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Let's start a topic of how a sheep/cattle/ducks/etc went badly and what you learned from that....I know it wasn't funny then but as time goes by, it is funny....

 

Many years ago, I ran Tess on ducks in an ASCA course. It was an advance course. The ducks had no intention of moving and they fought with each other. Later we found out the duck person pick a duck from five different flocks and put them together, all drakes. Normally you use ducks from one flock per run. Putting drakes together form various farms will cause them to fight for a pecking order or whatever.

 

So we are tying to move the ducks around while they are fighting and it is going slow. One large drake decided he was taking offense at this dog making them move and after he just beat up one smaller drake, went after Tess. He raise his wings up and came blasting out of the flock right at her face. She was about ten feet behind them. She stood rock still and he pecked her face several times. I could tell the judge was going to give me a rerun as she know something was off.....but before she could say anything, Tess carefully reached out and grabbed the drake by the bill and held on. The drake pulled back and she stood still, not letting go of the bill. He got frantic and beat his wings and she never moved. Finally Tess decided the drake learned his lesson and left him go. He ran back into the middle of the flock. By then the other ducks were watching. Then they all decided fighting was no longer important and we finished the course. The judge asked me if I wanted a rerun but I told her that I was fine with this. She had tears in her eyes from laughing so hard. I was horrified that my dog had grabbed a duck by the bill and wouldn't let go. I wish I had a video of the duck flapping his wings and Tess standing there patiently until she thought the duck learned his lesson. Ironically we got the same drake with another dog, and he was just fine. I guess ducks can learn too.

 

The other day, I ran Maid on ducks. One was being feisty so she put her paw on it. I told her not to grip (Be nice) so she didn't grip. I think I will have to teach her a "no paw" command as well.

 

 

 

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I don't know but we grip with our hands so why shouldn't it be a grip with her paw?

 

My first run, copied from the other topic where some of us posted our "disasters" -

 

Oh, Diane, let's talk "disasterous first runs"! I was just observing the Novice class at Roy and Debbie Johnson's Breezy Hill Trial one summer about 10 years ago. It looked so simple that I asked if I could enter. They said that was fine as they were not overbooked and I went on out with my dog, full of confidence. Well, the dog was fine but I had managed to forget that I'd never penned before and didn't have a single clue how to do it right.

 

But, wait! I'd seen Skip Robinson, a very athletic and muscular, handsome (I know, that has nothing to do with this) young man do a pen just beforehand and when the sheep had been somewhat hesitant, he'd crouched down at the end of the gate rope to make a pretty nifty "fence" and in they'd gone as the dog moved up. So I did what I'd seen him do.

 

Have I mentioned that I was not athletic, overweight, not pretty (I know, nothing to do with this), and already quite a bit arthritic already? I got down in the crouch and then could not move. I was stuck. The sheep stood and stared (I'm convinced they were laughing hysterically inside). Celt stood and stared at the sheep (and pretended he didn't know me). The entire group of people on the other side of the fence stared - I don't think they'd ever seen anything so idiotic and maybe they were taking bets on whether or not I'd be able to get up again. Ever.

 

I did manage to get up and I can't remember how. I may have swallowed my pride and gotten down on my knees first, whatever it took. And, yes, I did return to the Novice field in a number of other trials but the memory of that day will remain with me even when the memories of good runs have long been lost in the mists of time.

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OK.. I don’t trial, but hopefully this story this has sufficient embarrassment factor to warrant being here!

 

There are so many blunders in this tale... all I can say is "If only I knew then what I know now."

When I was a complete novice and just started training my first dog, the farmer who was mentoring me suggested that I go and help an acquaintance with her small flock of sheep (because he was too busy and it would be good experience of me).

The sheep in question were 5 middle-aged Hebridean wethers (castrated males) plus one intact heavily horned ram. They were generally left to their own devices as their sole role was to graze the grass level down for her 3 horses. However a couple had started coughing and she wanted them checked over and wormed. But as there was plenty of grass, they were refusing to come to a food bucket and so she needed help getting them into a pen.

