We finally got a load of Safestix in for stock.  There has been a gap in their avaliability and now Kong is making and marketing them for Safestix, and I was anxious to see them in person.  They are a rubber-like toy, but in a "not seen shape" in the marketplace.  It is the shape of a long stick with knobby balls on each end. 

We carry the 19" version, and they are nice and bendy, and come in assorted translucent colors.  As a relatively new toy on the market, I needed to know how they would perform with my rambunctious Border collies, for their over-all durability and like-ability.

I broke down and gave the dogs a Safestix, and almost instantly they started playing with it.  My dog Kate that "kills" things by shaking them and smacking them on the ground, she loves "killing" it.

Tam is the patient tugger and chewer, loves the tug game, and lays down with it and just chews on the ball end, when not being entertained with tugging.

Christian, the 9 month old, loves chewing also, like most puppies, lays down with Tam and chews on the other end of the Safestix on the ball. She has now also gotten into the tugging thing with this stick.  She usually just plays with other toys while Kate and Tam tug with the same sturdy toy.  But with this dog toy she has gotten involved in the tugging game.  It's pretty fun watching all three dogs tugging with all of their might, on just one toy, and that toy holding up.

They have been trying the really durable dog toy now for about a week, and there is NOT A DENT in it what-so-ever.  This is truly an extreme dog toy!

Now that Christian is more active, she has been loosing weight, loosing to the point of being underwieght.  So I have increased her dinner portion.  I had stopped feeding her breakfast for several months now, but with all of that activity, I think I will start her up with breakfast again. 

This morning, I noticed her limping.  YIKES!!   I immediately checked her front feet for stickers or abrasions, which I didn't find anything wrong.  After I was done checking her, I let her go, and NO limp.  I kept checking her through out the day, and the final result was NO limp.  I am guessing that when she was limping, it was in a rocky area of the drive, and she had picked up a stone.  When I picked up her feet, it must have dropped out!

Later in the afternoon, a friend of mine dropped by with his Border.  The whole pack played together for a while, and then we went to the pasture to throw the ball with the chuck-it.  That type of exersize is fairly intensive.  All of the dogs ran to the little dog pool when we were finished to cool off quickly.  Chris never showed any limping after that morning scare.  Phew!  I wonder when I will get over it myself.  Rocks!

Well, I finally gave in to all of the pressure and worked Christian on sheep.  I had been dying to do sheepdog herding with her again.  We took it easy, as she doesn't run around like a crazy girl, like some pups do when working sheep.  Just a few minutes, nice and easy, to give her some satisfaction, along with me.  She did fine, and seems to have good balance, stopping on a dime when she brought them right to me. 

I let her play at Dog Day with the puppies for about 5 minutes.  She had a great time socializing with the young Aussies.  We had a small group this week, so there were only a couple of puppies this time for her to play with, and was probably better for her anyway.  Later, I let Kate and Tam go so they could play also.  Boy!  All they want to do is heard each other, those Border collie freaks!

Very soon, she will be completely free!

Christian's rehabilitation is going along at an excellent rate.  I have not seen her in the least, limp since the first week after her surgery.

 We have been going on daily leashed walks, with the other two Border collies coming along also.  This pack walk, allows the pack to keep itself as a pack, as they are migrating together, as a unit.

This reminder that the girls are in the same pack, helps them to keep their hierarchy in check.  I am the pack leader, and the girls follow.  The walks reinforce that leadership.

I feel that the walks, since they help with keeping the girls within the same pack, also helps to keep potential fights down to a minimum. 

My dogs don't fight with each other.  If they did, I would surely put an end to it.  I have seen behaviors in the past, that if left unchecked, might have surely turned into a fight.

One time period, Chris was eating next to the other dogs.  She started with a small low-pitched growl.  I addressed it right away.  And over the next several weeks, I kept readdressing the growl, until she got the message and quit.

If I would have ignored that growl, or thought it was cute seeing a puppy guard her food, and let her continue, that behavior would have grown to a potential hazardous event for all concerned.

There would have surely been fight and potential injury eventually to one or more of the dogs.  I have seen dogs eat right next to each other, when they don't know how to tolerate each other, like mine do, and it is scary to see. 

One time when I was at a trial, a friend of mine was feeding her two dogs side by side in their wire crates.  I was walking by and it sounded like all hell was breaking loose.  I watched one of the dogs, freaking out!  It was trying to eat its own food, but the other dog in the other crate was right next to him, and he couldn't.  He would take a bite, then turn toward the other dog and bark and try to attack it because it was close.  It didn't matter to that dog that the one next to him was in another crate and couldn't possibly get to its food!

I want peace in my life, and that includes the dogs.  They better get along, OR ELSE!  They will meet my wrath.

I feel, that because of what I don't allow with my dogs, that has allowed me to have that peace.  They can eat next to each other without any problems, treats are not an issue, sure if only one dog has a rawhide, the other will want it, and if left, she will go and get it.  Toys are also not an issue, except like the rawhide, if left, another will go and get the desired toy.  But there is no aggression or hostility between the dogs and that is where I intend on keeping it.

So today, the girls and I took a walk together.  Chris has two weeks left of rehab and both of us can't wait.  Later in the afternoon we got invited to take a second walk.  I thought that would be good for Christian to help her build some endurance.  And she loved it!

Now she is napping on the couch.  Two weeks left.  Yeah!!!

 Surgery is what she needed, and surgery is what she got.  Keeping a 6 month old Border collie quiet for three weeks is another challenge.  I did as ordered, keeping her under STRICT crate rest with leashed potty breaks.  This went well for almost a week.

 Christian developed diarrhea.  I gave her the usual diarrhea stop aids with no effect at all.  The poop kept coming and coming.  I was having difficulty keeping up with the washing of her bedding.  She couldn't hold it more than two hours, either needing to go out or nailing the crate, if I was too late!

 After the diarrhea, vomiting started, though was fairly short lived.  She nailed my car, but was not too hard to clean up.  I gave her one dose of Pepto Bismol to help her tummy, when she went off her food.  I watched the signs of the Pepto leave her body out the other end.

 On dog day, I brought her with us along with her crate, so she could watch the other dogs do agility, trying to help her mind as much as possible.  She had a blow out in her crate there, and I didn't know it until we were leaving.  BIG YUCK!

 The crate and her needed bathing before we could leave.  What a stinking mess!  So I had no choice but to leave her in the crate with just a towel, as the bedding was soiled.

 During lunch, I discussed Chris' problem.  I asked them if they had ever experienced crate stress with a dog.  A few of them said that they had, especially if the dog is not used to being in the crate a lot.

 They mentioned that a bland diet might help her.  BINGO!  Why didn't I think of that myself.  One friend mentioned brown rice and chicken, and I came back with white rice and not brown.

 So I settled on white rice, chicken breast without the skin, and a little chicken broth.  I was apprehensive  about the broth, so used just a tiny amount at first.

 I asked another friend about what she did for a bland diet for her dogs, and she added that some plain pumpkin could also be added to Chris' diet.

 By the next day, Chris was eating better, and that night, she finally had a normal bowel movement.  YEA!

One other thing that I have done was, take her out of the crate.  Now I have a "loose" puppy that has to remain quiet.  I either keep her on the couch with me, or limited walk while dragging a leash, to make sure there is no jumping or running.

 This "new method" of strict crate rest is really hard to maintain.  I am now a constant puppy sitter, with her glued to my side.  I do from time to time, put her in the crate as I have work that needs to be done, but for the most part, she is now on the couch.  And so am I. STUCK!

 ONE MORE WEEK! and she can start swimming and light walking.

Today, I took the girls for another 1/2 mile walk.  I wanted to see how Chris was doing, since she had started limping again yesterday.  I glanced down at her trotting beside me and was grateful to God that she even had a leg for me to be concerned about.

As I continued the walk, I starting reflecting about what I am truly grateful to God for.  I am grateful for being born with all of my senses and continue to have all of my them.  I am grateful that I have not lost any limbs or digits in this brief life of mine.  I am grateful for having a great supportive husband, who loves our dogs as I do.  God has put me in a wonderful place to live.  And though he has not blessed us with children, we have three wonderful dogs in which to share our lives with.  I am grateful to have family members and good friends to share our dogs with.  And I am thankful that my herding trainer, Shelley Parker, who has given tons of herself, to me, teaching me how to train herding dogs, read sheep, trial competitively in sheepdog herding, and that she is a great friend.  And about Christian, I am grateful to God for bringing her back to us when she was lost.

Yesterday, we went to dog day to play.  Concerned about Chris' soundness, she was mainly kept tied or held on leash.  She was doing fine with the visit until I started to concentrate with Tam on agility.  Chris was jumping up and barking and barking, which drives me crazy.  Matt, my husband, who came along to dog day with us, was correcting her as she was jumping and barking.  However, he was not matching the intensity of her energy level, when she was jumping.  Therefore, she kept doing it while on leash.  All of that activity caused her to start limping again. 

I was rather upset with the whole deal, and promptly removed her to the pick-up truck.  Apparently, only one week of crate rest was not enough (I kind of thought she needed more, and had planned more for her).

She remained limpy throughout the evening, but appeared fine this morning.  That is why I took her out on the walk.  I wanted to see how she would do.  She did well until about a 1/2 hour after the walk when she started limping again.  Just wonderful!

December 1st is the date for her vet appointment, so one more week and we should know for sure what is going on with her.  In the meantime, she will remain on very limited exercise, and lots of rest.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone.

This pup of mine has been limping on her right front off and on now for three or four weeks.  One day the three girls were playing and it was a hot day.  I sent them to run for the dog pool in order to cool-off.  They usually race for it, to try to be the first one in.  This time, Chris came back limping on her right front foot. 

I looked it over, and could not find anything wrong.  She kept limping for a good part of the day, and after several days, the limp seemed to disappear.  Then several days later, her limp reappeared.  This has now gone on too long, for my comfort. 

I made an appointment with the dog chiropractor, and had her look Christian over.  I have had good luck with them in the past.  My first herding dog, Bonnie, at five years old, started limping on one of her front legs.  I took her to my veterinarian and x-rays were taken.  Fortunately, cancer was ruled out, but no diagnosis was able to be given.  The vet wanted to do further radiographs up her leg to see if any problems could be seen.

Before I went a head with the additional radiographs, I had a local farrier, who also adjusted horses and dogs, look at Bonnie.  I asked him to give her an adjustment.  As soon as he was finished, her limp stopped.  I was sold!

I had never had chiropractic work done on me, so later, when I came off my horse and herniated a disc, the chiropractor became my saving grace.

This time, it was not quite so simple.  The doctor felt something and came up with two maybes.  Either she had elbow displaysia or she hyper extended her elbow and has a sprain.  She suggested an x-ray and a general check up with my vet, which the appointment has already been made.  Crate rest was also recommended.  This is harder for me, than it is for the dog.

Upon some research from the internet, elbow displaysia in Border collies has a percentage of 0, in a group of 250.  Most of the authoritative veterinarians on the subject, state that it is not a important concern.

Since I know when, but not how, she bashed it, I am pretty sure that she has hyper extended her elbow, but of course, I am not a doctor.  The chiropractor said that her right elbow had more extension than her left elbow did.  That makes me think she has hyper extended that elbow. For now, she is being crate rested.  She is not too happy about the whole thing either. 

I had a friend come over today to work his dog on sheep, and I made sure that Chris got to watch.  She sat there at the fence tied the whole time, at least a couple of hours, watching the dogs and sheep go bye.

I figure that if she is not allowed to play or work right now, at least her mind could work.  Later this afternoon, I gave her a full 12" bully stick, which she has never had before.  She loved it, and  chewed on that for a long time.  Now, when I let her out of the crate for any reason, the other two girls go over and snoop in her crate, stealing goodies inside.  So the crate door always has to be shut, to prevent access to those sneaky thieves.

Christian now has all of her adult teeth in.  For a while, she had double upper canines, but like Tam, the baby canines finally came out. But even though she is done teething, I caught her chewing on something that she was not allowed to chew on.  We were in the pick up together, and I keep a water hole dog bowl in the truck.  The water in the bowl was gone, and as Chris was jumping from the front seat to the back, she would overturn the bowl.  While I was in the store, she was in the back seat with the other two girls, and started chewing on the bottom of the plastic bowl.

When I got back in the truck, I glanced back at the dogs, and saw the bowl.  I grabbed the bowl, showed it to her, and told her "no" and that she was so bad!  In a low disgusted voice.  She is fairly sensitive, so it didn't take that much to get my point across.  She turned her head away, with a hunched over type of body language.

Last weekend we went to a sheepdog herding trial.  What an adventure it was this time. There were three dogs, and two humans shoved in the cab of a small pick up.  Chris was held for a while, but my husband wanted to work on the computer for a while, so we convinced her to lay down behind the seat on the floor.  I had put a nice cushion down for her, so she would be tempted to stay down on the floor.  Fortunately, she seemed ok with the arrangement, and spent much of the time down there. 

We had car trouble during the trip, as the dash lights went completely out after we got to the trial.  So our trip home, consisted of using the flash light to see how fast I was driving, how much gas I had, and to see all of the rest of the instruments that needed monitoring.  At the same time, the pick up starts back firing some.  Lots of praying, got us home safely.  And the truck is now being seen by its doctor.

At the trial, Chris was well behaved.  She was leashed at all times when she was close to the trial, but was able to run around and have fun in the field where we parked the cars.  She watched many of the runs, and when it was my turn, she watched intently.  That's right Chris - someday, it will be your turn!

New teeth are coming in right and left.  During one week, Christian lost both of her lower canines and she looked quite funny.  We started calling her Gumby for a nick-name. She also has a new lower permanent lower molar.  This new molar should let her cut the Wholesome Hide dog chews that I give her.  Before, with her baby teeth, she couldn't "cut" pieces of the rawhide off, rather she would chew and chew the Wholesome Hide until is was really soft and then she would shake it.  But the shaking wouldn't work to break off a smaller piece, so eventually she would either swallow the whole piece, or I would cut it with scissors, for her to swallow easier.

I like to collect my puppie's teeth when they loose them, however, I have not been able to get hers. Either she has swallowed them as they are lost, or they would fall out when playing with the big girls outside.  I was able to get one tooth, an incisor, when it was sideways in her mouth, otherwise no puppy teeth have been retrieved.  Darn!

We got a good rainstorm last week, and the girls, the sheep and I had many demonstrations scheduled before excited 4th graders in the County, at the local fairgrounds, just after the rainstorm. We worked in a rain soaked cattle arena, running the sheep through and around cones for the kids.  The kids and the dogs loved it, me, not so much. The dogs were filthy!  They stunk of urine, and their whole undersides were totally dirty that no squirt with the hose would suffice.  

Immediately upon coming home, we unloaded the sheep and put them away.  Then it was off to the bath.  I was filthy also, but the girls needed baths first.  Fortunately for Christmas last year, my husband got me a Booster Bath to wash the dogs in.  And today, I was especially grateful for not having to struggle with a human bathtub that sits on the floor, as I was tired.  This dog bathtub sits on legs to increase it's height and reduce back strain.

