Big Circle Livestock LLC

06/02/2026

🏆🐑🐄 Just for fun, I started digging through the Mountain States Stockdog Association National Finals entry lists to see where everyone is coming from.

This year’s Finals in Wyoming will bring together more than 80 handlers from 24 states and 3 Canadian provinces:

🇺🇸 Alabama (3)
🇺🇸 Arizona (5)
🇺🇸 California (23)
🇺🇸 Colorado (4)
🇺🇸 Connecticut (1)
🇺🇸 Florida (2)
🇺🇸 Georgia (2)
🇺🇸 Idaho (12)
🇺🇸 Kansas (2)
🇺🇸 Louisiana (2)
🇺🇸 Mississippi (3)
🇺🇸 Missouri (4)
🇺🇸 Montana (5)
🇺🇸 Nebraska (3)
🇺🇸 Nevada (2)
🇺🇸 New Mexico (6)
🇺🇸 North Carolina (5)
🇺🇸 Oklahoma (9)
🇺🇸 Oregon (15)
🇺🇸 South Dakota (1)
🇺🇸 Texas (13)
🇺🇸 Utah (8)
🇺🇸 Washington (1)
🇺🇸 Wyoming (6)

🇨🇦 Alberta (1)
🇨🇦 British Columbia (1)
🇨🇦 Ontario (1)

What I found especially interesting is that Arizona has just 5 handlers represented, and Silas & Lacy are the only Arizona team competing in the Intermediate division.

As two people who grew up in Montana and Wyoming before eventually finding our way to Arizona, it’s pretty neat to see all three states represented on the list. We may now live in Arizona these days, but a little piece of Montana and Wyoming will always come with us.

We’re looking forward to the adventure, meeting competitors from all over North America, and seeing what Lace can do.

🤠🐑🐄❤️

06/02/2026

06/01/2026

Well… the Stockdog finals run order is out, and we leave for Wyoming in just 12 days!

For being a fairly new Stockdog trialer, and his first trip to the MSSA National Finals, Silas and HR Lace drew Run #2 in Intermediate Cattle on Monday!

Apparently the stockdog gods decided “easing into it” was overrated. 😂

No pressure, buddy ~ just unload, and take a deep breath!

We’re excited to represent Arizona, Big Circle Livestock, and all the folks who have supported us along the way. Time to saddle up and see what Lace thinks about being thrown straight into the deep end! 🤠🐄🐑

06/01/2026

Last load of yearlings made it to the mountain! Let the fun begin!!
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05/31/2026

Hope everyone is enjoying their weekend!
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05/31/2026

Reminders to myself about teaching young dogs:

- The path is not always linear and that’s okay. Sometimes to preserve their trust and enjoyment, you have to make something easier, change your idea of what they should be doing, or mix enjoyable things in with hard stuff.

- No two young dogs are the same, so training won’t always look the same either.

- Young dogs are going to make mistakes: let them. It isn’t your responsibility to keep them perfect. Learning doesn’t work that way.

- Training to help the young dog understand the concept of what you want accomplished will help them learn faster (rather than just telling them what to do and where to be).

- Dogs are big picture thinkers and don’t enjoy being always micromanaged. You hold control over the best reward you could ever give them: being allowed to work without interference. If you aren’t aware how powerful this reward is, you likely aren’t utilizing it enough.

- Teach a young dog that doing what you say makes their lives easier when you first start them and they will be much more willing to let go of their own ideas and be flexible to yours when they are more advanced in their training.

- There is no one size fits all training method and anyone who tells you that there is only one “correct” method is usually not flexible enough to train a lot of different types of dogs.

- Choose your battles wisely.

- Take time to observe the dog before you say anything to them at times. Think carefully about how much you’re taking out of them, because you can’t put it back in once you’ve taken it out.

- As little as possible, as much as necessary.

- Say what you mean, and make sure if you’re talking you aren’t teaching the dog to tune you out.

- Be conscious of your body position: most people are either not using their position enough, or are totally unaware that they are using it too much. The real skill is learning to be absolutely deliberate with each body movement and position.

- You train a dog in layers. Don’t try to bite through all of them at once.

- Good, predictable leadership = Happy dog that trusts you = confident dog. Be firm and fair and keep your emotions out of training so that your dog believes you are trustworthy.

- It’s ok to quit on a bad note: sometimes young dogs have reached the total capacity of what they can absorb in a training session and start to act out or make mistakes- when this happens, quitting is much better than pushing them through it to get to a “good” place to stop.

- Young dogs are immature in every conceivable way: never forget you’re working with an immature mind. Give them some time to grow into themselves.

- Time spent teaching a dog how to learn off of stock is never wasted.

05/27/2026

There’s a big difference between just running an obstacle… and learning how to truly help your dog through it. 🤠🐑

At Big Circle Livestock we work on the little details that build confident teams ~ handler timing, pressure, positioning, reading stock, and learning how to support your dog instead of accidentally working against them.

Whether your goal is ranch work, better communication, or stepping into the trial arena someday, we want dogs and handlers that can think together as a team.

Trialing isn’t just about the dog — it’s about the partnership. 🐾🔥