One more night, and then two nights off! Last week I did not have 2 days off, and that is clearly not something I am going to be willing to do. Just not enough hours to get caught up and get things done. I very much enjoyed my entire day at Carol's with the dogs, but it did not give me a day to get caught up on other stuff. Supposedly, officially hiring me full time (I'm already doing the hours, but being hired full time means I get a week's paid vacation and profit sharing- don't need the medical) is in the works. They also hired someone to work with me. (takes awhile before they actually come to work) I like working alone, but some nights I'm swamped, plus it's just me- if I don't come in they have to find someone not busy to do the best they can sorting the merchandise I get in. This results in someone not doing their usual job and it taking longer for the over night stockers to put it away, because it's not as separated as I do it. Like pharmacy and HBA. They each have about 6 carts. When someone else does it, they just throw all of HBA in one cart and all of pharmacy in another. When it's done the way they want it, it's separated by aisle- deodorant and razors in one cart, hair color in another, expensive lotion in one, regular lotion in another, etc.... I hope this new lady works out and will stay. I'm hoping we can each have 2 days off per week and we can swap weekends. That would be very doable!! Not sure they'll give her 39 hours right off the bat, but maybe. When they pull me in to do the full time paper work I'm going to be clear that my 2 days have to be back to back and that I need every other weekend off. If they can't do that for me, then I'll go back to 4 days a week. Places like wal-mart will take what they can get from you, but will also generally give you what you want in order to keep you, if you're a decent worker. When it's a huge truck night I hardly even get asked if I'll stay late, it's pretty much a given- they know I will, and I don't mind doing that, as long as it's remembered...
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I worked Jack, Deal, Gwen, and Cruz yesterday. Deal was very hard and pushy- both to me and the sheep. All the dogs gathered around her puddle of pee this morning, so I'm guessing she's about to come in. She didn't come in in May with Maddie, Gwen, and Mary Jane. We worked on shedding along the fence. She did better at staying honest on her flanks and stopping, but was not always listening to where I wanted her to come in.
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I worked on walking and not zipping from one side the other with Gwen. I had her driving the sheep thru the fenceline chute. I was only 20-40' away from her. She did okay but not great. She does not like to stay behind the sheep when she's driving. She wants be up just far enough that she is stopping the motion, not moving it forward. I feel that the fenceline chute is a good place for her to learn to push them on/thru. Once they were thru it, I would make her continue with the drive down the fence, rather than let her swing them back to me. The "walk" command is becoming useful. I am teaching her the skill in a fetch, then applying it to the drive. It's working better than the "shhhh-shhh" or the "get up there Gwen", as both of those can mean go ahead and do what you need to do to get them to move. She was beginning to blow in too often for my taste. Now that she is learning what "walk" means, I can use it on the drive. I will have to make a special for it.
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I worked Cruz just for a few minutes and did about 4 sheds- 2 taking a single off the group of 9. We may end up being able to make up for some of our typical lost outrun points by being a very consistent shedding team! He's awesome and as a team we just have our *hit together! :-)
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I need to work Jack again today for a few minutes. It's VERY humid, but mostly cloudy. Jack does a very nice job. He needs a walk up command when he's a pen or a chute. This is a very practical command I know Greg will appreciate Jack have, so that's the plan for today's session. Of course he walks up on a fetch, and he'll come forward at a chute, but it's too quick. He flanks nicely at a chute and will stop off balance, so considering the amount of training he's had, that's wonderful. He's like Toss on a send, tight but tries to cover. He knows you want them all, so that's a good start. It won't take much time to show him where he needs to be I don't think. It's very interesting that both he and Kit sit on their stop command. Both of them will sometimes stand, and sometimes lie down, but usually it's a sit. I don't care, as long as the dog stops. My verbal "lie down" should really be "stop"- if dogs knew English. What it means to me is stop and don't come forward. If they're honest with a sit or a stand, that's fine with me. I've found that usually a honest stand doesn't come until later, but some young dogs will be honest on their feet.... I do like to have actual stand command, but if the dog naturally wants to stop on his feet, then I suppose he doesn't need a "stand" command. My whistle "stand" is a shortened version of a stop whistle. Cruz prefers to stay on his feet in a drive- which is better anyway. Toss stands quite often on his driving stop. Deal will not stand and be honest. If her belly is not on the ground, she is coming forward- and we can working on that!! Even Gwen will stay on her feet in a drive if I am short and soft with my stop whistle.
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We got a lot of rain last night, and with the chance of more the next few day!
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