Happy Birthday Caden, One year old!

I can't believe Caden turns one year old today!

His first portrait! His full name is Caden von der KleinenWiese. Big name for a little baby...

Caden with Thorn's favourite "big ball" (in his new home).

Caden was born one year ago on January 30, 2008. I found about about his breeder from Shelley Fritzke (Tehillah) who has the top herding GSDs in Canada. After losing my dear Thorn to cancer I felt strongly that I needed another sable boy to fill that empty space in my heart!

Who couldn't love that face!

River was so happy to have another shepherd, and Caden LOVES River! They are best of friends.

Caden's breeders Bill and Sandy Wilson from Pennsylvania sent me pictures constantly so I could see Caden growing up. Their kennel name is Kleinen Wiese which is German for Little Meadow. Caden's grandsire is a dog named Nicky, owned by Ellen Nickelsberg of NY. Nicky is a legendary tending dog, who comes from the top herding dogs in Germany. Below is a painting of a famous photo of Nicky tending a flock of sheep. And below that, a real life photo of Nicky at work. I just knew Caden would have the drive I wanted plus the intelligence with dogs like this behind him...

On his other side, Caden's grandfather is Siggo v. Haus Antverpa, a son of Orry who is a famous 2X SCH National winner from Belgium. Siggo is pictured below...

Caden flew from PA to Duluth Minnesota and after a long flight, came to me calm and happy - greeted the folks in the airport - and slept all the way home on a 4 hour drive. I think that was the last time he was QUIET - hahahaha! Sandy said her dogs are vocal, and he is the most chatty boy I have ever had, with a comment about everything.

Ted thinks Caden is a great little buddy (even though Caden is now bigger than him, Ted is the older brother who keeps him in line!). They sleep together on the bed with me every night.

Sandy and Bill's sons Kevin and Will helped to raise Caden and make him such a good boy!

Below you can see Mom Hera with her new babies!

The Wilson's raise sheep on their Little Meadow Sheep Farm. Sandy also makes fantastic soap with all natural ingredients. If you are in the PA area, you can buy some at local markets. Caden was tested on lambs as a baby and he was very interested!

Caden visits his sire, Diesel vom Schulmeister who is a protection dog on a horse farm. Below is another picture of Diesel.
And this is Nicky's daughter Hera, Caden's mom.

Caden is from the "C" litter. His name means Little Warrior in Gaelic, and in Arabic it means friend. What better named dog could be my newest companion on this part of my journey in life! Since coming home to Thunder Bay Ontario, he has travelled across Canada with me and now he is an Alberta boy! Every step of the way, he has settled in and made me so proud.

Caden has grown into a handsome and sweet young fellow. I can hardly wait to see him fulfill his early promise in the years to come!

Thank you Sandy for trusting me with such a wonderful dog.

PS Sandy is planning a breeding for this spring! She already has a little waiting list. Her website is linked in the sidebar menu on the right. Have a look!

Winter Tracking - two urban tracks

See the slideshows of these tracks in the sidebar menu!

Last Sunday in Edmonton, Caden did a track during a blustery cold day. He managed 2/3 of it, but shortly after this leg, he lost his focus on the road. I was still proud of how he did up to that point, in those conditions!

Thanks to a Chinook, the weather THIS weekend was above freezing. I went out tracking with both Caden who is a year old this month, and River, who is working on her UTDX. We have been tracking at Red Deer College, which is about 10 minutes from home!

I love the visual you get in snow. You can see here he overstepped by one step at this turn. Look at his body language - ears and tail UP. This nice deep snow in the sun gave him a great start as the balance of his track was on a hard snow-packed surface, concrete, road and frozen veg - with a nice snowy field for a happy ending!