So all three of the girls got much needed baths, and then I did.  I hate smelling like urine.

We just finished with hosting a fun trial here.  The event went pretty well and everyone seemed to have a good time.  All of the dogs also seemed to enjoy the venue.  I worked like crazy, not having much help.  Though I was grateful for the help that I did receive.  Monday was the day of rest as I was pooped.  Since Kate has Valley Fever, I only used her a tiny bit, just enough to let her do a few easy things.  Tam was with me both days, working in the pens and setting out sheep for the handlers.

Christian learned to sit in front of people before being pet, as compared to jumping up on them, to get their attention.  There were lots of people and dogs for a young pup to see in addition to a new best friend puppy.  A friend of mine's dog had had puppies, and a couple of the puppies were here.  Chris thought she was in heaven with puppies and dogs to play with, sheep to watch, and a clean pool to cool off in.  What more could a young dog want?

Like I thought, the rodeo was a great success for all involved.  The girls preformed fantastic and herded them with great strength and precision.  Chris met many people, but was totally distracted when the girls and I were out in the arena working the sheep.  During those times, Chris was totally focused on the sheep, much to my delight.

Being the only dogs allowed at the rodeo, I took them through the booths area looking for a program.  The people at the booth had not seen the dogs and me because we had entered in the back area of the rodeo.  They commented on how did they miss this group of dogs.  Inferring that dogs were not allowed once again at the rodeo.  Someone told them that these were the workers and then so did I.  I got my program and went back to Matt to sit down and look through it.

There was a nice bio about me and a bio about the three girls, along with pictures of Kate and Tam both in portrait form and in working form.  I was very pleased with the program and even my website was on it as a plug.

In between the mutton busting preliminaries, and the finals, they had a few events and one of them was flag carrying, and the singing of the national anthem.  Everyone stood during the singing and had either their hand on their heart or were saluting.  We even had the Marine Color Guard on horseback there in the arena.  It was very emotional time.

I walked alone one time to find food for both of us for lunch.  I got approached by many people, and even several young men, either thanking me for a great performance working the dogs, or telling me what a good job they did and shaking my hand looking totally impressed.  

Later, after the mutton busting finals were over, I took the whole flock of sheep down to the opposite end of the arena, and turned them back and drove them back to the other end and out of the arena and into the side pens.  This little maneuver was new.  I had earlier asked the rodeo coordinator if she would like me to do that, and she said absolutely yes.  The crowd seemed to like it as they clapped when they were put away.

This year the sheep were a little challenging.  Several of them would turn and face one of the girls, challenging them.  I would quickly encourage one of the other dogs to hurry over and double up on the ewe that was causing problems, giving much needed extra starring down.  That technique worked, but given the time, both of the girls can turn range ewes on their own, we just didn't have much time to waste as the event needed to move along.  

One time, I got a comment that one of the dogs was running 50 miles per hour through the crowd.  The crowd was inside the arena, children with their parents, waiting their turn to ride the sheep.  Kate used to be very sensitive working around other people, and now she has plenty of confidence so that type of work is not a bother to her.  People or dogs never bothered Tam; she would keep working no matter what!  Anyway, the girls are SUPPOSED to work their sheep NO MATTER WHAT.  Sheep are the priority.

After we put up the dogs, we found some shade to park in and left them in the pick up and walked through the booths for a while, looking at all of the stuff for sale.  Several times during that walk, I again got approached and told how neat watching the girls were, and that we all did a great job.  And many of the people that approached me wanted more.

I referred them to make comments to the rodeo organizer.  I figured there is limited time at the rodeo, as they are trying to fit all of the events in a limited time frame, so I don't think that we could do much more than we had done.  But maybe in the future we can finagle some kind of fun trial with the sheepdogs at the rodeo grounds.  Who knows?  All I can do is ask.  But I really think it would have to probably be the week after or before the rodeo, there just isn't enough time during it.

I had Matt take a few pictures of the mutton busting.  I wanted to include one here in this blog, so those who have never seen it, could.  I will down load the picture soon and post it here.

We all had had a good week, this week.  We got to play with the puppies at Sandy's house on Wednesday.  They sure are growing up fast.  I notice a change every week.  I weighed Chris and she is weighing in at 19 pounds now, and getting harder to pick up.

Now that she is eating more food, I had to change her bowl to an adult size Bella Bowl.  She is now eating out of the same size bowl that the two adult Border collies are eating out of.  In order to portion her food correctly and be able to tell which bowl is hers, I gave her a different color bowl from Kate and Tam's bowl.  She has a girly pink bowl, which goes with her girly personality.  I really like these bowl because number one they do not slide around the floor.  Bella bowls also come in pretty colors that match my kitchen colors.  Their interiors are made of veterinarian recommended stainless steel, and the removable rubber ring on the bottom makes them dishwasher safe.  Not much could be better in a dog bowl than that.

In addition to weighing two times more than when I first got her, she is cutting teeth.  She has lost all of her incisors (the front teeth), so quickly that a lot of times her tongue is sticking out.  She has no teeth to hold it in!  Every time that I see her tongue out, I start laughing, because it’s so cute.  Her new teeth are starting to come in but are still small and no aid to holding that pink tongue inside her mouth.

I have decided that it is time to start formal obedience training with her.  I am tired of her pulling on the leash, so I will incorporate techniques from Kate and Tam's obedience training to get a handle on it.  I don't do extensive obedience training any longer with my dogs, as I do not compete in that venue any longer.  However, I have to live with them.  My dogs need to basically do what I need them to do.

She will learn to better walk on a leash, and in the heal position.  She will also learn sit, stand, down, stay, come on command.  She knows a few of them, so she will be proofed on them further.  With come, stay and down being the most critical, they could save her life.  

Many years ago, I was letting my dogs relieve themselves in a relatively vacant parking lot with planted islands.  And this is one example where their obedience came in very handy to keep them safe.  A car came into the lot, and they were between my dog and me.  That could have been a real tragedy for us.  I told my dog to down and stay, as there was no time to call her to my feet.  She was kept safe on the island until the car passed, then she was called back to me and put up in the car.  Phew!

Now, I do not recommend this kind of lazy behavior on my part what so ever.  Dogs are dogs, and she might have let her instinct take over and run in front of the car and gotten squished!  Now a days, I am more careful about letting my dogs lose.  And in public my dogs are usually leashed.  But those commands are still needed.

They say dogs don't cross over.  And that saying refers to commands.  I know that they can understand the same word command for different tasks, as they are situational learners. But they can also learn a behavior and are able to apply it in a different venue.  For example, I have a touch command when I play with the girls.  They use their nose to touch my hand.  Additionally they have a touch command when hitting their contacts when they play in agility (two feet on and two feet off).  So I think that they do cross over.  Other examples are when I taught the lay down in the house.  Then when herding I used that command again, and low and behold, they would down.  I even had to use the time command (steady) with Tam, which was moved from herding to agility on the weaves.  She was going so fast in the weaves, that she was missing some, and by chance, I told her to "time", and she went through beautifully!  So the "time command", was a "time" in both herding and in agility.

My dogs are not geniuses, they are normal Border collies.  If you teach, they will learn, and sometimes when given the chance, know more than we give them credit for.

I have been working with a McNab, an isolated line of Border collie originally from Oregon.  He was here for recall lessons.  He is fine in the house, but get him outside and he apparently shined on everybody and did what he wanted to do.

Today was his second lesson.  He was doing great healing without making the leash taunt.  His recalls were pretty good also, but not perfect.  But that was to be expected, as it has only been 4 days since his first lesson.

Things were going pretty well and then I noticed that he was getting mouthy, and a little barky when he was corrected.  I basically ignored it as him disagreeing with me.  

Until I started working with him on down and sit.  I was helping him up to a sit position and he nipped at me.  I then put him in a down position, and he got crankier, trying to bite at me.  Things went somewhat crazy from then on.

It was time to put this boy on his side, and let him relax there for a bit, submit.  He would have no part of it.  This turned into a fight on his end and determination on my end.  This guy went into several full-fledged panic attacks, sounding like the Tasmanian devil the entire time that he was pinned.

This boy is very strong, and I was having serious trouble holding him down, he kept breaking free, though not totally, because I was able to hold onto the leash.  Every time that he would beat me, and get away, he was winning.  Finally after several bite bruises later, his owner started helping me while placing him on the grass on his side.  

Boy, this dog was determined not to lie on his side, and fought for his position, tooth and nail.  Bleeding some, I kept telling myself out loud, so the dog's owner would understand, "be calm, don't get mad at all, calm and assertive".  Getting mad is actually worse for the dog because that emotion will affect the dog negatively.

When we humans get mad, we tend to stay mad for a while, some even for the entire day, but not dogs.  They drop it right after they give a correction to another dog.  They do not stay mad.  When we are helping a dog, we should not drag our emotions into the situation for dog's sake.  So we both did the best that we could, by not getting mad when he was fighting us.  

Finally after many times, we were able to get him down for a while.  Then we did the other side of the dog.  And after a while, he was very pliable as he gave it up.  I told his owner that he has now been knocked down a few levels and is not the pack leader any longer.  I had mentioned in his first lesson that this dog was very ridged and tense in his body.  Now I know why his body was so tense.  And now that he has gone through this ritual, he will be much more willing to be trained.

My hands hurt some, and he could have really tore me up, but for the amount of bites that I got, there was very little damage.  My back hurts a little and hopefully I will be fine in the morning.  I hope that this dog’s mind is now in a better place.

The last of the week has been relatively quiet.  On Tuesday, I just could not leave Christian outside without me being out there with her.  I didn't want to take any chances of loosing her again.  She spent much of the day inside with me, as it was pretty hot out.    

We went to dog day on Wednesday.  Sandy, my friend who owns the property where we all assemble, has a new Australian Shepherd named Indy.  He is a cute red merle with pretty long hair already.  He is now vaccinated enough to be able to play with Chris (who is 4 weeks older), and boy did they have a good time.  Chris spent a lot of time on her back with Indy chewing on her.  His brother, a red and white bicolor, joined in and a good puppy time was had by all three of them.

I had given Indy his very own Puppy Kong toy, 'as a welcome to your new home toy,' for his chewing pleasure.  Sandy had an ex-pen set up in the agility field in case we needed to put our pups in it in order to protect them from the big dogs.  Inside the ex-pen was the Puppy Kong toy in blue that I had given Indy, for the pups to play with.  Right now Indy's stomach is a little sensitive, so Sandy put just a teeny tiny bit of peanut butter inside the hole to attract him, which it did.

We are now getting ready for our trip to the Scottish Games in Pleasanton CA.  We are leaving Friday and it will be Chris's first trip to the sheepdog trials.  Three years ago, we went and took baby Tam.  She was a total handful! Arugh!  But Chris should be easier; she is not Tam, the dog who thought she should be a kennel dog.  But fortunately for me it was my watch, and I would have none of it.  And Tam was shaped into a great but very active housedog that works sheep, and quite well.

As for Christian, she is still a very active puppy, close to being potty trained.  We will bring her crate with us, just in case we need it.  She does love sheep already, and likes to watch Kate and Tam work sheep, so maybe she will be quiet at the games.

We had some running around to do after church today and finally got back home with the girls around noon.  Both of us were hungry, so we had lunch and let the dogs out front to play.  Both of us started working on our websites being lazy and not really wanting to do other stuff around the house.  

After several hours, I went up to check on the girls.  It was a beautiful 84 degrees outside so I decided that I better exercise the dogs some, or I would be in for it this evening with elevated energy levels.  I went out to the sheep pasture and threw the ball with the chuck-it for the dogs until they were hot and needed a cool down.  I noticed that Chris was not at all interested in chasing the ball, but was herding the older two and after they would pass her up, she would chase them.  Lots of her herding instinct is starting to be expressed.

Chuck-it is a ball thrower tool that allows the ball to be thrown farther than the normal human arm.  I can't throw anything worth a darn, but the chuck-it, lets the dogs get a good cardio workout and helps expand their lung capacity.

When I let the sheep out in the back pasture in the morning, she is on leash and trying very hard to get at them.  It will be interesting to see how keen she is toward the sheep.  Yesterday when we were letting them out, the gate shut, I unleashed Chris, and she took off down the pasture fence trying to get to them as they went out to the back pasture.  Fortunately, she listens pretty well and came when called and I didn't have to go and fetch her.

After their ball chasing, I let them all have a swim in their dog pool.  This pool is a large livestock tank, about 3.5 feet deep and 10 feet in diameter.  Right now it is filled 2/3s full, as I am working on Chris getting comfortable in it.  This swimming session was the first time that she was confident enough to keep playing in the water without going back to the steps constantly.  She was warm when she went in, and I think that worked to the advantage of her playing in the cool water much longer.  She started retrieving floating toys and mostly bringing them back to me.  All three girls had a great time playing in the water today.

In the last several days, we have been battling wasps and their nests.  This year, they seem to be everywhere!  Two in the barn, one in the dove cage, then today two out at the back corner of the property.  And they nailed me!  Right on the lip.  

My friend Roland and I, along with his Jessie dog and my three girls, all went out to the back end of the property to check on some sheep pens that we built last winter.  Since I am hosting a sheepdog fun trial next month, Roland thought we should walk down there and check the pens out and make sure that everything was fine.

We needed to open the pens up and let the sheep eat down the weeds, as they had gotten high.  As I was opening the last gate, I noticed and commented to Roland, that there were all of these bugs flying around.  I never once thought that they could be wasps.  Before I knew it, I had gotten bitten, right on the lip.  What a time for this.  So I told Roland what had happened, and started walking back across the field toward home.  Man, this bite hurt.

So when I got to the house, I put a napkin with lemon juice on it and applied it to my upper lip.  After several minutes, the pain subsided, thankfully.  Though I had a fat lip, I was going to live.

Some dogs, especially herding dogs, like to chase bugs.  They can get themselves into trouble by doing that habit.  About 20 years ago, I had gotten a new Aussie mix puppy.  And when I let her out in the morning to relieve herself, she started coming back with bumps all over her face.  I took her to the vet, and he really didn't know what was going on except an allergic reaction of some kind.  

The next day the same thing happened.  I was really starting to worry about my little dog!  Then the third day, I decided to go out with her.  I stayed back along the house, so I would not influence her behavior.  I saw her wonder up to the grape vines that I had planted the year before, and was messing around them.  Later she came back inside and her head was covered in bumps.

I started walking around the yard following where she had been, when I saw what the problem was.  She had been getting into a beehive.  Apparently a swarm of bees had landed on the grape vine, in order to establish a new colony.  That was a bad location for a puppy-only a foot or so off of the ground.

The following day, I let my puppy out into the side yard to relieve herself, so she couldn't encounter the bee swarm.  She came back inside looking the way that she should, no bumps on her head.

And the following day, the swarm decided to move on, yeah!

