A Day at the Coast

Note: I wrote this last year, and it would seem that I never actually published it.  Since it is once more January, this seems like a good time to go ahead and get it on the blog.
 
My birthday is sometime during January, and the only good thing about a January birthday is that kidding has not yet started, and it is a good time to visit the coast.

For my birthday, I decided to take myself for a ten mile hike on one of my favorite trails.  One of the best parts was seeing a stream that actually had running water in it.  This should be our rainy season, but we are in the grip of an epic drought in California, and the thirteen months prior to this hike are the driest since records have been kept.  This drought is in fact, the worst drought the state has seen in over 1,200 years. I stood on a bridge over this creek and absorbed all the babbling creek sound I could.

It didn't have as much water as it should at this point in the year, but it was still refreshing to see any kind of flow.

I love the quiet of the forest, and of course, bird watching along the way.

This view is what my mind's eye sees every time I think of this trail.  It is such a great mix of tall trees, native shrubs, and annuals.

Our native blackberries, which have much, much smaller thorns than the invasive non native species, also have bright pink flowers when in bloom:

California blackberry flower

The area that I hiked in was off limits to dogs, but the day was mild and since Stella has been doing so much better in the car, I took her with me on the drive with plans for a post hike, dog-inclusive adventure. My idea was to take her to Stinson Beach and blow her little mind by introducing her to the ocean, which I know she's never seen before.

To make sure she treated the ocean with respect, I told her a story of a creature...

Me, as I whisper the Legend of The Kraken in Stella's ear.

Apparently, I was a pretty convincing story teller, because she seemed to believe me...

It's right behind us, isn't it? I can feel it watching us...

OH! OH! I THINK I CAN SEE IT!

Stella, what would you do if the Kraken got close to you?

I'd make this menacing face and scare it. Grrrrr!

I'm sure that would work splendidly.  Hey, I need to tell you something.

Watching for emerging Krakens! Can't be distracted!

Look at me when I am talking to you, please.

Okay! I'm all ears.

The Kraken isn't real, it's just a story.

I knew the whole time! I was just playing along to make you feel better.

Sure you did.

Somehow, once I told her it wasn't real, she was much better about posing for a nice picture with the ocean.

We wrapped up the day by enjoying the view of the Pacific and the setting sun.

 

Some people were flying fighting kites on the beach, which was the most fascinating thing in the world to Stella.  Way more interesting even than the ocean with it's waves that chase dogs up the beach.

Staring at fighting kites, then staring some more.

Could. Barely. Pull. Her. Away.

What an all-around wonderful day, and one of the best parts was how well Stella did in the car.  She's always had a combination of anxiety and motion sickness that has made it difficult to take her with us on car trips.  For our coastal sojourn, she spent at least four hours in a moving car, and didn't throw up or anxiously drool at all, and actually sat and looked out of the window for most of it! Life's little victories, still happening every day!

An old ad campaign...

This is my dog:

This is my dog on drugs:

Any questions?



Oh- I see a question in the back there.

The question was asked "What the heck did you do to your dog?"

Stella started doing a large amount of reverse sneezing (which can look distressingly similar to "I'm about to barf!") several days ago, which is usually how your dog tells you that a foxtail has taken up residence in their nasal passages.  Long story short, she had to be anesthetized so the vet could look into her nose to find and remove the offending foreign body (which they didn't find, because of course they didn't, that would be a way too normal outcome for anything from this farm), and when I picked her up, she was still a bit drunk from the anesthesia.

She was feeling the effects enough that she was bobbing and weaving on the walk from my car to the house.  It was sort of hilarious. And she looked so bleary eyed, I couldn't not take a picture.

Meanwhile, inside her nose is all swollen and inflamed, so she's on a round of antibiotics to ward off a possible sinus infection, as well as Benadryl in case it is allergies.  If the sneezing continues once she's had all the antibiotics, then she is supposed to go in so they can take another look, though I am really reluctant to put her under for a second time in the span of a week.

I'm Asking You With My Mind....

Ohpleaseohpleaseohplease

Stella!  Are you begging?

What? No! I would never!

I was just, you know, wondering if you were going to finish that?

Who can resist that face?  Not me!  Here you go....

OMNOMNOMNOM

Amazing how quickly she can make food disappear...even she can't seem to believe it.

Mrmph. Are you sure you shared?

By the way, that third picture is typically the expression I get anytime I shift my weight in my chair, make any sort of motion on the couch, walk anywhere in the house, or touch the back door.  Add to it vigorous tail wagging, and it turns into a declaration that clearly something! exciting! is! just! about! to! happen!

I think she's the definition of an eternal optimist.

You Can Never Take Us Seriously

Cause we're always kidding!

Haha! Get it?  Get it? Baby goats are kids and they are born this time of year, and we call it kidding, so us goat people are always kidding around!

We are delightful, aren't we? Ah, dairy people- we'll milk a joke for all it's worth!

Anyway, the little fuzzballs are arriving left and right, with 40 on the ground since our first kids arrived January 31st.  

