Losing Fetch

   Up until this point I had figured that I had dodged a bullet so to speak when it came to training Diva to drive. I have definitely heard it said countless times that once a dog really gets the idea of driving they often lose some of their fetch (and cover) but up until the last week or so I hadn't really seen that happen to Diva. Surely my friends must have thought me a little to smug when I mentioned how fortunate I felt to not have to deal with this re-training issue. Each time we went out to work I watched Diva's driving improve I worried less and less about her ever losing fetch. I should have known not to get so confident but since I am the type of person who learns best from my mistakes having to eat my own words will serve me better in the long run.


   I want to take this time to reflect back on where I went wrong and what I could have done to perhaps prevent this. Though these reflections won't fix the issue I now have they may help someone else and that is one of my primary reasons for maintaining this blog. As far as I can tell there are two main causes for me breaking Diva's fetch/cover. 1.) I stopped following the "rule" of 25/50/25. Meaning I wasn't fetching for the first and last 25% of our training sessions and driving the middle 50%. And, 2.) I was using Diva to dog break lambs which made me really dial down the control and I wasn't letting her get around them to cover (because I know they are not smart enough to not try and go through the fence once they are scared.). The dog breaking of the lambs is a necessary thing if the rest of the flock at Chestnut Creek is going to become workable for the average dog in training. I can't avoid it, and for that matter I don't want to avoid it, but what I do need to do is be more aware of the stress that brings on Diva and how it affects our overall training. This is a good example of how training the chore dog doesn't always make for the best arena trial work. From  now on I will be going from the lambs back to the broke sheep and working exercises that require Diva to watch the heads and cover. I will also be making sure to spend a larger portion of time on fetching in each work session with the broke sheep.


   I hope that this doesn't take a long time to fix and I am optimistic that it won't given how strong of a fetching dog Diva was to begin with. I think that she is just very much trying to please me and all I have been rewarding as of late if for calm steady driving work. Guess I am going to have to crank her up a bit and get excited when she goes out to cover!