I know of many other dogs that snap at flies or actually try to work (herd) them.  Might be the case of a bored dog or one that has so much energy that they don't know how to expel it, so they just work, anything, even bugs.

I got my revenge on the wasps, and they got nailed with wasp killer.  We needed to go out there and check on things, because it would have been a mess with herders getting bitten next month.  Yikes!

Just about everything to a puppy is a toy.  That is why either very careful watching or puppy proofing a yard and house is very important to keep a new puppy safe.  Accidents can happen easily, so by minimizing either what our pups are exposed to either by confinement of some kind, or the puppy proofing their allowed area, can reduce the occurrence of such accidents.  Most of us don't want our dogs to be poisoned.  But, all sorts of household products can easily poison dogs.  On the other hand, puppies have no experience with life, and can chomp on an electrical cord in several seconds, with detrimental effects.  And what a lousy toy that cord is.  Even dog toys can be dangerous, and should be carefully thought over about what toys to leave and not leave with your dog when he is left alone.  Never leave a old and destroyed toy alone with a dog, pieces can eaten and lodged inside them.

When Chris came into our lives, I scoured through the house and the property, picking up all sorts of little pieces of stuff that she could be attracted to and want to ingest.  And as she got more mobile as she aged, the "cleaning" increased as her interest increased.  All sorts of things that my older girls ignored, was fair game as a new toy for Chris.  Water bottle caps, stuffing from toys, rocks, which I can not pick all of them up-so had to be dealt with differently, little pieces of plastic, were all removed from these new chompers.  She looked at the rocks around the property, and I had a friend whose dog was obsessed with them, so she got "bit" on her rib cage, and told NO when she even looked at them.  Fortunately for me, she gave it up right away.  

The electrical cord on one of my fans was attractive to her.  That correction and resulting behavior of now leaving it alone took several days to instill in her.  Typical to cats, this little one thought the cord was a wonderful and attractive toy.  Determined not to have a fried puppy, I was somewhat harsh, but not overly, in the corrections for not to bite on it.  

Many years ago, I used to be really hard on my dogs when they did something wrong.  Now, as I have aged, I have mellowed some, but I have also developed myself as a true pack leader, I have confidence in my position, and the respect of the dogs due to that position.  Now, frequently, I can glance at one of my dogs who might be doing something that they know is wrong, like sneaking into the kitchen when I am fixing their dinner, just my stare sends them back to the living room, to then patiently wait until I am finished and call them to their food.

If we watch our puppies a lot, our houses might not get destroyed.  Just a couple of days ago, I was in the living room with the girls and Chris was behind one chair.  I heard some unusual noises, and ignored it at first.  I thought she was back there maybe chewing on one of the deer antlers that I gave her.  After several minutes, I decided to check and see what was going on back there.  Well, she was chewing on the corner of the chair!  And until she was told that the chair was not a chew toy, she didn't know.  Chris, the chair is not for you!

I do give Christian a lot of small rawhide twists.  She really loves them, and it helps satisfy her chewing desire, and like I referred to before, she chews on deer antlers.  It really surprised me when I first got her and she was attracted to the antlers.  I had no idea that little puppies would like them and actually spend time chewing them.  Chris does.

I give this little one a lot of "safe" toys to play with.  I encourage her to play with these "safe" toys, and leave forbidden items alone.  But when and if the toys start to come apart, if I don't fix them, then I toss them.  Replacing a worn dog toy is much cheaper that keeping torn ones around.  As Tam, my three year old will tell you, impaction surgery is not so fun, and as I will tell you, not so cheap.

Apparently I was mislead.  I have been recently notified by Decker's previous owner that they never wanted to put him down.  They knew that they did not have the skills needed to help him, so they desperately sought other resources.  They wanted to do right by the dog, but were also very concerned about their liability of keeping him, due to his previous biting, but nonetheless, they were trying to be responsible.  Fortunately they were able to place him with me, and I was able to rehabilitate his mind.  

Now after working intensively with Decker and his issues, I feel confident that when approached by another dog owner, who's dog has behavior problems, that I can correctly coach them to make successful corrections and teach them specific ways of handling their dog, that they too will be able to rehabilitate their own dog.

To change the subject a bit, last night I received an email from the breeder of my new puppy.  She sent pictures.  So I will include two pictures of Christian Summers-Reinhart...AKA Chris.  It looks from the pictures that she will be a tricolor.  And the man, who picked her out for me, picked the blackest face and the shortest coat in the bunch.  I can't wait to smell her puppy breath!

Decker has found a new permanent home.  Now that he is balanced, he is ready to move on.  He has been a challenge, but a friend of mine will be taking him, and I will be able to monitor his progress and his life.  I have invited my friend, Heide to come to the Wednesday dog group and it sounds like she will.  I explained how the group along with all of the activities there has really helped my submissive Kate come out of her shell.  I further explained that the reason I still come every week to the dog group is for her.  She has been doing great, and my trainer told me not to change anything, so I didn't.

Heide is a musher.  She has a pack of dogs and works them mostly in the winter.  I told her that Decker would need support and leadership during her "off" time, and should not be left during the hot summer on his own.  She has seen him numerous times and is fully aware of what she is taking on.  But Decker is ready for his next step.

This transition takes place tomorrow morning.  All day it has been a bittersweet time for me.  I do love him, but this new home will be a nice place for him.  He has tons of energy and Heide has goats for him to heard.  She is going to see if he is interested in mushing, which I think he will be.  I am excited about the herding and the mushing for him, as his mind and body will be worked.  Along with hanging out with Heide, and coming to the Wednesday dog group, he will be able to move forward in his mind and keep increasing his confidence level.  Additionally, Heide will be taking herding lessons with him from me, as she does not know how to herd, she has much to learn.

Fortunately for Decker, Heide is a pack leader.  This is the most important situation for him.  He is a follower and not a leader.  He will miss the girls, and they will miss him, but Wednesdays will be for reunions.  

As for me, I have learned tons from him.  And this kind of dog, fearful aggressive, doesn't bother me any longer.  I now know how to handle that type of dog.  While their rehabilitation may take quite a while, and there is no quick fix, there is a fix none-the-less.  All of these fearful aggressive dogs need is leadership (discipline), understanding (remaining calm, and not staying mad), and socializing (for confidence building).

This beautiful dog was going to be destroyed the following day if I didn't take him.  While I was really put in a tough position, and pressured to take him, at least he now has a new home to go to, now that my job is finished.  Shame on people who get a dog and give up on it as if it was disposable.  This is a life, and a life that God gave to mankind.  Is this the way to treat such a gift?  I know that it is a hard question to answer, and everyone's answer is different, but there comes a time of personal responsibility.  Would we just give up on our own child?  Or want to go and put him down because he was scared?

In our current times of bailing out on our homes, just because we are upside down on the loan, even though we can still make the payments, our personal responsibility and our word no longer bears much weight.  Shame on us!  We need to take a real look at ourselves, and see just what we have become.  A bunch of winy babies, who only care about themselves and their immediate needs.  Why did helping the neighbor go out the window?  I guess only God knows.

Decker had a bath in our new Booster Bath we got a few months ago.  He needed to have his hair washed to look his best for the sheepdog herding trial.  This bath works great for bathing the dogs instead of using our bathtub.  I don't get hair all over the place, or have a dog jump out when I am not looking, or break my back while bathing multiple dogs.  The three-point restraint system holds the dog in the tub so they can't jump out, the footing surface has a rough texture so traction is maintained, and all of the hair and dog wetness stays out of the house.

While I was preparing his hair for the trial, I now know that he is ready to go to his permanent home.  He has passed many tests that I have given him.  He greets people at the door, even if they open the door to call me, he allows people to load products into the back of the truck where he is, and allows children to lead him around on leash and pet him.  He has learned how to take most things in stride, becoming less and less anxious.  He has quit leaking when being disciplined, and has not needed his male wrap for over three months.  Fearful aggression takes more time to recover than any other type of behavior problem, and now he is confident enough to be over it. 

It is imperative that he find a new home where the owner is calm assertive, which makes a good pack leader for him.  That balanced emotional control and response is opposite of where he was in the beginning, probably even where he was at, when he was born.  This kind of leadership will help him retain the stable mind that he now has.  I also do not want all of my hard work undone!

After Decker's bath, and drying him, I brushed him with a rake.  This made his hair really pretty and helps bring out the oils back into the hair that was washed away.  The rake also removed some of his remaining undercoat was left to be shed.  He is a hot dog in the house, so the less hair on him the cooler he will be.  His hair is like us wearing a thick coat 24/7.

The Australian Shepherd sheepdog herding trial went well, and everyone had a good time.  The hamburgers that were cooked there were especially good!  Decker did everything that I asked him to do.  I just handled him badly.  I am not an Aussie trialer, so I do not really know what the judges want to see.  I probably worked him too much like a Border collie, not letting him circle much at all.  He drove half of the course, and the sheep were light so he was pretty far off of them. 

After talking to some of my friends about it, they said that I should have had him fetch the entire course, and let him get closer to the sheep.  The judges wanted to see the dog work.  Well, in my opinion, he was working the sheep, just differently.  I hate having him do something lower than where he is.  In the past, I have done great working Border collies in that trial setting, but not this time, with the Aussie.  Oh well!  I am done with trialing him anyway.  I would trial him again, but I don't have the money for the entry.

Decker was also well behaved at the trial all day.  He was anxious at first, and then settled down for the rest of the day.

The boy has sure changed for the better in the last month or so.  Lots of people have been commenting to me "He has sure changed!”  I thought that a test was in order, to make sure that he has changed like I had been told and been suspecting for a while.

I was in need of some chicken feed for the chickens and salt for the sheep, so I went to the local feed store.  The girls were in the cab with me and Decker was in the back of the pick up, as usual, which has the camper shell on it.  As the feed store worker carrying my salt approached the truck to load it and I still in the store (with the door open), I saw an opportunity to check out the theory that Decker was ready for his new home.

I did not tell the guy carrying the salt to be careful, nor did I follow him out to the truck in order to advert any bad behavior from Decker.  In the past, I had always accompanied the feed store worker when he went to load my truck with feed.  Knowing that Decker used to growl when strangers went up to the truck, I felt the need to limit any possibility of liability due to the threat of a bite.

Like I have mentioned in the past, Decker has had no altercations other than his growling, as long as I have had him.  But I was told that he had bitten in the past, before I got him.  

But to ensure that Decker was now a "good citizen", he needs proofing.  And the reason that I did not warn the feed store guy about him is he could have actually caused a problem (or intensified it) with Decker getting upset in the truck.  If someone doesn't know of an improper behavioral problem with a dog, they do not carry that tension, or "scared" energy with them.  Bad behavior can intensify the problem because that negative energy the human is carrying is what intensifies it.  That is why being calm but confident is important, it can protect the human.  Lots of dogs will think twice of taking on a confident person, the challenge is much harder than with a submissive, weak person.  In the dog's world, a weak person needs to be dominated over.

As soon as the feed store guy was finished loading the feed, I yelled to him from inside the store.  "Did he growl at all?"  He answered "No” while giving me a funny look.  I had told the girl working at the feed store what was going on, so she was in on the test.  Later, she came to the pick up bringing more feed to load.  While I was at the truck with her, Decker was glad to see her and greeted her with puppy excitement.

It’s a good feeling to know that a messed up mind, is now balanced.  Now to keep him that way, so he can live out a full life.

The anticipated clinic is now over, and we all had a great time.  Unlike the previous two years, with two years being blazing hot in the mid to upper 90s, and last year freezing to death wrapped in blankets, this year was perfect weather for dogs, sheep and humans alike.  While it was chilly in the mornings, by late days were turning out to be nice.  So nice that some of the dogs, right after working their sheep, didn't even want to go to water.  There were a few sun burned faces, but over-all, the weather cooperated with the clinic.

Shelley and Randy Parker hosted the Jack Knox clinic on their ranch, entitled Rim Rock Ranch.  I come to the clinic every year, and every year, they do a great job at hosting it.  The ranch was spotless, treats and coffee were great, and none of the dogs got in any fights.

The sheep we used were the best home flock sheep that I have seen.  Just kidding!  They were mine, as Shelley and Randy borrowed them the week before the clinic's start date.  Betty, one of my "foundation" sheep got a cut on her hip.  I was going to just leave it alone, but Randy thought that we should staple it back together and he said that it would heal better and faster if we did that.  She got stapled and by Sunday, the wound looked just fine.  It was fairly hard to see the wound, as there was no redness or swelling at all.  Randy put her on Penicillin jell and is treating the wound daily.

Shelley had asked to borrow the sheep several weeks prior to the clinic, which I was happy to obolige.  She wanted the dog broke ones that I have, as we were expecting several young dogs entered in the clinic that would need to be in the round pen.  

Here at home, after sending sheep to Shelley's, I was a little thin on sheep.   The only ones that I had left were a couple of ewes that I don't really work and the "dog broke one's" lambs.  Lambs!

Lambs that have never been worked are crazy!  They don't have a leader, and they panic extremely easily, and run and crash into everything in sight.  They react and don't think.  Fortunately, I had one lamb left here from last year.  She, not being totally dog broke yet, was not so keen on being the leader, when we were out working the sheep.  But after several days, she settled in, calmed down, and so did the young lambs (somewhat).

Most of us at the clinic learned a lot.  Jack's training method is counter to human instinct, so we need reinforcement.  For example, if we walk into our dogs to push them out, it can lead to them being tight, just what we wanted to correct.  And us humans always want to make the right.  Jack's philosophy is to correct the wrongs and leave the rights alone.  That is what we handler's need reinforcement on, only correcting the wrongs and not making the rights.

Shelley had asked me to bring the "store" and set it up.  Initially, I wasn't planning on going to all of that trouble of packing all of the stock, and setting up at Shelley's ranch.  But I think vendors at events such as these, can really help the event.  If a certain tool is needed for training the dog while at the event, they can purchase one.  If a handler forgets to pack a certain dog product for their dog, it is available.

 One critical tool, that most dog handlers should have, and sold like crazy at this event, is dog id tags.  We don't carry regular hanging dog tags for dogs, but we do carry collartags.  These particular tags attach around the collar.  They don't dangle, so they don't wear.  They are guaranteed not to fall off and last for the life of the dog that they were initially purchased for.  Any kind of information can be engraved on them, from the dog's microchip number, the numbers of his registration.  Some customer's have put their county or city license number on the tags.  Then they do away with the government issued ones.  The usual information can also be put on the tags such as dog's name, address and phone number.  I don't think that many sheepdog people know about these collartags, but hopefully they will see them on a dog here or there and see the advantage they have over the hanging ones.

The girls and I had a great time at the Jack Knox clinic, and now are looking forward to next year's clinic.

Just Kidding!  But we have seen our first snake of the season.  I was walking toward the barn and am glad that I looked down to see a four-foot gopher snake.  Yikes!  Seizing the opportunity to train the dogs about snakes, Decker was about to get his first lesson.

