We're back in Ireland!

Yes, we are back in our Irish home: Jessie, Floyd, Jai and Suki are with me.
This time, I am trying to accomplish one big task: fencing the land behind our house. This piece of land comprises 6 small fields and our little hill is in it too. We are clearing the hill and the dry walls of all sorts of weeds and saplings, and the fence will go around the perimeter, so the sheep will be able to move around unless we block the gaps in the walls, and we hope they will not jump them (too much).

Our little hill was covered in shrubbery, wich we took down and made a bonfire of :)

 

 The rest of the rubbish that isn't burnable, we're burying.

How empty and big the hill looks now!

 

 The end result looks pretty good...

I can already imagine sheep wandering on it, eating their belly's full of lush grass :)

Happy New Year!

We wish everyone all the best for 2016, and I hope you enjoy this poem:

Another year, another chance
 To start our lives anew;
 This time we’ll leap old barriers
 To have a real breakthrough.

 

We’ll take one little step
 And then we’ll take one more,
 Our unlimited potential
 We’ll totally explore.

We’ll show off all our talents
 Everyone will be inspired;
 (Whew! While I’m writing this,
 I’m getting very tired.)

We’ll give up all bad habits;
 We’ll read and learn a lot,
 All our goals will be accomplished,
 Sigh...or maybe not.

 

Oh well, Happy New Year anyway!

By Joanna Fuchs

Moving sheep with Jessie & Jai

Today and yesterday, we moved some sheep on the dikes along the river Schelde again.
Jessie always guards the front flanks, so the sheep don't wander too far from the footpath.

They succeed to escape at least once anyway. The sneaky maidens just wait until she's covering a few on the left side, and then an other bunch of them just scoots down the other side towards the ditch. Fortunately I was aware this time, and while Jai and me covered one side, I sent Jessie very quietly around the other side so she could lift them gently up the slope again without any jumping in the ditch!

 Because there were a lot of bends and curves on our way to their new accommodations, it was really hard to keep them on the right track. Add that they were hungry, and you know how hard it was to keep them in line!

Finally we got to our destination, the ladies were happy to have fresh food, and the dogs were happy to have a rest.

Still keeping an eye on them though!!

Good boy, Jai!

Despair and excitement, all in one day

I went to the sheep with Jessie, Jai and Yoshi today. It was a nice day: dry and sunny, though very chilly. The dogs were keen to work sheep, and I had to work hard to keep them in line.

 
Jessie and Yoshi are a lot alike and I'm beginning to remember my despair from Jessie's early training days when I was just a beginner. With Yoshi I feel just so inadequate again, but I also know now I have to be patient and consistent and maybe one day she will be as strong as her mum. For now I just try to keep her off the sheep and to teach her to flank wider and not to come in to have a bite of wool. She is a very determined bitch though, just like her mum, and she needs to calm down and be sensible before I can proceed with her training. So repeating the lesson until she gets it seems the way to go for now. We'll have to keep working on it, I guess...

 

Now when I work with Jai I always end our session with a feeling of excitement. He is very sensitive and needs to gain more confidence, and although he has power he doesn't seem to realize it himself. Fortunately for me he stops when I tell him, well most of the time anyway and that's not bad. Especially when I have to be very careful not to put too much pressure on him because then he will hold himself back and runs very wide around instead of lie down. But Jai is a dog that is willing to learn, and he is starting to get it that stopping just means he gets to work again almost immediately. He is also getting it when I want him to widen more, and so I ended today's session after 10-12 minutes on a very good note at a moment when I was very pleased with him. I hope he will remember today's lesson.

Jai's training

When I started herding training with Jai, something strange happened to me. I couldn't communicate with this dog: from the moment I opened my mouth he was running away. He would go and lie down at a relative distance and watch the sheep, and he wouldn't come back. Well, not very easy or very soon anyway. I suppose he had a combination of a lot of "eye" and being very easily "impressed".

So for months I just walked around with very quiet sheep without speaking, and Jai started to lose his aloofness, though he is often still cautious in what he does around the sheep. But he is keen, and that pulled him through. He just can't resist herding sheep, and while it's been a challenge at the start when I somethimes despared if he ever was going to be any good, I now enjoy training with him very much!

Jai stays a lot more on his feet now, and I know we have a long way to go still. But now I have hope we will get there!