Very heavy subject- the meaning of it all

[Debbie Crowder-BaaramuLuke]

Anna,

 

You and I are the lucky ones at trials. When my horse friends know I'm doing a trial, the ones who don't really get what they're about always ask how my dogs did, and I get to say they did great and we "won" $$, and had a great time. People thank you and mean it. They feed you and ask if they can get you anything, ("is everything okay?"). I love it, my dogs love it, and only when I'm feeling like a stockdog handler fraud do I consider getting out of it. I just do pen work for trials, and work with some outstanding handlers at set out. We get to see the dogs at the epitome of the run, the outrun and lift, and I've seen some stuff. I have set out at a few places and loved it, but the pressure is really on you there and you have to be confident and thick-skinned, and I'm Peter-Principled out at the Pen.

 

My dogs and I get to be in some Drop Dead Gorgeous settings, out in good weather and bad, and like yesterday, tough sheep, a nasty storm closing in, it's pretty dramatic stuff, and you get the same high you get when you can endure whatever nature throws at you, so I feel closer to understanding the serenity animals have for enduring what they can't control. What could be better? Oh, let me think...riding home with three tired, smelly teenagers who slept out in the trial field all weekend in tents, and had just about enough of me and my weird sensibilities (nobody talked all the way home, two hours, because they wanted me to take down the last tent in the storm that did blow in so they could get home and go out with their buddies-I waited til it passed, how rude of me). My dogs never question if we had a great time, and we'd go back tomorrow if we could. Actually the 4H girls did have a blast, did a great job learning pen work, got to swim and shampoo in a river, and I hope they got a taste of what is so delicious to us. It's great for showing them how work ethic is all about knowing how satisfying it can be to do a good job, and I think our dogs understand that better than we do! They are nothing but work ethic creatures. I learn so much from them.

[stockdogranch]

Debbie, you know, it's funny--yesterday your post got me to thinking about all the setout we do, and several thoughts occurred to me: one was the term "work ethic." I was thinking about how much I want every set to be absolutely perfect and even for everyone. I once had a judge tell me that as soon as the dog left the handler's side, to call my dogs off and walk away back to the pens. I knew that was not a good idea, but did as I was told. The sheep? They ran back to the pens before the dog got halfway on the outrun. Very few dogs got their sheep that day. And I felt TERRIBLE--I felt I had let the handlers down. Anyway, it really bothered me that I was not able to do the best job I knew how to do, and realized that there is a correlation between the way I feel about doing setout and how our dogs approach all of their work--I believe they always try to do the best job they can with what they've got to work with (maybe they have a bit too much eye, or some other issue that makes them not "perfect"). But it really IS about work ethic. Interesting that you came up with the same term.

 

The other thing I thought about is how readily these dogs learn what the job is: it doesn't take very many sets for the dog to realize where they need to take each group of sheep, and when they will be released to go back up top to get another batch. After about 2 or 3 sets, my dogs always understand the routine--as the sheep are let out of the pens, they go up behind them and drive them to a certain spot, and I only have to say "walk up." My 6 year old, Riddle, especially, doesn't need me to flank her; she flanks herself as the sheep start to veer off of the line they need to take to the spot. Once the sheep are in position, she lies down calmly and waits and watches to see when the sheep take notice of the approaching dog. When Riddle knows that those sheep are now under the command of that approaching dog, and she is no longer having an influence, she will gently call herself off to the side so as not to disturb the sheep or be in the competing dog's line, and get ready to go get another batch. I can see her watching the sheep to make sure she is not disturbing them as she slips off to the side. She totally understands what we are doing and how it needs to be done. So I realize that these dogs not only understand how to move the stock from point A to point B under our direction, they also see the much bigger picture and understand all the nuances that go with it. It's the most amazing thing!

 

Absolutely fantastic settings, all kinds of weather and elements, you and the dogs really being a team to accomplish an important job, the cameraderie with the others who are working the pens...it's just the best there is in life. Sometimes even my mare gets to be part of the team, so the weekend is spent horseback working the dogs--that's my girlhood dream come true!

Anna

[juliepoudrier]

I just want to say (having been offline since last Wednesday) that Debbie and Anna have said it all very nicely. Set out can be wonderfully peaceful (after all, you can't HEAR all the complaining about it going on down the field) and very stressful (trying to make sure each handler gets an even set)--and it can also be very educational (you see work from the competing dogs that no one else can really see, for good or bad). I can also say that Debbie is absolutely the best pen person to work with! I've never seen anyone show greater concern for the welfare of the livestock. I enjoy trialing, but I really love working my dogs doing the "down and dirty" stuff (ahem, can we say Montpelier, deep sucking mud and the cranky folk at the stop and my chicken-stealing set out dog?)--worming, foot trimming, loading on trailers, sorting, set out and all that. I like the fact that my dogs can set sheep all day and still run a course at the same trial (and do well). Like Debbie, I love sheep--they are such interesting creatures, unique individuals. The dogs are the same. Just the other day I sent my dog to move the sheep in their new pasture. There's a huge gully just in the woods and only one path in and out. I watched as she figured out--having never been in that pasture before and with me not able to help her--what she needed to do to get around that obstacle and behind the sheep to move them where I needed them, all the while maintaining calm among the flock. I like that my partner could grab a retiree and go out and move the sheep with nothing but his own stock sense (since he's never worked a dog on stock) and that of the dog and get the job done when I wasn't there and something needed doing. That's what these dogs are all about. And that's where I find the joy in them.

 

J.