'Sup?

To amuse ourselves between disbuddings and picture takings and bottle feedings, we let the kids check out Stella.  Her facial expressions are priceless.

If I ignore it, it will go away

Since it hasn't gone away, I'll use my powers of side-eye, to slyly check it out.

Quick ear sniff while she's distracted!

Fine, you may sniff, but no looking for an udder.

We've always been able to trust Stella with the kids- she seems to easily understand that they are different from the adult goats, and can invade her space (to a point).

The Dogs of Castle Rock Farm

So, the last couple of posts have been pretty text heavy. Mainly because I stink at taking pictures of events, like Linear Appraisal, or of shows-- heck, there are still goats that have been hanging out in my barn yard for years(!) that I haven't managed to get a single picture of.

But, I digress. Here, to mix it up a little, are a few pictures of the current canines living at the farm.

First, a picture of Minion from the day I picked her up. She's on the right, drinking, and the dog on the left that looks like a Border Collie on steroids, is her grandfather. I am hoping that she does not get nearly as big as he is.

Second, a picture of Stella, with her backpacking packs. She has not yet gone backpacking- she's just two and a half and not really ready to start carrying much weight. Plus, I haven't been backpacking since August of 2009. But, I want to start getting her used to the packs in hopes that we will get to go packing, plus she carried a couple of light weight items that I ended up using a bit and it was easier to grab them from her packs than from my pack. I think she looks quite fetching.

This is the first time she's seemed alright with the packs and not under the impression that they are going to suck out her life force. This is also the first time I've been able to take her out on a trail as opposed to the country roads around our house, so I think she was less concerned with the pack and more focused on ADVENTURE!

And finally, a picture of Stella with her new BFF, Bear. Bear is a handsome, blue-eyed husky-shepherd-golden mix who is staying on the farm for a few months along with his person.

I forgot to ask his person's permission to talk about them on the blog before I started writing, so will stick to talking about Bear for now. It took a little while for the two to warm up to each other, but now they do enjoy going on walks together and playing. Playing mainly involves wrestling and Stella leaping up and grabbing Bear's neck with her mouth, in an effort to get him to chase her. His nature is quite dignified, while Stella is very playful and energetic- they do make a very cute couple.  Stella does like to keep an eye on him and while she had warmed up to playing with Minion before Bear's arrival, she's pretty much dropped Minion like yesterday's fashion and exclusively plays with Bear.

Second Herding Lesson

I meant to post this last week since I've already had my third lesson, but better late than never...

This Friday dawned clear and still, which made working the dogs and conversation much easier.

Robin got to work her dog, Rusty, in a different pen with much lighter sheep than last week's group (that's Robin and Rusty in the picture). Some penning of sheep was attempted and almost accomplished, although Rusty seemed to tire more easily than usual. Robin recently changed his dog food and was wondering if this could have something to do with the lack of energy. I was hoping to get some good pictures of Robin and Rusty, but the sun was in just the wrong spot, and Rusty was working too wide to get everyone in the same shot, so I've got this sort of bled-out picture of them working.

Stella's manners improved while watching the other dogs work- most of her vocalizations were quieter, and she only did about three really loud outbursts. I've been working on "watch me" to get her attention off of whatever is causing her to get all wound up and it seems to help a bit. I did need to do a bit of basic heeling up and down the lane a few times to get her attention to refocus once she had seen Rusty do some work.

We went in with a long line to do some work with a different set of sheep than last week- only three, and they were lighter than last week's group. The first time Stella went out, she of course cut one ewe out and would not drop as I asked, but when I yelled "enough!", she did leave the ewe and came happily running to me. The trainer was pleased to see that Stella doesn't fold when given a correction and that we seem to have a good rapport. Several times, the trainer and I both gave Stella the same command at the same time, and the only real issue I had with Stella during this session is that she would not stay down as long as she needed, often times just touching her belly to the ground and instantly standing back up to keep moving up on the sheep.

By the end of the lesson, Stella had gone from being "a nice farm dog" to being "an awesome little dog!" according to the trainer. That's more like it!

After this week's lesson, it became clear that I needed a light long line to do some work with Stella. While picking up pepper spray (some of the dogs on our walks seem only sort of contained in their yards) at a sporting goods store, we found several diameters of rock-climbing rope. It's perfect- lightweight and strong, exactly what I need. My first session with it worked well, and now I don't get bothered by the big lead rope I had been using getting drug through the dirt.

This morning while feeding the boys, I noticed that the sheep next door were out, so I offered to help our neighbors get them back into their pasture. It was convenient to have a long line to use on Stella- and she was more than happy to help round up the sheep and drive them to their pasture. The only problem we ran into was that the guard llamas kept trying to drive Stella off. Stella kept her eye on the llamas, while working the sheep at the same time. These sheep have never been worked by a dog before, so they were pretty darn light.

The neighbors were VERY impressed, and I let them know that we'd be happy to help them move sheep around anytime. No sense in having them run after the sheep when clearly Stella would be more than happy to help out.

