How many times have you thought this exact thing? I know that when I watch back old videos of Diva and I getting started on stock that I do. Where I found myself in Summer of 2008 was like being lost in a foreign land and not speaking the language. I had a puppy that was very keen on sheep, I was excited to work with her, and between the two of us we knew nothing! If you have read my earlier posts then you will remember me talking about having your foot in the door and the difference that can make in your choices. Let's just say my door was still mostly closed. I knew of people and I had met a few casually but I wasn't in the loop. My one truly great resource was The Aussie Board forum.
Internet training, even with video, is sketchy at it's best. People offer advice and they explain things but, when you are new and without a clue, sometimes what you are reading still makes very little sense. I poured through archives watching other peoples videos and reading everything I could trying to take the next step with Diva. I think that if you asked some of "regulars" in the stock dog section I was a little bit of a nuisance :). The problem was most people are only willing to share their videos or stories when things are going great. While it's nice to watch a great dog working it does very little for those who want to know how to get to great. So here I am with Diva who is just 4 months old and once a month we meet with a BC trainer to take a lesson. In the meantime I have gotten permission from the owner of the sheep to rent time on them on my own. Ideally I would have been with a known Aussie trainer, Diva would have been older, and I would have taken weekly lessons. I was about 1000 miles from ideal and running purely on enthusiasm :).
If you don't know me then let me explain a little about myself. I love to train my dog, I am wickedly independent, and if I want to do something I will find a way to make it work. I am also very open and if I struggle to find my way through something I always try and help the next person I notice behind me struggling with the same thing. I don't mind hearing the negatives but you better be willing to say it straight up. It is from this attitude that I decided I would share videos, pictures, and ask questions about working Diva even if they weren't perfect. I know that people thought (and maybe still do) that I was an accident waiting to happen but that kind of thing just drives me on. I really wish that I had started this blog 3 years ago so that the feelings and experiences that I will share would have been fresh and raw. Unfortunately that is not the case so I will just have to do my best to not taint these posts with my current feeling and knowledge. To watch these early videos back now I cringe at some of the things I do and where I went wrong. I may watch now and say "Wow, she did a really nice square flank." but back then I didn't know what a square flank was. Heck, I didn't know what "Away" or "go-by" were. I have heard it said that you always ruin your first stock dog but I really hope that isn't the case. To get where we are now has been a long and frustrating journey but through it all one thing has stayed the same, I love to work Diva and she never ever quits trying for me.
So let's start with a special picture. This was Diva at 14 weeks old. We were at a herding fun day hosted by the late Dicky Renn. I never really new Dicky all that well because he passed shortly after this event, but I did appreciate that day and I know many who thought well of him.
Photo taken by Mary Mynaugh
Here is one of our earlier videos. As you can see I forgot to actually walk and give her somewhere to fetch to.
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