River has not tracked since last November. Caden was out last weekend for some Search and Rescue training. Last weekend was a blustery one - and Caden did a track in gusting winds, cold temps and blowing snow. I drove home that day in a blizzard! He did a nice job up to his 4th turn, at which point he sort of lost his way. It didn't help that a guard dog in the industrial area began to bark at him, finalizing any attempt to finish the track! However, for his age and experience I was very happy with how he did! It also helped me to identify some things I really have to work on which are

1. people following / people around
2. distractions in urban environments
3. article indications
4. Age and distance (but he is still a baby, so I will add that later)

Yesterday we went to the College and did a short fun track for motivation (since the last one was so difficult). He did the track, which was 250 meters, in 6 minutes! I did a track with River as well, to get her nose going again. River's track yesterday was almost 300 metres long and went in a line along the side of some of the main buildings and along a road. She did beautifully well. The only hitch was when she went to a doorway and a sensor caused the door to open. She went into the vestibule, and I had to re-open the door to call her back out!

Caden's Track today...

Caden's track - 40 minutes old - 300 metres long, mostly on snow and hard surface, with some frozen veg along the sidewalk. Picture snow on this Google Earth map! His track goes from left to right on this map. The first article was half-way, on the open angle, at the edge of the sidewalk. Last one was in the trees.

Today I laid a longer, more complex track for Caden, still with the goal of helping him to be successful. It started in snow, then went into a parking lot, along the curb, which holds scent. From there, it went along the edge of a sidewalk to the main roadway. I walked along a big crack in the sidewalk to the road, and crossed. From there, I turned and went along the veg edge of another sidewalk, then ducked in behind a bus stop to end in a snowy field.

There he goes, dead on...

I am so happy with how nose down Caden is when he tracks. I know this comes from his introduction to tracking last summer through the Schutzhund Club in Thunder Bay, and with some coaching from SCH master Wallace Payne from Georgia - who gave a seminar in Thunder Bay last July. In the slideshow of Caden's track, you will see his nose is down on every surface, bless his heart. There were lots of people around today, and cars, to provide some distraction. And I began to ask for a down at his articles. You can see in the slideshow that he oversteps his turns by about one step. I also attribute this to how I started him in SCH. The only place he overhot a turn by more was when it went downhill from the turn, and in some tire tracks behind the bus stop. Those tire tracks work just like ruts in a field - they must trap scent.

I love tracking in the snow because you get such a great visual. At the first article, he did a crazy circular cast - I think because he could smell the article and wanted to find it! I was happy with this, because he is becoming more article focused. He tracks for the tug game at the end. I put some treats in good spots to reward him for getting past particular challenges. He scoops them up, but at the end, he goes into major tug mode. Today it took Caden 9 minutes to run his track, and it took us about 15 minutes to get back to the car because we had to play the whole way back!

Caden LOVES the tug, and I have to be careful that he doesn't realize I have it in my fanny pack when we go out, or he gets obsessed with it.

River's Track

River at her first article. It wasn't until she crossed a road and looked back at me that I realized her harness was hanging around my neck. DUH! I guess I needed to get out an practice again too! I put her harness on at this article. Maybe that is good practice too - training for anything that might happen!

River's track was aged longer at 1.5 hours, and about 340 metres. She was so anxious to start, she ran down a little knoll and found the track and was off before I could even say find it. It was not until she had crossed the main road, that I realized her harness was hanging around my neck! Did you notice when you watched the slideshow? I put it on at her first article.

That looks better! As I put it on, she yelled at me, and pulled to keep going. What a good girl!

Notice that when I track with River, I use a very loose line because I like to watch her choose her way, rather than have it taut, which I find encourages her to pull. So in all of the photos I have taken (and I didn't cut any out) she is the one deciding what she will do, with no line handling from me except to keep it from tangling. I love how this works with River. It may not work with all dogs, but she loves to track and sticks with her job. She overshot her turn into the parking lot, and came at the 2nd last leg from above, cutting the track there.

River's track mostly on hard surface, with snow at the beginning and mid-way, was 340 metres long and 1.5 hours old. I like linear tracks because you don't create any funny boxed in areas that trap scent. You need to work on that, but where possible linear is best! Her track goes from right to left, because I laid it after laying Caden's, which ended in those trees. I know how to make the best use of my time! When I get to the location, I plan ahead before laying my tracks, and have a general idea of where I am going before starting off. Her first article was on the sidewalk after the double road-cross. Second was in the snow after going right away from the sidewalk and third was in the parking lot, near the curb.

