I hope to be more regular in posting on my new blog especially when I have a litter of pups on the ground. I may even start blogging of days gone by with occasional stories of my days of competing in obedience, conducting seminars and just remembering wonderful times. Winters living in the NW will force me inside more and what better way to while away the gloom and doom with fond memories!
I plan to go thru old videos of my dogs now that I discovered that Imovie can easily create movies off my old Hi 8 camcorder. It will be good for my soul to 'visit' my days gone by with my dogs that have crossed the rainbow bridge.
Here is the link to my new blog www.jandemellobordercollie.com/Hob_Nob_b
While I certainly take great pride in the HN dogs that have been on the USA world team that competed at the FCI agility world championships, I get just as much of a lump in my throat when I get emails from EVERY HN owner who have a great amount of pride in their dogs regardless of titles, status or not!
With the popularity of border collies in agility and specifically to handlers who strive for higher goals, it stands to reason that with the success of HN border collies in agility comes forth very successful handlers seeking a HN dog to help achieve their high standards. I have nothing against this.
With that said, I can say with all honesty that I get sad when visions of making WT override a person's perspective overall in the agility sport.
Whenever I get to an agility trial to spectate and cheer on friends, I often hear comments on someone's performance as to whether the dog is WT caliber. Why do some people feel the need to judge every agility team as to whether they are WT material or not? Let's face it, WC comes but once a year and only few can be on the team. Many, many handlers do not set WT as one of their goals! I know many wonderful teams that are definitely WT caliber who have no desire to strive for this goal. I often see teams that would be deemed mediocre by some elite competitors as you walk by and hear their comments. I must say that these types have lost sight of what agility, or any dog sport, should be about! I get such a kick out of watching teams that are truly enjoying each other on course. So what if their contacts are a bit creepy, their turns a bit wide...if dog and handler are smiling and enjoying the run, why should anyone judge them as not being WT caliber? Why would it matter to them?
Some of these competitors seem to have lost sight of the game...that each handler has their own criteria.
Don't get me wrong, there are many wonderful handlers who have made, or strive to make, WT and being a top competitor in several dog sports myself, I admire and appreciate the technical training that is required to make the top. But some do go overboard by overanalyzing over critiquing and overtraining adnauseum!
Maybe I am getting softer and more sentimental as I age but heck, enjoy the ride regardless of where it takes you!
This was the first time I set up a livestream webcam for people to watch the puppies grow and such. While I got many, many wonderful feedback how much the prospective new owners loved the webcam, I'm not so sure I will use it again. One reason being is that some people on the Swirl puppy list were already deciding which puppy they wanted which is not a good thing as to how I do my puppy picking process.
I know that I will keep it password protected for the birth as too many whacky people come on the chat during this time. I will only allow HN family and people on my puppy list to have access to the password in order to be able to participate in the chat. Even without knowing the password, anyone can watch the live cam. Once the puppies are born, then I will remove the password option.
Swirl was a great first time mom and easy whelper thank goodness! Two of the puppies Seek and Cullin went to live in New Jersey, Trumpet went to live with his cousin Dexter in DC, Thunder went to live with his first time bc owner in NV while Bluebell stayed local here to live in Seattle with her 1/2 sister Ten.
Even though the webcam is now off the air, anyone can still view the recorded videos by clicking on this channel
www.ustream.tv/channel/hobnob7
Here is Journey
now his litter sister Trend
...as Swirl delivered her 6 gorgeous babies sired by Scheme (or Mr. Scheme-ski) on Friday, August 7. Puppies came a lot sooner than I had anticipated. She was due on Saturday as this would be 63 days from ovulation. Swirl's temp had dropped to 98.6 Friday morning and past experience with my other litters would indicate that Swirl would have her puppies Friday night/early Saturday morning.With inspiration from cpagility and her multiple puppy cams, I decided to give the puppy cam a try for this litter. So, as I sat at my IMac in the dog room viewing the puppy cam while talking to a client on the phone, I noticed that Swirl was not in the whelping box and out of sight. I proceeded to go into the whelping room to see where she was and to my utter shock I see a blue merle puppy on the daybed! Swirl did a quick jump into the whelping box as she saw me. A quick inspection of the puppy and all was fine...WHEW!
No sooner do I finish my inspection of the first puppy, Swirl delivers another blue merle pup in the whelping box this time a boy.