I caught the big snake, and called the dogs over to me.  Kate learned the lesson long ago, and would come near me as I held the snake.  Tam took one look and backed off.  Just the response that I am looking for.  

Last year, Tam came running toward the snake.  "Oh, what is that great thing that you have, is it a rope to play with?"  Tam's training last year was crucial for her mere survival.

Having Rattlesnakes around the area and having my old dog, Bonnie, almost bitten from one, while she lay in the cool garage, I was not wanting a repeat of history.  

Decker apparently had never had a snake lesson.  So, there I was, training another dog to keep their distance and respect snakes.  In order to accomplish this, Decker needed to smell the snake.  So as I held it, he came over to investigate it and give it a big smell.  After the brief smelling session, I scared him away from the snake, trying to leave a large impression on him, that he is to stay away from this smell.  So he was yelled at, and chased, among other words, to ensure that he got the message to leave them alone.

A much more effective training method would have been to have a Rattle snake rattle with me and also have him associate the rattle noise with the smell, sight, and me chasing and yelling at him.  But these scenarios are very hard to set up.  First of all, one has to have a caged snake.  I no longer catch snakes and make them pets, as I did when I was a child.  I don't have that desire.   Keeping a snake rattle is usually not in my attire also.  So preparation has to be made in order to have a more effective lesson.

Occasionally snake classes are held in our area to "teach" dogs to keep clear of snakes.  Most of the snake fear classes use different techniques for establishing this "snake fear"; from cages of snakes, to rattle cans, to shock collars.  All of which have a degree of effectiveness.  But unfortunately, not all dogs learn the same way and have different motivators.

So my suggestion to teaching snake fear in dogs is see what works, and then if possible test it, to make sure.  Better safe than sorry.  For Decker, I don't know yet if he learned the lesson.  I hope that I can catch another snake and "proof" him, to see.

Well, I finally did it.  I entered Decker into a local ASCA (Australian Shepherd Club of America) sheepdog herding trial.  The trial is set for memorial weekend in Cayucos, California.  
In ASCA, unlike the USBCHA (United States Border Collie Handler's Assoc.) trials, where one can enter their dog in any level that they deem "fit" for their dog (not being able to go backwards after the move up-so better make sure), ASCA's requirement is to successfully compete first in the "Started" level.  So that is where we are entering the trial at, the Started level.  

Started is just like it sounds, for the started on sheep dog.  I feel that Decker is now working in the second level-"Open", but he is required to enter his first trials with ASCA in the Started level.  He will be required to take them out of a pen, then fetch, and either drive or fetch through two panels, trying to keep straight lines. 

ASCA has developed handler lines for the human competitor.  Depending on the level of the dog, the handler has limits as to where he can go in the arena.  In Started, he can go anywhere he needs to be to get the dog to work the sheep.  The entire course can be fetched if needed, or driven if needed, or even a combination of both.  Usually novice types of handlers choose to fetch the entire, not wanting to take a chance on making handling mistakes.  Fetching is probably the safest bet for most started dogs.

When I run a Border collie pup in their first ASCA trials, I try to work my pup in a drive position and from the Advanced handlers line.  Then as the run progresses, I have the option of moving closer to the dog or sheep, if additional help is needed.

With Decker, the hardest part for him, I fear, will be this "take pen".  This particular pen is where the dog has to go in by himself and go around the sheep in order to bring them out into the arena to start the rest of his run.  With many young dogs, this could be the hardest part for him.  Young dogs naturally want to go to head (positioning his body at the heads of the sheep) in order to stop the sheep from moving.  And this pen has a nasty jig in it.  It is shaped like an L, making is most difficult for many a dog.  We will be practicing this pen during our herding lessons.

During his sheepdog herding trial, I will try to have him "drive" the course.  If we run into trouble, I will step in and let him fetch the sheep the rest of the way through.  The judge will not score the dog any better for driving the course or for fetching, but I feel that this is good practice for both of us.  And in the next level, "Open", which I hope we are in after that weekend, fetching is not allowed.  My training method is always making it harder at first, then skate through the rest.  

At home, when I train, I have the drive panels set closer together, in order to make it tougher than at an actual sheepdog herding trial.  I mix things up, not training by a set order, what we humans are so good at, so the dogs don't anticipate what comes next.  If the dogs do that anticipation too much, they just might do their own thing and not listen to you.  

At a trial, you could come up against something unusual.  There are fetches called doglegged fetches.  These are where the dog does his outrun, and then does not bring the sheep directly back to the handler.  They have to be directed to some other point off to the left or right first, and possibly go around a post, then back to the handler.  If the dog anticipates, because he always brings the sheep back straight away, and directly brings the sheep back to you and misses the dogleg, then major points can be lost.

Another reason that I like to make my training harder is unusual obstacles can be included in mix.  A Maltese Cross can be included in a course.  If your dog just does his course by habit, and not by thinking, the cross might be impossible to accomplish.

I feel that if my dog is over-trained for the job at hand, then that job just might be a little easier.

I still want to sell Decker as a trained Aussie, and this trialing might get herders interested in him, or they might know of someone that is looking for a trained dog, we'll see!

Decker has always, when released, taken off after the sheep, wherever they might be.  Then he runs up and down the fence line, with an anxious mind. 

Lately, I have been grazing the sheep in my neighbor's pasture.  Realizing that my methods of stopping him from taking off after the sheep have been futile, I decided to get much firmer with him.  A few days ago, right after he took off heading for the sheep, I yelled at him not to go, and he defied me.  I then took off and chased him.  Boy, was he shocked to see me and he read my body language too, that told him that he was doing something that I (the pack leader) didn't want him to do.  He got a firmer correction and drug back to where I was when I told him not to go.  Then he was released and the correction was over and I no longer held any anger toward him.

This procedure of dragging the dogs back to where I was, when I told them a command, has been used for years in other disciplines, notably obedience.  I have used this method for most of my dogs, and thought that if I made my point clear to him, he might understand what I am demanding he do or not do.  Now the dragging part of this exercise is often not pretty, but very effective.  I make it a point of taking the dog's front feet off of the ground on the way back to the "spot".  Not liking this exercise in the least, the dogs often learn right away to do what they are told.

The next day, Decker did the same thing and I repeated the same exercise with him.  I do talk to them as they are being brought back to the "spot", so the intensity of the correction is somewhat an increased.  This second time of having to chase him while he was terrorizing the sheep, and being of an anxious mind, I got the feeling that he might have understood me.  At least that is what I was hoping for.

Well today, he didn't take off toward the sheep.  He hung around the girls and me.  This is my thinking on this subject; my Border collies probably have more instinct for herding, yet they can pull off and do not run the fences at the sheep.  And if that is the case, then Decker with a little less instinct should be able to do the same.

I have made him responsible for his actions, period.  There are consequences for poor decisions, and that is the way it is!  Aussies may be a stubborn breed; but I have the ability to reason, and can be more stubborn than him.

Today, I was out with John, my Canadian friend.  We were working on a fifth wheel pad that he was shaping with a tractor.  All of the dogs were out running around with us too.  It was a rainy type day, with drizzle but no real rain to speak of.  We thought we better get the grading done and the trailer back in its spot before the downpour comes.  Later this week, we are supposed to get at least three days in a row of rain.

My neighbor had some questions to ask me so she walked over through the property to talk to me.  She saw Decker coming, and has been instructed on how to scold him, if he were to charge her.  Well, he did just that.  She didn't shy away, but instead kept on walking and telling him to get away from her.  I immediately ran over, rake in hand, and he dropped to the ground.  He got scruffed and then he jumped up and ran over to John and my neighbor just like nothing happened. 

That irritated me, so I chased him and told him to get out of here.  He didn't understand what I meant, so I continued to chase him away from us until he finally understood, and went and laid down.   It seemed to me that he understood that I was actually mad at him for what he did.  We will see the next time my neighbor comes over and if he has learned anything from the incident.

A friend of my husband came over for a visit.  He brought his eight-year-old daughter with him.  I was out in the sheep field giving a lesson.  Decker had been put up, due to wining, which I can't stand.  So due to the wining, he lost his chance to herd sheep that day.  

After I was finished giving the lesson, All of the dogs were released to play and go potty.  Shelby, my friend's daughter was throwing the ball for the dogs.  All of them were having fun except Decker, he was still on the front porch, in his crate.  I released him but kept him on leash.

I let him run and play with the border collies, chasing the ball but keeping the leash on him, and making sure there was no aggression with him.  After about 7-8 minutes, he went for Shelby.  I saw him lunge for her legs.  Our friend and I went for him.  He was disciplined for the action, urinating from lack of confidence. NOT ON MY WATCH!

I have been meaning to buy a wire muzzle for him, and it has now been ordered.  And I have decided that since kids got him scared like this, kids are what is going to take to help him out of it.  He will learn to trust kids.  

One way to achieve this is to have kids interact with him.  Walking him, throwing a ball, feeding treats, petting are all ways of helping him, with petting being the very last obstacle in his rehabilitation. 

So that is the new plan, muzzle him, so he can't hurt anyone, and let kids do their magic, all with my supervision.

I am hosting a fun trial here in a couple of weeks.  There will be kids here watching and helping with the fun trial, so I am going to take advantage of the situation.  Wired for safety, Decker is going to be immersed in kids.  The local 4H dog group is coming to the trial to serve lunch.  They will have free time to watch some of the trial and I will ask if anyone would like to help Decker.  I hope this does the job.

We finally have seen Decker completely worn out.  My friend, John from Canada, is here.  He brought his two Border collies with him and his wife too!  All of the dogs were running around during the day as we worked with John's trailer.  John was parking it in a new spot and it had just rained.  

Here, the mud after a rain is terrible.  I have walked in it before, and I get taller and taller, with each step I take.  We also have expansive soils.  And when parking a trailer, where the soil has expanded due to winter rains, large ruts were made.  Needless to say, we spent the better part of the day trying to get the trailer level.

Decker had two new friends to play with, in addition to Kate and Tam.  He ran around all day, keeping up with all four Border Collies.

I have never seen him truly tired, to the point of not wanting to play.  This was good for us and him.  In the evening, the house was quiet.  No dogs playing with toys or each other, just peace and quiet.  That night, Matt and I had our house to our selves, even though there were three herding dogs in the living room with us.

It was amazing to see.  We could coach the girls to play, but not Decker.  He would just lay there, still.  He was tired.  

I always say, "A tried dog, is a happy and satisfied dog", and he was!

We had a lamb born on Christmas.  He is a beautiful black covered one that looks just like his mother, with white patches on top of his head.  I didn't even know that she was ready to lamb.  I came into the barn and there he was.  Time to now put them up alone together, and let them bond.  I showed the little critter to the girls, who get excited when the lambs start coming.  Decker on the other hand, was way too excited.  Kind of the same excitement that he has for my neighbors little potbelly pig.  He is over excited and anxious at its site.  I held him for Decker to smell, so he could see that it is a sheep, and not a cat, that he can chew on its neck.

We named the lamb Christmas, and I think that he will be called Chris for short.  Looking at his structure, I am noticing how well he is developed.  There has only been one other ram lamb born here about three years ago, that I just couldn't band.  This new lamb just might be another one that might be good left as a ram.  I should no more in a few weeks if I am going to keep him as a ram. 

One problem with keeping rams that I have bred is I have to be very careful of whom I breed him to.  It's yucky, thinking about him breeding to a sister.  Then I only have two other options when keeping a ram lamb intact.  Butchering him at a later date, or selling him as a ram.  Selling rams is not the easiest.  There are plenty of them out there. so I will have to think hard about what I want to do with him.  But for now, I will enjoy seeing him run and jump around.  And some of the other ewes will be lambing soon, so he will have playmates.  I do love watching them play with each other.  This was a nice gift from God.

Man, Its been raining since Thursday night!  Four straight days! 

Yesterday we had family over for some early gift exchanges.  Upon their arrival, Decker started to growl.  Matt was right beside him, and he got corrected for the growl and put into his crate on the front porch.  Later I let him into the house, so not to miss on an opportunity to help him desensitize to people.

He was unsure at first, then one of Matt's sisters offered him a chip and he was hooked!  I brought out some dog treats and he accepted them from the three relatives that were here.  He also spent four or five hours in the kitchen/family rooms with everyone, and had a good time.

Today was more rain, no outside exercise for the dogs again!  On to the treadmill.  Tam was first.  She gets in the "zone", and travels when she is on the treadmill.  She went 40 minutes at a slow trot. 

Next came Decker.  I have been trying to let him be secure enough on the treadmill, so he won't worry about where I am when he is on it.  Bingo!  Today was the day.  He went on it, I turned it on and adjusted the speed for him.  I then told him to stay and trot.  I slowly left the room and was able to package shipments for the website, out of site.  Yeah!!.  As it turns out, Decker really likes the treadmill.  He was asking to go on it before I put Tam on.  I made him wait though.  He went on it for an amazing 32 minutes, all by himself.  I am very proud of him.

Kate was on the treadmill last, and trotted for about 35 minutes.  All of that trotting should have taken the edge off of their energy levels.  At dusk, I went out to the barn to feed the livestock.  The rain had stopped for the moment.  And after I fed them, I got the dogs out and they got to go for a walk, OUTSIDE!  They had not been able to be outside for four days, except to go potty in the dog yard.

So the morning trot was for their bodies, and the evening walk down the road was for their minds.  Now their good to go!

The dogs and I have been fairly quiet this week.  I have started to gear up for a fun trial that I am putting on in February.  I have been rebuilding fences and restreaching fence wire, in order to make the place look good when everyone arrives for the trial.  

We are in the middle of an extensive rainstorm.  And just before it rained, I went out into the sheep pasture and seeded 24 lbs of annual rye grass seed.  I love the way the rye grows.  This grass grows really fast, compared to other grasses.  Even though it is only an annual, it should make the place look pretty and green, and give the sheep lots to eat.

We are really getting lots of rain.  This area is even on alert for mudslides and washouts.  So exercising the dogs with all of this rain, is challenging.  Today the dogs ran on the treadmill.  What a wonderful tool for exercising dogs in bad weather.  Tam and Kate both were on for 25 minutes and so was Decker.  Today was the first day that I have been able to have him unleashed on the treadmill.  He did quite well and did not leave the treadmill once during his workout.  I have also started wandering away, ever so slightly out of his view.  I am preparing him for being on the treadmill with out me being right with him.  

At first, he was nervous with me being out of his view, but I just told him to keep walking, and he did great.  Next time I will try leaving the room, and move just into the next room.  This will allow me to work on the computer while he is exercising, thus freeing up some of my time.  

Today I put the dogs out for a while.  I have built a gate for the front porch, so I closed it off so they had to stay on the covered porch.  Tam and Decker were out there on the porch running back and forth, rassling with each other.  Kate was being pathetic.  Sitting at the front door, looking in.  All she wanted, was to be back inside with us.  At least the young ones were able to play in the cool air, and not get their feet dirty.