Here is a photo of River coming back to find a turn, after over-shooting it. Notice the loose line. With River, I find that a loose line works well because I can see her decisions, while a taut line makes her pull ahead (sort of pushes her along). In urban tracking, you want a slower and more thoughtful approach and this works for me.

As she searched around the top end of the lot, she really poked around. But when she made up her mind where the leg went, she took off at a trot, which you can see in the photos! The parking lot had weird berms with little lots opening off the centre road. River seemed to waver back and forth into these openings. Throughout this part of the track, she constantly went off to the right. There was no wind, but there may have been some current pulling the scent that way. After going to the right at the last turn, she did a little cast and came back to make her last turn to the glove. By this point she was really panting, and I wished I had packed some water!

I like this photo (above) because it shows how River started off after her article and veered onto another trail beside mine. For those of you who think they just follow the footprints, look at her correct herself to the right track! Deeper snow can release lots of bacteria that has been trapped in the layers, especially on nice warm days like today!

And here is a photo showing her decide where the track is, after carefully checking things out at the top end of this parking lot. After poking about, she suddenly took off back for the track, and nailed it dead-on. I learned in the Steve Ripley seminar I organized last summer to just let her think about things and be PATIENT as they are sifting information when they are just standing there, sometimes. Sure enough, River decided and was off again. Notice the loose line - again. This is her decision - and she knows her job.

On her way back to the car, she followed my track out to where I had parked 2 hours before, when I laid the track. She loves this part of tracking - the cookies in the car!

I knew at this point that my big thing this winter/spring will be to work on River's conditioning for longer tracks. She was very tired at the end of this track, but a good kind of happy-tired.

All in all, a great way to spend the afternoon.

Today, River and Caden were my Two Wolves!

(see my licence plate!)

The World of Sheepdogs - A Photographic Tribute

This is the front cover of Angie's first book

- the first of many, I hope!

(link is below)

I am sure a lot of you know Angie Driscoll and Kelvin Broad from the time they spent in Canada. Just last week, Angie paid me a huge compliment by asking if I would review a book she wrote. You know I love to read and write, and I've done book reviews for other herding books and videos in past years, so of course I said yes! I just received a copy of the book and I am so excited that I am going to spill the beans just a little on my blog. Since this is not the review, I will quote me:

This book is amazing! I have not seen another book quite like it. And at this time of year, when I look out on all of the snow, it is wonderful to sit and go through one photo after another of Border Collies working sheep. Finally, a coffeetable book that captures the beauty and intensity of these dogs working sheep.

I don't want to scoop my own review here, though! I will give you the scoop on this book, but you will have to wait for my full review once it is official. I hope Angie forgives me, but I can't keep this to myself. More information about this book is found on their Kinloch Sheepdogs website at

http://www.kinlochsheepdogs.com/World%20of%20Sheepdogs%20Book.html

If you go to this link, you can read about the dogs in the book (from 19 countries) and find out about some of the other very useful information the book provides. I am not sure how many copies there are in the first printing, so you may like to have a peek. You will be blown away by the photos on the website, so just imagine the book!

I have admired Angie and Kelvin and been a bit green with envy too, as they left Canada for England, Scotland and most recently, Wales to follow their passion. I've lived vicariously through Angie's blog on her Kinloch Sheepdogs website, reading about their adventures as tenant shepherds, entering trials and meeting "Sheepdog" royalty in Britain, the ancestral home of the Border Collie. Angie even won an Open Trial with her dog Meg. I get shivers every time I look at Meg's page on her website, when I read "1. A. Driscoll (South Wales) Meg, 96 Outbye 2. R. Dalziel (Ettrick) Joe, 96." Angie won the trial with Meg! Angie was also the web mistress for the World Trials last year.

This book was a natural outcome of the time they've spent living the life I know *I* was meant to live! At least going through the book gives me a chance to daydream.

The "Inner" Jet

"I'd like to think I've been some influence in your life."

