Jody&Jake

I have to think that Jake takes a lot of his cues from the calm Golden and some from the semi calm Shiba. He is at the bottom of the packs pecking order. The Golden is just a lazy lug but will play with Jake pretty hard when he bugs her enough. The Shiba will run circles around Jake but not for any great length of time. They all interact in as a tight group even though they have three diverse personalities. What I am trying to say is that Jake has learned from the others in his pack how our family is run and goes along with it 99% of the time. I do take him to agility classes, go for long walks and throw toys for him but a lot of the time he will just relax by my feet while I am at the computer or just be content being with me where ever I go. Jody & Jake

Thanks Everyone for your thoughts and information both on the board and off. I have in numerous other endeavors, searched out advise after an initial contact with the sport or event I was interested in getting involved with. There will always be many opinions and differing advice, but usually one or two ideas or suggestions will resonate with a group of knowledgeable people. I find that is usually a good place to start. Gene Sheninger is very close by, about 15 miles away, so he might be a good start for me, not just because of proximity but because he was mentioned by three of you indicating some kind of consensus. I will also seek out suggestions from the NEBCA, although I have found most organizations usually have political favors to pay back and therefore have a tendency to recommend someone based more on a relationship than performance. I hope that the NEBCA is different. Thanks again, this board and the people on it is the greatest! Jody & Jake

Thanks Bill. This is just the first step for both of us and like I said at the start if either of us find it's not for us we will look to another activity. Jake was barking quite a bit but I was told that with more familiarity with sheep that he would probably stop it. He did not act like he wasn't confidient being around the stock but then again he wasn't always on the charge with them. Do you have any names of trainers in the NJ-PA-NY area? I was going to go back this weekend for a couple of days of training but the timing isn't going to workout. I would also like to find someone who would do one on one training. Jody & Jake

Jon, was helping out Carolyn Wilki who recently had hip surgery. Carolyn was on her ATV with a microphone and speaker running the show with a few other people there to help out. The test was for any dog, not just BC's. It was to determine just how much herding instinct your particular dog has. While we were there, there was a Sheltie, ACD, and a Corgie. As we pulled up in the car I heard a very strange noise coming from the back. Jake, who had never seen sheep before was just about freaking out stairing out the window and coming out with strangest whine I have ever heard. I was asked to walk Jake around the outside of the pen a few times off leash, to see how he would react to the 5 sheep that were inside a small square pen. Naturally, he was very curious and as the sheep would move, so would he. We were then let into the pen with another helper. Jake showed great restraint until I released him and then he took off after them. Neither of us has any training at all with herding so he was working with instinct on his part and sheer terror on mine. :eek: The helper would move Jake to different sides of the flock to see if he would keep them together and just basically to see how he would move them with commands. This went on for about four minutes and to tell you the truth it happened so fast I wasn't sure what he or I just did, kind of a blur. When I got to the other pen another Sheltie was just finishing up being tested then Carolyn let her dog Dave in. What a pleasure it was to watch Dave move to commands like that and how he could control the flock. The larger pen was maybe 130 feet in diameter, and this time Jon went in with me. The larger pen allowed Jake to move the flock around a little easier than the small one. Again, we were only in it for a couple of minutes but Jon and Carolyn seemed please with Jakes performance, there was no mention of mine! After watching Dave though we have a looooong way to go! At the end Jake was given a grade sheet for the following catagories; Control, Interest, Movement of Stock, Temperment, Power, Balance/Distance to control Stock, Responsiveness to direction/control, Approach, Eye, Wearing, Bark (he flunked this one!); Dog Shows Ready To Adjustment To; Fetching,Tending,Driving,Other. It was all very interesting and exciting. I am not sure how involved I will get but I am always looking to try different things in life and if this were to work out for both of us, so be it. Hope I hope this long winded message didn't bore you hard core herding folks but then again you'll get to laugh at all my mistakes One thing I did miss was meeting Jon's dog, Devin. If you've read Jon's book you know all about him and I was anxious to meet him but there were too many other dogs around and he thought it might get a little out of hand. Next time I suppose. Jody & Jake

Jon Katz of "A Dog Year" fame was my "instructor" in the pen and a hell-of-a nice guy. He told me to keep my knees bent and relaxed at all times. I just wasn't sure if I should stand kind of parallel to the sheep and face them head on.Couldn't decide if hit which way I could relieve the force from the hit the easiest. I used his crook the first time I went in and that gave me a little more security but then I was trying wo figure out just how I was going to use it if a stampede came my way :eek: My surgery was just a clean up of the cartlidge and I have been going to physical therapy since the second day after surgery. It's really my other knee that worries me more. That one has a partially torn ACL, and I figure one good shot from the side would complete the tear and require another surgery immediately. I wouldn't mind so much but since I am still recovering and don't have full strength back I would rather not have to attend another surgery so soon. Right now I plan to attend my first class next weekend. I will let you know how it turns out. Jake was looking at me this morning with this baleful look in his eyes just begging "When are we going again, can we go today?, in not today..............I think I've created a monster Jody & Jake

I am so stoked Jake and I went to his herding instinct test today. This was also my first time anywhere near sheep. I was a little worried about the sheep banging into my newly repaired knee, but Jake had no qualms what so ever. He passed with flying colors. Who'd of "thunk" it? Not me, that's for sure. I wasn't so sure that Jake was going to be any good at all considering I have never seen him even try to herd anything since we got him three months ago. Seeing sheep for the first time and those herding genes just kick right in I guess. I had a great time also, so it looks like Jake's (and Jody's!) training will begin shortly. Might get to meet some of you some YEAR out on the field. Jody & Jake

Our six and half year old English Golden was diagnosed with severe hip dysplasia when she was about six months old.We were told by our vet that she wouldn't see two without an operation. To look at her today you would never know she had it. We take her for long walks and hikes in the winter and she swims in the ocean everyday in the summer. These two things along with a low dosage of Rimadyl and keeping her weight on the light side have given her a pain free and active life. She will give Jake the BC a run for his money when chasing for a ball. This is not to say that she won't have a problem later in life but sometimes there are other methods that will put off surgery and still give the dog a happy life. We had specifically gotten an English Golden for the supposed lack of hip problems they are to have compared to the Goldens in the U.S., The breeder we purchased her from said she never had a litter of any pups with dysplasia so I guess it's all in the luck of the draw. Jody & Jake