Cheri McDonald Posted October 29, 2002 Report Share Posted October 29, 2002 I am new to the boards and enjoying reading all your information. We adopted from rescue in April. Rob is just a member of the family but we would love to get him involved in something. He is about 2 years old. We camp and hike alot and he loves that. We know nothing about herding, and only know that he was tested on sheep at the Drummond Ranch the day we adopted. They said he did very well. We are looking into training with someone in San Diego County. This would be a hobby activity only. Are there hobby trials where a dog with an unknown line can compete without any registrations and 15 names? We plan to go watch an upcoming trial here in Dec. Any comments or advise would be great. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eileen Stein Posted October 29, 2002 Report Share Posted October 29, 2002 Welcome, Cheri! USBCHA trials are open to any dog, regardless of pedigree, registration or lack thereof. Most competing dogs have only one name, usually a short one like Rob. It will take time and training for you and Rob to get the hang of this, but once you feel confident about walking to the post you can enter. For a list of USBCHA trials that is frequently updated, go to http://www.usbcha.com/upcomingtrials.htm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cheri McDonald Posted October 30, 2002 Author Report Share Posted October 30, 2002 Thanks Eileen, the trial we plan to go watch is on this list! We enjoy spending time with Rob and think this would be a fun thing to do. Not that we would probably ever compete, but we are looking at giving him a job to do even if it is only a part time one. He is a great companion and has already learned so much. We thought some herding classes could be a new out let for some of that energy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Charles Torre Posted October 30, 2002 Report Share Posted October 30, 2002 Cheri:  Don't listen to people like Eileen. They welcome you, make you feel comfortable, and encourage you to give *herding* a try. It all sounds so fun and harmless. Once or twice a month of herding fun with your dog; it sounds really nice.  Don't do it! They get you started with herding and then you can't stop. It's worse than drugs. Many of us are trying to escape, but they (the dogs) won't let us. You can see us littered all over these boards. You can't afford this hobby! Oh sure, at first it's a few lessons and maybe even a cheap whistle. But soon you are eyeing the classified ads looking for farm and/or livestock for sale. You are wondering if you could cut back on the hours at work and gradually get into farming/ranching. And your friends at work are starting to look at you funny, since somehow you seem to think that every aspect of life can be understood via the metaphor of stockdog training. Not to mention that every conversation with you eventually ends up being about sheep. Soon you have bought a travel trailer so you can go to some of the "near-by" trials in Virginia. You lie awake at night debating which way to send your dog from the post at Meeker, even though you don't expect to even consider trying that trial for another 10 years. You decide that if you can handle one dog, what's a few more? Maybe it would be fun to get an imported dog....  Get out while you can. I mean it.  charlie   [This message has been edited by Charles Torre (edited 10-30-2002).] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cheri McDonald Posted October 30, 2002 Author Report Share Posted October 30, 2002 Thanks Charles, but secretly that was my plan all along. It would be the only way I could fool the hubby into getting another dog. But seriously it does sound addicting. I am afraid I am hooked without even knowing anything yet. We were up in the Owens valley here in California camping a couple of weeks ago. I made my husband stop on the side of the highway for about an hour so that I could watch a shepherd and his border collie working the sheep in the field. Ours was in his crate, so I let him out in the back of the van and he sat watching with me. He would have loved to be out there running too! It was fasinating to watch. Sorry Charlie, I'm an addict already. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Charles Torre Posted October 30, 2002 Report Share Posted October 30, 2002 Cheri:  Well, well, well. While it's good that you have learned to keep a low profile with your addiction, you obviously are in deep trouble.  There is nothing more beautiful than the sight of a dog moving like a bullet, but thoughtfully, and wide, wide, wide, toward a group of sheep off in the distance. If you agree with this - and it sounds like you do - then you are in really bad shape. I'm very sorry.  charlie     [This message has been edited by Charles Torre (edited 10-30-2002).] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amy Posted October 30, 2002 Report Share Posted October 30, 2002 Cheri, I second Charlie's advice..get out now while you can.. Â The herding nazis on these boards while they seem nice are slowing pulling you in deeper and deeper. Â You know you got it bad when you wear your whistle everywhere you go and say to people "that'll do". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cheri McDonald Posted October 30, 2002 Author Report Share Posted October 30, 2002 Heil Herding! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Charles Torre Posted October 30, 2002 Report Share Posted October 30, 2002 Or when your kids are racing out the door without their coats so you call "Lie down!". (I really gotta put a "stand" on my kids.) Â charlie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrSnappy Posted October 30, 2002 Report Share Posted October 30, 2002 Cheri - I live in the urbanest of urban areas and every weekend I put on my hat and go out to the "rurals" so my dog can herd the woolies. This Sunday I am getting up at 6AM so I can be on the road at 7AM to get to the ranch dog trials by 8AM to see the rookie class, JUST to see how much farther/longer I have to go before we too can enter the rookie class  This rainy, rural, sheep-poopy lifestyle is really throwing a wrench into my label whore trendy local pub scene persona. And I also think it's winning. I'm kind of pissed off about it, actually. I'm also going shopping for boots on Saturday.  