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somewhereinusa

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Everything posted by somewhereinusa

  1. Mine started out years ago as somewhereusa. If anyone knows me I drive cross country semi. Years ago I had a friend who was going through a hard time so I would occasionally send a silly gift through the mail and just put somewhereusa as a return address. One of the best stories is that the giver of the hard time lived at the same address. I had bought something in the Yukon and the storekeeper agreed to mail it for me. To get through customs without a hassle she marked it as used clothing. When the package arrived GOHT said "Who would be sending YOU used clothing?" Imagine her surprise when friend opened the box and there were a pair of brand new fur lined leather mittens like the Eskimos wear. After 911 the post office won't allow that anymore. During some long ago ISP change I had to change it to somewhereinusa, I can't believe someone in the WORLD had the nerve to take MY name. Somewhere is different than anywhere and a whole lot better than nowhere. Dick
  2. So, it you mate one of these, French Weenie to one of these,Dorkie . Can it then be registered as a Dorkie French Weenie? Add one of these Saint Berdoodle and you could have a Wee French St Dorkb'doodle. Just think of the possibilities. Then when referring to it on forums you could refer to it as WFSD or just call them a Wee Dork.
  3. The ONLY consistent grade hill I could find anywhere was our high school soccer field. You play soccer on a hill? Doesn't the ball get away?
  4. Ray said what I had been thinking, just not put into words yet. Some things to consider about making a dog lie down. I think that too many people use it as a crutch, the dog is pushy so they lay it down to get it farther back from the sheep. this in itself causes a couple of problems. When the dog gets up, that is two movements. Getting up and then moving forward. This may not always have the effect that you wanted. The dog, especially a young dog, is thinking "they're getting away, they're getting away, they're getting away" "I've got to go get them,NOW, really fast" Even if he waits until you say "walk up" or give a flank, it is going to be too fast and too tight and the process starts all over again. A better solution to this is to teach the dog proper distance and maybe add a backoff command (different than a move back command) A really confidant dog does not rush into stock, quite the contrary. Work on building confidence. Walk with them, help them. It's a TEAM effort Don't just stand in one spot sending the dog on outruns, then go running up the field yelling because he is pushing too hard or fast If you feel the need to have a dog lay down while near stock, there are plenty of places it can be done quite easily. How about when he stops on his feet and the sheep drift a little having him lie down. (Say it quietly and don't sound like you're mad at him) Or, call him off a bit and have him lie down. In both of those cases, I wouldn't be very far away, that can come later. While I'm on that subject, why are you yelling at your dog at all? From the very beginning, speak softly, just under what you think what they might be able to hear, they will learn to listen. When things are going well whisper, it's a lot of fun and the dogs love it. LEARN TO WHISTLE. I don't care how you say it, when the dog is a looooong way away, if you only have voice commands, you have to YELL to be heard. Yelling is yelling. I have had many dogs that had no idea what lie down meant, (or sit). I didn't have a need for it, so I never taught it When you watch the top handlers working their dogs, how many of them ever lay their dogs down while the dog is in the process of actually moving sheep? Even if they say "lie down" that probably isn't really what they mean. Do you think they spent a lot of time in the beginning having the dog lay down while moving sheep and that it magically evolved into something else? Why teach something now, and have to reteach later to get the result you want. Reteaching is much harder. I've just put more words on paper than since I was in school, and I've got to get on the road again. Dick
  5. I don't think it means the same thing to all dogs, or even always the same thing. I take it to mean"just checking in" or 'I'm here if you need me"
  6. I used to make whistles and did some experiments. I found that the larger the hole through the middle is, the louder the whistle. Although with larger holes they get harder to play a tune on. IE:really large hole harder to play but really loud. I also found that where the bevel down to the hole meets the hole needs to be a really sharp edge for crispness, that edge also makes a difference on how easy it is to learn to blow and control. I also think that volume comes a great deal from the person.
  7. Just having working dogs in the not too distant background doesn't mean much to me. I have seen pups from a bitch that was a very good worker bred to a dog from a long line of agility dogs. None of the pups showed the slightest working ability or interest. EVER. I don't know about subsequent breedings of those pups. I had no further interest in them, I would guess that that somewhere down the line some would probably have worked to some degree, but what's the point. I currently have a dog that is 6 generations from my first Border Collie that was very well bred and one of the best I ever had, and while she has the desire, it's just not all there. The last three generations before her were agility. I am content to throw a frisbee for her and she is a great companion, but there is no livestock work in her future.