I had entered both of the girls into the Coalinga CA sheepdog Trial.  I thought there would only be about 50+ people there so it would be a good opportunity for Decker to desensitize some with groups of people.  One problem though-I was bringing the store with me also. How do I fit him in with all of the stuff too?

I had entered both of the girls into the Coalinga CA sheepdog Trial.  I thought there would only be about 50+ people there so it would be a good opportunity for Decker to desensitize some with groups of people.  One problem though-I was bringing the store with me also. How do I fit him in with all of the stuff too?

I spent the entire day packing the back of the little pick up.  I did have to make bags to carry some of the stock in, so it won't get dirty.  But other wise, I had to do a lot of maneuvering to fit the large crate inside the back of the pick up, so Decker had a place to ride, and for safe keeping.

Coalinga is almost a desert.  Very seldom does it rain there.  If fact, of the 10+ years of the Coalinga sdt, it had only rained only once.  And as it would be, it rained!  And the mud was very terrible.  A couple of steps, and you were suddenly getting taller and taller.  Fortunately for us, it only rained periodically during the morning, and then cleared for a fantastic rest of the day.

Having the store there had its challenges too.  I waited until the storm passed, then set up only one table, and the coolaroo of ours as a demo, filled with dog toys.  And after about an hour, guess what?  It started raining.  Oh no!  Matt, my husband and Roland, my friend, grabbed the borrowed quick shade, and set it up quickly to protect all of the stock from getting wet.  It worked quite well, and many trialers were glad that I brought stock.

In the morning, during the rain, Decker spent a good portion of his time in the crate.  During the dry spells, I would get him out and let him relieve himself.  We would also go up to where everyone was gathered to watch the trial.  This is what I brought him for.  He needed exposure to groups of people, but not hundreds at once.

At first, he was anxious, but after several hours, he settled down.  He even allowed a few people to pet him. 

Later in the afternoon, the ground had dried up to the point of being good to walk on.  I took the girls and Decker out for a walk and run.  I walked about a 1/2 mile away on the ranch, and found a great place to throw the chuck it ball launcher for them.  The girls didn't need too have much energy released as they were in the trial, but Decker did.  They all had a great time going up and down the hills chasing the ball and releasing energy.

Both of the girls on Saturday did well at the trial.  They both took every command that I asked, I couldn't have asked much more of them.  We completed the outrun, lift, fetch, and drive.  Missed the second panel with Kate.  Then she got her shed, and pen.  We got timed out at the single.  But I was real pleased with her performance.

Tam did everything that I needed her to do to.  I didn't think this year that she would be competitive, but I was wrong.  I have just moved her up from Nursery to Open.  And this is only her second Open trial.  She did a beautiful outrun, lift, fetch, drive and made both panels.  We got the shed, and pen.  I had problems with the pen.  I have never had sheep not want to leave it.  So I went inside to put pressure on them to leave.  When I did, I completely forgot about the gate, and went straight to the single shed.  OH NO!

I found out that I forgot the pen gate after I had already put the sheep away.  This time, I only got hit 2 points for that.  But I must not ever do that stupid mistake again.  Tam's score was an 82.  I could not have been happier with her.  Later, I found out that I would have been 4th or 5th, if I hadn't made that stupid mistake.

So I was wrong that Tam at just 2 1/2 years old, could not be competitive.  I hope that this spring goes this nice for her.

On Sunday, I left Decker at home.  One day was enough for me.  I only brought a little stock from the store in case some one didn't get a chance to get something the day before.   In the morning, the sheep were terrible.  Yikes!  I ran Kate first, and there was a strong draw toward the exhaust, for Kate's entire fetch.  They also ended up on the wrong side of the post.  I have a tough time with pressure and I thanked the judge and walked away from the post.  Run over.  I have been told to keep going if problems arise.  That in some cases, everybody is in the same boat at the trial, and I could just place.  But, oh well, I felt like a novice handler, with my sheep on the wrong side of the post. 

I called Shelley, my trainer, and got the “don't quit” lecture.  So I toughed it out with Tam's run.  She had a to die for outrun and lift, but she was sticky at the fetch.  She knew that the sheep were going to run.  That's what her mother would do.  Fortunately, I was able to coach her down the hill, and the stupid sheep walked right around the fetch panels, just like a human would.  So with that missed, I kept going.  We made the panels, and worked on the shed.  Our time had been cut by a minute this day, so we got timed out and didn't get the shed, pen, or single. 

I was dumbfounded.  How can we run great one day and crappy on the next?  I talked to Shelley about it and she told me "That's trialing!"  She is right, That's trialing.

I had a student come over with his Zip dog.  He has had two lessons before, but is a pretty obedient dog, so we thought we would give it a try in the field.  At first, he was real sticky and did not want to move.  Later, as I moved the sheep around, he would just follow them.  After more that five minutes, he was still following and not circling around trying to bring them to me.  I had Kate come in with me to get him going.  After several minutes, he got the idea, and was herding sheep on his own and out in the field.

I do like to get dogs out of the round pen as soon as possible.  Zips owner was anxious to see if he would work in the field, and he almost wouldn't.  Fortunately, Kate was able to get him going.  We did lots of fetching and mini outruns, and toward the end of his lesson, he was doing quite well.

Decker did well in the field also.  I am still encouraging him to drive a little, which I think he is doing quite well.  He still is doing the Aussie thing of busting up the group.  Woopie!  As Decker waited his turn, he was whining.  This drives me crazy.  I repeatedly had to correct him for whining, until eventually he stopped.  Thank God!

Yesterday, I mentioned that Decker met a baby pig.  Well today, she was loose out in the yard with my neighbor's dogs.  Knowing this, when I came over, I left Decker behind.  He is too out of control with this little piglet and might hurt her.  But, Kate and Tam got to come over and meet the pig nose to nose.  You should have seen the girl's tails; they were straight up in the air, vertically.  I took several pictures of them together, and then went home to calm Decker down, as he was upset that he was left.

The girls and Decker got to come with my husband and I to my dad's house for Thanksgiving dinner.  This year, unlike most other years, we had a only a small group for dinner.  This year it was just as well for Decker's sake, since he is uncomfortable in large crowds.  

I had to feed my neighbor's animals for her before we left for dinner, so we arrived a little late, but just in time for the yummy food.  Smells were in the air when we went inside the house, and the dogs could tell every ingredient that was used in the preparation of the feast.  

Everyone was happy to see each other, and even the dogs were happy to see my dad's dog, Stuey.  Stuey is a senior Australian shepherd, and it is getting harder and harder for him to move around.  But his nose is in tiptop shape.  He was beside himself with the meal being served, and was right beside the table, in case anyone wanted to give this pleasantly plump pooch a tasty handout!

My three dogs, on the other hand, live a more rigid and structured existence.  They are not allowed to be in the kitchen when we are eating or I am fixing meals.  I can't stand having them underfoot.  So I made the dogs stay in the living room, and out of the kitchen and dining room.  Kate kept on sneaking into the kitchen to vacuum (one of her favorite jobs), and I repeatedly told her to get out.  I guess at almost six years old, one thinks that they can take liberties like sneaking and that all of the rules don't apply to them.  

Tam and Decker were pretty well behaved all night with one exception.  Upon arrival, I had let the dogs out of the truck and we were visiting with my dad outside.  Jessy, my step niece came outside and Decker let out a growl.  He promptly received a verbal correction, and Jessy went back into the house.  

Decker has acted like this several times, when startled like he was.  Sure, he didn't know her, but she came outside when his back was turned.  He will need desensitization in being startled, since he tends to over-react.  When I came into the house, I told Jessy to ignore the dog, and don't try to pet him unless he comes to her.  She took direction well, and later in the evening, he warmed up to her and allowed petting.

The night was fairly relaxing for me as I only had to ride Kate for sneaking around, but the other two dogs were fine examples of dogs in control.  Good nights like that, are good examples for Decker to remember, and will hopefully help him achieve and maintain balance in all circumstances of his life.

My friend Roland came over to work sheep with his dog Jessy.  Last week, Jessy had been spayed, and Roland hadn't been able to sheepdog herd with her for a while.  Decker had also missed Jessy.  They are best friends, always playing and chasing each other as fast as they can run, around the house and back again.  Often, we will see Decker on his back, with Jessy straddling him, as they mouth fight.  

While Roland did some sheepdog herding with his dog, I went over to the other side of the house to stack wood.  The forecast in the afternoon was for rain.  Since we heat our house with wood, it is pretty important to have our wood under the tarp, nice and dry.  My husband had just finished splitting all of the wood, and didn't have enough time to stack it.  So I thought I would help him out.

When I got done stacking wood, I was able to do some sheepdog herding with my girls.  I had a lesson with Shelley, my trainer, last Saturday.  Since then I have been working with both of them not to slice the end of their flanks, the part where they want to stop and start to drive.  Since the flanks start good, its just the end that I have been working on.  I am trying to make them understand not to close in on the sheep, and to keep back and lesson the pressure off of them.  This will help in trialing.

Decker has been introduced to driving.  Last week, I just touched on it.  Today, I let him drive further.  I was expecting a struggle.  When I changed training strategies on him before, we both struggled for several weeks.  When I went from him circling the stock, both directions, to fetching, I was constantly blocking him wanting to circle.  After several weeks of this, he settled down and accepted that I wanted both, circling and fetching.  But I wanted it when it was appropriate.  When I am walking backwards and asking him to walk up, he, by instinct, is to bring me the sheep.  Now, he fetches very well.  I no longer have to use the fences, and am out in the open field.

I am quite impressed with the amount of instinct that he has.  While driving today, he did fine.  I was ready for a challenge, but didn't have one.  Roland was watching, and commented that maybe he is a driving dog.  Driving dogs are drivers by nature.  That is what they really want to do.  You will find them in all of the herding breeds.  I actually think it is just a little early to tell if he is a driving (line) dog.  And to tell you the truth, I am starting to have fun working him.  It has been somewhat of a chore to train him.  But now that he is starting to drive some, that is more fun for me.  

I am still working on him to learn his flanks.  I feel that he is just starting to get the idea, that away means something, and come-by means something.  I am thinking that he will know them in a couple more weeks.

Earlier, I mentioned that I would let you know how the male wrap is working for Decker.  Great!! :) I wish I had used it sooner.  He is also learning to stand on command by having to put on the wrap when he comes in the house.  Also, my house is rejoicing, as there is no more leaking at all.

Last night, I decided to start teaching Decker how to shake hands.  I was curious at how long it would take him to catch on.  I used a high-value food, and initially he had a hard time concentrating, wanting the food badly.  After several minutes, and driving my Border collies crazy, as they offered all kinds of behaviors that they have been taught, Decker was able to control his emotions toward the food.  Once his emotions were under control, he was able to learn quickly.  I thought it was a fluke, and he just happened to give me a "shake", after only one training session.  But I told my husband about it and he said "I bet he won't do it now!"  He did!.  I even tested him this morning without food, and I got my shake.  Of course, he got many pats and good boys, which he relishes.

In addition to teaching him to shake, I had been advised to start training Decker on agility.  Many people look for a nice agility dog, and one that works sheep too; there are many people in our area that cross disciplines and train their dogs both in agility and in herding.  Previously, I had only been messing around with him in agility, while at Sandy's house.  But now, I guess I will have to step it up and train him in agility also.  This afternoon I started him in "formal" agility training.  I will train him in agility as formal as I know how to do with out going to an agility class.  

I have been fairly successful with my two border collies at half-heartedly training them in agility.  Hopefully, if I step it up some, I can get good groundwork in agility done with him.  We will see in the next few weeks.

Decker has been doing fairly well in herding lately.  I still haven't started driving with him, but I have been laying the foundation for that, by introducing a little off-balance work.  Decker has also been taking to whistles.  A couple of weeks ago, I introduced him to whistles while herding.  By the end of the first session, he understood the down whistle and the walk-up whistle.  Now he is fairly solid on those two whistles, and I have been working with him on his flanks.  I now want him to know just what come-by and away actually mean.  So he has been getting a few drills, but not too much to sour him.  By having Decker know his flanks, will make driving with him easier.  And once he know his flanks, its all down hill from there.  And on to winning Aussie trials. 

Several weeks ago, I wrote that problems might arise with the discipline methods that I use with Decker.  Well that problem happened.  I ran my truck in to the local oil change place.  I was going to leave Decker inside the back of the truck, but changed my mind.  I thought that he might not be so comfortable around the guys, as they worked on changing the oil.  When I opened up the back of the truck to take him out, I asked the service man not to look at him as this was a challenge to the dog.  I told him about Decker's past, as Decker wiggled in elation about getting out of the truck.  The service man said that he seemed like a real nice dog. I brought him inside the lobby with the girls to wait with me.

Right away, he acted up a bit.  I heard a growl when a gentleman walked in to also wait for his oil change.  He got corrected, and then it was all over.  He settled down until one of the workers walked in to show me my air filter.  Decker growled again, and got in trouble for that too.

After about 10 minutes, of which he was fine, a lady walked in.  He promptly growled at her and I promptly "touched" him on his side with my foot.  Well, that move opened up a can of worms.  By the way, that really was a touch, a "snap out of it" touch to his side.  

The lady came unglued!  She was all over me, telling me that there were other ways to correct his behavior.  I don't take kindly to nosey people telling me how to deal with a potential liability.  I did not act as nice as I should of, and let her know just how hard that I touched him.  I touched her on her shoulder with the same force that I touched Decker.  

That was not good enough.  She obviously knew much more that I did at handling aggressive dogs.  I told her about his past, and that he had bitten twice before.  I let her know that I had rescued him so he would not be put down.  All of that was not good enough for this lady, as she was the expert.

Decker growled at her again.  This time his discipline for that behavior was to be "bit" with my hand on his neck.  I held him down on the ground until he had relaxed, then I released him and he remained laying on the ground, just like any normal dog.

The lady was super emotional, and upset with how he was being treated (which in my opinion, was swift, to the point, then over).  I again, not very nicely, told her that maybe I should just kill him right now, and not give him a chance at a normal life.  She insisted that there were "better" ways to change a dog.  I wish that she would write a book on that, so I could study it.  She told me that she had a mind to report me to the SPCA.  I told her to go ahead! (Little did she know, that they have no authority here in this county)

After my truck was done with the oil change, we all went outside to leave.  The lady was out there crying!  Crying?  Man, what a baby!  We again got into it, right outside the oil change store.  My truck was pulled up to the front of the store, so the dogs and I walked through the working end of the oil change store, to get to the truck.  The two guys working there asked me what was going on.  I promptly told them that there was some bleeding heart out there that knows more than any one else in the world, how to deal with an aggressive dog.

Then I loaded up the dogs and left.

Upon arriving at Sandy's, for dog day, I was early.  I unloaded everything to her.  It sure makes one "feel guilty" and second-guess oneself.  And ruins your whole day.

