning the sheep towards where I was looking. Flanking, never to far never to short, always just right, makes me realize how inferior we are at really reading sheep or ourself. The subtleties dogs can read from both us and sheep are remarkable.

If you think it is tricky to work one dog and get it right, try working two dogs at the same time. To make it even more humbling Merckx and Ben have different come by flanks. So when I blow a come by flank for Ben it does not necessary mean anything for Merckx, so he might do whatever he thinks is right. And when I do away they both will go away but not at the same speed or path, often ending up on the opposite side of the flock. They do prefer to do outruns in brace and they read the pressure the other dog put on the flock, very pretty when they do.

If you want to try something really fun and something a little bit different I can really recommend that you go out and visit.

Hai, why are you over there and what am I doing here?


Nothing to see here, is there something going on over there?


Ehhh???

Grey shadows in the early morning fog, moving to and fro out of reach.

Silent early morning work, me, dog and sheep in an ancient dance.

My little Ben now a working dog, the finest thing a BC can be.

Hushed communication, me with dog, dog with sheep, us with old times gone.

Soft whistles blending with the early sounds of spring.

Each like a move in chess, easy to learn, never a master.

The board is set; the ancient game unfolds, bending my mind.

Eager paws doing my will, forgiving my flaws, giving me time.

Free flanks, graceful movement, never asked twice, commands taken without a fight.

Shed, hold, drive away and look back. Anticipated patterns and comfort in repetition.

Hundred years of history, making us whole in a world with little purpose.

Not sure he will ever know how complete he makes me be.