While unpacking some boxes of books, I ran across two fantastic books of dog cartoons that I bought over 20 years ago in Grand Marais Minnesota. They are called Ben, the Adventures of a Hunting Retriever, and Ben, Again! The author and artist is John Troy. These books are so funny that I bought both, even though I have never had a retriever. I started to flip through the books and was cracking up. Ben, reminds me of Jet!

Many thanks to John Troy for such great books! I was tempted to put "stockdog" school over top of "obedience" school, but I think you know where I am coming from here.

I think many of us have known this feeling...especially if you live with a dog like Jet, or Ben!

Note

Here is the Amazon.com review of this book

http://www.amazon.com/Authorized-Ben-Treasury-John-Troy/dp/157223010X

Editorial Reviews
The best of hunting humor from America's most beloved sporting cartoonist. No one understands the challenges and frustrations of the outdoorsman's life like John Troy, and no one makes the maddening business of hunting so riotously funny. Anyone still kicking himself over a missed shot, anyone wishing that his hunting dog had paid more attention in obedience school, or anyone who has ever been confounded by the antics of a pesky squirrel will enjoy this hugely delightful collection. In typical John Troy style, we are treated to one-panel lampoons of shooters who can't hit stuffed animals, bears that beat up hunters, and ducks that make their own decoys. They're funny because they're true. Hilarious Hunting Cartoons will delight both novice and experienced hunters and will make an excellent gift for yourself or a passionate hunter you know. 170 color illustrations.

Here is another funny one - it says "Any points for feisty?" I think this is really funny because I also have a Rough Collie, and that is the look he gives Jet and Ted!

About the Author

John Troy's cartoons have appeared in Field & Stream, Sports Afield, Outdoor Life, Audubon, In-Fisherman, Ducks Unlimited Magazine, Fly Fisherman, and dozens of other outdoor publications. He is the creator of "Ben," the beloved and mischievous hunting dog who was featured in several of his eleven bestselling cartoon collections. John Troy grew up in New Jersey and now lives with his wife, Doris, in Dade City, Florida.

More on Ted's lesson with Scott Glenn

Okay! Okay! I have received two emails about me not being in the picture (in the post below)...so in fairness, Louanne was nice enough to take a few shots, and yes, I am in one of them. Do you like my jacket? I thought it said "Alberta" when I saw it hanging in Old Navy.

Ted worked on lie down, and flanking. He is just a BLUR as he whizzes by. Ted is one of those dogs you can't help but like. He can seem very goofy when you live with him and see his day to day antics. He is quite a clown, really. But get him in with sheep, and I admire how he flips the switch to working. This is what Ted was meant to do.

In his off hours, he cleans my house by finding every little scrap he can - sometimes he brings them to me when I am working on the computer. But the other day, I saw him go into a crate in my entrance and come out with something. I looked inside, and Ted had a little collection in the back corner of bits and pieces of who knows what - like a little bird's nest!

Herding Report - Lessons with Scott Glen

This is the beautiful location of the indoor arena south of Calgary, where we had our lessons with Scott Glen yesterday, arranged by Louanne Twa, Phantom Ridge Ranch (see blog link in the right hand menu). I had to stop in the driveway to take a picture of these beautiful horses with the Rocky Mountains in the background. I just don't get tired of looking at mountains!

Louanne was kind enough to capture a photo of Ted working in the arena, and even kinder because she cut me out of it, haha! (I owe you, Louanne). Ted was his usual honest, good self and had a great session. He is such a nice and easy dog to work with, and has been the best thing to happen to me, to help me calm down and learn to handle a dog and think at the same time. As you may know I got both Jet and Ted from Scott, so really value his advice on working with them, as he trained them both to 'started' and knows them well.

On to Jet. First of all, I confess, I LOVE Jet. I got her as an 8 week old and adore her. I can still picture her as a wee pup climbing up one side of big old Thorn, and sliding down the other, over and over. Hmm, at that time, I should have realized that she was a) very clever, b) inventing games for her own pleasure, and c) dominating Thorn!

Here is a picture of Jet waiting for her turn, and thinking about her strategy... I was a little nervous when I saw how intent she looked.