  8. Many years ago I fed candy to the sheep, there was lots of chocolate (50 to 75 lb blocks of it along with various mistakes from the factory) the Border Collies, pups through adults, would occasionally grab a piece and the Kuvasz ate large amounts of it. This was before anyone ever said it wasn't a good thing for dogs. Probably just my dumb luck but there were never ill effects.
  9. I got yelled at by well known judge once for NOT carrying a crook. He said it didn't LOOK right. I said I didn't need it.
  10. Mac, my first Border Collie would only work for me, with one exception. He would work for one other person if I wasn't there. My wife tried to work him once. He went the opposite direction for flank commands.Usually, when someone else tried, he would just walk to the fence, jump it and go lay down to watch. Jim would work for anybody, even people out of the audience. I would give them signs that said away and come by and told them when he got to the other side to cross their hands. He would do open trial work for an open handler. Most of the others would work for most anyone.
  11. One dog is more than enough for 30 sheep, but is one dog ever enough? If you need to have a dog to handle your livestock right now, I would suggest a retired trial dog, many of them are quite capable of doing that kind of farm work. If you get a pup, there are lessons, someone should really come and move your sheep a bit to get them used to being moved by a dog. and the time involved in getting the pup old enough to work and you learning how to train a dog. With the older dog, you still need to learn how to do it, but the dog already knows how. The pup is pretty much a crap shoot, but the older dog isn't necessarily "what you see is what you get". A dog will only be as good as the handler. If it were me, I'd get the pup, but I've done it many times before.
  12. I'm pretty new at this, only been 30 or so years now, but I'm a bit confused. If you don't give a correction how is a dog to know what is unacceptable? What do you consider a correction? A no or a growl is pretty much it with me. I prefer dogs that I have raised, because they have been taught "how to learn"."no" is not the end of the world, it means"that's not what I want,try something else" if the new action is what I want a "good dog" is plenty of reward for a Border Collie.The real reward is getting to keep working, remember, the word "workaholic" in a dictionary has a picture of a Border Collie. How do you give a treat when the dog is 500 feet away from you? My circumstances,training methods and life has changed a lot in 30 years, my dogs now spend long hours and many miles in a truck, but both dogs have been walking off leash, even in busy truck stops since they were about 6 months old. If I shout the word "no" which is the only time I raise my voice to them, that is the end of the world and they will stop dead in their tracks. New situations can and do arise all of the time, if there has never been a correction,done properly and at the right time, how do you handle this? Truck stops are noisy places, when they are off trying to find a suitable place to be discreet, they will keep checking in for the hand signal to come back. Is this respect? I like to think so, it's not something I consciously taught them. Would a dog that didn't respect me do that? When working livestock my dogs know that I'm not just going to stand there and ask them to do something alone if help is needed. They know that if help is needed, it's there, without them having to ask. Well, maybe Chip, who liked to bring in what was basically wild hogs, but he didn't need any help with that anyway. Do I have the respect of my dogs? I certainly hope so. Do I respect my dogs? YES. I have no doubt that any of my dogs would do anything that they were capable of doing for me if I get the idea of what that is to them. And, by the way I do give them treats, not because they have done something for me, but because they like them. And I enjoy that enjoyment.
  13. When I say whistle, most of mine is done with my teeth, I only go to a shepherds whistle when the distance gets longer.
  14. Training to whistles is no different than training to words, use what ever method you use when teaching a new word. You DO have to be able to consistently repeat that whistle.With whistles it's much easier to indicate speed, distance and attitude. IMHO pitch is important,sit has to sound like sit every time.There used to be a top open handler who's whistles sounded exactly like the whistles of one of my dogs (to me). We could work those dogs together and neither dog took a wrong command.That same dog,when everything was really going well at a trial, would respond to very short peeps of different pitch for left,right, and stop.Those are the times when I would have time to think "this is really COOL". I've never done any of the sport activities, but I would think that whistles would have the added benefit of being something never heard in that setting and be more easily picked out by your dog. Yelling is yelling, just because your dog is a long way away and you yell to be heard makes no difference. YOU ARE STILL YELLING. Lesson learned the hard way. When you are working with your dog, speak or whistle so quietly that you think they won't be able to hear you. They will, and they will learn to LISTEN for you. Hope this makes sense, I whistle better than I talk.
