Fun at herding
Sybil had her weekly lesson this morning. As an added bonus, local OES herding person Jeanne Kelley (Furoaks) had her lessons moved around so now she works her two border collies and one of her OES Saturday mornings as well. So, not only do I get to pick her brain, I also get to watch her work her Loretta (Furoaks Get Back <g> - with an assortment of herding titles I can't recall off the top of my head). Even better, rescue person Jan Guthrie (vyying for sainthood, methinks) has come to tape the last couple of sessions, as well as watch and observe. I think she's on the verge of starting to work her rescue dog, Sadie (Salty Dawg's Sadie Hawkins CGC) -- she did last time and only a bad spill on the ice yesterday kept her from working her again today. So things are looking up in the OES herding department here in WI/IL. Anyway, instructor has been trying to convince me I can work Sybil myself (despite strong evidence to the contrary  ). When she asked me again today I insisted we needed her help. Early on she snuck out though, so there I am with these goats and this dog and this stick and the goats know what they're doing and Sybil knows what she wants to be doing, leaving only one idiot left in the arena, yes, that would be me.
I think I was marginally better than past attempts only because Shannon only informed me a couple of times that this is NOT agility and I'm not to "show" the dog where to go, but allow her the opportuntity to figure it out on her own. Either that or she was losing her voice. In any event, I have actually done some of this before with Belle. So you'd think SOMETHING would stick. But though it seemed easy to get Belle to circle, endlessly, in either direction, Sybil ends up coming in so close that she's about knocking the goats and they are knocking me and just before I lose my breakfast Shannon yells at me to walk forward, so the goats follow me and Sybil (theoretically) follows the goats. Of course, this works beautifully for about 0.7 of a second, at which point Sybil comes around and to the head of the goats and it doesn't work so beautifully any more. So Shannon instructs me to walk backwards. OK, let's think about this for a moment. I have a hard enough time walking FORWARD. I am now backing up through the snow backwards, so I can watch the goats and my dog. Who is still coming up too fast and swinging around to get to the goat's heads. So now I'm told that not only must I walk BACKWARDS, I must, with the help of my trusty stick, keep the dog BEHIND the goats. So as she goes around the goats and starts to head up along side them, I slap the ground with the stick in front of her - to no avail. Shannon notes that the dog is not taking me seriously (I'm just SHOCKED - yeah, right! ) I get a little more forceful in telling her to GET BACK. Some times she even listens. Some times I am first, the goats are behind me and Sybil is behind them and I am elated because for the first time I actually feel like we are HERDING.
Other times we all end up in a tangle or Sybil is off chasing some goat because I split them but, never mind, for those short periods of time, all is right in the world because we are HERDING. Afterwards Shannon doesn't say too much but Jeanne takes me aside and nicely notes that it's considered a no-no to let the dog come between me and the stock. I nod and vow upon penalty of death not to let this happen again (yeah, right  )
Then Jeanne works Loretta and it is absolutely beautiful. And I have the good fortune of standing next to Shannon who is giving me a running commentary on this is what you want Sybil to be doing and this is why and look at how nicely she did this and....it was the most educational day I've had in herding since the day I first saw my sweet, polite Belle turn into a hairy hyena in August '01, the first time she saw sheep. When we were talking about what we were doing Jeanne reminded me not to beat myself up over my mistakes. I had to laugh and told her the benefit of complete ignorance is that you don't know what mistakes you're making so you're not beating yourself up. You actually believe this is all part of the process and will only (magically?) get better from here
Thanks to agility, I do know, at least in the abstract, what she's talking about. Ten years from now I may look at today's video and want to crawl down a hole in embarrassment. Heck, ten days from now may equally well apply. But for right now, today, this minute, all I know is that though it may not have been pretty, for a short period of time, Sybil and I were actually sort of deliberately moving the stock and not just running in circles around them making ourselves throw up and I never even got this far will Belle and...wow. Happy Birthday to me from Sybil. She is, as always, a hairy, quadruped surprise with her own agenda. Thank dog I never let anyone dissuade me from keeping the little troll. Kristine |
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| Ahh Kristine, its Sunday morning here in Melbourne.
