tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24289956225186803682026-05-25T03:36:28.767-07:00... of a handler, a border collie, and some sheep.Jim Klinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00401305615686499991noreply@blogger.comBlogger85125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2428995622518680368.post-25685232390909323942012-08-09T22:06:00.000-07:002012-08-09T22:06:51.699-07:00

Rodeo has had a longstanding problem with keenness and hesitancy. He has a tendency to rely on me too much, stopping in his outrun and looking back at me for encouragement. Then, when I gave it to him, he would often “bust” the sheep, running frantically at them and sending them scattering before eventually rounding them up again. In other words, he teetered between worrying about what

Jim Klinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00401305615686499991noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2428995622518680368.post-60151418267083316982012-07-02T19:35:00.000-07:002012-07-05T16:39:44.668-07:00

Recently I've gotten to know Janet, who owns a ranch with her husband close to Bellingham. They have generously invited me and the dogs to come out and train on their yearling dorset lambs, which has been a great opportunity for myself and for Rodeo. Bonny has been out of commission lately following minor surgery, but she'll get her chance next time. Janet has five border collies and has worked

Jim Klinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00401305615686499991noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2428995622518680368.post-19442752416264567862012-04-04T10:10:00.000-07:002012-04-04T10:10:24.074-07:00

Bonny has made steady progress over the past couple of months. I can call her off reliably, she has developed a nice pace behind the sheep, and I think we're starting to form a good partnership. Last week, we moved to a different field, where the sheep are far less dog broke. That means that they'll tend to break and run more easily, so the dog must give out more on flanks. Predictably, Bonny

Jim Klinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00401305615686499991noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2428995622518680368.post-86492419063398156412012-02-13T08:36:00.000-08:002012-02-13T08:36:20.025-08:00

In the last session, Bonny began to lose her head more often, taking off after the sheep the moment I took my attention away from her. She seemed to be waiting for that moment when my attention was occupied and then off she went. I couldn’t trust her.   This session, we decided to correct the problem because it had already begun to be a habit in Brian’s opinion. We started in the field

Jim Klinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00401305615686499991noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2428995622518680368.post-66085177128775900232012-01-14T10:16:00.000-08:002012-01-14T10:16:17.286-08:00

Bonny continues to progress in the field, she is doing short outruns now of 20-30 yards. The routine is to send her, have her bring the sheep to me, then call her off, walk a little distance away with her, and send her again. This has been complicated by her tendency to blow me off -- yesterday was particularly bad. So we still need to work on her recall and I have to get into her head more.

Jim Klinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00401305615686499991noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2428995622518680368.post-63331359288102597192011-12-09T19:35:00.000-08:002011-12-09T19:35:24.244-08:00

This post has nothing to do with sheepherding, it's just a compilation of my Facebook posts during my trip to Cancun and the Yucatan Peninsula. I left November 30 and returned December 8. I was there to cover the World Allergy Conference in Cancun for Medscape, but I carved out 4 days ahead of time to travel a bit. Read at your own peril! November 30 at 7:35pm after a long flight, relaxing on a

Jim Klinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00401305615686499991noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2428995622518680368.post-19387379453365922312011-11-17T16:19:00.000-08:002011-11-17T16:19:53.171-08:00

We spent quite a bit of time in the round pen with Bonny this week, and she improved quite a lot from last week, as did I. I'm moving better and she is flanking and balancing nicely on both her come by and away. Last week she pretty much only wanted to flank on the away (counterclockwise). She's also quite willing to come between the sheep and the fence. The next challenge is to get a recall

Jim Klinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00401305615686499991noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2428995622518680368.post-1957353379121613782011-11-12T11:32:00.000-08:002011-11-12T11:32:25.972-08:00

Bonny is progressing. She heavily favors the away flank, in fact will hardly take a come by flank, so I spent some time trying to encourage her to go to the come by side. Mostly that involved trying to block her from going on the away flank and trying to follow her round the sheep moved in the come by direction. As you can see from the video below, I had limited success, and I wound up sprawled

Jim Klinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00401305615686499991noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2428995622518680368.post-39754923226769576222011-11-11T01:13:00.000-08:002011-11-11T08:42:20.270-08:00