She is now 3 years old. I've had my ups and downs as a beginner in the Border Collie stockdog world learning the ropes, and handling Jet, who is talented but tough. Yesterday she showed that age is looking good on her, as she worked the sheep and showed a lot of "responsibility" (as Scott put it) and self control. She was trying very hard to be a good girl.

I was so pleased with how we are both coming along. Jet is definitely raising the bar for me as a handler, to come up to a level where I can observe and handle her properly. As usual, it comes down to handling! I even managed to squeak out some walk up whistles! On my drive home last night (which was about 2 hours), I realized at one point that I forgot to turn on the radio, and I was just driving along smiling like the village idiot. Ironically, that is one of Jet's nicknames for me.

When I downloaded the herding photos, I also downloaded a few pictures of Jet and Caden in the living room last week. You know, I may not have been out working her a lot because of the weather, but I think that Caden is helping me out by teachiner some self control! Just look at how studiously she is ignoring him, as he shows off his bone.

Then, suddenly she had the bone! I didn't even see it happen, as I was too busy snapping pictures. Caden is so good natured, he outweight Jet by 3 times, but as I say all the time, she is truly the "biggest dog in the house."

Today, I drove 2 hours the other way, to Edmonton for some SAR training with Caden, but will post about that later because I am recovering from the drive home, through a blizzard! It was completely unexpected. But we are home safe and sound, after passing many cars and trucks in the ditch. If you want to know more about this winter in Alberta, check out Jolene's "One Collie" blog for pictures - http://onecollie.blogspot.com/ - she describes it very well!

And as we left the ranch, the full moon was so beautiful, I had to capture a couple of pictures to share...

PS the Alberta Motor Association website monitors highway conditions, and here is what I drove through this afternoon coming home from Edmonton - this is a neat site - you can even select 'camera' from the menu to see the roads in real time! In the next day or two I will post about Caden's SAR session.

http://www.ama.ab.ca/road_report/Highways.htm

Hobbema Turnoff to Wetaskiwin Turnoff
Report submitted: Jan 11 at 04:59 PM
Driving Lane: Snow Covered, Drifting Snow
Shoulders: Snow/Ice
Driving Condition: Fair
Weather: Strong Winds
Visibility: Poor

Wetaskiwin Turnoff to Millet Turnoff
Report submitted: Jan 11 at 04:59 PM
Driving Lane: Snow Covered, Drifting Snow
Shoulders: Snow/Ice
Driving Condition: Fair
Weather: Strong Winds
Visibility: Poor

Busy weekend, with a herding lesson tomorrow - and SAR training on Sunday

And my horoscope says...

Good things come to those who remain focused on their goals. You are in a period in which progress towards realizing your goals may seem agonizingly slow in coming, or non-existent. For you the challenge is to persevere—to not allow yourself to slack off—as positive results are on the horizon.

*http://www.cafeastrology.com/piscesdailyhoroscopetom.html

THIS IS SO TRUE!!!!!

Well, reading this gives me a little encouragement. I have a lot of herding challenges, but one of the big ones is learning to whistle. I just posted a question on the Border Collie "sheepdog-L" asking for some advice about making the transition from practicing in my car to using a whistle in training.

The first time I tried to whistle for Ted, he nearly fell over craning his neck to stare at me, wondering 'what the heck?'

I'll remember my camera and fill you in post-lesson. It is finally warming up here and is supposed to be PLUS 4 C tomorrow in Calgary!!

On Sunday, I head up north to Edmonton for SAR practice. I am excited to show them Caden's tracking progress. Once his tracking is solid, we will begin with some real SAR work. I'll bring my camera there, too. Stay tuned!

Winter Games! The Border Collies and German Shepherds make the most of a cold day playing keepaway - and Girls Rule!

Today it was -25 when we woke up, so needless to say, it has been mostly an inside day. However, the dogs go in and out during the day and during the warmest part of the day they had a lot of fun playing "Queen of the Toys." I've put a new slideshow in the sidebar to the right of their games today. When you watch the slideshow, you will see there are only queens and no kings today. Jet and River prove that GIRLS RULE!

