Riorun Jet

We are so blessed to have been so lucky to have Jet come into our lives. I can't imagine my life without him. He taught me to be the trainer/handler I am today. It wasn't me teaching him; it was him teaching me. He came to me from Patrick Shannahan, bred by Evie Kimberly at 6 weeks of age. He was already focused and running the dogwalk and doing tunnels by 7 weeks of age. He taught me all about clicker training. He makes me look good. He is difficult to beat in the agility arena and he is my first open stockdog. We have done several TV shows traveling to New York performing on the David Letterman show. He has performed at many dog events including performing in the hospital where I work for Nurses Day. He is well known by his close friends for being lost in a forest fire for 2 days when he was 2 yrs. of age. He is now 9 yrs. of age. He has slowed down now. As I write this he is lying by feet. I know I will never have another dog like Jet in my lifetime.
Last night I had a friend come by with 4 of his Border Collies. We challenge our dogs to "think" and be "creative." My friend came up with a behavior that was difficult for the dogs to figure out. After several failed attempts by several BCs, we called for Jet. Jet was upstairs sleeping on our bed. We heard him gallop down the stairs. He walked into the kitchen. I asked him to figure out the problem set before him. It took him maybe about 2 seconds. He looked up at all of us, yawned, and we heard him walking back up the stairs to bed. It was like he said, "Call me when you really have a challenge for me."
Jet, an amazing dog. My friend. My soulmate.

South fork of the Kern River

We had hiked parts of the preserve, but not "the preserve." The weather was perfect, so we decided to go for a mile jaunt with the dogs. The Kern in the fall makes me think I'm back east. We have been there many years in "snow" and were thankful for 60 degree weather this year.

Here's Wayne with the 3 dogs we brought....Jet, Yoko and Trouble. Great fun crunching through the leaves. Kilt had to stay home because she was in season and Xena the lab stayed home to babysit Kilt. I was especially sad that Xena didn't get to come. She is 11 and has been coming to the Kern since she was 4 mos. of age. Next year.

After about a mile hike, Wayne said, "Hey, where's the leash." This was my extra special leather lead Jeanne got for me. Ugh. We hiked about a half mile back and didn't find it. I told Yoko, Trouble and Wayne to wait in the truck. I gave Jet the scent of leather and told him "find it." About a half mile up the trail, Jet is standing at the side of the path wagging his tail. Yup, there's the leash. What the heck am I ever going to do when Jet is gone?

An unusual character to run across in an audubon preserve! Yoko was ready to take it on! Yoko loves cows. If we say "cow" in the car, she hits the window growling.

Another unusual find in a pristine preserve. The dogs investigated this odd looking creature.

After the "cow," and hearing other mooing and gunshots in the distance, Troubie and her pal Yoko are "on guard."

Yoko can find water anywhere. We call her "The Beav." Moses and Yoko are the superb swimmers of this litter. We can't get her out of the water. You need a net.

Trouble always searching for high look-outs. There might be a possibility she will be someone's Thanksgiving snack!

No nonsense Jet joins in some frivolity with is daughter Yoko. Heck, it's a holiday. And, Kilt stayed home and he got to come!

Thanksgiving on the Kern River

One of California's 7 wonders...McNally's Fairview lodge.

Several years back Johnny McNally sold the lodge after his brother George passed away. He and his family moved to Colorado. The cool thing about this year was just as we were finishing up our dinner, Johnny and his family drove in from Grand Junction to have their Thanksgiving dinner. Now that was the icing on the cake! Family and memories...that's what Thanksgiving is all about.

Fall colors taken from the McNally bridge. Oh wow....we have had lots of good times there. Many of them I can't even repeat. Whoa......

Here's Thanksgiving dinner for under $25 a plate. Wild turkey, pheasant, chukar, green beans, stuffing, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, cole slaw, bread and several cranberry sauces. Coffee and pie included. Since we had sheep to feed and dogs at home, they packed our pie and gave us our coffee to go.

Grinning like Cheshire cats awaiting our feast to begin. Oh my aching stomach :0)

Trouble cradled inside of a Sequoia tree. We hiked the walk of the 100 giants at the Kern.

Ahhh Yoko....no doubt, no doubt, daughter of Jet...practicing to be a ham for an audience of people with her father. "How do you get your dogs to do that," they asked?

