[Our first road trip with Stevie, we stopped overnight in Flagstaff and got to Santa Fe Friday night. MO had a poo explosion in her crate about 20 minutes south of Santa Fe, but the rest of the driving part went fine. Both dogs handled the hotel room great and loved romping around the snow behind the hotel in Flagstaff.

The day before we left LA MO had a freak mis-step in the park and tweaked her back leg. She limped around on it for a few minutes and then recovered but had periodic cramp-like seizures where she'd pull her leg up and limp around or stop and stretch it out. There don't seem to be many traces of the injury left, the car rest probably helped, but it's something to keep our eyes on.]

We are getting lessons/renting sheep from the Charlton’s in Santa Fe. The sheep are bigger and faster than what we are used to and are split up between a small round ring and small square arena.

MO
In the small round ring with about six sheep and she does great. We can’t figure out if it’s the cold weather or the faster sheep but she stays on them pretty well – only take a couple of pee breaks and one poo stop – and does a good job of turning them while going round both directions. It’s actually remarkable how different she looks compared to Acton and Malibu. She doesn’t show much concern for Mary being in ring with her (she paused briefly, but nothing dramatic) or even when Mary moved her stick around or raised her hands.

Time-wise I don’t think she stayed in especially long, and by the third or fourth minute of each second run she was definitely out of gas, but all in all it was a great time out for her everytime.

Stevie
In the bigger ring which is maybe 1/3rd the size of the big arena at Acton and she does mediocre. I’m pretty sure she started off fine, maybe a little spastic since we missed the Wednesday class before we left making it more than a week since she had last worked. After some time Mary came in the ring and thinking I had been too soft correcting something she whacked her crop-stick thing close by Stevie and from that moment on Stevie didn’t want to have anything to do with that woman, to the point where she would freeze up within about 6ft. of her regardless of where the sheep were. Basically we worked on the same sort of stuff we usually do but with a different teacher and a different perspective which confused me a little and maybe Stevie too since she wasn’t totally on her game.

One thing we did learn was some corner work where you walk the sheep up into a corner of the arena and practice having the dog move clockwise or counter-clockwise with lots of stands or lie-downs to keep the sheep calm. Stevie shows a lot of eye in these situations and probably doesn’t feel all that confident she’ll be able to keep her sheep, but she did ok at it and we could do with some practice at it.

This fear/freeze thing was a much bigger deal the second day we went out. Mary wanted us to practice a “slingshot” move she had seen on a video and explained the day we went to their house for tea (Tuesday). Her technique in general is that you have the dog lie down before the gate opens. The handler walks through and then lets the dog in and the dog must immediately lie down inside the arena while the handler closes the gate. To teach the slingshot you bring the dog in on a long line and walk halfway up to the sheep. Lie the dog down and walk off to the side of the dog making somewhat of an equilateral triangle between dog, sheep and handler then call the dog to you and use the line to enforce a straight recall and lie down. Between me not really understanding the concept as it applies to Stevie and Stevie not really giving a shit if she’s on a leash or not this unsurprisingly didn’t go that well. At some point Mary came into the ring which successfully screwed with Stevie’s head and got me a little more frustrated at the whole situation than I care to admit. With her in the ring the sheep acted like small asteroids in a strong gravity field and no matter what we did they would inevitably end up clustered around her, Stevie would freeze 6ft out and I would be trying to get her to move with no result and not know why because I had my back to the sheep.

The second time out we were on our own and did ok. I don’t know if it’s the sheep, the new arena, the weather or something in the sky but she was definitely a little different. Maybe less confident, definitely eager to work but it just didn’t feel like we were communicating as well as usual. For the first few minutes Mary took us into her pen area and we practiced moving some lambs around a very small pen. Stevie was on a short string and I would take her around using directional commands and lie-downs to move the lambs around. She didn’t seem to really understand what we were trying to accomplish, this was a completely new thing, but she did pretty good. After a few turns we went into the middle pen which has yearling sheep and we practiced the same moves for a bit and then Mary opened the gate and we practiced bringing the sheep in and out of the pen a couple of times. After this we moved back into the arena and did a very long run practicing all the usual stuff with some corner work and fence work thrown in to emphasize the need to take time and stuff. Stevie did alright for the most part but definitely gets pent up and crashes into the sheep when she’s feeling out of control or frustrated or something along those lines.

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And then the shit storm hit.

The whole time Stevie was working MO was going kind of bonkers and so once Stevie was done and Malcolm went into the ring we let MO off her leash to run a bit. We took both dogs back to the car (parked in the road because we were afraid of getting snowed in and stuck) and put Stevie in the back then walked back to the arenas with MO running ahead and said our good-byes. We started back to the car and MO ran way ahead seeming to look for Stevie and probably panicking at this point though I don’t think either of us realized it yet. At one point she could obviously hear Stevie yelping in the car, we all could hear it, and she went up to a large cattle-type pen hunting around but came when we called her and kept running up to the car. Still without a leash on, we opened the car and instead of her jumping in as usual she started playing keep-away, meaning you keep away from mo. We tried all our usual tricks but she was definitely freaking out by this time and so we both tried getting angry which didn’t work either. After giving her all kinds of time to figure it out on her own, and she didn’t, we both got in the car and started to drive away. She followed for a time but then gave that up so we stopped the car and tried again. We went on like this a few times, probably getting 1/2 mile or so down the road and were getting totally nowhere so we tried pulling Stevie out and walking her while the car went far ahead. MO trailed behind, kind of sticking near Stevie but definitely not getting anywhere near close enough to be caught and eventually pooed out a stress induced squirt which must have either hurt her back to normal or maybe settled her head a bit because we were finally able to get her to come and let us grab her collar about 10 minutes later.