The 3 acre field sloped down about 12 feet from the road to a meandering river which made up 3 sides of the boundary -like the bottom part of an S. A 4.5 ft dry stone wall completed the boundary on the left and this wall extended slightly at the top of the field for about 12 feet until it met the bend of the river. The gate entrance (and pen) was near the bottom of the field.

I and my dog entered the field and the sheep were nicely positioned about 3/4 of the way up near the mid-line. They looked warily at me. (Because I hadn’t thought to ask, I was unaware that the only prior “dog experience” was from the owner’s lurcher who was allowed to run around the field. This was "acceptable" because the dog never attempted to catch or bite the sheep!)

In my naivety, all I could appreciate were the “perfect conditions” to test my dog’s outrun, lift and fetch. I sent my dog to the right (towards the water). He started a perfect outrun, but rather than continue to the balance position, he stuck at about 2 o’clock, stared intently at the sheep and then started slowly stalking them (My dog was very sticky-eyed, but because I thought I had ‘sorted’ this in the training field on the farm, I hadn't considered that it would be an issue on this occasion!)

Needless to say, the sheep fled toward the top boundary and to my amazement the ram easily clambered up the vertical wall and disappeared over the other side (This was my first encounter with Hebrideans and so I was unaware of their wall climbing capabilities).

Calling my dog, I rushed to the boundary wall which had a small stile and a set of steep steps down to the other side. The narrow stretch of ground on this further side was much nearer the water level and this inevitably meant that the boundary walls were correspondingly higher (probably nearer 10 feet). Furthermore, apart from that 1 stile, there didn’t appear to be to be any other access point.

Fortunately, the ram appeared to be fine. Working cautiously, I managed to manoeuvre our positions so that the sheep was stuck back in the corner near the original field with my dog and I both beyond him. Despite this, there was still the significant problem of how to get him back over the wall and into his field.

We were in a stand off. I didn’t have a leg crook with me and every time I or my dog tried to move forward, he put his head down to butt one or both of us.

Of course, in hindsight I completely appreciate that there was no way he was going to turn and move freely with all the pressure we were exerting on him, .. but back then, I was flummoxed.

Insisting that my dog stay behind me (he had caused enough trouble!) I gradually managed to encourage the ram to step backwards towards the waters edge where the wall height was lower. However with his temper, horns and lowered head, I was still loathe to tackle him properly.

Eventually, I came up with the bright idea (!) of throwing my coat over his head with the hope that this ‘blind fold’ would quieten him sufficiently that I would be able to catch him and somehow manhandle him over the wall.

So I threw my coat, it covered the ram’s head and he stepped back...and fell in the river with the coat entangled over his horns and face.

I and my dog splashed in after him (the water was over waist height). We caught him and turned him towards his field. Unfortunately, there was a fence stretched across the river and so I had to duck down (taking the sheep with me) in order to get him back to his field.

On disentangling the coat, the ram ran back up the field and with a kick of his heels returned to his pals.

Having struggled out of the water, I decided that rather than expect my dog to do all the work, I’d help him. Using a shorter outrun and working as a team, we easily managed to gather the small flock, pen and then treat them (even if I squelched in my boots and dripped a lot of water with every step).

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Okay, that was certainly one for the books!

 

well...live and learn.. I know that I still make mistakes.. but fortunately these days it's not usually quite so many all in one session.

 

ETA. Its also a very good example (IMO) of why having stocksense is so very important... But OTOH if everything had gone smoothly and the initial gather had been a success, I probably would not have learnt nearly as much. In fact, quite the reverse, if there hadn't been any hitches, I may have become complacent and considered myself and my dog to be at a more advanced standard than we actually were at the time.

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That was a great story! I could just see the whole thing in my mind's eye.

 

Since I'm about to start lessons again, I hope soon I can contribute some really embarassing moments. They are sure to happen frequently.

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