A few more photos later...too tired now. Doing 3 back to back 12 hour shifts at the hospital. I need to go out to the spa before hitting the hay. Hope you all had a great Turkey Day!

My 92 year old Pop "Koosh"

Well, what can I say? It runs in the family. We are all camel jocks. If it moves, we can ride it.
This is a photo of my Dad in his late 80's in Egypt. Look at his form. Impeccable. He always was a natural on a horse. I can remember him sitting atop my quarter mare (no bridle/no saddle) while she grazed having a martini. Pop has lived a pretty colorful life. I think I can say, so has his daughter. I also used to race camels at the Indio Date Festival with my good friend Carolyn from New York. Those were back in the "horse show" days.
So, here's to my POP.....an officer, a gentleman, a wonderful husband, and the most fabulous father a girl could ever have! I'm looking forward to going to Florida in December to visit him.

Happy Birthday to 12 yr. old Keen-Eye Teag

Kilt's mother wins 2009 B.C.S.D. Open Arena Trial dog of the year

Diana Gauthier is the owner/breeder of Teag and Kilt. Diana wasn't too sure when she sent me Kilt as a pup that I would be able to handle her. Diana has good assessment skills of her pups. She knew Kilt was an independent sort. Yup, that's right. But, she is the best damn dog I could have ever received.

As said before numerous times, we haven't teamed up on the trial field yet. Maybe by the time Kilt is 10 yrs. old. I don't think there is any stock that Kilt won't try to move. And I know for sure I will never have a pen dog as good as this bitch. Kilt can slither her away around sheep packed in a pen. She can stare down 5 heads turned towards her. She won't move a muscle. If the sheep turn, she will stalkingly move behind them. One nod or stamp of a foot and she will grab a nose. She is such a cool dog.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY and thank-you Diana and Teag for Keen-Eye Kilt.

Is there a chicken in the dog box?

Yoko opens the dog box door and wonders what is up with these dog boxes and especially what were eggs doing in there? (haha) I put the eggs there as a joke for Norm Close and Yoko.

Hold that line...

"Bobby Dalziel came to town last week. I took a lesson from him. One of his suggestions with her, was to stop gathering altogether and just drive. Drive, just as she starts a training session, while she is fresh. The reasoning was that she was proficient at gathering, but what needed work... "

Basically, I am done with outrunning for awhile with Yoko. She can do a 500 yd. outrun with the best of them. She won't be two until mid January. She is a fetching fool. I "always" drive with her first thing when the sheep come out of the trailer. So, it appears that I am in good company with the above quotation from Bobby to Amanda :0)

Today I took time to drive at least 1/2 mile each with both of the girls and I am going to do more of this when I go to the desert. I stay to the side of the dogs while they are driving or drop behind them at least 100 to 150 feet from them. And we just go and go and go........ I try to say nothing, but an occasional soft "there' when they are doing a nice job.

Kilt has to be reminded to "walk." Yoko is just trying to be fluent and wear as necessary to keep a line. The less I interfere with her the better she does.

It's obvious that the biggest hole in my trialing is "driving." This is where I lose most of my points. So it makes good sense to me to put more practice into this area of work. Uh duh!

The sheep went to breakfast

Got to the desert at 7:15 a.m., 28 degrees, and not a breath of wind. When there is no wind it is like a day at the beach. Blow a little wind chill factor to it and I wouldn't have lasted an hour. This morning it was nice enough to work for two 1/2 hours.
When Wayne wasn't polishing his truck, I gave him and Jet a few pointers. Jet has been taking advantage of him. The two of them (Wayne and Jet) both have "selective hearing." Must be a guy thing. I showed Wayne how not to let Jet have his sheep if he didn't flank correctly. As beginners we all want to just stand there like a pole. Heck, there is a lot to watch. So we started with the basics. The dog is coming too fast, step into him, dog is coming at a nice pace, step back and let him have the sheep. Dog doesn't take the first couple of steps correctly on the flank, down him. Only let him have his sheep when the flank is what you want. Basic stuff, right? hahaha This is good. This gives the hubby a chance to see that there is a little more involved to this working sheepdog stuff.
When it was time to load the sheep, I told Wayne go ahead and let Kilt load them up for you. He said, "She won't listen to me." "It's okay," I said, "just get her up on her feet and flank her." I should have known when it took 5 commands to get her off a down into a stand position it wasn't going to be pretty. "Come bye Kilt," he said, and wham bam, thank-you mam, she flew into the sheep, tail in the air and took her licks while she could. Bad dog Kilt. That is the fastest ever I have seen the sheep load.
We took the sheep to breakfast.
Wayne said, "See, I told you she wouldn't listen."
I paid for breakfast. It was the least I could do. :0)




Congratulations to Yoko's brother (Moses... pictured with Jeanne) for winning the USBCHA Novice class this weekend in Wa. This was his 2nd time to the post with Jeanne in this venue and their 2nd win!

