I went to Carol's yesterday with Cruz, Gwen, Deal, Kit, and Ivy. They all did a nice job. Cruz worked the cows and Carol cannot say enough times how awesome he is on cows! I wish there were more cattle trials around! There are always several at a beautiful facility in New Marshall OH, and a few in Townsville SC. But both of these cities are just a couple hours over my "doable distance" for the time begin. Breezy Hill Farm say they will have one before the end of the year. If going to Cattle Finals was something I could get away to do, I would make the SC and OH trials doable, but they aren't, so going that far right now isn't going to happen. I didn't realize that the VA Winter Trial had already opened on the 20th, so it's likely to late to get in now... darn. I need to send in the Dec. entry for Long Shot. I'm scared, because Carol says I should enter at least Cruz in Open... I shouldn't be, but I am. Here in the East there isn't much of an outrun difference between Ranch and Open, and we are well on our way with shedding, so I suppose I should enter. She says Cruz is a perfect dog to get my feet wet with in Open. I trust him 100% and we are a true team. Even if things go wrong, Cruz is never going to get us in trouble. I do have a couple dogs that would indeed get us in trouble if things went wrong well out in the field... Maybe I should enter Edgeworth- although that is a pretty intense trial. I have confidence in that field as long as I send him to the right.... Deal is right close behind Cruz, and in some sense maybe a bit ahead- because she has a natural outrun. Poor Cruz and the crap I created! He is not good at spotting sheep- however he is 100% responsive on the outrun, so I can always re-direct. Yesterday in Carol's bigger field I gave him a flying redirect (actually it was a stop command- but he knew what I wanted him to do- and kicked out a good 100' on the fly) that completely fixed the outrun. Carol said if I can give a flying redirect that's great, as it's fewer points off than a stop and redirect is. Deal also started a bit tight (I don't think she knew she could go around the fenced in cell-towers), she stopped on a dime and took the redirect wonderfully. I thought I needed work on long distance fetch line flanks with Deal, but she was perfect. Carol also had me flank her all the way around the sheep on the fetch- which she did well. I had to repeat the all-the-way-around flank whistle each time I could see she wanted to come to balance, but that's certainly normal at her stage of training. She did very nice this time on the shed work- she did not lock her eye on a group and hold them rather than coming in- she came right thru. We shed a group of only 5, so that was good.
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Gwen did very well, she has a 100% natural outrun and a quick fetch. Carol suggested I leave her fast fetch alone for the time being, since pushing forward on the drive can be a weakness right now. Let her know she push and move them quickly. She drove Carol's sheep very well. She said I need to let her fetch them and then drive them past me, (rather than having it set up so I'm already behind her) as she had some trouble lining up the drive away from the "post" originally. Gwen is young and in hind sight I put too much control on her too early, so it's fairly unknown right now what her true potential is. I adore her. I always have an awesome time working her and love her immensely off the field! Love goes a long ways! Gwen is a true go getter and a pleaser, and that's all I can ask of a dog! She only wants to do what's right and is the most responsive dog I have ever worked. She's talented no doubt, but her no-quit, try-hard work ethic makes her stellar in my eyes! Carol claims you either have a dog that naturally drives, or a dog that has a natural outrun. You don't get both; naturally anyway. She said some lines are pretty good at both, but no dog is naturally really good at both. Upon thinking about it, she is right. Toss and Kit are boring type drivers- drive and drive and drive. But they have a man-made outrun and will very easily get too tight and dicey, end up with a single and then game is on... Gwen has a perfect outrun that I have nothing to do with, but she is going to take time to get a confident drive on... Deal is middle of the road, having a fairly natural outrun and fairly natural desire to drive, Cruz is a nice driving dog (although not a borer like Toss and Kit) and Lord knows his outrun is man-made (albeit a LOT of that is early training full of holes). The dog I hardly ever do anything with on sheep; Edge, would have a huge outrun, but even with the little bit I've done with him, I can see he would be a bear to get to take stock away from me. Interesting. It's all about what you prefer. Carol says she'd rather teach a dog to drive. I agree. Man-made outruns take forever, and I don't think they are ever become 100% without handler help.
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Ivy worked in the middle field on 5 sheep and did very nice. Carol said she thinks I'll have the same "issues" with Ivy that I have with Gwen. I told I can see it too, but Ivy is not nearly as "bad" as Gwen was. Gwen would flank to their heads at full tilt, then hit the dirt and not want to move back. Ivy stays on her feet 100% and is very easy to keep behind the sheep. She does have a natural desire to come up to their heads, but she is not hard at all to keep at their butts. At Ivy's age I could not block Gwen- she would beat me and then fly into a down and stick there. I did not have to teach her a down- it was already there. So Ivy's not as hard-wired to come around the their heads to stop the motion as her mother. My biggest mistake with Gwen was putting too much control on her at too young of an age. I should have just let her flank and fetch with no verbal commands. This is ALL Ivy is doing. Her only command is "That'll Do Ivy".
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Kit did a pretty good job. She had to do a couple yee-ha's by getting in the mix, splitting one off and following in hot pursuit. She settled down nicely after a bit and did some very nice work. She's intense like her father. Like her father, she is the type that will indeed make a mess if too much distance is given to her. LOL! That will lessen with age. Toss does not make a lot of messes anymore. He is a good dog and I know he will do well, but my personal preference will always be the dog with a little more eye and sense of balance. She's a nice little dog who I like more and more as she ages. I do not believe I currently own any dogs I would sell. The ones that are here, are here.
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I need to call David today to ask him if I can go ahead and work in the field now that the cotton is picked. I need to go out there and see if it's going to be too hard on the dogs feet to use before it's turned over. I don't know how stiff the cotton plant stubs are. I also need to ask David about renting the field so it's mine year 'round... My little yard is no good (other than shed work) for my adult dogs. It's still beneficial to the pups, but not for the trained dogs.
It's back to work tonight, although I work half as many days before my next 2 days off- thank goodness!! Today needs to be toe-nail day- what's 20 x 13? LOL!! ;-)
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