The whole adventure seems to have taken it’s toll on MO’s little psyche and stomach. After resting through the afternoon she actually spent some time in her crate, something she hasn’t done in months, and then threw up a decent portion of her dinner. It would seem that a good part of her digestion trouble is stress related, but what to do with that information is another question.

MO
She went first and it worked out much better. As shown in the video . . . A lot of her particular style showed, picking out one sheep for special attention, chasing it down at all costs and chewing on its leg for a few minutes, then letting go and start the cycle over. All we ask of her is to stay somewhat focused on the sheep instead of getting distracted by everything going on around and today she did a better job than usual. She did take a poo break (one current theory is her diarrhea is exercise induced) but she ignored bleating lambs in the pen, people outside the fence with videophone cameras, Stevie barking and all the usual stuff. So we’re going to chalk today up as a win for the team.

Stevie
She got into something that took her out from Wednesday afternoon through Saturday, she’d been lethargic and somewhat diarrhea-ic on Thursday/Friday – this household seems to excel in loose stools  - and then she pooped liquid and barfed while waiting for her turn at the ranch. Anyhow, we worked more on fixing her cross-overs on the outruns (didn’t go great) and because there was one sheep that consistently drifted off back to the pen we tried to get her doing look-backs (also didn’t go great).

What did go great is she took a stand as long as I put my body into the command, she stayed wide on the outruns as long as I put my body into it, she took three sheep through a chute without breaking them up completely, she did nice drives and walk-ups and came off the sheep well.

MO
A regression day. We tried having Stevie go first and MO lost her marbles. Walking into the ring everything seemed normal, she was excited and paying attention to the sheep. I let her off the leash and she started to run up and chase them but quickly got distracted by the ground (hay, horse smells, longing whip, mud, poop), the sky (blue, some clouds, not much wind), the air (more or less still, the flies are back), the color of the dirt in the sun against the faded pink color of the wooden fence, Mike tied up by the gate, etc. I kind of lost my patience and stalked after her for a bit then we tried ignoring her and I would chase and tug on the sheep, then we tried letting Stevie back in and MO only wanted to play, then we put MO on a leash while I worked Stevie thinking it could make her jealous.

Nothing seemed to work super well but in the second and third runs she showed a little more interest, especially with me running after the sheep and tugging on their fur. By the end of the morning I was exhausted and she was just confused.

Stevie
A great day, almost polar opposite of the MOster. We continued to work on “stand” as something where she has to be on her feet and “walking up” as something slower than a run and faster than a stand. She’s a very quick learner. It seems pretty clear the whole trotting thing was something of a result from being in heat, though she won’t run unless the sheep are running. She also won’t slow down if the sheep slow down. If the sheep stand still, Stevie stands still. If the sheep move Stevie moves. If the sheep run and then slow down, Stevie runs until she can get to the head sheep and turn its head.

I’m pretty sure she didn’t cross over on a single outrun and for the first time I was able to walk away from the sheep and give her a “that’ll do” and she came with me without me having to walk up into her to block her off the sheep.

The new thing we need to look out for is her habit of always wanting to go to head which cause her to overflank and overrun the sheep and the handler.

MO
Three runs; the first went pretty well – she stuck to her guns and hustled the sheep well. The weather seems to agree with her since she goes pretty much full out in the rain and cold and herds like a good farm worker.

The second run was wetter and muddier than the first and by that time Stevie had moved to the bleachers which were partially covered – and Mike was in the ring on a cable tie, so we figured she would get distracted by Mike but she surprised us and after going for sheep a little bit she tore ass through the fence and jumped the rock wall to invite Stevie into the ring. After a few minutes of chasing her around the bleachers in the rain and mud I got a leash through her collar and started back for the ring – we ran into some problems with the light post and the fence coming right up next to each other and she slipped her collar and ran back towards Stevie and I ran up to the gate. Unexpectedly she turned back and ran through the fence and started back at the sheep. I hopped the gate to join her and we started back where we left off.

The third run was even colder, muddier and wetter but this time there was a ram in the ring and it had been charging all the other dogs which MO seems to take as an invitation for more fun. All in all good stuff.

Stevie
Three runs, all good. She now has a “lie down” but “stand” has gone with it so we need to circle back a little and get “stand” working as a stand – or “on your feet.” Driving is coming along very naturally and by the third run she was wearing pretty evenly and drove the sheep in a good straight line – she was also tired which seems to help. We practiced “walk up” and “take time” which are both working out pretty good and it’s looking like we could do a controlled walk up/lie down kind of thing if we wanted to but hopefully we’ll get a nice enough stand that we don’t have to resort to too much of a yo-yo. We also need to start squaring up her flanks and get back onto freeing her up, but when and how is kind of vague still – it all seems to happen in its own way on its own schedule.

