Soft ears, big heart, best friends

“We'll be Friends Forever, won't we, Pooh?' asked Piglet.

Even longer,' Pooh answered.” 

TJ is Jax's partner in crime, his better half, and his canine best friend. Thomas Jefferson better known as TJ is a real Virginia gentleman. Born and raised in Virginia, TJ is a walker coonhound raised to hunt deer. Apparently "that dog dont hunt", and TJ was left free to be picked up by a local shelter and adopted.  He is now happily retired and living a life of sleeping, snacks, and playing at the dog park. Like two peas in a pod, Jax spends his non-herding time attached to the scruff of TJ's neck and having a good ol' time doing dog stuff. Wrestling, sniffing stuff, and barking at squirrels.

Being handsome (and waiting for a treat)

Hey, I can see Jax chasing the sheep. They smell weird!

These pups are real American history buffs. Let's go check out some plantations, y'all

Car rides are the best when you are with your best friend

Let's wrestle!

Playing at the park is so fun!

I see you TJ

Who doesnt love dressing up for Halloween???! TJ, apparently. Someone doesn't like his hotdog costume, he wanted to be superman.

Sitting on the porch, watching time go by.

Watching mom put on her makeup in the morning. 

Dinner time, everyone sit!

Nothing like a day at the beach, a couple of buddies breathing in that fresh ocean air and catching a little sun.

Practice Practice

We are now working on the element that will be required of us in our first trial in April. Jax is putting the pieces together, but it's still really a work in progress. It's like a dance recital, the more you learn the routine, the better it will be. I'm hoping to keep putting Jax through the trial routine so he'll know exactly what is expected of him.

Fetch the sheep... Naturally the were far away as they see Jax and think "predator"and book it for the trees.

 Bring the sheep down and around a handler's area. We are still at the point that I'm with him the whole time, essentially. I wont be standing from the gate and giving him whistle commands from afar...yet.

 Lie down please, trying to get him to not force the sheep in front of us. When they are rushed in front of us he's then compelled to flock them again because they've lost 'balance'. In a trial I'll lose points for that.

And continue to walk while Jax waits. It's easy to move the sheep in the wrong direction or scare them so they head for the hills. A lie down gives me a little control back.

After we have gone around the handler's area is the next obstacle. We go through the fence posts and hang a right. I need to work on where I place myself so I don't waste time or get in the way of the dog. Time is an element in the trial, the last think I want to do is get timed out. What a bummer

A good lie down to get him in control and not put too much stress on the sheep.

 Through the shoot in the back corner. Jax actually managed this one pretty well, I was sure he wanted to run in with them and grab a snack. It's super exciting when they are up in the air and trying to fly away from him. 

In the holding pen, we've practiced this one a few weekends now. Repeat repeat repeat.

Bring the sheep back out of the pen. Having Jax lie down at the backside of the pen forces the sheep out, no need to send him in. Also, that would be a holy mess. Always remember to set your dog up for success!

Take a little break, have a little chat about what we've been doing well and what we can try next. We are both learning, sometimes Jax is off the wall, sometimes I don't read my dog or the sheep and sending him astray. Work in progress. 

Next we bring the flock to the upper corner pen and re pen the sheep. This one took a little bit of work. He had the guts to go into the pen with the ewes, despite them stamping their feet at him.

Not a perfect move, however. Notice you dont see a dog but the sheep look like they are trying to get out of the way and one is going up in the air. Yup, he decided to jump in and flush the poor girls out. Classic.

"That'll do". Pretty sure you can define that look as a shit eating grin. This dog will work his heart out. 

 Happy dog happy handler. It was a lot of fun getting to the trial components and seeing what we will be doing. We have some challenges and communication to figure out but with practice we'll get there.

Fetch and Pen

We have come to the point when we get to start doing some sheep penning, finally! I've said it many times before, but I didnt know how it would all start coming together. From the first day when Jax just tore after the sheep (seemingly purposeless) to when I would be able to use him to move sheep and now put them in a pen and take them out again.

Steady, walk up

We typically start out with a quick "warm up". Jax isnt yet two years old, so he has to blow off a little steam before he's ready to get to business. It's like lunging your horse before you get on, you expect to have a buck or two before everyone's ready for business. But every weekend Jax gets better and better and needs less time to get the willies out. 

He's also working on having more independence to make his own decisions and get up the confidence to be allowed to figure things out. Saturday had a few new challenges for my wild man. First, herd more sheep! It was all Jax could do to keep up with them. We typically handle up to five ewes, just enough for him to move around the field.... more sheep means you get one that wants to go faster than everyone. Jax had a lot of running to do, with more sheep he was anxiously trying to keep control while they were thinking "coyote in the field, let's get the &$^@ outta here!"

After that we got to practice one element we will have to know for our first trial (and subsequent competitions as well). There are a few differences with the breeds, but for the border collie you put them in and take them out of the pen without ever letting your dog in. Austrialian Shepards are good working closely and would do well going in the small space. Pretty sure Jax would want to grab a quick snack if he went that close. 

Here I send Jax on a "go bye" as I open the gate, getting the ewes to walk into the small pen with their noses pointed in the corner. 

Granted, there is a little grain in the pen which certainly helps coax the sheep. I'd go in there too if it had a full martini class in there, whatever works. Play the crowd. The key here is to get the dog to learn the element he is going to be repeatedly asked to do. What's the goal here? He's learning tools, things he can add all together and use whenever asked. Penning is one of them. 

"What's next?" I love that look on his face. At this point I'll send him on another "go bye", I open the gate and he comes around behind the pen and the sheep get pushed out, thinking he's coming to close let's leave this area. 

Sending him on an away to me. 

Fast as you can!

Sheep in pen, success!

Caught in a moment of me loving on my dog. It's getting and more fun, every weekend he seems to know how to solve problems and get the job done. I feel lucking this pup found me, he's everything I've wanted. Difficult at times, but he'll work his heart out for me.