Last weekend, we piled into my friend Jack's RV and drove over the Cascades to Stirling Acres ranch in Coldstream, BC, where Lee Lumb and her husband Dan hosted an intimate one-day trial. It was a beautiful location, dry and cold, and Rodeo and I ran in Pro-Novice and a couple of times in novice.D Jack videotaped our Pro-Novice run, which wasn't ideal, but he did some nice things. He didn't

Jim Klinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00401305615686499991noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2428995622518680368.post-19093336232563636262011-11-01T14:54:00.001-07:002011-11-01T14:54:42.474-07:00

This week,we worked some more on Rodeo’s outrun, and he struggled a bit after some improvements last week. Brian set the sheep using his dog Bell on the opposite side of the field, a distance of about 200 yards, and Rodeo hesitated a bit on his outruns, but took a fairly moderate correction followed by a flank command to get going again. He had quite a bit of trouble with his lift. He hasn’t had

Jim Klinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00401305615686499991noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2428995622518680368.post-72562438195202467312011-10-27T11:18:00.000-07:002011-10-27T11:18:01.511-07:00

I've often heard the term 'old soul,' without really knowing what it meant. But I think of Rodeo as an old soul. He has such a gentle demeanor and calmness about him (at least most of the time). And his piercing blue eyes make him seem far older than his years. Bonny, on the other hand, is definitely a new soul. And I mean that in a positive way. She's full of boundless energy and enthusiasm,

Jim Klinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00401305615686499991noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2428995622518680368.post-64196100263801705872011-10-12T10:47:00.000-07:002011-10-12T10:49:04.749-07:00

The first lesson learned this week was: Never tie your 8 month old puppy to the fence with a leather leash. Brian had me send Rodeo on an outrun and follow him down field so that I could correct him when he came in too tight at the top. I sent him and started jogging in that direction, but then I heard Brian shouting and I turned to see Bonny running straight towards me, dragging the foot or so

Jim Klinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00401305615686499991noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2428995622518680368.post-69322275045068860482011-09-14T15:20:00.000-07:002011-09-14T15:20:58.106-07:00

I haven't written much lately because training has been frustrating of late and it felt as if we were doing the same thing over and over, and making little progress. Not much joy in writing about that. Rodeo has become very hesitant, stopping on his outruns and looking back at me. Repeated commands get him going again, but he often walks right towards the sheep rather than completing an outrun.

Jim Klinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00401305615686499991noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2428995622518680368.post-17166021320405591232011-07-21T08:46:00.000-07:002011-07-21T08:46:40.699-07:00

Hey, look! I'm an ethical breeder! Ethical Border Collie Breeder Award Only, I don't breed dogs. All I had to do was go to this web site, put in a few details, and bing! I got this fancy html code to paste into my web site. Just how awful and cynical do you have to be to put up something like this? I don't know. You'll just have to ask the people at TrainPetDog.com who created it.

Jim Klinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00401305615686499991noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2428995622518680368.post-60714813427989803072011-07-17T17:56:00.000-07:002011-07-17T17:56:54.033-07:00

My friend Aaron took this video of our first run on Saturday afternoon. Thanks, Aaron!

Jim Klinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00401305615686499991noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2428995622518680368.post-3457814045081143642011-07-12T16:52:00.000-07:002011-07-12T18:48:16.810-07:00

At the end of the lesson today, I prepared to move Bonny and Rodeo off the field and into the car, but she lunged at the sheep moving nearby and yanked the leash out of my hands.Suddenly, it was no more round pen training for Bonny, it was the big field! Ten or so sheep bolted towards the far end of the field and she raced after them, dragging the leash behind her. I followed feebly, expecting

Jim Klinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00401305615686499991noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2428995622518680368.post-60074065190992188192011-07-12T09:55:00.000-07:002011-07-12T09:55:20.625-07:00

Day 1 Saturday was the big day. I’ve been anticipating for this trial since I first began driving to Dirk’s place for weekly training sessions three years ago. It’s the Mount Vernon Highland Games, and we’ve been going faithfully since we adopted Rodeo. The past three years he has been a spectator, staring raptly at the sheep from the sidelines.   Many of our friends also come to the games,