I'm beginning to think about repeating the Jet/Kilt cross :0)

700 yard outrun

Wayne and Jet helped me set up outruns for the girls in the desert today. We basically worked in the hills. I am working on blind out runs and getting the girls (Yoko and Kilt) to come in deeper behind their sheep. It was extrememly helpful to have my husband, Wayne there to help out on walkie talkies. This isn't for couch potatoes. I bet I hiked, walked and ran several miles myself this morning while working the dogs.
Kilt doesn't have a "natural" kickout at the 3/4 marker on the way out to get her sheep. Thank God, Jet is the king of outrunners and his daughter has inherited the good genes. Kilt has more eye and is drawn in towards her sheep. She is getting better, but still needs to be further back at the top. I had to get on her her about 5 or 6 times with running to her and telling her to "Get Back" this morning. Her last outrun was the above photo with the sheep set at 7oo yds. behind a hill on the ridge. When Kilt got to the 3/4 marker she could spot her sheep and started to veer in. Wayne radioed me to let me know. I counted to five and as I was just about to blow my whistle she kicked out on her own and came in beautifully deep behind her sheep which I could not see from where I was standing. Wayne said she stopped herself before starting her lift and began her walk up. SUCCESS! End it on a good note.
Yoko is a dream. If I asked her to do two back flips she would attempt it. Her first blind outrun she ran too wide and I gave her a walk up whistle. She veered in on the walk up whistle, slowed, and then caught sight of her sheep. She flanked out and then to her surprise there was Wayne with a stocking cap and radio. Yo was thinking...Ahhhh What/Who's that? She ran hesitantly up to him and then started wagging. Wayne pointed to her sheep and she happily went right back to them to pick them up. Too cute. I never say anything when things out of the ordinary happen like that. Shit happens.
I gave her a couple of "Get backs" on another outrun which she took better than her mother. Her last outrun I gave her a "Get back" at the 3/4 marker and she kicked out and went at least 75 yds behind her sheep. Again...quit while you are ahead!
I only have about 4 mos. of working in the desert (weather, snakes, etc.), but our time out there is absolutely invaluable.

Desert dwellers

How nice to have company this morning in the desert. Mike Burks and Sport joined me (without) the chick mobile. :0) It was a balmy 60 degrees outside. We practiced "blind" outruns and "hill" work. Of course, So. Calif. style....rattlesnake gaitors and a snub nose 38 in a fanny pack. The dogs for the most part are used to working flat ground. The hills add a different factor to things.

The blind outruns were way too fun. It took a few failed attempts to get the dogs to listen when they couldn't see their sheep. We are going to have to do this way more often. Asking a dog for flanks when there are no sheep in sight takes some "trust." As with anything else, it all boils down to consistency in training.

It was nice to be able to show Mike how well Kilt can flank and listen out in the wide open spaces. She feels the need to take over when we are trialing. She downright embarrasses me at trials. I love her push. I love a zillion things about her, except for the fact that she hasn't partnered with me on the trial field. We are going to go for some lessons to see if that will help.

There was a raven that kept following Kilt and the sheep. It kept flying in front of the sheep while she was driving. This same bird along with a few of it's friends bothered Kilt and the sheep the last time we went to the desert to practice. The raven didn't bother anyone but Kilt. Go figure? In fact, the last time it tried to swoop down on her head. I'm not sure what they are protecting. Wierd.

Plus, we got the giggles over the Border Collie "swaggers." Both Kilt and Sport on their initial walk-up "swagger"(for lack of a better term to call it) They lift their hind legs high and almost cross over in the rear versus single tracking while stalking their sheep in slow motion. We tried to film it. It's pretty hilarious and was quite entertaining. Border Collies are just so strange. :0)

Jet helps out with fetching, driving, and holding sheep for the other dogs in order to get his exercise. We asked him to go one step further today. We sat back in our chairs listening to the "stillness" of the desert while I let the sheep have half a flake and some water in a big red bucket. When we were through practicing I asked Jet to go out and fetch the red bucket. Of course, he wanted to fetch the sheep, but with some urging, he went and brought the red bucket back to the trailer. That Jet....he's a good dog. In fact, he's the BEST in my book.

