Page 18 - Demo

Allie working sheep at the 2001 Nationals.
I had a list of people wanting Allie puppies for perfor- mance homes, so she was bred to Beth Zieman’s Rodeo (HOF ROM Crown Point Red Rodeo Ray CDX AX AXJ). Ace was the first born, and then Allie delivered eight more puppies in less than three hours. The most I had expected was eight, and the ninth puppy instantly became my “Bonus.” After the first week, Allie devel- oped a raging infection of the mammary glands, which caused her and three of the puppies—Ace, Bonus, and Cindy Landolt’s agility dog Nicki—to become ill. These puppies needed to be nursed back to health and seemed to thrive on the individual attention. They ultimately became the best performance dogs of the group.
Back to Training
After taking time to raise her puppies, Allie and I were ready to get back to training. She was a more mature and thoughtful dog after her maternity leave. I continued to train with Shannon, who presented us with increasingly challenging stock to work. When we entered the 2001 USASA Nationals I felt prepared to face any challenge. When we arrived at the Yankee Classic in Woodstock, CT it was obvious that the sheep were flighty and would be difficult for all of the dogs. It was not unusual to see them jumping out of the arena if the dog applied too much pressure. I was confident that Allie was up to the task and I allowed her to work the sheep on her own, which kept her in control. Because Allie was in the started class she could concentrate on working the sheep towards me. Once again I was hon- ored to be judged by Carol Ann Hartnagle, and Allie earned High in Trial Honors on the All Breed Day. Joe Hartnagle judged on the Aussie Only Day, and Allie won Reserve High in Trial.
Because Allie did so well in the started level classes, I believe I pushed her too fast to be ready for the next levels. Looking back, I realize that I skipped some important steps in teaching her how to drive the stock away from me. It was frustrating for both of us, and she lost confidence in my handling and in her own ability. Once I realized the problem I took steps to correct my
16 The Australian Shepherd Journal November/December 2009
mistakes. I spent a lot of training sessions trying to fill in the holes of my original training. Allie did earn her herding excellent title, but I never regained her original happy and confident attitude.
The Next Generation
When designing my training plans for Ace and Bonus, I wanted to make sure that they both had very solid fun- damentals from which I could develop more advanced herding skills. Having had success with Allie at the started level, my goal for the next generation was to be successful at the highest level of the sport. I had been able to achieve a herding championship with my Border Collie, Floyd, so my desire was to be able to reach that point with one or both of my young Aussies.
It was challenging to train two littermates simultane- ously, because they both developed at very different rates. Ace is co-owned with my mother, so he only lived with me part-time as a young dog. I spent a lot of my time with him working on developing a bond of respect and trust. When we were working with the sheep it was obvious that he was not completely sure of our relation- ship. Every year I had him full time for the month of February, and despite the cold weather, that was always the month we would make the most progress. When Ace was able to show sustained interest in the sheep the rest of the training became easier.
Bonus was my favorite of all the puppies, and she bonded to me very early, which made her a wonderful partner from the beginning of our training. She had a lot of natural talent, which allowed her to gather and fetch sheep with confidence, and she was biddable enough to take direction to improve her techniques. My training plan consisted of working towards solid stops, square flanks and good pace. Directional commands were added only after the flanks were correct, which became a good foundation for future driving skills.
As I lay down this ground work, I watched the dogs closely to determine when they should be exposed to a trial situation. When the time was right, I introduced them both to the herding program through the AKC pre-trial test classes. I showed them multiple times in that class on both sheep and ducks at several different
Bonus enjoys working ducks in all venues.