Be afraid, Cheri. Herding is the first thing that has ever motivated me to get a car. I was quite happy without one previous to herding.  This is my Red Dog. We began herding about six months ago. He's going to be six years old in January.   RDM IBCRforBC Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smokjbc Posted October 30, 2002 Report Share Posted October 30, 2002 And your friends at work are starting to look at you funny, since somehow you seem to think that every aspect of life can be understood via the metaphor of stockdog training>>>Charlie  I so identify with this. Along with being a herding addict (non-reforming), I have always been addicted to reading as well. One of my favorite authors is Jane Austen and so I'm on a VERY academic Jane Austen email list where I have been lurking for two years without posting due to great fear of being found out as a college dropout (the kind that took one semester off 6 years ago).  So.. a few months ago we were discusing Pride & Prejudice and the difference between the older sisters (very mature) and the younger sisters (very silly). There were many psychological theories, birth orders and the like, being discussed. Well, on a somewhat inebriated night, I posted that raising kids was probably a bit like raising stockdogs. If you have older kids, they have to relate to adults earlier, because in the family there are no other influences in your immediate circle. Younger kids though, have the older kids and each other to socialize with in a family group and can have a very satisfactory social life just hanging out with each other without having to develop more mature social skills as quickly. My comparison was that it is generally discouraged to try to raise two pups at once, because they will become too dependent on each other and not bond as strongly with their person. A pup raised alone though,with only their person to comfort and guid them, may be more apt to please their master and be a responsible canine citizen. Of course.. the silence after my post was deafening...  Jaime Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeltaBluez Tess Posted October 31, 2002 Report Share Posted October 31, 2002 >>Or when your kids are racing out the door without their coats so you call "Lie down!". (I really gotta put a "stand" on my kids.)<< Â or better yet, when your spouse is cooking and asks you how much to add to whatever is cooking, you say "That'll do" instead of "that's enough" Â ...and he stops and knows exactly what you meant!!..... Â Â Diane Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Fosher Posted October 31, 2002 Report Share Posted October 31, 2002 Perhaps this will explain something, but I grew up around people (not stockdog people either) who said "that'll do." I used it myself to mean "that's adequate," or "that's enough." Â When I started training dogs, I learned lots of new meanings for the phrase, but I still use it conversationally from time to time. Â The phrase that has infiltrated my life from the dogs is "get outta that." I never heard or used it until the dogs, but I've found it handy. My cats, for instance, now know what it means. Â --------------- Â RDM might be shopping for boots rather than hanging out at her trendy pub, but try on this for life-changing: Nine years ago, I quit a job with a good pension plan, a salary that would place me solidly in the upper middle class, dental insurance, 10 paid holidays and three weeks' paid vacation every year, and a strong union protecting all those benefits. Â At the time I quit that job, I can't say that it was exclusively so that I could work sheepdogs, but that's what I've come to. Gradually, sheep and dogs have taken over my life to where I now have so many sheep that I can't even think of going out to my job without taking a dog or three with me. Â My income is at the whim of the national meat commodity market and the extent of my retirement plan is whatever I can put away. My dental plan is asking the dentist if I can pay in installments. Â But I wouldn't trade it for the world. Every day, there's something for the dogs to do. And every day, I see why I'm not sitting behind that desk, churning out another newspaper story on the latest Republicrat rubber-chicken fundraiser, or writing about the latest machine-tool factory to close its doors. Â ------------------ Bill Fosher Surry, NH Â Â Â [This message has been edited by Bill Fosher (edited 10-31-2002).] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tucknjill Posted October 31, 2002 Report Share Posted October 31, 2002 I am with Bill, you arent all that crazy...I had to come home one day and ask my husband if he minded if I quit my job with the CPA firm (I was only a staff acct. though) to work dogs full time for a friend...My little buisness has since blossomed and I now take in a few side dogs, train some to sell and give a few lessons..plus sheep sales etc...it isnt much, but its enough...My husband sure was a doll to not even lift an eyebrow when I told him what I wanted to do! So take heart, there is a longggggggggg way to slide to the bottom of the herding pit. Â Sam Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