It's funny though.  Jim, Sandy's husband told me that afternoon, "Decker is sure not the dog that you brought over here two months ago. He is a changed dog". 

Jim didn't know what had gone on earlier that day, so it was an honest opinion of Decker.  My methods stand, time tested by Cesar Milan.

Decker pushed my buttons today, and I finally exploded at him.  I have been dealing with my online dog supply store, Operation Sheepdog Herding, not generating any money.  It generates some, but not enough to pay for the minimum orders that I have to put in, to order a customer's product.  Usually, the orders are low, but with my shipping charges fairly high, all of that combined makes it hard to absorb all of the added expenses.

Financially, I did terrible at the Humane Society Fund-rasier "dog fair".  I brought in several hundred dollars worth of product and only sold a couple of items.  I did not sell any Bella Bowls, which I dearly love, and my dog's actually eat out of; no sales for the In and Out Crocks, which are real nice for crates and I even own one; I didn't sell one dog collar at all.  No dog collars sales really surprised me and I even had gotten the girls new Flying Dogs collars to show what those neat collars look like.  In the spring, I had a booth at another dog event fair, and I sold a couple of collars.  But Saturday, I had a much better selection and much lower prices, with no interest.  I even had Halloween and Fall design dog collars.

I had interest with sheepdog herding though.  This was the first time that this event, in it's 18 year history, that it had ever had sheepdog demonstrations.  I was occupied, but was told that tons of people were fascinated by the dogs working the sheep.

So this morning, I was dealing with a product that I had shipped to me and actually sold.  I found out today that the shipping charge, with a weight of only one pound was 13+ dollars!  That was almost twice the product cost.  Then I figured that I had lost money on it.  I was fuming about it!  While I was getting ready to go outside to feed the livestock, the dogs were being restless.  I just opened the door and told them to get out.  Kate and Tam went out with Decker hanging back.  I am not much of a sweet talker, and was not about to lower my status, just to have him feel more comfortable near me, and maybe get him to go outside also.  So I took a breath, kept my anger at bay, and walked over to Decker and repeated to him to get out.  He did not budge.  I touched (and I mean literally touched)  him with my foot by his rear, then he bolted out.  I was not mad at him, inside or out until I saw that he had leaked again.

That's when I exploaded!  I screamed and yelled at him and told him that that was it.  He is getting a male wrap.  I have them on the website, but have never used them.  I have used the female diapers for heat cycles for over 20 years, but never a male wrap.  The female diapers that are on the site are super durable, and mine (I have 4 of them) have lasted for over 20 years!

Yesterday, I had just steam cleaned my carpet to get rid of his "scares".  I can't take it any longer.  I can't discipline him in the house.  Well, not any longer.  He is going to get it!  Rain or shine.

I will report on how well the male wraps work, but I guess they will be the best thing ever, and my house will be grateful.

Well, being mad at Decker, and he knew I was, and had tucked himself up underneath the pickup truck, to hide.  After feeding the animals, I had to go into town and was not taking the boy with me.  I was still mad at him.  I put him into his crate on the front porch, gave him some water in the In and Out Crock inside the crate.  I loaded up the girls and left, glad for the separation.  I was gone about 3 1/2 hours and was glad that I left him.  I needed some distance from him for a while.

We just got back from next door where my neighbor has two cattle.  Both of them have never been worked by dogs, so they have to learn, and cattle don't like to be bullied like sheep do.  But never the less, I needed to work them with the dogs.

Decker needed exposure to cattle if he is going to get placed in a working ranch.  There is a local dog and horse sale coming up in a few weeks; and since I will be out of town at a sheepdog herding trial, I asked my neighbor, Babs, if she would take him to the sale.  

Babs is a big "dog rescue" person.  She lives what she says, and has rescued many dogs.  She does not place them in other homes per se, but usually keeps them and gives them a good home with her.  She was excited when I rescued Decker, and seemed truly glad that I had him.  I have told her that I ultimately will find a home for him, once he is better.  Yesterday, I told her my dilemma, and asked her if she would consider taking him to the sale for me.  She said yes.  Wow, that was really unexpected!  But she will be a great person to walk him around at the sale to generate interest.  She did ask me if I wanted him to go on that day, and I said no.  I want to make sure that whoever wants him, is the right person for him, and he has the right home environment also.

What I needed to do today was get him familiar with cattle and working them.  He was excited until it was his turn, then weary.  These cattle needed to be somewhat trained for a dog to work them, especially a young dog used to sheep.  Against my really wanting, I had to use the two Border Collies to "teach" the cattle how to respond properly to dogs.  I don't work cattle.  And there are several reasons for that.  One primary reason is I don't want my dogs hurt.  Cattle kick, and they can roll a dog also.  I have seen accidents with cattle and dogs, and have chosen not to work that kind of stock.  It would be different if I owned cattle or a cattle ranch, and needed the dogs in a real situation, but I don't, so I won't.  On-the-other-hand, Decker might need to work cattle in the future, so the cattle needed to be trained.

It is hard doing two things at the same time.  Training cattle with sheepdogs is one thing, and then trying to train a dog on reluctant cattle is another.  I had to run around the cattle to protect the dog and at the same time, work the dog, so he starts to understand what I am asking him to do.  Kate and Tam were easy enough to work, allowing me to concentrate on the cattle.  So I would back-up the dog with my presence, so both the dog and the cattle thought the dog was moving the cattle.  Cattle are not the brightest either.  But after several attempts, I think they were getting the idea.  I was able to move them up and down the fence with out too much trouble.  

With Decker, he was anxious to work them, and then once he was out with them, he gave them space.  Maybe too much space.  These cattle needed the dog to be able to get into its space in order to make them move.  Decker wasn't listening to me, taking opposite flanks that I asked him for; showing to me that he was stressed.  I understand that.  Your used to working and being next to animals that are just your size, then suddenly you are asked to work these huge things, towering over you.  I was also stressed.  None of that helped matters.

He also became afraid of the stick that I had.  The first time I worked Decker on the cattle, I used the training stick and the whipflag together.  It was good for teaching the cattle, but not so good for any of the dogs.  It is too strong for them.  When I use the flag with the dogs and the sheep, I have to use it very sparingly, or they can either become numb to it or shut down from being sensitive.  I would be correcting the cattle, and the dogs would think that the correction was for them, and would be responding to it.  Once I realized that the flag was causing more of a problem than it was helping, I dropped it, and just used the stick.  But by this point, Decker was somewhat turned off.  He was afraid of the stick.  I will have to 'pet' him with the stick every day, several times a day, to help desensitize him to the stick.  He is not your typical hardheaded Aussie, he is fairly sensitive and responsive.

Later this week, I will work the cattle again.  I like to see what the dog has thought about during their absence from working the cattle.  Many times with sheep, the next time you work the dog on them, the dogs have thought about the lesson, gained some confidence and work better the next time.  I will see in a few days.

Last night I was in town and has several minutes to kill.  I was heading to my church home group.  We meet at a church member's house weekly.  Our church is fairly large, so small groups have been developed to allow for close personal contact among members.

I passed the vet clinic, and it was still open.  I have been wondering how much more weight Decker had lost, so I turned in.  I asked permission to weigh him and the two girls.  Decker weighs in at 72.1 lbs.  Back in late August, when I first got him, he weighed a whopping 84.9 lbs!  He has now lost 12.8 lbs.  That's great!  I still feel he has more to loose, but he is moving better now and keeps up with the girls better.

Tam weighed in at 37.7 lbs. She has gained over 11 lbs. since her obstruction and surgery this summer.  She is maybe a pound or two lower than where I would like her to be.  I keep shoveling food at her!

Kate was weighed also.  I don't weigh her too often, as long as I think she is right in line with a proper weight for her size.  She weighed 37.3 lbs.  She has dropped a little, but I like where she is, so I will work on maintaining her weight at that level.  She is a smaller dog than Tam, not as tall, and a more petite, so it stands to order that she should weigh less than her.

All-in-all, I was very pleased with all of the dog's weights, but especially with Decker's.  I figure that Decker has lost  8.5% of his original body weight.

It rained yesterday and all night, and forecasted to rain all day.  What to do?  Fortunately last year, I bought a used treadmill just for days like these.  Kate and Tam, the Border collies have been on the treadmill, so do not need to be trained on it. 

I put Tam on first.  She does the treadmill just like a typical dog would on the Cesar Milan show.  She puts her head down, concentrates, and migrates.  She stays on the treadmill until I come in to turn it off and walk her off.  

Kate was next.  She has always been a miss socialite, so her typical way to do the treadmill is with her head up, looking from side to side, tail medium and waging.  She never has gotten into the grove and 'migrated' on the treadmill.  She has no trouble staying on it until I come for her, she just does not 'get in the groove'!

This is the day for Decker to learn how to use the treadmill.  I had had him on it previously for about 30 seconds, just to see how he would react.  He was fine that first time.  This time, he went through a slight learning curve, then accepted it.  He didn't freak out or jump off or act scared in any way.  For him, it was a new concept to learn.

At first, he kept putting his front paws above the top of the belt, this made only his back feet move.  I chuckled at it.  He did that twice, then with guiding with the leash, he settled into a brisk walk.  I stayed with him his entire 'trip'.  

After about 10 minutes, I sped him up to encourage him to break into a trot.  Eventually he did, and I let him stay in that gate for a couple of minutes, then slowed the treadmill down until he was walking again.  Then three more minutes at the walk for a cool down.

All-in-all, Decker walked on the treadmill quite well, even for a beginner.  He may have trusted me, so accepted it, but what ever the reason, he seemed to enjoy it.   When he stopped, he was excited and wiggley.

I have noticed recently that Decker has been going back and forth about growling.  I don't know exactly what is going on in his mind right now.  I had the plumber out for a repair, and Decker didn't growl at all.  I had the plumber feed Decker treats and a minute later, he was petting him.

Two days later, the plumber came over with his wife and a friend, to see all of my animals.  That must have been too much at once for Decker.  He was totally uncomfortable with having them here.  Every time that I heard a growl (3 of them), I submitted him, and he urinated.  I stayed outside with the guests in order to protect them, just in case.  After a couple of minutes, I handed the guests some treats for them to give to Decker.  

This was the most nervous that I have seen him since I got him.  Two days earlier, the plumber had petted him, and now he wasn't sure.  Treats were the icebreaker.  He started accepting them, and was a gentleman.  My guests were giving him commands for the treats.  I really liked this.  That is one strategy that I have used in the past with Kate.

When Kate was just about 6 months old, when she was recovering from her surgeries, a child frightened her.    She loved kids before that incident.  Sometimes it takes once and dogs can have trouble for a lifetime.  I have been working with her to not be afraid of kids for several years now.  I don't trust her, but I am now more relaxed with her around them.  I still seek the right kids to help her work through her fears.  Kids that are not afraid of dogs, and thus don't suck a dog in to wanting to defend themselves.  And throwing the ball for her and feeding her treats, was a break through for her.  Just recently, I saw her coming over several boys, to get attention from them.  

And at the same time, I work on me, needing to let go.  I can actually keep Kate in that fear state, by my own energy and lack of confidence in her.  So my dilemma, with both Kate and Decker,  I have to protect the human, first and foremost, then have to allow the dog to grow.  Now with Kate, she accepts older kids, but the toddlers, she is still leery of.  Decker still needs more work, exposure and discipline.  He needs lots of exposure to people, especially at the house, and corrected immediately when he growls.  I additionally think that sheepdog herding with him will raise his self-confidence, and allow him to be more accepting of other people.  

Sheepdog herding will actually do several things for Decker in addition to raising his confidence.  Sheepdog herding gives him a purpose, a job in life, what he was born to do, have a job.  It gives him structure and discipline in life, just what ALL dogs need.  And it gives him affection.  When he is out in the field sheepdog herding, and when he works nicely, he gets feedback from me.  That is affection.  A "good boy", "good job" or a smile and a pat are all affection.  When a dog's needs are met, their minds can't help but be balanced.  

That is my goal with Decker, to attain a balanced mind, and keep it there.

In the morning I threw the ball for the dogs.  I wanted to burn some energy off of them and was short on time this morning, so the ball would due for a while.  I used the Chuck-it launcher along with a Chuck-it Ultra balls, for added distance and durability.  Since the dogs are so fast, and I am a terrible thrower, I thought I needed the advantage of the Chuck-it thrower.   This would also let the dogs run farther, thus getting more exercise. 

Kate, my eldest Border collie, is a tennis ball popper.  It only takes her a few minutes with a new tennis ball and she has it popped.  That popping of tennis balls is a waste of money to me.  Pressure-less tennis balls are better, but a lot of dogs will "skin" them.  And after Tam got a piece of ball lodged in her intestines, which required surgery, I don't take any chances any longer, out they go.

I have had heard rumors that the fuzz on regular tennis balls can be pretty abrasive to the dog's teeth.  We all have enough problems with our dog's, to add something else to the list, such as dental problems.  I would recommend that if a dog chews and chews on tennis balls, that the owner change the type of ball that he is allowed to chew, in order to minimize problems with abrasion.  

I have used the Chuck-it ultra balls for many years, with no problems, even with popping.  They don't pick up stickers nearly as much as regular tennis balls.    When in use and wash-off easily.  I really like these ultra balls.

There is one more ball that I really like for my dogs to chase, and that is the Huck ball by West Paws Design.  The Huck ball is heavier  than the ultra balls, and depending on wind, will not fly as far as the ultra balls, but they are stronger and almost indestructible.  I have given them to some of the most aggressive chewers that I know, and only one, a picker, was able to touch it at all, and was very minor damage.  Usually I don't even see a tooth mark!  This ball is solid with raised parts on the outside, which can massage the dog's gums and teeth.

During the early evening, I met my neighbor next door to get some zucchini for Decker's meals.  She had never met him before, and I called him over to us as we talked.  He was fine at first, then he let out a little growl.  I excused myself and immediately corrected him, on the ground.  I am suspecting that he is afraid of hats on people.  Every time that he growls at someone, they are wearing a hat.  I guess that I need to be wearing a hat around the house more often to help desensitize him.   

When Kate was young, about 2 years old, she was afraid of hats.  I was at a trial walking around with her and a friend of mine walked by.  He was wearing just the hat off of a coat.  No coat at all!  She came unglued.  I had to correct her several times for it.  Later, I worked on desensitizing her with hats.  Food can be your friend!

I managed to get in today to get Decker weighed at the veterinarian's office.  I get a more accurate weight loss using the same scale.  Also, usually veterinarian's scale are quite accurate.  I promptly walked in, asked if I could use the scale, then with out hesitation walked Decker right on the scale and told him to sit.  He did as he was told.  I couldn't believe my eyes, it read 76.3.  I took Decker off of the scale, and zeroed it out , then put him back on for a second reading.  I wanted to make sure that the scale was correctly reading his weight.  Yep, just about; his weight has been recorded as 76.5 lbs.