Mike's chick mobile

That's Mike Burks saying "I need something to make me stand out in the crowd."

Mike found it....the $40 Craig's list "Chick Mobile" for tooling around the trials

Geez....Men and their "tools." Look how proud he is.

YOKO Ono! Yo has a dislike for Mike and Sport's chick mobile and "bites" at it's tires. You can see Sport and Mike in absolute disbelief at Yo's audacity.

USBCHA Porterville

Me and Kilt waiting for the sheep to be exhausted back to the set-out area before our turn at the post in open

Fail often to succeed sooner. Set small goals. Okay....Kilt in her third open trial has manged to go from a 48 to a 61 to a 65, along with a few RT's (mostly me RT'ing her for not listening). I'm fairly pleased with her outruns and lifts. It was difficult to get deep at Porterville due to the shortness of the field. 400 yds and there wasn't much room to get deep behind them. I saw many bad open outruns....oodles of redirects and several dogs that had to be chased down in 4 wheelers and trucks.

I think because there wasn't a fence. I rarely work with a fence. Our outruns are practiced in the desert. But, we did manage a zero off our shed and pen. I guess that tells you a lot about our drive. That bitch (Kilt) just wouldn't give up the sheep and flank.

Yoko looking for her sheep to be set in nursery

Yoko was great for the amount of work time has on the clock. They set the nursery outrun like the open dogs. I was so glad for that. I'm tired of them setting the nursery outrun at the pro-novice level. I heard a few people say that it was too hard for the nursery dogs. They only had 5-6 nursery dogs entered. By the way, the sheep were absolutely perfect. No one could possibly complain about the sheep! They were 2 farm flocks of dorpers put together. Rare for us So. Calif. people to get farm flocks. Anyway, Yoko's first outrun was AMAZING. She had a nice quiet lift. It must have been too quiet for her because then she buzzed them up their rears. But, we actually made it to the cross drive panels, before I saw her getting a bit frustrated and retired her. Her 2nd outrun was the pits (for her). The judge only took 4 points off. I would have taken 12 points off. She started off okay and immediately veered into the center. I started whistling her ass down and she blew me off. Before she hit the center line she blew herself out and went wide around her sheep, but she was pretty jazzed up by then. She came onto her sheep like a torpedo sending one of them clear back to the set-out pens. I have a photo of her sitting pretty behind 4 of them.....waiting for her next command. Uh....that would be a recall little missy.

The competition is fierce out here. It's nothing like 10 or 20 years ago. Susie Applegate and Jennifer Clark-Ewers are producing and training dogs that are superior in every way. Handlers are snatching up and buying up open dogs and importing them just making the competition even more fierce. People with actual day jobs send their dogs out to trainers to be trained for months at a time.

There are only a handful of us (maybe only on one hand) that are training their own dogs, enjoying the journey as we go. I'm proud to be one of those die-hards. Hey, when we do good....it is oh so sweet. When we do poorly, it's back to the drawing board. And, no, I only work my dogs 2-3 times a week. So, I do take that into consideration and enjoy every minute of any success. :0)

P.S. The only bummer about the Porterville trial was that I was missing the California Breeders Cup at Santa Anita. Damn.......I wanted to be in two places at once. I believe Zenyatta and Kilt have a lot in common!!!!!!

Right or left handed dog?

Some people tell me they have a right handed dog or a left handed dog, because the dog has a tendancy or a preferance to go in one direction more than the other. I tell them; than you haven't really had a dog that was one sided!


Kilt is right handed. That means ever since Kilt was a pup, she could only circle to the right. While she is out playing with the other dogs, she will only circle to the right; in the house she circles to the right. What makes a dog right or left handed? God if I know. Must happen in the birth canal :0) But, I can tell you that she has had a litter of 5 pups and all of them were well balanced. None of the pups show this particular irritating quality (for lack of a better word to call it.)


How have I dealt with this exasperating idiosyncracy? Wow...has it ever been difficult. Kilt is a hard driving, pushy son of a gun. I love her for that. When she is driving, her right handedness doesn't seem to effect her working ability. She will drive and flank naturally into the next county. But when we are fetching she is always off to the left side going "away to me."