In a matter of 2 hours, Swirl delivered 7 puppies VERY easily! Sad to say the 4th born had a cleft palate and was put to sleep.
It couldn't have happened any better with Swirl easily delivering all her puppies at such a decent hour of the day starting at 12:55 pm with the final puppy delivered at 3:04 pm...THANK YOU SWIRLIE GIRLIE!
Swirl is being a most wonderful first time mom as her puppies continue to gain 1 to 2 ounces daily.
Anyone interested can view the live puppy cam by clicking on this link
www.ustream.tv/channel/hobnob7
Individual puppy pictures can be viewed on their webpage by clicking on this link:
www.jandemellobordercollie.com/SwirlSche
Sometime last year, a man named George had emailed me wanting a red and white bc puppy. I did not have any at the time and that was that. Not long after this brief email exchange, I found a red & white litter online and inquired about the puppies. It turns out that the breeder of this litter was the same gentleman who had emailed me! I had decided to pass up on taking a pup from this litter because the parents were not hip or eye tested although I sure liked the looks of the parents and pups as well as the pedigree (related to my Kindle).
In the meantime, George's wife Patt and I had exchanged many emails back and forth sharing our love of border collies especially the red and white color. I had started to regret passing up on getting a puppy from their litter but I live by "everything happens for a reason" philosophy but I did let Patt know that if they ever repeated the breeding to let me know...that was over a year ago.
So...several weeks ago I get an email from Patt that they had a litter of 7 red puppies from the same parents which consisted of 3 girls and 4 boys. I was elated and immediately called Patt to let her know how serious I was for one of the puppies. As always, Patt took many, many pictures as the weeks went by focusing on two particular males that I had shared with her caught my eye. While Patt was kind enough to humor me with asking to take pictures of these boys standing front and side, I knew this would be difficult on both of us...her trying to get 'ranch' puppies to stand and me trying to make a decision via pictures.
With Swirl due to have a puppies in less than a week, I knew that if I wanted to get hands on these puppies it was now! So, Friday night I made a quick decision to drive out to Idaho and take a first hand look. The trip would be over 400 miles driving thru eastern WA. I asked Gail if she wanted to go on an adventure and drive to ID and she never blinked an eye:>) Next I put a call into Yvonne asking her if she could take care of the dogs feeding them, letting them out to potty and come back in the morning to do the same. Luckily, it was a non show weekend for Yvonne which meant she would be home.
Rachel Fleisner flew in from Fargo, ND late Friday night to come and pick up her new black & white Kindle/Scheme son. Rachel arrived at HN farm at 9 am Saturday morning as did Yvonne. While Rachel was getting to know her new handsome boy Spitfire, I went over the 'dog routine' with Yvonne.
So, with Bezel, Shale (in heat) pregnant Swirl, Prism and 7 week old Feisty, Gail and I set out for Sandpoint, ID leaving the farm around 12:30 pm.
As we drove further thru eastern WA, I was surprised to see how desolate it is!!!! There were no trees AT ALL for 135 miles!!!!!! This area along I 90 consists mostly of crop growing. It was interesting to see red, white and blue sparkly signs on the fence which read what crop was growing in the field. These crops consisted of alfafa and timothy hay, wheat, garden beans, field and sweet corn, beans, potatoes and even a peppermint crop! Covered hay stacks were in over abundance dotting the landscape. It amazes me how the heck they get water to this desolate area! Surely a place I would NEVER consider living!
As we neared the end of WA state, the trees gloriously came back to the landscape as we crossed the beautiful Columbia river. This area reminded me of AZ as the river cut thru the earth forming a gorge. Now, if there are to be no trees, at least it should have a river cutting thru it to make it less boring:>)
Driving thru Spokane once again brought us to civilization. As we drove further passing the town of Newport, Gail informed me that this is where former agility WT member Barb Davis lives. Good grief...how in the world did she ever make it to enough agility trials to get a spot on the WT???? That girl must have done some traveling!
Soon we were in ID and with detailed directions from Patt, we came to the road of which to turn off. Now Patt had warned me about the 1.25 mile road leading up to their Journey's End farm. She informed me that we may not be able to make it up the rocky road and to call her so that she would then drive down to get us. Heck, I'm no woos and I specifically drove the big bus van, albeit no 4 wheel drive, so what's the problem I'm thinking?
All goes well for almost a mile and yes it was a bit steep here and there and rocky and my only thought was that I was screwed if another car approached me head on...how would both vehicles fit? But I figured that was not going to happen and trucked on.