I told Roland yesterday, that I just thought that I was starting to feel his ribs.  He said not to get carried away thinking that I am done with his diet; because he still needs to loose more weight.  I knew what he meant, but seeing him every day, I don't get to see the progress, now I am starting to see some.  Today visit confirmed it, Decker has lost 8.4 lbs, so far.  I still think that more weight needs to come off, maybe 4-5 lbs, but time will tell.

I had a lunch meeting with one of the managers from the San Luis Obispo Humane Society.  I had decided to take all of the dogs with me because its always much cooler toward the coast in San Luis Obispo.  It was going to be a scorcher today at an estimated 106F.  When we left to head down to SLO, the weather was getting hot at around 90F.  As I am driving down the hill toward SLO, I noticed that the weather was getting hotter instead of cooler.  Wow, that is sure weird.  Only once in a blue moon is the weather reversed like that.  It is usually always hotter in north county than is SLO in the summer, and colder in the winter.  San Luis Obispo is always milder that north county.

Well its just my luck!  Its boiling down here in SLO and I have the dogs with me!  I found some pretty good shade and made sure the dogs had water and open windows.  I found out that it was 103F, so I went from 90 to 103F, it figures!  I was early, so I looked around in a nearby store for a few minutes, then rechecked the dogs.  Not happy with the shade, I moved the truck to a shadier location.

Steve (the Humane Society manager) and I met for lunch and discussed an up coming event that I am involved in.  They sponsor a yearly dog walk and fair called the Wiggle Waggle Walk around the park.  It is a fundraiser for that local organization.  I am going to be doing sheepdog herding demonstrations. 

We discussed the event during lunch then headed over to the park where it is going to be held in order to work out logistics.  Their will be booths with vendors set up in the dog park located inside the Laguna Lake park.  Steve and I needed to discuss where and how, I would be doing the demonstrations.  Since we were at a dog park and the dogs were hot, I let them out to play.  I kept a cautious eye on Decker as there were two other people at the dog park with their dogs, all having fun chasing the ball.

I had all of the dogs leashed, then once "inside" the dog park (no real fences), I unleashed them.  Decker and the girls had a wonderful time running and playing, and chasing the ball.  One lady walked by and I simply told her to ignore the Aussie.  That made me fell better as Decker had been coming right up to her as he was playing with her dogs.  He really like her dogs too, and seemed drawn to them.

After discussing the event on October 23rd, it was still fairly early in the day.  I decided to take the dogs to the beach, since I was almost half way there.  The beach was beautiful.  The temperature was about 75 or 80 degrees and not much wind.  The tide was in, and people and dogs were everywhere along the beach, enjoying each other and the water.

The dogs were leashed and remained so until I reached about 50 feet from the water.  Then off with the leashes, and time to run.  The girls took off and Decker followed.  They ran up and down the surf, chasing birds or balls, what ever came their way.  They even played a little with other dogs, but not too much as they have a priority of running!  I walked up and back down along the surf, checking to see what was up a head.  I was looking for joggers.  I had been warned that Decker might go after joggers.  Being a herding dog, I don't doubt that.  There were no joggers at all, just lots of dogs, balls, people and water.

When the dogs got a little too far from me, I used my sheepdog herding whistle with the "that'll do" command on it, and they would tear back to me.  Decker doesn't know what the recall whistle is, so he would follow the girls back to me.  More and more I would whistle, then use a verbal command, so he would understand what I want.  

As we were ending the beach excursion, Decker was getting it.  He was coming back to me better and better.  I was pleased with his progress.  I think that he is coming around just fine.  I am now considering starting to look to place him, but I will be picky as to what kind of home he goes to.  I have a lot of me inside him, and I don't want him to revert back to how he used to be.  I also think that he needs another active dog in his pack to play with.  Being only a year and a half, he still has puppy in him. 

I received a call a few days ago out of the blue.  She had had my number for over a year and wanted to restart sheepdog herding lessons.  She had had two previous lessons with another instructor about two years ago.  She has a Border collie that she rescued from Animal Control in San Luis Obispo.  The two lessons her dog had in the past, showed promise and she said that he really liked it.  

She was very excited about getting a lesson, and we set one up for the next evening.  My new student, Mia, was ear to ear with a smile the whole time that she was here.  She reminded me of myself, with my very first sheepdog herding lesson.  I had sore muscles the next day, just from smiling for so long!

Right now we are just working on her dog and then later we will work on Mia, herself.  It always takes longer for the human to learn sheepdog herding, than it does for the dog.  It seems like everything moves so fast, and when one is new at something, fast is not what one wants.  

She has a real nice petite male dog, Connor, which reminds me of a little fox.  He had a tail full of stickers after we were done with sheepdog herding.  I showed Mia my Border collies working.  She had never seen real working dogs work sheep in person.  Mia had only seen working dogs on the movie "Babe", and that is when she fell in love with the sport of sheepdog herding.  She was amazed by my dog's speed.  I told her that they may be fast, but you don't always want a speed demon out there on the trial field, we need control first.  

I explained the "eyed" dogs versus the "loose eyed" dogs to Mia.  After explaining eye to her, I took Decker out into the round pen to work him.  She noted that she could see the difference between the two types of dogs.

Decker was very good with Mia and her dog Connor.  There was no posturing between the boys, and every one got along fine.  Mia and Connor will be coming back next week, and we may try the field already.  He may be able to handle it.  It won't hurt to try.  When I was starting Kate, she was never in a round pen.  I have gone to it for advanced work later, but I never needed it in the beginning.  Tam was only in the round pen for two weeks, then she was in the field.  I feel as long as the dog is not wanting to kill the sheep, and I have a reasonable amount of control with him, then why not give the field a try.  We will see next week.

Today my friend Roland came over to socialize his pup again.  Decker almost couldn't wait for her to get out of the truck.  He kept trying to jump in.  All four of the dogs played for quite a while.  I was waiting for another friend to come over and join us with her young dog but she never showed up.  After the dogs played, I decided to give them sheepdog herding lessons.  

I sorted out the sheep with Kate and put three non-combative ones in the round pen for Decker.  I worked both of the girls once then it was Decker's turn for sheepdog herding in the round pen.  He worked about the same as before, a tiny bit better on the walk ups.  Roland watched, and commented how good he was working.

After I was done with Decker for his first go around at sheepdog herding, I asked Roland if he would like to sheepdog herd with his young dog.  He hasn't had her on sheep much at all, but he said that he would give it a try.  He worked her in the round pen while I worked the girls out in the field.  

When he came back from the round pen, I asked him how it went.  He said OK, but both of them were not used to such a tight area, the few times he has sheepdog herded with her they have been in the field.  I offered him to sheepdog herd in the big field as soon as I was done with the girls.

While I was working Decker in the round pen, Roland worked his dog on sheep out in the field.  He had a real good time; we had a large group of sheep for his dog to herd.  She had never herded a large group before but she did real well handling all of them.

After sheepdog herding, the dogs cooled off in the dog pool and I started throwing the ball with the Chuck-it ball thrower.  The Chuck-it thrower really lets you throw the ball a lot farther that just your arm alone.  Back and forth the dogs ran expanding their lung capacity and keeping their weight down.  I like to have the dogs really pant every few days expanding their lung capacity.  This kind of sprinting helps keep them in shape for the  up coming trial season. 

Several times during Roland's visit, Decker came up to him for treats or just for pats.  I think that he really likes him.

In the afternoon, Decker and the girls were outside and wet from swimming.  I was in the house.  I heard Decker barking and barking.  I ran out and the UPS man was there.  I took off after Decker while telling the UPS man that I would be right with him as soon as I disciplined this dog.  Decker took off!  So the chase was on.  I chased him all over the front yard, around the truck and around the planter until finally Decker looked at me and stopped.  

This situation reminded me when Tam was a pup.  She was a runner, and I had never had a runner before.  One time, when she was in trouble, I was through with her running, and I chased and chased her until suddenly she stopped and turned around and walked toward me.  She never ran again.

I dragged Decker all the way over to the front of the truck where the UPS man was standing, made him lay down and "bit" him with my fingers on his side as he lie there, and growled a No to him.  After that, he was fine.  And I was just thinking that we were through with that stuff, he has been so good for so long.  It just shows you that this fear that he has is not a quick fix.  He just needs some more exposure and more sheepdog herding.  Maybe tomorrow, its dog day!

Today everybody had lessons in herding.  Energized by Suzy Applegate winning the Meeker, a trial I hope to be able to go to next year, I wanted to tune up the girls for the upcoming trial season.  I am real proud of Suzy, a California girl, for winning the trial with her dog Buzz.  Buzz won the Meeker trial just two years ago in the Nursery level.  While Suzy is a great handler, it also takes a great dog to be able to handle these tough range ewes.  And winning both the Nursery level and then the Open level, that dog is going somewhere in dog history.

Buzz is Tam's uncle, so I emailed Suzy and congratulated her and thanked her for increasing Tams value, and if I ever breed her, increasing her pups value too.  I am just excited that Suzy Applegate won the extremely challenging Meeker Sheepdog Trial, almost as excited as if I would have been the winner.

After I gave that terrible demo the week before the Creston Rodeo at the rodeo grounds, when I had rocks for sheep and they wouldn't move, I was anxious to get the sheep fired up.  I do a lot of steadying up with the sheep, making the girls steady and walk the sheep slowly and in control.  I have been working on actually getting two gates on them while fetching or driving sheep.  The walk and the trot gates are just about totally trained with both girls.  Its nice to have both gates even when trialing.  If I have plenty of time at a trial, then I can have them walk the sheep in a nice controlled pace.  If I am in a hurry, and short on time, I can speed them up with a trot command.  Though the trot is not as smooth as the walk, in a pinch I have that gate with the dogs to fall back on.  So the sheep are kind of trained to go slowly now.  Time for retraining.

I made Kate get them up, encouraging her to make them go faster.  The sheep didn't know what they were in for.  Of course, when I fire up the sheep to encourage them to be a little lighter, the dogs will also get fired up.  Kate took several bites, one on the flank which she got verbally disciplined for.  The ram also thought he wasn't going to be pushed around and presented his head to her, which she took advantage of to nail him on the nose several times.  I usually don't work the ram, but he was in the mix and I was trying to separate him out but he had other ideas.  I finally won and was able to separate him from the sheep that I wanted to work.

Kate and I separated four sheep for Decker and put them into the round pen.  Working Decker today was great.  I made him heal off leash all the way from the sheep pasture to the round pen (about 200 feet).  He was totally under control, and every time he would start to go ahead of me, I would give him the Ceasar "tsst" noise and he would immediately come back to me in a heal position.  No crazy dog here, just control.  I have a hold of his mind.

He worked sheep pretty well, not really ever shutting down.  I have started teaching him how to fetch, which he thinks he doesn't really like, and he needs lots of encouragement walking up.  He is real bitable, so is learning quickly.  I think a couple more lessons in fetching and he should have it.  He does like going around the sheep more that straight up in a fetch.

Decker is starting to split up the sheep when I give him an away or come-bye command.  This is common in Aussies and a outrun needs to be developed with them.  I didn't have a whipflag with me, so I was ineffective in getting him to bend around the sheep.  Aussies typically come in straight at the sheep and we need them to bend and include the entire goup, and that has to be learned by the dog.  I will need to get a log piece of bamboo to work with.  I usually don't like to use such an artificial way of training, but Aussies need more development of their outrun; so many trainers have been using long bamboo poles now to train with.

Early this morning the dogs and I went to our local community garden; I had to do a little hand watering and pruning.  The rodeo grounds are immediately next to the garden.  Lots of people were gathering at the rodeo grounds to park their cars and catch a shuttle to go to a memorial service.  Several people were even walking over to catch a ride.  I saw all of the commotion, and decided not to let Decker out of the truck.  I needed to work, and would not be able to watch him every second.  After a couple of minutes, I had a change of heart and let him out.

He behaved well and a few people walked by pretty close to all of us.  Decker just looked, in which I promptly gave the noise "tsst". and redirected his attention back to me.  I could feel his energy and see his calmness in his body.  He didn't utter a sound.  I was very proud of him.

Tuesday went real well.  In the morning, my friend Roland came over with his pup for socialization.  Decker greeted Roland as his truck drove up.  He was really glad to see Roland the owner of this wonderful pup that he plays with. They played and played, driving the girls mad.  I drug out the Bumi for everyone to play tug with.  They all had a great time tugging that toy.  I had never seen 4 dogs all tugging the same toy all at once.  But Decker and Jessy the pup had something different in mind.  They soon got bored playing with the girls and set off to wrestle in the grass.  Those two dogs sure love to mouth fight.  This went on and on, for well over an hour.

When it was time to bring in the sheep from the pasture, Jessy got to watch being on leash.  Decker seems to have a lot of instinct and gets real anxious when either taking the sheep out or bringing them in.  He kept running from one side of the barn to the other, in order to get the best view possible.

He has warmed up to Roland, and he repeatedly approached Roland and let him pet him!  Bingo!  The first real noticeable breakthrough.  No food involved!  

Later in the day, I went into town to run errands, and I brought the dogs with me.  Decker in the back rides on a Coolaroo dog bed.  I thought this summer in the back of the truck the floor would get pretty hot and I wanted him to be protected.  It took a little getting used to for him to lay down and stay down, but he seems to like the Coolaroo dog beds.  I have one on my front porch and I see him on it quite regularly.

While in town, we pull up to a signal and a motorcycle with a rider in full helmet comes up to our rear.  Decker was scared.  He starts pacing then barking, not knowing what the strange thing behind us is.  It was some kind of motorcycle Alien!  I was able to reach back through the window and grab him at the neck.  Then every time that he barked, I would give him a little shake and a big NO!  I think he might need a little more work with that scenario, as he didn't get a chance to relax, we had to drive off. 

The girls and I had been invited to help with the sheep at a local rodeo.  Mutton busting has been around for over 20 years, and is a kick in the pants to watch.  Little kids climb onto the backs of sheep, grip on for dear life, and then the sheep are released into the arena.  The event is much like bull riding, in that the kid who holds on the longest, wins.  

The rodeo in the past had been using people to try to hold sheep into a group in the arena.  Every time a sheep and child are released, that sheep needs to be gathered and held on the opposite side of the arena in order to draw the next released sheep across.  Sheep don't work too well for people, and they had been running all over the arena during the mutton busting event.  

When I got invited to help, I thought in the back of my mind a different scenario, which I was skeptical of.  I thought that a sheep and kid would be released and once the sheep was free of the kid, I would send a dog to exhaust the sheep back out of the arena.  Working just one sheep is not fun.  They just can't think for themselves.  I learned that lesson along time ago.  Never work just one sheep.  Take the group to the one then work the group.  With this set-up, there would only be one sheep at a time and it would not be pretty.  