We are constantly doing "walk-abouts" allowing her to fetch the sheep to me. I am forever changing directions to keep her on her toes. But, I can still see that something is not quite wired right.


Kilt is a fabulous ranch dog. We haven't partnered up on the trial field. Oh yeah...she has her share of PN ribbons, but mostly because the sheep were too difficult for the other dogs. It wasn't because of our "finesse." :0) I have moved her up to open, hoping a longer outrun will relax her a bit. I have to admit though, I have learned more from Kilt than any other dog I have owned.

And, to Kilt and Jet....thanks for Yoko!

Boo Boo Bear - Time to hibernate

It's really not a video. I just had the camera set on video by accident. When I went for my morning coffee at the Heart and Soul cafe in town the other day, this sign was on the door. A black bear has been hanging out at the bottom of Jupiter Mountain (right across from us) and lots of town folk have stories to tell about him.

We have had some big forest fires in the last decade in and around Green Valley. We used to get black bear right on our front porch. So I'm kind of glad we have a new resident bear. Hopefully, some moron won't feed him and some other nut won't shoot him.

USBCHA and AHBA trials

Walk-Up Yoko coming through the fetch panels in her first nursery class

USBCHA

A little smelly, a little warm (high 90's), a little dusty with lots of red ants and gopher holes....other than that a fine trialing place. Eat your hearts out you Pacific Northwest competitors....hahaha

Farm flock dogged sheep. Heavy exhaust and also, to the set out. The open outrun short, but with obstacles for those who haven't been on this field before. Surely, I was probably one of the very few who have never seen this luscious piece of pasture next to the chicken ranch. :0)

To get to your sheep, you had to send on the come bye or the sheep would head back to the set-out. Did I fail to mention that the dog had to travel past the cattle pens, haystack, tractors, trailers, and large oak trees and other myriad of obstacles on their way to pick up the sheep?

Kilt required 2 look backs on the first day to find her sheep. She stopped at the cattle pen. I gave a look back whistle and waited. She traveled on another 200 feet and stopped. I gave her a 2nd look back whistle. She took it and spotted her sheep. Unfortunately, she tuned me out all the way to the post and I retired her. Day two required a stop whistle 3/4 way out and a verbal "GET OUT" which she took going way deep behind her sheep. She made the fetch panels and the first drive panels missing the cross drive panels with me trying to screw her down all the way. Kilt is all push, push, push. Her pen was nice. We had a a minute or so to make the shed.
She saw a hole for the split that I obviously didn't see and came in like lightning. It was the fastest shed I have ever seen. The judge didn't think she held it for long enough. I was too bewildered to know what was going on and then we ran out of time. Leave it to Kilt to be 10 steps ahead of me ALL of the time.

Yoko tried her first nursery runs. She is going to be a great trial dog for me with more mileage on her. She comes to the post all business with a wonderful attitude. Her outruns, lifts and fetches were all great. I think I retired her both days at the first drive panel. Not enough drive time, all go, no whoa, and maybe an unnecessary bite. Didn't matter....I am pleased at how she is coming along. I didn't want to stress her or try to take the wind out of her sails. She has a lot of growing up to do.

Yoko and Jean Singer's Tug, TASK Farms AHBA Ranch Trial winners

AHBA
Oh yeah...on Friday at the AHBA Ranch trial Yoko showed up both of her parents by taking High in Trial with a 196 1/2 from the advanced class. Congrats to Jean and Tug who were a close second behind her. The course had a take pen with a bale of hay in it, a Z chute, a sort, a jump, a bridge, a shed, and a flatbed trailer. Sheep and goats were used. The goats were their usual little tricksters.

Kilt had the most difficult dilemma when she brought her sheep back into the arena. The goats had gone down to the other end of the arena and were on top of the flatbed. I couldn't leave the gate and had 5 sheep at my feet. I gave Kilt about 4 look backs and she finally decided that I really wanted her to get those nasty goats on the flatbed. She had to jump up on the flatbed not once, but twice to bite the goats off of it to rejoin them with the sheep. That Kilt...she's a thinker.
Ranch work is what she does best. It just wasn't as pretty as her daughter's run. She got 5th.

And, kudos to Wayne (hubby) who trialed Jet in the advanced class and got a score of 85. That's only the 2nd time he has worked a dog. Sneaky wife....trying to get him interested. :0)