AND THEN...OMG! We hit the really, really, really steep incline. Ok, I'm thinking we got this far the bus should be able to make it..right, RIGHT??? Oh hell, the bus is struggling to maintain forward momentum and I have visions of "the little engine that couldn't" and being in a rock slide going backwards!!!! Just when I am about to push my panic button, we make it to the top and see the ranch. THANK THE GOOD LORD!
By now, it is a little after 7 pm. I parked the van and immediately George (whom I have never spoken to and only had that one brief email exchange) comes quickly over to give me a big welcoming hug! Of course, I'm thinking it is more like a glad-you-made-it-up-our-driveway-relief hug:>) Next is the welcoming hug from Patt as we are thrilled to meet each other in person.
After our welcome, I immediately spot a red puppy in a kennel run. Cool, the pups are outside. But before we meet the pups, we tend to our dogs in the van as we let each one out in turn to potty (well, actually Gail did this:>). George is immediately smitten with the handsome Bezel...no surprise:>)
Now it's time to officially meet the pups. What a wonderfully joyful fun loving gaggle of puppies as they greet, explore and run amok. Just love the carefree farm life atmosphere!
As Gail and I go over the two boys named Hoss and Little Joe, there is something pulling me towards little Joe. While being smaller and darker colored then his brother Hoss (heck, he wasn't named Hoss for nothin') he just reminded me a lot of Bezel as a puppy. Could be that his mother Zena also strongly reminded me of Bezel's mom Chisel...my soulmate.
As I observed the puppies just being puppies, it was cool to see daddy Sam, mom Zena and Bulls Eye, older sister to the pups, all interact. George then asked if I wanted to see Sam work sheep...are you kidding! So George and Sam gave us a little demonstration and it was clear to see just what a natural Sam is while George is new at learning the herding ropes.
Back to the puppies and trying to decide which one to pick. I almost contemplated taking both Hoss and Little Joe but I am looking forward to a breeding from another breeder in TX with the hopes of getting a puppy from this future litter.
George showed me his mountain cabin and how truly rustic it is! I mean rustic! The whole 40 acre farm is powered by solar panels. George is a horseman by trade and used to do cutting horse shows. He showed me a picture of the buffalo he used to keep specifically to work the cutting horses on..amazing! Then he showed me 2 poster size pictures of a down hill skier and guess what? yep, that was George! He ski races competitively and shared with Gail and I that he placed 7th in the country last year for his age group (I'm guessing over 50 since Patt and I are the same age) He declared that this year he was going for the win! I asked if they got a lot of snow at the farm and showed me pictures of the dogs in 4 feet of snow that last for months. Yikes, way too much snow for this former New Englander!
Sadly, it was time to leave and head down the darkened road. Meeting Patt and George for the first time made me feel like I have known them for a long time and the type of good people that you form an immediate connection with. Such terrifically and truly wonderful earthy souls!
With our goodbys and promises of meeting up again at either farm, the bus headed slowly, and I mean slowly, off the mountaintop and down towards civilization. We still had another 10 miles driving into Sandpoint to our little duplex. All the hotels were booked up solid and luckily Gail found this for just a $140 a night. Now let me say that George and Patt had offered us to stay in their horse trailer/living quarters before we made the trip but not knowing what the conditions would be like, I declined. Stupid me as Gail took a tour of the trailer and it was to die for A/C included! Well, next time we know.
But I must say that the new renovated duplex was just the coolest and neatest place! It had all the amenities of a full kitchen, flat screen tv on the wall and the most comfortable bed I have ever slept in! here is a link to our Amethyst duplex...too bad it didn't show pictures of the darling kitchen and bathroom. Swirl slept with Gail on the futon couch while Shale slept with me in the big bed. The other dogs slept in the van which was parked in the back less then 50 feet from the front door only separated by a cute little back yard.
http://www.innatsandcreek.com/photogall
Gail had packed a huge cooler full of drinks and food as we had a late dinner. Off to bed, then up early to head back to the farm.
7 week old Feisty newly abandoned by her brother Spitfire who flew home to ND with his new mom, was awesome on her first road trip! barely a peep out of her on the drive. Prism was also a great traveler!
So, my new handsome little red boy, formerly known as Little Joe, will probably be crowned with the name of Hob Nob Journey's End aka Journey although it is not an end but a beginning of a wonderful friendship with Patt and George who live life to the absolute fullest atop a beautiful mountain at their Journey's End ranch!
