Last night after Ella worked Wren, I showed her what Ivy was doing. She did a little bit of the bubble crap, but she was not nearly as overly cautious as she was just hours before. I'm completely confident that she is simply going thru the same stage that Gwen went thru. Yesterday, Gwen worked the most forward and confident that I have ever seen her work! :-) I'm going to keep it simple for her and come up with practical reasons/ways for her to walk on to the sheep.
Ella has done a wonderful job with Wren, and Wren is a very talented pup. Of the pups, she works the most like Cruz. She doesn't want to flank and hold like Gwen and Ivy. Like her father, she will need the most work on developing square flanks. I don't anticipate it will take a lot of work though. Yesterday she was flanking plenty square, she simply needs experience so she learns to flank in a more relaxed, fluid movement. She's fast on her flanks, which is perfectly fine because it's easier to dial that down, then hope you can more speed later. Mary worked very well for Ella. The two of them have their novice skills wrapped up, so we started working on driving. Initially, driving is such a hard thing to grasp! Mary knows her flanks, including inside flanks, but isn't 100% confident in the job and can still very quickly turn her drive flank into a fetch. So IMO, they are a good match. Mary has enough skills that she quickly realizes what Ella is asking, yet she is not so "finished" that Ella isn't learning how to handle the drive. :-)
My trial dogs worked nicely yesterday. Like I mentioned, Gwen was wonderful. I don't think I've seen her drive so forward and confident. It's wonderful to see. She's such a cool-ass dog to work! :-) I'm very much looking forward to the 2 upcoming trials. :-)
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