Your story is so funny, I love your sense of humour. Thanks for a good laugh over my coffee. I refer to Tiggy as "the monster" but troll is a definite option. Merry Christmas from Mim and Tiggy |
Mad Dog wrote: What do you do when there's snow on the ground being blown around at 20-30 mph? Why, you go herding, of course!
Way to go!! Sybil had her weekly lesson this morning. As an added bonus, local OES herding person Jeanne Kelley (Furoaks) had her lessons moved around so now she works her two border collies and one of her OES Saturday mornings as well. So, not only do I get to pick her brain, I also get to watch her work her Loretta (Furoaks Get Back <g> - with an assortment of herding titles I can't recall off the top of my head). Even better, rescue person Jan Guthrie (vyying for sainthood, methinks) has come to tape the last couple of sessions, as well as watch and observe. I think she's on the verge of starting to work her rescue dog, Sadie (Salty Dawg's Sadie Hawkins CGC) -- she did last time and only a bad spill on the ice yesterday kept her from working her again today. So things are looking up in the OES herding department here in WI/IL. Go Jan and Sadie!!! In any event, I have actually done some of this before with Belle. So you'd think SOMETHING would stick. But though it seemed easy to get Belle to circle, endlessly, in either direction, Sybil ends up coming in so close that she's about knocking the goats and they are knocking me and just before I lose my breakfast Shannon yells at me to walk forward, so the goats follow me and Sybil (theoretically) follows the goats. Of course, this works beautifully for about 0.7 of a second, at which point Sybil comes around and to the head of the goats and it doesn't work so beautifully any more. So Shannon instructs me to walk backwards. OK, let's think about this for a moment. I have a hard enough time walking FORWARD. I am now backing up through the snow backwards, so I can watch the goats and my dog. Who is still coming up too fast and swinging around to get to the goat's heads. So now I'm told that not only must I walk BACKWARDS, I must, with the help of my trusty stick, keep the dog BEHIND the goats. Isn't that walking backwards fun?? I just keep telling myself this is so good for by quads and gluts.  Yep, and I STILL pray I don't backwards trip and have hoofprints in places I would rather avoid.So as she goes around the goats and starts to head up along side them, I slap the ground with the stick in front of her - to no avail. Shannon notes that the dog is not taking me seriously (I'm just SHOCKED - yeah, right! ) I get a little more forceful in telling her to GET BACK. Some times she even listens. Some times I am first, the goats are behind me and Sybil is behind them and I am elated because for the first time I actually feel like we are HERDING. You can practice the stick and commands at home without the sheep/goats too. It goes easier, because she won't be as hyped (with the goats not there) and you have more of a chance she will listen. Then you try it with the sheep/goats and know that she has heard this before and actually done it! And yes, you really are herding. Other times we all end up in a tangle or Sybil is off chasing some goat because I split them but, never mind, for those short periods of time, all is right in the world because we are HERDING. Afterwards Shannon doesn't say too much but Jeanne takes me aside and nicely notes that it's considered a no-no to let the dog come between me and the stock. I nod and vow upon penalty of death not to let this happen again (yeah, right )When we were talking about what we were doing Jeanne reminded me not to beat myself up over my mistakes. I had to laugh and told her the benefit of complete ignorance is that you don't know what mistakes you're making so you're not beating yourself up. You actually believe this is all part of the process and will only (magically?) get better from here Well, there is the middle stage still to come - you have learned enough to reconize the wrong things, but still don't have the skills to fix it!  Then it gets better after that. Thanks to agility, I do know, at least in the abstract, what she's talking about. Ten years from now I may look at today's video and want to crawl down a hole in embarrassment. Heck, ten days from now may equally well apply. Can't wait to see this video...mental note, email Jan......  Happy Birthday to me from Sybil. She is, as always, a hairy, quadruped surprise with her own agenda. Thank dog I never let anyone dissuade me from keeping the little troll. Well, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!! Kristine Go herding girl, go!!!! |
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