Yeah For The Sun!

Well it was actually a very nice day today! It was a little breezy, but reasonable. I wore my insulated bibs, but I only needed my long john's shirt and a vest. I didn't have to lug around my insulated boots. :-) I did wear my hat, but didn't need gloves. :-) So a few less layers. I got all my dogs worked, which always feels really good.

I played with Ivy and it was pretty good. Carol says Ivy should indeed work right thru this stage of not wanting to walk in, so I'll just keep things light and pleasant. I started to tell her "walk up" when she was behind the sheep, in the hopes that she will learn what "walk up" is.

All the other dogs I worked in the big field. I pushed their outrun comfort zone (slightly beyond 300 yards) to see what I would have. Cruz got there without additional direction, but unfortunately I was trying to video tape and I could not see where he was on the lift. The sheep lifted offline, and he would not come off enough on the comebye flank to change the direction of the sheep (he was being outrun because he was too tight). Because I had the camera in my face I wasn't much help, and was seeing things way too late. He did some nice drive work, again I pushed our distance comfort zone to see where we are at. We're good until about 200 yards. Beyond that I start to get tighter flanks and have a harder time getting subtle movements. I'm not sure my whistles carry much past 200 yards very well.

Deal needed an additional directional whistle on her 300 yard outrun. She took it wonderfully, however when she checked up on the lift, she did not give me the additional flank like I asked for. At 200 yards she would have. I pushed her drive work as well. Interestingly at about 200 yards she was becoming reluctant to push forward. Once in awhile I need to go a step or two beyond where we are comfortable so I know what we need to work on, and towards.

Today was the furthest I have ever sent Gwen. She went nicely, but then didn't cover very well on the lift. Like Deal, she will normally take an additional flank like a star, but due to do the additional distance, she would not. One thing I realized I had never done with her was ask her all the way around on the fetch. I hadn't done this because she is such a big flanking dog and in her early days it was hard to keep her behind her sheep, pushing forward. So I worked on that today. It was a new concept for her, but she did quite well once she knew what I was asking. I would ask her around to various places and then ask her to drive a very short distance, then ask her around again.

Toss was the 2nd dog I tried to video and work, and that just doesn't work. If I video (or photograph), then I'm not really training, and these days between crappy weather and my paying job I don't really have "non training" time to spare. We went out really, really nice at a distance beyond where I know he would be right. Because I was trying to tape, he brought the sheep up the fetch like gang busters, and drove them off in a similar style... After a couple minutes of trying to drive him with the camera in my face I decided I needed to ditch the camera. Maybe it won't be too long and Ella can come out one afternoon and tape while I work. After I put the camera away Toss got back on track and worked very nice. His forwardness is going to be a blessing as we approach the distances that Open is going to throw our way. He was a big boy today and work off whistles very well. Once he realized I was on the ball, he drove nicely and flanked lovely much of the time. He is such a funny dog in a drive. He is so forward and wants to just push, push, push. He knows he is to walk, so he does this big, powerful walking stride. He does not lie down on his stop whistle while walking behind the sheep. He prefers to stay on his feet. He does lie down most of the time when I ask him to stop flanking. I really like working Toss. He was a long wait, and we had so many, many frustrating sessions, weeks, months, and years!! I'm glad I waited him out and I'm thankful I had a trainer who saw Toss' potential years before I did! He's a hell of a dog on the field, and a delightful dog to own. :-)