juliepoudrier Posted October 31, 2002 Report Share Posted October 31, 2002 Okay Bill, so quit rubbing our faces in it! You too, Sam! (Okay, so I'll just keep dreaming of that day....) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eileen Stein Posted October 31, 2002 Report Share Posted October 31, 2002 > Â I can't take offense at this, because I'm the perfect example of what Charlie is warning about. Eighteen years ago I was an attorney, living with my husband and a sweet old retriever mix in a close-in suburb of Washington, D.C., in a house I thought would be our home for the rest of our lives. Then one day I went to a sheepdog trial. Now I live in the sticks, have 30 acres, a flock of sheep, and five border collies, and do so little lawyering most people would say I was retired. I'm a night person who went into law because I was under the (false) impression that lawyers don't have to start work til 10:00 a.m. Now the trials I'm involved in generally "start at daybreak." And--get this--lawyering was much easier and I was good at it! Â Still have the same husband, though . . . bless his heart. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoloRiver Posted October 31, 2002 Report Share Posted October 31, 2002 RDM and I live very similar lives, except that I am not active in rescue. My friends used to think of me as a normal twenty-something who liked to go out for drinks and to shop. I also live smack in the middle of a city, in a small apartment, with at least one crazy red dog. Here's my red dog at work:   This rainy, rural, sheep-poopy lifestyle is really throwing a wrench into my label whore trendy local pub scene persona. And I also think it's winning. I'm kind of pissed off about it, actually. I'm also going shopping for boots on Saturday.  I also recently bought boots. Gore-Tex hiking shoes, actually, from Sierra Trading post. Got a ridiculous deal on them. They cost less than those Muck shoes I see the well-dressed shepherds wearing at every trial. (I think of the Muck shoes as in-group footwear, kind of like equestrians often wear Danskos and skate rats often wear Vans.)  I like academia too much to chuck the lifestyle and go whole hog with sheep, but I definitely see a small spread with some sort of boutique flock operation on it in my future. I guess at the heart of it my sheep would be dog toys, so I'll never be a real shepherd, but I think the dogs and I would be very happy. I just hope I can get it together soon enough so that my dogs (who are both between three and four years old) won't be too decrepit to enjoy it.  -- Melanie, Solo the Red, and The Fly  P.S. -- Bill, "get outta that" has also crept into my everyday speech.  [This message has been edited by SoloRiver (edited 10-31-2002).] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caseysmom Posted October 31, 2002 Report Share Posted October 31, 2002 Run away, run away! Â I went to an animal shelter and adopted a BC. I rationalized it by saying I needed a herding dog to start my farm (blank land w/new house). Then I had to get sheep to entertain said dog. Found a sheep breeder, put in my order. Built fence and sheds for 2 months. Found a trainer. Went to class. Flunked out(dog is trying to eat sheep). Now I have sheep, fence and a drop spindle. I'm going to my first spinning guild meeting this weekend. I'm desperately trying to figure out a way to give up the 9-5 job and farm full time. I even got a pair of quilted overalls for the winter. Â I've got it bad and I'd hate to see it happen to someone else. Â Amy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sabreur Posted October 31, 2002 Report Share Posted October 31, 2002 Oh boy. Â And I thought it was just me. Â I got my first BC almost two years ago--I found him on the street in front of my office--he was six months old and had been abandoned. Â Then, a little over a year ago, I got my second BC when my old Belgian shepherd mix died. Â About a month ago, I took the boys to herding school for a weekend. Â Since then, I've done little but try to figure out where I can find a herding group. Â And I'm already dreaming of my own sheep. Â Oh dear.... Â Regards, MR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cheri McDonald Posted October 31, 2002 Author Report Share Posted October 31, 2002 Okay Okay I'm in big trouble now. Went home and looked through the Penny Saver. Ad reads "Colorado 5 Acres Nestled in a sunny valley in the majestic Rocky Mountains. $5,700, $300 down, $95 per month" All I need now is that travel trailer and some sheep! Charlie what about those churros? Thanks for trying to put me off gang, but as I sit here dreameyed thnking of my little Colorado valley I think you have only succeeded to push me toward that dream. Dog and I start class this Sunday, call is into the person with the ad, Hey Amy where can I get me some of those overalls~ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caseysmom Posted October 31, 2002 Report Share Posted October 31, 2002 I found the overalls at Tractor Supply. They come in WOMEN's sizes! They are still a little long but not a foot long like carharts would be. (these are the bib kind) Â Amy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julia Hunt Posted October 31, 2002 Report Share Posted October 31, 2002 Well Cheri, for $5700 for 5 acres out here I think you better consider mountain goats, not sheep (LOL). Either that or it'll be a place where groceries have to be air-dropped! Â Julia (in CO) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cheri McDonald Posted October 31, 2002 Author Report Share Posted October 31, 2002 Okay Julia don't laugh, but where is Alamosa? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julia Hunt Posted October 31, 2002 Report Share Posted October 31, 2002 Alamosa is about 50 miles north of the NM state line and about a mile and a half above sea level, more or less half way across the state from east to west. I've never been there, It's on the Rio Grande so may be a bit greener than other parts of southern CO, population around 10,000 Julia Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J.E.S Posted October 31, 2002 Report Share Posted October 31, 2002 Was reading another Border Collie message board and saw a thread titled "shedding." I thought well its about time they had a topic on herding here. I opened the thread and realized they meant the dogs shedding hair, not sheep. JES. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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