This was the first time ever for Prada swimming and he was such a natural! Scheme used to swim in our pool when we lived in CA so he was an old pro at it. The water was so clean and just the right temperature.
Gail inflated the boat at home then we loaded it into the big van and away we went. The dogs just loved swimming as it is great low impact exercise for them while we just relax and drift drinking Mike's hard lemonade.
Here is a short video of our maiden voyage...maybe I should have named the boat and smashed a bottle of Mike's hard lemonade to christen it:>)
I just don't get it how people spend their money only to have it go up in smoke! Geesh, I would rather spend that money on a nice dinner:>)
I am thankful that none of my dogs go bonkers about the kabooms! Bezel is probably the only one who reacts a bit but if he is in his crate he handles the noise just fine. Chisel didn't react to fireworks but didn't like the loud BOOM from thunder. She could also handle the noise better if put in her crate rather then stay hanging out with me.
If I see any of my dogs starting to have a reaction/fear of thunder or fireworks, I usually engage them in play which takes their mind off the loud noise. I give them something to do that they enjoy which always takes their mind off the scary noise. It also helps that I don't react negatively to the noise so they don't pick up on any bad vibes from me. I don't coddle them unless they want to be coddled and not act fearful in doing so.
Living here in the WA countryside, we don't hear nearly as much fireworks as we did in CA as the Mexicans always seem to have parties that last all week!
This question was asked by a Hob Nob owner on my chat list which got quite a great topic going!
"Question for the day...What do you all feel creates the dogs we have? In other words, how much is genetics, how much is the first seven weeks, how much is the environment we raise them in, how much is US?"
Since I love this topic, here is my take on this subject and a fascinating subject it is!
I have gotten dogs from backyard breeders who do next to nothing with their pups on up thru seeing how some of my HN pups evolve once they have left the nest.
I strongly believe it is a 50/50 proposition.
We should all be aware that all puppies go through several changes both physically and mentally as they mature. It is human intervention that can make or break a puppy's future development. This includes lacking on the handler's part to do all the necessary social interaction with humans and dogs as well as doing all the right stuff.
BALANCED TRAINING is so vital in rearing a puppy into a balanced adult dog.
If a puppy is reared in a coddling environment by being nurtured whenever it encounters scary 'things, noises, etc' then it is more likely that this puppy will be more inclined to be less confident in the world of such 'things'.
In today's training of accentuating the positive, this can often have negative lasting effects on a puppy as they are never in a situation to handle pressure. Unfortunately, this lack of experiencing pressure in their early training can, and often does, lead to an insecure adult. Many excuses can be given as to why one puppy can be so different from another in the same litter. This can be attributed to each puppy being reared (nurtured) differently. It goes without saying that not all puppies within a litter will have the same characteristics (nature). From someone who has raised many, many litters over a 20 year span I believe that I have yet to encounter a puppy within any of my litters that was truly not capable of being raised as a balanced adult.
Are some of these puppies a little noise sensitive? yes. Are some of these puppies more leary of strange humans and dogs than others? yes. But it is how we handle these puppies during these critical stages that will make or break for it being a balanced adult.
In today's fast society, I often think that dog owners are in a rush to have their puppy be socially adapted before they have finished metamorphosing. This metamorphosing can last for several years but the owner fails to recognize this fact and will often label the dog as problematic.
There are the right times when to nurture the puppy during a critical phase it is going thru but one must be very careful as to knowing if nurturing during this critical stage is good for the long term and lasting effect to this puppy morphing into a balanced adult.
I have seen enough examples of nurturing at the wrong times and the outcome leading to an unbalanced adult but sadly, the owners of such dogs refuse to acknowledge their role as to their cause and affect.
Hob Nob farm had the pleasure of hosting a Kim Terrill seminar open only to owners of Hob Nob border collies. Guest started arriving on Sunday before the NW regional which included Deborah Bridge and her Steeple/Trestle daughter Foto who flew in from Dallas, TX. followed by Carol Schiefer who drove the 2 days from So CAL with her 3 HN girls Stat, Mist and Trace. Kim and Sheila Conant from Hawaii flew in and coordinated flight arrivals at noontime on Tuesday. The last guest to arrive at HN farm on Wednesday was my long time and dear friend Kathy Kelly with Bezel's son Charter and sister Spree driving up from No CA. With 2 litters and all the out of state guest, HN farm was rockin'!