In the first part of the slideshow you will see Jet keeping Caden away from her collection of toys, including a Dinobone (big bison femur) that was Caden's 11-month old birthday present. Caden runs to mommy on the deck for some support. I gave him a yellow bone toy, which Jet also took away. I love the series of shots showing their stand-off, and Caden deciding to give in. After all, boys always give in to girls, and Jet is a little wolverine. Look at their stances and tails. You can actually see Caden's body language change, and Jet watches him leave. He is such a good natured boy. Then Jet gives me this look as though it is all in a day's work. Caden came back to the deck to comment to the camera and complain about my lack of support.

Jet winds up with all of the toys and bones. This is why, even though she is only 33 pounds, I call Jet the BIGGEST dog I have ever owned!

Next, I brought River out, with Ted and Caden. The boys played two on one, so while Ted was a decoy, Caden managed to steal a toy from behind her back. She checks her bone to make sure it is there. But she had to abandon everything to run to the back corner bathroom (which I have strategically cut out of the photos! I promise to clean up when it gets above minus 20). Caden takes his bone, and Ted grabs the toy. River lets Ted have the toy, but chases the bone down. Poor Caden! So dominated by girls.

River decided to bring the bone right into the house. She is still lying on the bed as I type this, and Jet is in her crate with the small bone that you can see in the photos.

When River came in, Jet blasted back out to see what was left, and claimed the kong rings.

Jet hovered over the rings the way she does an article indication - touching them with her little chin. I think Jet loves tracking because she loves to possess things and be in charge!

The last photo is of the sweet boys, gathered at my feet. The boys are so good-natured! And don't want to be anywhere near girls with bones.

Shaman hung out inside - he doesn't do this cold weather at his age, except for quick trips. What good boys! I think they are partly tuckered out, and partly "stress napping" after keeping up with River and Jet (the Two Wolves!)

Indoor herding - sheep, border collies and friends on New Year's Day

Today I went to Eagle Creek Livery owned by Randy Dye in Bowden. Randy has a beautiful spot west of Bowden Alberta with fields for his sheep and horses. He also has a great indoor arena where we can practice all winter! The view above is from Randy's back deck, of one of his fields and some horses.

There's my Honda Element parked in front. The photo below is Randy's big arena, which is two storeys high. Today there were 6 people working their dogs, which made for a great get-together.

The people out today included me, Penny Caster with Border Collies Duncan and Brock; Abe Marshall (who has a fantastic Scottish accent) and two of his dogs...Abe teased us for getting there so "late" (11 AM) as he had been working all morning, so I didn't meet his Border Collies, sadly, but saw one finishing up just as I got there. Abe has been at this for a long time and this 11 month old dog was working beautifully! Another couple - Jerry and Billie - came out with their Kelpie and Aussie, both nice dogs.

Louanne Twa was out with her Border Collie Isla and her Kelpie Risk. Above is a picture of Isla working. I apologize for the dust specks, it was too cold to water the flooring, so it was quite dusty but great for the dogs and sheep!

So when you are in this building, you enter the double doors which lead to the arena. If you turn right, you head up the stairs to one area where you can stand and look over the arena, or keep heading up to a coffee room and bathroom. It is "heated" (we were comfortable but still kept our jackets on). How great is this? We all sat and watched each person train. Those sheep in the window were being moved about by Penny's Brock.

In a way, this is great because you can't hear the comments as you work. However, when I worked Ted and Jet - they did well but my handling needed some improvement (I am never hard enough and my dogs walk all over me, which I will improve!). Louanne and Penny stood on the stairs and hollered helpful comments which helped my sessions a lot!

I took this photo of Penny and Brock from the lookout on the stairs. When you look at the photo from the coffee room, you realize how the dust fills the air.

We all laughed when Louanne pointed out that between dogs, the sheep were all waiting and looking at the entry gate, as if to say WHO will be working next?? And look, one or two sheep are actually looking up at the window!

After working the dogs, we headed up to the house where Randy and Val treated us to some coffee and Baileys. My mince pies went over well! What a great way to start out the new year.

I added another goal to my list of things to do this year - learn to whistle!