On Saturday, I took the plunge and brought Kate to a training clinic that Jinger's breeder hosted. It was a beautiful day, and there were somewhere around a dozen dogs and handlers who attended. The fellow was very patient and encouraging and I learned a lot, but because of the way our cows act, it's gonna be hard to put into action the advice he gave me.
In the afternoon, watching a dog work.
Notice the dog on the spool? I knew that this fellow trains all his dogs to sit patiently on a spool while other dogs work, but I didn't know the extent to which it went. That dog stayed on that spool all day, except to switch out the training stock, give demos, and move-on command to other spools/barrels. You can see the spool inside the pen-when I was working Kate, the trainer gave a little demo for me with this dog, and when he got done, he put the dog on that spool in the pen. I knew the dog would stay there while Kate and I worked the calves, but I didn't know that he wouldn't bite them or harass them in any other way when they came around the spool so close that they rubbed it. I was extremely impressed with his self control.
After each dog worked, it was recommended that we put them in these boxes, where they couldn't see what was going on, and to contemplate what they just learned. Every dog that was put in the middle box did the same thing, and I just got a kick out of them poking their noses out and snuffling loudly, or peering out of the top slot.
Kate wasn't impressed at being locked in such close proximity to 5 other dogs because she hates other dogs, but quickly learned that they couldn't reach her and didn't care about her anyway. She also quickly learned that if she stuck to the far side of the box and cranked her eyeballs to the left, she could see the calves when they moved to the far corner of the pen. They weren't there often, but oh she enjoyed the view when they were!
More dog boxes and another dog.
One women brought her three Kelpies-I really liked them.
I got a kick out of this young women, her mom, and the Kelpie women. They had all come from the La Grande area, and lived only a few miles apart, worked together at the hospital, but had never met! They bemoaned the fact that they could have car pooled for the 3 hour drive had they met before and arranged matters.
Anyway, the young girl had a young dog who was a little cautious about working, so the trainer brought out one of his fully trained dogs for her to work and get a feel of things. She handled it a lot better than I would have, especially when the crowd told her that she had to stand on the spool and have the dog bring the calve by for her to pet. The dog did it with no problems.
"Ah, I didn't have my camera ready," says one viewer. "Gotta do it again!" And she did it again, just fine.
This little mutt was very sensitive. She was a good worker on her own, but if too much pressure was put on her, she'd just--- well look for yourself what she'd do! I just caught the tail end of the third time she did it, at which point her owner aborted the session.
Kate, waiting her last turn. I am glad that she did well, and didn't embarrass me. I was also glad that she is kinda sensitive, and I've spent so much time on her commands and getting her to slow down and think, that I didn't have yell and holler like so many others were doing. Just quiet commands worked great.
One fellow asked what her breeding was, and I told him she wasn't registered but that I got her from a local family-the Kayser's. The old geezer sitting next to him perked up his ears at that, and exclaimed about how he(and maybe his dad?) used to work Kayser dogs all the time and how he loved those dogs and what hard workers they were. Yes, their family has been breeding dogs for 4 generations, so they've been around a little while. (I felt a kindred spirit to that old man the rest of the day-the only person who knew where Centerville was, and knew my dog's bloodlines. :) )
No comments:
Post a Comment