Jim Klinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00401305615686499991noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2428995622518680368.post-16739937672612372182011-07-10T21:50:00.000-07:002011-07-10T21:50:49.432-07:00

Last week we spent most of the session in the round pen and a single sheep, in preparation for the upcoming Mt. Vernon Highland Games trial. Brian set up several obstacles in the round pen, but Rodeo had a lot of trouble to begin with. He took his flanks but did not want to walk up on the sheep. He would move forward hesitantly but failed to take control of the sheep, so it would drift and I’d

Jim Klinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00401305615686499991noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2428995622518680368.post-73902413821593689522011-07-06T08:20:00.000-07:002011-07-06T08:20:20.242-07:00

Last week a photo of a grizzly in the North Cascades. This week confirmation of a fourth Washington wolf pack, about 90 miles east of Seattle. Later this month we're going to Yellowstone, in part to see the wolves, grizzlies, and other wildlife. It's nice to know that some of it is returning to us.

Jim Klinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00401305615686499991noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2428995622518680368.post-8212148260449465062011-06-20T15:44:00.000-07:002011-06-21T09:16:24.380-07:00

After a couple of days of rain and clouds, the sun finally made an appearance Monday morning as I left our campsite in South Whidbey Island State Park. I was too late for the handler's meeting anyway, so I stopped for espresso at a drive through stand and ordered banana bread, which turned out to be moldy. Can I blame this for what happened? Fungal poisoning?  Well, our Pro-Novice run was

Jim Klinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00401305615686499991noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2428995622518680368.post-44437861547674208422011-06-14T18:36:00.000-07:002011-06-14T18:39:36.366-07:00

Again this week I brought Bonny along for our training session. We worked a bit on Rodeo’s outrun, and he still has a tendency to wait on me. Brian told me, as he often has, that Rodeo is waiting on me because when he becomes hesitant I tend to repeat the command rather than correct or encourage him, as the situation demands. This is probably our central challenge right now, and it’s up to me to

Jim Klinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00401305615686499991noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2428995622518680368.post-65035545305208258502011-05-24T23:23:00.000-07:002011-05-24T23:23:26.204-07:00

After months of deliberation and soul-searching, we finally decided it was time to bring another dog into our household. We have a small house and two cats, so we knew it would be a tight fit. But in the end we were persuaded by a rare opportunity: a litter of puppies whose parentage we're very familiar with, and who are quite well-bred. On the one side is Skip, who belonged to our original

Jim Klinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00401305615686499991noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2428995622518680368.post-31581803945788420842011-05-21T10:51:00.000-07:002011-05-21T20:55:13.631-07:00

A couple of weeks ago at the Rocky Ewe trial, Diane Pagel asked me to spend a couple of hours with her 4-month old pup Reba, who is out of Scot Glen's Don and Diane's Lucy, to help socialize her. As you can see in the picture below, Reba is almost a mirror image of Rodeo. Diane was kind enough to take some pictures of us. And now I know why Diane has such great shots on her website. I chose

Jim Klinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00401305615686499991noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2428995622518680368.post-59748598408023595722011-05-13T09:55:00.000-07:002011-05-13T09:55:08.915-07:00

The past two weeks we focused on the blind outrun. Last week was spent almost entirely on a length setout, perhaps 200 yards, with Rodeo and I beginning close to the round pen, which held 3 or 4 sheep. I sent him on an away flank that would force him past the round pen, and he would have to look up field until he saw the sheep I was interested in. It was a struggle, to say the least. At first

Jim Klinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00401305615686499991noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2428995622518680368.post-27137116967636028542011-04-28T11:33:00.000-07:002011-04-28T11:33:25.728-07:00

One of the first things Brian said when I arrived was, “I never said he was a Pro-Novice dog. I said he could handle Pro-Novice in some trials.” The distinction was lost on me, so I asked, “What’s holding him back? The length of the outrun?” “No, the drive.” So we focused on extending Rodeo’s drive a bit. Brian had us do a short gather and then turn the sheep and drive them out to “The idol,”

Jim Klinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00401305615686499991noreply@blogger.com0