Count Down To Tee Creek

   This past weekend was the Willoughby Stock Dog Club's ASCA trial at Tee Creek in Ontario, Canada. It was also set to be my biggest trial weekend of the year since Diva and I will not be attending ASCA Nationals in California. With the weather preceding this trial being hot and humid I wasn't able to work as much as I wanted to but I was able to get over to Dawn's house on Wednesday after I made it into NY. 

   Training with Dawn and Amanda is always fun and Dawn really has great stock, especially her calves. Working the cows was my main priority since I knew that is where we get the least exposure and Diva needed the most confidence. Almost as soon as we arrived we decided to get down to business and put 3 of the calves in one of the small pens (30'x50'). Diva went in and right off the bat started her bark and bounce away from the pressure. It was such a fine line between wanting to force her to stay on contact and knowing that I should just close my mouth and let her work it out on her own. Dawn suggested that we move the calves out to the trial sized arena and see if things went better out there. While she did drive them around some she was still checking in and not fully committed to the task at hand. I admit I was frustrated and feeling like I may have been setting us up for failure by entering the cows at Tee Creek. From working the calves we came out and proceeded to hangout with Dawn, Amanda, and the other dogs while everyone took turns working the cows and then sheep. Diva was good on her sheep but she also seemed to be a little slow on her flanks. 

   When it came time for us to work the cows again I decided to put them back in the smaller pen and really work on just letting her get comfortable being close. I really didn't want to get on her for barking since that is where her power was coming from. What happened when we went in the pen will probably be forever imprinted in my mind because it was such a 180 from the work session just a couple of hours earlier. Diva was intense, she was applying pressure, and for the first time ever she was offering to go around the cows and work on the opposite side from me! I think that every one's mouth was hanging open and I know we were all smiling watching her take control and work the calves. It was like a light had come on in her mind! We were only in there for about 5 minutes because it was so good I wanted to end on that note. Dawn, Amanda, and I made such a big deal over her when we walked out and she was definitely riding an adrenalin high. We ended the day with working ducks and practicing getting them into the center pen. When it comes to center obstacles I am by far the weakest link ;-). 

   On Dawn's suggestion I decided to pop back out to her place on Thursday night to work the calves again and see if we couldn't build off of our success on Wednesday. With three calves back in the small pen I went in with Diva and waited to see what she would do. She went right around and pulled the calves off the fence and was wearing nicely as she fetched/drove them around. There was one point when I asked her to walk up on a calf with it's head down to turn it and she really got in it's face. Dawn and I were both giving her lot's of encouragement and making "get it" noises when she finally decided to hit the nose! Talk about a party! I was so excited and made a huge deal over her. We continued working in the small pen for a few minutes more and Diva was very keen to go to the heads now. What we observed in her technique was very interesting. When she went to hit heads she got down very low and slid in but when it came to applying pressure on the heels she was still staying upright and looking at the hocks. I really didn't want her to get kicked just as she was gaining some confidence so we didn't encourage her to hit the heels. At some point I am going to have to get her watching lower but right before a trial weekend isn't the best time to start training something like that, lol!

   After we gave her a chance to rest we took the calves back into the trial sized field and started practicing elements of the courses. My hope was that Diva would move up from started on Saturday to open on Sunday so I needed to develop a game plan for getting the cows to the 2nd panel. I wasn't 100% sure that Diva would stay committed on the cross drive while I positioned myself farther down the fence line ready to help turn the heads but when I tried it the change in Diva was very clear. Even when I had to jog to get to my spot she stayed driving the calves and she took her flanks deep into the corners adding bark when necessary. Instead of dread I was now excited to see what the weekend would bring. I can not begin to explain what being able to go out to Dawn's in the days preceding the trial did for Diva's and my confidence. I have said this before but my journey and successes are based largely around the great people who offer me support along the way. I always try to express my gratitude but I still worry that they don't understand exactly how much this means to me. Whether it be the people who share experiences and video via the Internet, those friends who have stock and let me come out to work, or the many who offer encouragement and support. Each and everyone has contributed to the building blocks that I hope to continue to grow from as a handler and trainer. Thank you all!