After the lessons we took the pups to the beach, Stevie’s first time. Neither of them seem interested in swimming but running in the wet sand was the tops and chasing after the birds and each other in the rain is always fun. Good times.

MO
She did two runs today and both were of her new better style – not 100% focused, but darn near 85% and between double or triple the amount of time in the arena without losing interest. There’s still an obvious head-turn as she comes by the fence where people are gathered but instead of coming off the stock she turns her head and then turns it back and goes back to work. She had a bit of trouble getting the sheep out of the sticky corner but a leg-lift assist (mmmm, mutton leg!) did the trick and she was doing her best they just happened to be very heavy sheep today.

Everyone agrees that she’s come a long way already and each time out she’s making tons of progress, it’s just a matter of time before it all falls together and then we’ll see about giving her some direction.

Paul’s assessment, paraphrasing John Wooden: Hurry less and be quicker which somehow became have the handler work less as the dog works more.

Stevie Mac
We worked more on keeping her on balance (not going in circles, but enforcing a better position with body weight) and she took the corrections really well which turned into wearing and driving – so we went from just working out to developing a new skill in a very organic sort of way. We also practiced a few outruns (always come-bye for some reason, should change that – probably because of the heavy draw to the arena corner and sheep pen) and got her to stay wide by running up and forcing her out which worked each time it was enforced but when I hung back to see if she would do it right it never worked. Without trying too hard she took all the sheep off the fence and we tried practicing a “look back” by intentionally splitting the sheep and letting one drift back then bringing the two over and lying down between the one and the two then giving a “look back – come bye.” She didn’t quite get what was going on but somehow the sheep always drifted back together anyway – more to work on. The big lesson was how important body language can be, it’s the same lesson every time really, but it’s good to be reminded.

MO
2 runs and she went full out for both. Got the sheep off the sticky fence with her usual style, a difficult thing to do, and she would single out one sheep and just run it down like crazy, like a cutting horse or something. Developmentally the next thing to get is some focus, but for now she’s showing tremendous progress and we’re going to let her keep coming up on her own schedule.

Stevie
The first time we went out when she wasn’t in heat or sick with a stomach virus and she was on fire. We practiced outruns which she did well except for cutting over at the last minute. Even though she crossed over she would still get nicely behind the sheep and turn right on 12 o’clock and head back, except after the turn she would start to speed up and basically just get to a flat out run. She’d get going so fast that she would pretty much overrun the sheep and end up completely off balance and if the handler doesn’t run up and into her she’d probably keep going until she passed everyone in the ring.

We worked on moving the sheep around and coming off for “That’ll do” and she did great. On her second run we practiced “lie down” which she picked up quickly (long story short, up until now “lie down” meant stand and “stand” meant stand).

We also did a little practice on keeping out of the sheep – circling around clockwise and counter-clockwise. She keeps her head out most of the time, but is a bit resistant to moving far out from the sheep.

We need to work on timing a bit and giving a well-timed “there” as well as getting her to “take time” much better. Once those are going well and the “lie down” is consistent I think we’ll start practicing courses and see about squaring up her flanks.

MO:
We did two runs and both were pretty good but we stayed in too long and she got a little unfocused towards the end of each. On the first run we tried some outruns and she started moving wide before breaking up the sheep and then would collect them nicely, only a medium amount of gripping, and bring them to her handler.

We worked on having her lay down and then gather the sheep which she did ok, but seemed to revert to an obedience kind of mentality and her focus shifted off the sheep and onto the handler so we’re going to lay off that stuff for a while until she gets more keen on working. We also need to start keeping her from gripping the sheep without killing any of her drive.

Stevie:
She continued to hate going clockwise so she got schooled on it by both of us. We would set her up for an outrun and let her gather then work on half-circle directions alternating randomly between come-bye and away with a stand in between and an occasional that’ll do and call her off to do another outrun and so on.

Working like this is called “freeing her up” which is a confusing phrase since it means to get her out of her head and willing to go in whichever direction the handler needs instead of what her instincts are telling her. With the sheep between the handler and the dog, the handler should be able to give a direction command and pivot around in that same direction using the stick at the dogs shoulder to keep it moving and to keep it out. At the half-circle the handler would stand the dog and either have it go the opposite direction or again in the same direction, balancing out monotony against working on her weak side, until she gets to the other half-circle point where she stands again.

Next time we work on this we’ll try to have her lie down instead of stand (confusing since she’s been taught that “lie down” is stand, so sometimes she’ll stand and sometimes she’ll lie down – mostly depending on what’s going on. In the house she’ll lie down, in the field she’ll lie down when we enter the field but then stand while she’s working.)

Stevie goes into surgery tomorrow to be spayed and will have two weeks off, MO is also going to the vet to have some rectal bleeding checked out (one or two drops of funky smelling blood and a swollen anus when she is ready to poop).