  15. Someone actually took the time to translate Harry Potter to Latin? Why?Wasn't it written in English in the first place? Someone has waaaaaaay to much time on their hands.
  16. Sounds more like the Rottweiler has a problem to me, sure it's a big happy dog, but it doesn't know the meaning of NO. Weather no comes from a dog or human makes no difference to me. Neither of my girls are reactive or dog aggressive, but had any dog greeted them in that manner either one of them would have reacted in a similar manner.I would probably said "Good dog". Kate can show more teeth than any dog I've ever had. I doubt that she would have that patient. Just how is a Border Collie supposed to tell a Rottweiler that "you are behaving badly,please don't do that"? I have had a lot of Border Collies, and I think I can safely say that all of the females would have reacted similarly. If that's "snarkey" I guess they are.I don't see it as a fault. Most pups learn dog manners from litter mates and mom in those important first few weeks. Some humans don't ever learn, especially if they are an "expert". My only suggestion would be that the second outdoor encounter would not have taken place.
  17. I'm going to show my age and midwest up-bringing here. As a matter of respect to our dogs who are the greatest dogs in the world, it's Border Collie with capitols, and not BC which to me is lazy. Do you truly need to be in THAT much of a hurry? I don't always get it right, but I try to use proper English, use complete sentences, punctuation and spelling. I avoid acronyms like the plague. And yes you can call me an old fart, in fact I'll take it as a compliment.
  18. To me it's a matter of respect. You don't call the car a Rolls either.
  19. Where did his online data base come from, it has a dog of mine that died 20 years ago?
  20. I mean no disrespect to any dog living or dead, but I have said for years that, "The best dogs are dead, and the longer they have been dead the better they get" My first Border Collie changed my life, because of him I bought a small farm and trained stock dogs for a number of years. He was a tremendous dog and taught me many things. Would he have been different had he not spent the first couple of years in an apartment and a machine shop? Definitely! Did he have faults? Yes. Would I clone him? NO. The clone would NOT be Mac, I have no way of reproducing the way he was raised, nor would I want to. I'm not the same person that I was back then. Would I buy an bred exactly like him? Yes, I'd borrow money to do it. Would I buy any of his pups if available? Maybe.If that pup was also from a dog named Molly? Yes. That dog has been dead for many years, and I still think of him almost daily. I an not a poet, and this probably breaks every rule in the book, but here is the only poem I have ever written. The first four verses I wrote while he was still alive, and although I knew what the last verse would probably say, I WOULD NOT write it until he was gone. In the spring, when he was just a pup we brought him to live with us he was just a tiny little thing, but so sure of himself and as he learned the ways of the world , and grew, sound of body and mind good manners and the things a good citizen should know, when I’d throw a ball, he’d bring it back and say “ I’d like to do that again” In the summer, when he’d grown big and strong we went to a Sheepdog trial, and found, what a Border Collie was all about so, we started to learn , he and I, for you see, he already knew about making them move, and when something we tried didn’t work out just right, he’d look up and say “We can do better, let’s try it again” In the fall, he was in his prime, quite a sight standing proud at what he’d become we would work all day long, as the partners we’d become and when, after a hard job was done, and the sheep in the pen he’d look up and say “That was fun, let’s do it again” In the winter, when he was getting quite gray it was so nice to lay in the sun, and watch sons and grandsons, do the hard dirty work but he always had that look that said “If you need any help, I’d be glad to help again” In the spring, where he is now, forever young the aches and pains are all gone with endless green hills, and sheep far to see I know he’ll meet me when I get there too and say “Hi Boss, let’s get to work again” Dick
  21. I know Judy Thayer, I have one of her pups. I don't know that she gives lessons, but I'm sure she would be willing to give some advise. She is a well respected open handler that wouldn't steer you wrong.
  22. I had a pair, Shep and Nell that I used quite a bit together, both dogs are supposed to be sent the same time. It didn't matter how far the outrun was, Shep would get to the top first and wait for Nell to do the lift. Even if I sent Shep quite some time before Nell, he would wait for Nell to do the lift. (Insert male joke here) Along the same line, Nell was a good cattle dog, but only if Shep was present, he really didn't have to do anything but be there. Two of the best dogs I ever had, work always seemed like fun with them around.
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