With virtually no objectivity what so ever, I’m excited to announce that registration is open for a completely new seminar, to be held in Madison, WI on October 29th & 30th. I’ll be working much of the summer on creating an up-to-the-minute summary of what we know about canine behavior and cognition for Saturday, and Ken Ramirez, simply the best animal trainer I know, will knock your socks off with his presentation on Sunday about how to solve training problems and use reinforcements in a way you’ve probably never thought of before. Last summer I left his seminar motivated to train anything that breathed before I could get home to Willie. (I can report that it does not work on TV remote controls in hotel rooms, and okay, granted, remote controls can’t breathe, but I was unable to stop myself from trying.)
I know, I’m not an objective source (I’m doing the presenting on Saturday), but I’m already looking forward to both days. After being frustrated for almost twenty years about how little research was being done on dogs, FINALLY dogs are hot in science and there’s some great new information out there about training, behavior and cognition. I’m not the only one who is excited. We’ve already gotten registrations from as far away as Arizona and it’s only been announced for two days. I truly hope you can join us. If you do, promise to come up and say hello and introduce yourself as a blog reader.
MEANWHILE, back on the farm: Willie, Jim, Brittany, Dorothy and Barbie and I actually left the farm today to do a herding demonstration for my University class. The ewes Brittany, Dorothy and Barbie did not exactly volunteer for this assignment, but they’ve all done it before and weren’t particularly stressed about it. Dorothy and Barbie ran right up the ramp, bless their hearts, but hefty Brittany (she somehow manages to eat twice as much as every other ewe at the farm) had absolutely no intention of getting into the truck. I don’t like letting dogs bite my sheep, so even though Willie was in back sending out “Let me at her!” thought bubbles, Jim kindly pushed and prodded Brittany’s huge frame up the ramp and into the truck.
Brittany, by the way, came to the farm with her sister, Paris (yes, you’re getting the connection here). I named them when they were quite young, before I could have predicted that Brittany would be, uh, with child as a teenager, and Paris never got pregnant after 3 years. Needing my ewes to produce as I do, Paris has moved on to other pastures, while Brittany pumps out lambs like a factory. Maybe if I taught her some dance moves she’d lose some weight.
Willie was a super boy at the demo, I was very proud of him. It’s his third time there (he’s 4 now), and it’s fun to watch him each year as he matures. The first year he was very nervous, and I didn’t let him do much, relying on a dear friend to do most of the demo’s with another dog. Last year he performed well, but was clearly still more nervous than at home,but this year he worked pretty much like Willie at the farm. This was especially nice because we were doing well with our 2011 commitment to work Willie off the farm until the snows came, but for the last six weeks we’ve been shut down by deep snow. It was fun to finally be able to work him on sheep, even if it was in a small arena. At the end some folks from Animal Sciences brought in a horse and did a great natural horsemanship demo. Was just lovely (thanks Liv and Fawn!).
We didn’t get any photos today, but here are some from the same place from last year.
Roberta Beach says
Oh, I need someone to take care of my rescue dogs so I can come north to God’s country in October – my father was born in Sparta, WI. Sounds like a brain busting seminar; my dogs may not survive my return – bwahaha.
Good for Willie – sounds like he really internalized your pre-snow training :).
The Learning Vet says
Way to go, Willie! The seminar sounds great.
On an unrelated note, how much do you work with veterinarians? Do you have a behavior vet in your area who you recommend? I’m always interested in hearing about how other behavior vets say and do things. (Which is why I posted some examples from one of my recent consultations on my new blog: http://thelearningvet.wordpress.com/2011/02/15/behavior-consult-protocol-for-relaxation/ )
Julie Hecht says
Love the seminar and the herding demo! Can I be an undergrad again ; )
Kat says
It’s great that you have a demo space where you can actually work sheep. I remember long ago at a local county fair where the Border Collie demo only had a space for herding ducks. Early in the day you could watch the dogs work the ducks but by the end of the day you got to see the dogs drop into their crouch and eye the ducks as the ducks ran through the course. The ducks learned pretty quickly that after they’d gone through the course they could go back to their pool.
Wish I could come to the seminar. It sounds amazing.
Matilda J says
Is that the Stock Pavilion?! Wow. Memories of UW-Madison class registration came crashing down (yes, this was way back in the mid-1980s). What a nightmare.
Happy to hear that Willie did well and your Madison seminar is set. But my heart sank when I saw you’re also giving a seminar in Denver, a city that enacted a horrifically ignorant and insane crusade against beloved family members who just happen to be pits. I will never go back to Denver.
D says
What a great opportunity for Willie to work! I’m jealous…now I want to look for an indoor arena where I might haul some sheep to work my dog. I’ll bet even the sheep would appreciate the chance to stretch their legs a bit! We’re all going stir crazy with this deep, crusty snow.
trisha says
Matilda J: Oh it is a horrible law, I completely agree (Denver’s ban of pits). We all have to decide how to handle this kind of legislation, and my hope is that my seminar will help educate people and work to counter ignorant (and ineffective) laws like this. Hope to see you in Madison . . .
Jenn D. says
I would *love* to go to the Madison seminar! Love! I am crunching my budget, trying desperately to see if I can somehow manage the costs. It’s hard to justify spending $800-$1000 on a weekend for a seminar that relates to my part-time job, but I am trying to explain to my husband that, in time, I may be able to quit my day job. Training is my passion and working at it full-time would be a dream come true. Attending seminars like the one you are offering is, in my opinion, a step in that direction. Now I just need to convince him of that! 😉
AnneJ says
One of the high points of my college education was the herding demo! I think you had Mist and Luke there for it. That was before I had any sheep of my own, of course, so it was a big thrill.
D says
Kat, that story about the ducks has me laughing out loud! 🙂 Clever little birds…
Janice says
Oh, you should teach Brittany some dance moves!! I know that you meant it as a joke, but take it as a challenge. I think that herbivores are especially geared to learn by positive reinforcement training and it sounds like Brittany is very food motivated. Then you can finish off your demonstrations by showing that, contrary to popular thought, sheep aren’t as dumb as people tend to think them to be. (I loved running across this couple of sentences in John Holmes “The Farmer’s Dog”. “(Sheep) run from the dog just as instinctively as the dog runs after them. The common idea that one is due to stupidity and the other to intelligence proves how many people are unable to differentiate between the two.”) I recall you saying a while back on your blog that you had trained an aggressive ram to not butt you by training him to keep his head elevated when he approached you, and I thought that that was a brilliant solution to a very dangerous problem. I have been toying with the idea of trying some training of my herbivores, but I have to wait until the doctor gives me permission to be around my livestock again (I had my second back surgery, necessary because the first was a failure, last fall and I don’t want to have a third, so I am keeping out of the barn, as told). So you will have a head start on me, but let’s see if we can each have a dancing sheep by the end of the summer.
sue says
Do you have any plans on coming back to New England this year? I was sick with disappointment at missing you and Ken Ramirez when you visited Mass. Pretty pleeeeze?
Bonnie says
Any chance of coming to Ohio? The Champions Center at the Clark County Fairgrounds would be a great place!
trisha says
Coming to Ohio this fall! Saturday night November 19th! Check it out on my website. See you there I hope!