Kim got down to business on Wednesday giving private lessons followed by the seminar on Thursday. A good time was had by all HN owners in attendance and for this grandma I had such pride watching them all blossom!
I opted to stay home on Friday rather that go to the trial as I wanted to give all the dogs a chance at running outside after being cooped up for the lesson and seminar days. I did attend the NW regional on Saturday only and brought along Prada, Shale, Prism and Lavish for some socialization.
The set up was great and RHR seemed to have done an outstanding job hosting this event!
It is always fun for me to watch all the HN dogs that were entered especially to those from out of state that I don't get to see. One dog that continues to take my breath away is Charter! He is as handsome as his daddy Bezel and such a powerhouse of a dog! One could almost feel the ground shake as he runs a course! Kathy has done a wonderful job 'hanging onto the reins' with this boy albeit he often takes the bit and leads the way for Kathy to follow his course:>)
Speaking of Kathy Kelly, she is the oldest HN owner starting with Tuxedo over 20 years ago! Tuxedo was a Jeep son who dazzled the shutzhund trials and beat the best of them! Ledger followed as her next HN dog then Charter and to date Spree. Kathy works for Guide Dogs of San Rafael and has done so for over 20 years! She is THE sweetest, kindest and nicest person I know and I have been fortunate to have her as one of my very dearest of friends! She rarely speaks ill of anyone, and when giving a little training advice, tries to do so in such a way as to not offend anyone or ruffle their feathers...a trait I admire and wish I could emulate!
Here is a collage of Charter taken by Richard Todd professional photographer
As with anything, all good things come to an end sooner rather then later.
I look forward to their visit next year!
The dogs are out in the various fenced areas to stretch their legs while Gail and I take on the task of doing spring cleaning for the arrival of many HN owners flying out to compete at the NW usdaa regional. I always look forward to their visits!
Since I will be very busy these next few days getting the farm ready for our company, barbecue, and Kim's seminar and private lessons, along with the 3 days of watching many HN dogs competing, I doubt I will have time to do any training other then squeezing in 2x2 training with Trestle so we don't have a set back.
With rain predicted for the next few days, sheep work will certainly be on hold as I fear slipping on the wet grass with sheep barreling upon me...YIKES! that would not be a good thing. I often feel out of sync a bit when starting the young pups as my knees just don't work that well and I can no longer run. My sheep don't get worked that often so consequently are not velcro to me (of which I don't want them to be). If the dog is right the sheep respond appropriately but what young pup/dog is right:>) I periodically take my young pups out to the sheep dragging or holding a light line. The light line is on so as to be able to catch the little buggers at the end:>) But if I feel that the line is hindering the pup, then I take it off and hope that I can catch them when it is time to quit:>)
With Prism, her first reaction to seeing sheep was to flee. I would take her with me when it was time to feed the sheep. she wanted no part of being near these creatures! Her first time in the arena with sheep was to be consumed with eating sheep poop and a little chasing on a line. No big deal. Her 3rd exposure to sheep you could easily see the lightbulb turn on dimly as she got more into the sheep then their poop:>) And the last time I took her to sheep, I had a short line on her just to let Gail take some video and pictures. I let Prism hold the sheep in a corner merely for Gail to get some still pictures. What was great to see is that even with a ewe stomping at Prism in this pressure situation, she didn't feel the need to flee! That was a big difference from her first few exposures to the sheep. I was glad to see that Prism was able to handle this pressure at her age. Of course, if I still felt she had not turned on so keenly, I would never have put her in this pressure spot to begin with. It was great for picture taking though!Prism's lightbulb has turned on in a big way now as she is VERY keen on the sheep! In the few times that I have taken Prism to the sheep , I did not have a line on her because she was not that keen so I simply walked behind the sheep hoping she would turn on by their movement. Most times she ate more sheep poop then showing interest on the sheep...pretty typical with young pups:>) But the day she turned on I then realized that I had to put the line on as she is now bold and confident enough to take up the chase. My sheep are not appropriate for puppies nor was the area in which we were in...too big. But it is of no consequence since I am in no way doing ANY type of training with Prism.
Now that Prism has turned onto sheep, I will periodically 'take the walk' with her on a line maybe about once per month until she is of the appropriate age (around 1yr) to pursue any type of sheep work.