Instead of one sheep at a time, they wanted us to just hold the "used" sheep into a group across the other side of the arena.  "Is that all?"  I said.  This would be fun.  Sheepdog herding at its easiest.  I decided that since the sheep were range ewes, and might need some extra convincing, that I would herd with both Kate and Tam together.  This worked perfectly.  I didn't have to hardly move myself at all.  I just stood there and the girls held the sheep in a group.  What could be easier?  Usually when I am sheepdog herding in front of people, I am under a lot of stress, there was no stress here, I could relax and enjoy the event.  The girls have a look-back command, and when a child left it's sheep, I simply whistled or said "look-back", and immediately they would look and retrieve the lone sheep.

It was a hot day, and during the event, I decided that one of them needed to leave their sheepdog herding job and get a dunk and a drink to cool off.  I would tell one dog "that'll do" and to go and get a drink, then when she got back ready to continue holding sheep, I would do the same with the other dog.  This worked out great and they didn't get overheated.

I got tons of complements, and even people telling me that they would have arrived sooner if they knew that there were sheepdogs herding sheep.  It went over so well, we decided that we would hang around for the finals, and do the same.  Matt and I ate lunch and kept the girls with us in the shade.  

The finals went well and the girls were working perfectly together in a brace style.  If one of them worked close-in to the sheep, the other would back-off and work the back area.  They would take turns working the back and the front.  Again, I had them take a break in the middle of sheepdog herding and go and get a drink, which both did when directed.  I was still getting complements, as the girls were herding sheep.  One guy, who must have been totally captivated by watching the dogs, kept saying (loudly) wow!, or excellent!.  A few minutes later, I heard him say, "Are you Married?"   I just slightly turned my head toward him, then a minute later, handed him a business card.  

I have heard nothing but complements about the mutton busting event at the rodeo and the dogs sheepdog herding work.  I hope that I have generated some more interest in sheepdog herding.  I couldn't bring Decker with us (though Matt wanted to).  There were no dogs allowed, and I thought it might be too much for him yet.  When we got home, he was in the dog yard happily waiting to greet us.

I have decided to add pumpkin to Decker's food.  He is loosing weight very slowly, so in order to speed up the process I am replacing pumpkin for some of his food.  He didn't give it a second thought and ate his dinner right up.

I have also been giving him Missing Link, a dog food supplement made from whole foods.  This dog food supplement, which I carry in my sheep dog herding supply online store, is an all-in-one Omega 3 Superfood supplement for dogs.  I feel that since Decker is on regular kibble dog food, he needs additional supplementation of essential nutrients and vitamins.  I have had the girls on supplements for dogs, all of their lives, and on Missing Link dog food supplements for over 9 months now.  Their coats are glossy, and their eyes are bright, and they have tons of endurance.  

Everyone now is on the Missing Link with Joint Support to ensure their joints have all of the nutrients for maintenance and repair. In addition to Missing Link, they get extra fish oil tablets and glucosamine.  Decker should loose weight faster with the addition of pumpkin in his diet and a little less dog food.

Decker did reasonably well over Labor Day weekend.  There was only one incident with a growl, and that was directed at Matt.  He had just gone outside and saw Matt and uttered a growl.  He had never growled at him before, so I told Matt that he better address it.  Decker went on his side and that was that. 

During the weekend, I had several friends come over.  Decker was good and didn't growl or act shy in any way.  My neighbor came over for dinner on Sunday.  He was a gentleman but as she was leaving, he would lick her hand, but not really approaching further.  He is not very responsive to others for affection.

Today is dog day.  I will bring the pack over to my friend's house again.  This time, I will bring dog treats with me for everyone to offer him.  It's time for him to learn that other people are nice too, and they have FOOD!  We will try to win him over with his nose, and his stomach.

Yesterday, being dog day, I took everyone to my friend's house to socialize.  Decker was fine and in hand visiting with all of the dogs.  Nancy, another friend came in the yard with her dog after us, and I herd a little growl from Decker.  I promptly and literally put him down and put my knee on him biting with my hand.  I waited until he relaxed, then let him up.  I heard nothing out of him after that.  Later, when everyone was swimming, I was able to take the leash off of him and let him relax in the pool.  He sure likes to swim.  In and out the whole time.  He ignored all of my friends and accepted their presence.

Bible study started for me last night.  And as usual, the dogs come with me and wait in the car, Decker included.  When we were leaving, I opened the window of the camper shell and was petting Decker.  I mentioned to my bible study leader that this was the new dog that I was working with.  She is not a dog person so basically glanced at him.  Decker growled.  My hand was on him so it turned from a pet to a scruff on the neck and a "bad - no!".  My bible study leader was loading her truck and I was getting ready to leave when I heard a growl again.  I immediately got out of the truck and opened up the back.  Decker saw me coming and sucked up to the cab and kind of put his head down.  Too bad, that's not good enough.  I jumped in and pulled him partly out, scruffing him firmly and my face was in his face.  More "no"s and that was that.  This is the first that I have seen him aggressive while in the truck.  

Today we all went on a two mile power pack walk.  We met up with a dog running at us but with a fence between us.  Knowing what I know about dog psychology, I needed to stand my ground, in order to not let this dog think that he scared us off, thus creating a future problem.  I stopped us and turned toward the dog.  He was staring with his tail up.  I noticed that my chest was not turned directly toward the dog but at an angle.  I rotated my upper body more to be directly facing him.  In about two seconds, the dog got the message and lowered his head and tail, turned and left.

That is good for the pack to see me control the encounter.

Ten minutes later we turn back onto our road on the way home, and a dog in his yard, spots us.  Bark, bark, bark.  Then another one in the same yard comes and does the same.  I have had previous problems with these dogs before, and frankly was tired of it, and I don't really like being barked at.  Time to take a stand.  Empowered by the previous success, I turned and faced the nasty dogs.  These dogs are non-socialized dogs, who even run the humans who own them.  I kept my pack sitting and slightly behind me.  Decker started whining, wanting to see the dogs.  I corrected him and made him sit again, slightly behind me.  I was in charge, and I wasn't taking any more crap off of these rotten dogs.  I just stood there, chest out, head up, in charge of the world.  After about a minute or two, the dogs were getting bored with the game.  A well ingrained game on their part, as they do this to the whole neighborhood.  They were leaving and I started walking again.  They came back to the fence barking.  I noticed they looked over to the house several times to see if their human was going to call them out of the predicament they were in.  No help from the owner.  These dogs are just lawn ornaments anyway.

They continued to bark while looking at their house for their human.  About a minute later, they decided to leave.  I WON!  Ha Ha.  

This was real good for Kate to see.  Her trust in me as pack leader is strengthened even further.  These two dogs have been trouble for us in the past.  She has been attacked by them twice before.  And there will not be a third time.  If push comes to shove, I will protect my pack.  Even to the point of killing if necessary.  Matt has told me the same.  If they attack us one more time, he will come over and kill the dog(s) too.  While I think that is a very drastic move on both our parts, I understand the emotion.  They are our kids, and will not be hurt further.  Being successful today with standing my ground was a win-win situation.

The pack is safe and secure, the troubled dogs don't get further "pumped-up" with being dominant with their territory, and I look better as the pack leader.  I just hope the rest of the day goes as well.  We will see.

Decker went to church with all of us on Sunday and did fine waiting in the truck with the girls.  After Church we needed to pick up some groceries and he waited while we were in the stores.  The last store was the grocery store.  When we got back to the truck, we loaded groceries into the back end of the bed.  Decker was very interested in what was in the bags.  A few "hey!"s and he stayed out of the groceries.

Later in the day my brother came over for a brief visit.  I put Decker on leash in the house and instructed my brother not to challenge him by looking in his eyes.  Decker did fine and had no aggression problems.  No correction leaks on Sunday either!

Today,  all of us went on a four mile- 1 hour- power, pack walk again.  He did fine with barking dogs but he "keyed in" on a walker passing by.  I don't know if he was just looking but he needs to concentrate on the walk, so I kept correcting him when he perked-up his ears and looking at the walker.  After we passed the walker, Decker still kept turning his head, and getting corrected for not paying attention to the migration.  Soon after the walker incident, a neighbor was watering and walking around his yard and Decker was nervous as we passed him.  He doesn't seem to like people behind him, even at 100 yards away.  We will work on that trust issue.  I think that a walk around a near-by lake where there are a lot of people walking around and jogging and riding bikes would be a good set-up for him.  The more he acts up, the more corrections he will get, the faster the learning will take place.  At least that is the theory.

Decker urinates when he gets scared.  While shaping the way that I want him to play with toys, (I know, control freak-but I don't want the girls toys ruined instantly), if he insists on doing what I am telling him not to do, he gets corrected sternly, and sometimes lets his urine loose.  Man, that is irritating!  I might put a male wrap around him while he is in the house to help curb the damage caused by those slips.  So I can't chase him through the house when he runs from me, because he is letting loose here and there!  Working with that insecurity problem is tough.  Kate was submissive and for her first two years of life, when ever she greeted anyone, she would flip over on to her back and let it loose a bit.  Sometimes getting her butt wet too.  But Decker does this as he is creeping away from me.  

I don't like dogs that run away from me anyway.  Stand up and face the consequences for the behavior!  Tam started out running from me.  Man, I chased her down a couple of times and let her know that was not the behavior that I wanted.  It didn't take her long, I saw her actually stop in the middle of running away from me, turn around, and walk back towards me.  I won!  Now she comes even if she knows she is in trouble.

Decker does have that problem of trying to get away when I am correcting him.  I just keep pursuing him until I catch him and drag him back to where I was when I started the correction.  I warned my husband about his urinating behavior, and he looked at me with a "just great!" look on his face.  He does try to help with Decker when he gets home at night.  Matt's personal goal is to try to teach Decker not to body slam Kate when he gets home every night.  We all try to protect Kate as she is our million dollar baby with two hip surgeries in her past.

Letting a dog get away with improper behavior is what got Decker in this mess to begin with.  He growled and barked at a stranger, he was insecure anyway, his owner didn't know how to properly discipline the improper behavior and it escalated to biting.  He is also a high energy dog and needs his energy expelled on a daily basis.  He has fear aggression.  Even Cezar Milan says that this is the hardest bad behavior to deal with.  Real mean aggression is easier and faster.  With fear aggression, Decker's confidence will have to be built up.  That usually takes a while.  The sheepdog herding will help and getting his energy out and so will a lot of exposure to the world.  I think correction after correction will help toughen him up emotionally, and the urination problem should dissipate.

First thing this morning as Matt was leaving, I let Decker out to pee.  Matt opened the garage door and startled Decker.  He took off running about 15 feet or so and I was talking to him (in a low growling voice) to knock it off.  I was trying to let him know that I didn't want him to react like and be scared, because there was nothing to be scared about!  Depend on the human, not yourself.  That is not your place, it is the pack leaders place.

This morning we went for a two mile power "pack" walk again.  About a half of a mile in to the walk a cat starts coming up toward us.  Decker was pretty cool about it and doesn't seem to want to get cats.  When we got within about 10 feet, the cat decided to hiss and run away.  On the way back there was a person riding her horse in an arena.  Decker kept "keeing" on it.  Ears perked and head turned, body tense.  There was a chance that he had never seen horse and rider before, but he needs to let me handle the pack,  I will protect the pack, not him.  I kept letting him know that he needed to knock it off.  Correction after correction, until finally he quick "keeing" on the horse and concentrated on what we were doing, migrating.

Later in the day, I took Decker and the girls next door to my neighbor's dog pack.  She had another person there visiting and I phoned before I came over and gave the usual instructions not to look at Decker in the face.  At first he was swarmed by dogs and was distracted by smells.  Us three woman talked outside while all of the dogs were greeting, sniffing, and playing.  Eventually my neighbor was able to have Decker approach her.  A little later, I had my neighbor take the leash and walk away with him.  He didn't cause any problems, accepted it, but kept looking at me.  We will repeat this exercise a few times a week to see if this helps break his dependence on me.  I don't think it will, but maybe he will at least start getting used to other people being in charge of him.  That is what he needs, is trust.

Today is Wednesday.  Its dog day.  Late morning, on Wednesdays, I take the dogs over to a friend’s house for socializing and some work.  There are anywhere from three to eight of us who bring our dogs to have a good time and train.  We usually meet in the agility field, which is an irrigated large yard with grass and a very large oak tree in which we huddle for shade. 

I arrived a little late. This morning I had a friend come from down south looking to buy sheep.  She was buying for several clients, and I didn’t have enough sheep for her alone.  I suggested that we go over to my trainer’s house and look at those sheep she had for sale.

When she arrived at the house, Decker was leashed.  He did his usual growl and got corrected.  He also growled several other times with additional corrections.  Man, I just wish he would warm up to people.  We sorted my sheep then got ready to go to my trainer’s house.

I contemplated what to do with the boy.  I had not left him since I had rescued him.  Would he jump our four-foot dog yard fence?  Will he bark the entire time that I am away and drive my neighbors nuts?  I could crate him, but hate doing that if I don’t have to.  I looked over at the kennel (with a shade cloth roof) and decided that would be the safest place for a short time.  He couldn’t dig out, as there were stall mats on the ground.  Jumping a six-foot fence, while possible, I guessed that he wouldn’t, because the kennel was real small and he couldn’t get a running start.  I put the girls in the house and Decker in the kennel with water and we were off. 

Upon returning, Decker was where I had left him, in the kennel.  He must have played in his water, which was empty and it was even snapped to the fence.  I left him in the kennel while we loaded my sheep into the trailer to keep him out of the way.  When we were finished, I leashed him and took him out of the kennel and closer to my friend.  Again he started growling, and again he got corrected, firmly!

Right after my friend buying sheep left, we packed up to go to dog day.  I wonder what we will be in for with a group of people and dogs?  The day was getting hot.  I got to my friend’s house around 11.30 am and the girls were ready to go.  They really enjoy going over there every week.  

A while ago, my trainer told me that she wouldn’t change anything that I was currently doing with Kate (real submissive, and working on building her up) as she was working sheep real well and strongly.  So dog day is for Kate. 

The girls and I entered the agility field and I secured them to a fence in the shade.  I let my friends know that I had rescued a people aggressive dog and would like to bring him in.  Everyone was fine with the request.  I instructed them NOT to look at his face when he came in.  I didn’t want him to think that anyone was challenging him. 

The entrance was as smooth as silk, and I put him into a crate for safekeeping.  I worked the girls in agility and all of my friends worked their dogs too.  We usually will train several of the dogs on sheepdog herding after “playing” agility, but the last several weeks, it has been too hot.

We will go have a dip in the pool instead.  Most of dogs at dog day just love to play in the pool.  And most of them eventually learned to jump in.  The pool is a standard rectangle built-in.  A real nice pool, unheated.  It was 80 degrees just with the sun heating it!  I let the girls in and go back to the crate for Decker.  He will have to be on leash for the swim.  I led him to the pool, and with no hesitation, he was in.  We walked around for several laps and then he came out.  I showed him where all of the steps are, just incase he might panic wanting to get out.  He was a trooper.  He enjoyed swimming a lot, got along with other dogs, and never growled at anyone the whole time he was at my friend’s house. 

Now he needs work at the house where he is on familiar ground.