So between working on the boys, bringing in the sheep, helping me to gather up the wethers a couple of times, greeting all of the people who came to the farm today, and evening chores, I actually have a tuckered out dog laying at my feet.

Our First Herding Lesson

On Friday, Stella and I went to our first training session for herding.

The day started out cold, and got colder. When I got over to the training facility, the wind had picked up and continued to get stronger and colder the entire time we were there. Fortunately, my friend Robin was there with her Border Collie, so I had someone I could chat with and who would tell me some of what was going on.

Having trained dogs in agility, conformation, and obedience before, I am not a newcomer to the dog training thing, but herding is much different because you aren't just getting your dog to do what you want it to do, you are trying to get the dog to get the stock to do something, and not knowing exactly how the stock is going to react to the pressure from your dog makes the whole task that much more interesting. I've been working on some basics with Stella, but also worry about unintentionally letting her get into a bad habbit or two since she does chores with me every day, and there are only so many animals I can keep my eye on at any given moment. I was looking forward to also hearing an independent assessment of what the potential talent of Stella might be, as well as (hopefully) reassurance that I am not trying to stuff too much learning into the brain of a nine month old puppy.

Robin's dog went in with the trainer to do some pen work and to do some preliminary herding with the very dog-broke sheep used for beginners. Then the trainer worked with some of the not-currently-working-on-a-farm dogs. These are dogs that are a part of the "herding group" in AKC shows who could better be described as doing a sort of "dog dressage" than herding. Most of these breeds have been selected to conform more to the breed standards for appearance and have lost a tremendous amount of the instinct and brains they were originally bred for. The trainer I am working with is one of the few who will work with these (usually) retired show ring veterans, but she feels that there is value to giving these dogs something to keep their minds active. The most interesting to watch were the Briards since they have a very unique way of working with the sheep. The short of it is that Border Collies, Aussies, and Cattle Dogs basically keep their livestock in a ball. Briards were meant to bring livestock to market down one side of country lanes, which meant keeping the livestock in a somewhat narrow line. So, they run up to the front of the livestock, then circle back to run to the end of the group, keeping everyone moving and to one side of the road. They tended to work hundreds of head at a time, and are fairly large energetic dogs. The two we watched appear to have retained the instinct to spin, which looks kind of funny when applied to just three sheep at a time.

I took Stella into the 100 x 100 sheep arena and let her off leash with the trainer to see what she would do. Off she ran to the sheep, racing around, splitting a couple of them off, then dashing after them to get them back with the flock. She gathered them around the trainer and responded very well to the trainer's pressure cues and commands. Fortunately, Stella does not try to grip the sheep, so there were no mishaps there, and I think Stella was thrilled to have stock in front of her that would readily respond to her pressure. After several minutes in with the sheep, I was asked to call Stella, and back to me she flew. Good session, now for a bit of a break while others are working their dogs, and then another session in a bit.

You know that high pitched yip a dog makes when you accidentally step on it? Stella makes that noise continuously when she is excitedly watching other dogs working sheep. It is not pleasant to listen to, or easy to stop.

Finally, it was our turn to go back in with the sheep, and I was to try to get Stella to work on keeping the sheep around me, making a bigger or smaller circle, going faster or slower, and changing direction, using just body language and pressure, like you do with a horse you are working in the round pen. However, the sheep were more interested in following the trainer than in being around me, so we switched to just driving the sheep up and back along one fence.

The trainer also gave me a new command to use with Stella, as well as replacing a command I had been using (easy) with a softer (steady) one. Of course, when I needed to use "steady", all I could think was "easy-- no wait, that's not right, what the heck am I supposed to say?!", and that would be right when I could see that Stella was about to explode with a burst of energy and go running after the sheep. Border Collies are very fast, and stopping a young one can be tough once they get their feet under them. One time when she made the sheep split into a group of two and three, she was thinking of going after the three, caught my eye, I pointed her towards the two, said "gather 'em" and she took the direction perfectly. I was keeping my voice low and calm, but that didn't always keep her calm. Still, lots of errors made on my part, especially with giving commands just a second too late, and not being able to read the sheep as well as my goats. We did get the sheep into one corner, and partially back before calling it a day, so there was some measure of success.

The trainer did say that she was impressed with how obedient Stella was, and that she should be a good farm dog. The little competative voice in the back of my mind said "What? You don't think this is the next international champion trial dog?!?", but I had to remind that voice that we already have enough to do with all of the goat showing.
Besides, Stella is here because I need the help with moving goats. Robin also said she thought Stella was doing very well for her first lesson and for being so young.

So our homework is to work on our downs being faster, letting the break away member of the herd back into the group once their head is pointed in the right direction (Stella does like to go after the errant runaway, but then tries to continually head it off from joining the group- I need to stop her from trying to head so much in that situation), and slowing down her "walk up". I wasn't sure that I got a difinitive answer about how much training I should be trying to put on a dog this young, but Stella does not seem to be getting frustrated, and appears to want to keep going (and going and going).

I have to say, I LOVE having a smart dog.