A little bit about using a line...I have always typically started my young dogs on a line first with letting them drive, then dropping the line to let them fetch, balance and wear, etc. then end the session with holding the line again for more drive work. I had always simply attached the line directly to the collar until I brought in Marc Christopher to conduct a clinic at my facility in CA. I really liked how Marc attached the line like a harness as in that way it wasn't pulling on the dog's neck.
Speaking of MC, I thoroughly enjoyed him, his manner with dogs and people...he truly has a gift. I had heard great things about him from lots of sources but the source I trusted was from Claudia Frank. Claudia used to train with such notables as Bruce Fogt (not sure who else) and was successful but when she switched to MC's philosophy, her already good handling/training skills now became great! So much so that I heard one of her Shelties won an open course at a stockdog trial. How awesome is that!
While I learned a great deal from Marc's seminar and private lesson several years ago, one can never remember it all. I have adapted many of the things I learned from him as I remember them but I'm sure that what I have remembered is a bit cloudy and not doing him the justice his training method deserves. I still interject some of my own stuff that has been successful along with bits and pieces from other top herding handlers that have passed on their wisdom in clinics and private lessons.
Since I no longer compete in herding trials of any venue and the training of my dogs does not conform to the norm, I certainly was successful with the dogs that I started as pups on up thru AKC herding championships (7) as well as several pro novice wins on tough courses with tough range ewes. These dogs that taught me a great deal on how to read stock, etc. starting 13 years ago with my bitch Static, followed by Scheme, Chisel, Ridge, Chisel's son Bezel and daughter Spree and lastly Bezel's daughter Cachet. The youngsters that I now enjoy 'dabbling' at herding are Singe, Prada and Fusion and when old enough Prism.
Even with just dabbling at herding these days with my young dogs, I will enjoy working them just as much as when I was a serious competitor. My training style may cause the eyes to roll from many an 'expert' but I haven't ruined a dog yet and don't intend to with my current dogs:>)
Well, time to get to work on spring cleaning..YUCK!
While he is still rough around the edges, (& that's ok and expected for this stage) he can now do small outruns fairly well off both sides, cover his sheep nicely and lift at the appropriate place ( most times..he is still very green) and I am seeing him start to pace himself and rate his stock better. I have also done small attempts at driving of which went well this morning.
I need to get him out on different stock and will try and get down to Fido's farm at some point.
For now, Prada's sheep training is on hold as he seemed to have pulled a muscle so is on crate rest.
I am in no hurry with the boys as they need to mature more. I worked Singe once last week and she did as well as the last time I worked her several weeks ago. She rates her sheep so well and for the few times she has been on sheep, she does quite nicely.
It was fun to reflect back on Singe's first time on sheep when she was 11 weeks old
www.jandemellobordercollie.com/movies/Si
www.jandemellobordercollie.com/movies/Si
She has struggled with really putting her 'mind' into the process. Does being in heat affect this...who knows, quite possibly as we know how hormones can get things out of whack:>)
The willingness was there but her lack of concentration at the task in finding entries and such was overwhelming at times. I kept with it in spite of my sometimes frustrating moments and today it paid off in spades...YEAH!
I get such a kick out of training even though I no longer compete. After all, isn't most of our time with dogs spent in training rather then competing? While I enjoyed my many years of competing at the top levels, I so enjoyed the training challenges that much more.
And today was one of those special days.
Here is a video of Trestle's am session
Let me go on record that I knew up front that anything that I posted to the bc boards in order to give facts to the unjustified slamming, would not be viewed as such. Many times I simply ignore such slanderous posts but every once in awhile I find it necessary to put the facts out there in the hopes that it overrides the lies. And every time the end result is one of failure on my part to get the truth to be seen as it is.
As for LS, I know that the HN army will conduct themselves with dignity if they cross paths next weekend.
As for my breeding program, I never make any claims that I breed working border collies. I don't breed for color although I am drawn to some colors over others but not to the point that color overrides the most important qualities of my HN dogs! Heck, I still breed tris and freckles!:>) People such as LS can make claims that I am a sports dog breeder of which I took no offense. She can choose to label what type of border collie breeder I am in her own way. I have not given myself, nor my breeding program, any type of label...I simply breed the type of border collie that I like. Do I want them to have working ability that makes them the premier herding dog? Absolutely! But I put more into other aspects such as structure, health clearances, temperament, biddability, work ethic and don't forget easy on the eyes:>), etc. The fact that I don't breed for working ability exclusively and breed bc's that have not competed at the open level sheepdog trials puts many a bc purist into fits of rage:>) I leave the breeding of border collies exclusively bred for working attributes to those that hold that near and dear to their hearts and applaud them!
While I used to have a goal to trial at the open level in sheep dog trials, that goal has long been put to rest for many reasons. I know that I could train my dogs to the open level without question! But the days of trucking my sheep to open fields are over and all that goes into the making of an open level trial dog! I actually no longer have the desire to trial in ANY herding venue. For me, I take tremendous pleasure in doing some simple yet effective training with several of my young dogs. I do so primarily to form a bond that can only be nurtured thru our working together much like I had with Chisel who was my last dog that I did full training and competing with in herding, obedience and agility. And the other reason is to get me off my fat ass and off this darn computer!
I have nothing to prove to anyone which includes proving anything to myself. Been there, done that and proud of all my accomplishments with the help of some outstanding dogs!
Just as in obedience and agility, there are many ways to start a dog in their herding training. Marc Christopher fits the status of a remarkably gifted and talented herding instructor whose training method is 'outside the box' of what is most familiar to the more typical tried and true herding diehards. And because of this outside the box training method, it brings forth the nay sayers to come forward to slander it without even beginning to know how effective his method is! Again, pretty typical.
I have certainly been guilty of being a nay sayer and one such example was the 2x2 method to weaving. When SG first introduced this method, albeit not nearly as refined as outlined in her new DVD, it was poo pooed by many of which I was right there at the top of the nay sayers! Why? Because a certain competitor and devout follower of SG/2x2 loudly proclaimed it to be the best method yet trial, after trial, after trial, after agility trial this competitor's dog could NEVER find entries and ALWAYS ran past the WHOLE SET OF WEAVE POLES a minimum of 3 times before finally weaving. So, hence the nay saying but this is no excuse on my part.
When I then saw a brief trailer to the new 2x2 DVD, I instinctively knew this was a winner...a BIG winner! I ordered the DVD with the intent to train several of my dogs with this method even though I no longer compete in agility. I wanted to be in a position to say how genius the method is but in order to validate such I had to go thru the program. After completing the 2x2 method with Prada and Fusion and currently working Posh and Trestle, I stand by my original assessment that this method is genius! You can bet that there are top agility trainers already saying negative things about the 2x2 method and more then likely not having even attempted to train a dog thru the program.
Just as I endorse Marc C for herding and Susan G 2x2 weaving method, I always like to promote a training method that I believe in albeit scoffed at by others who choose not to take the leap out of their comfort zone and try something uniquely different. But it should not give anyone license to bash. Lesson numero uno that I myself learned and thankful I did!
Just goes to show that this old dog (trainer) can learn new tricks!
Just goes to show that this old dog (trainer) can learn new tricks!
I have not worked Posh on the 2x2 for about 3 days now but I have done 1 session per day with Trestle first thing in the am. Not sure if she is ready for me to add a jump yet. She is in full blown heat and if I have any dogs out while she is working thru the 2x2, she oftentimes attempts to leave to go and flag to Fusion:>) So, it is obvious that she is a bit distracted but since she continues to work happily, I figure that I would continue to work her on the 2x2 during her cycle.
Since it had been a few days that I have worked Posh, I will start her back up this am and add the 3rd set of poles. I have no doubt that she will do great at this next level.
Gail and I are busy getting the farm ready for the onslaught of Hob Nobr's coming out for the NW regional. Kim Terrill is doing a seminar for HN dogs only next Thursday with private lessons on Wednesday. This Sunday the first of the Hob Nobr's to arrive will be Carol Schiefer from CA with her 3 girls Stat, Mist and Trace along with Deborah from TX with her Steeple/Trestle puppy Foto. My dear friend Sheila from Hawaii will arrive on Tuesday timing her flight arrival the same time as Kim T so that I only have to do one airport pickup. My sweetest and dearest friend and long time HN owner Kathy Kelly is driving up from CA and will arrive on Wed night.
A barbecue is planned after Kim's seminar for those that are staying at the farm along with inviting my 2 favorite veterinarians and tech.
Then the excitement of watching many HN dogs run Friday thru Sunday as the NW usdaa regional will be an exciting end to a most anticipated and fun filled week!
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hobnob7- Jan DeMello
- Hob Nob border collies
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