Time Off And Training Retention

   We're back! Back to stock work that is ;-). Diva and I have been taking it easy for the last couple of months while I adjusted to life as a working Mom/Wife. We have probably only worked sheep a handful of times and done absolutely nothing with ducks or cows since Tee Creek. Fortunately all of that changed over Thanksgiving vacation while we were up in NY. I always make a point to work at Dawn's when we are up there and after having our break through on cows at her place just before Tee Creek I was excited to work her calves again.

   I had some doubts as to what 3 months off would mean for Diva's confidence level and fully expected to have a dog that was needing help and bouncing away from the pressure. After all she had only just come into herself when it came to cows back at the beginning of August. What I saw from her then was exciting but I also knew that to get that advanced cattle title WE had a lot of work to do. My plan for this trip to Dawn's was pretty simple...I just wanted to see where she was and have a nice experience. I was pleasantly surprised to find that nothing had been lost and some new things had magically been found!

  From the get go Diva was willing to get around the cows and "fetch" them. She was working her side with confidence and no running back to me for support. I spent a few minutes just letting her move them around and establish control. Her big dog bark was in full effect but she wasn't nagging. There were a couple of times when I thought she was going to hit but despite getting down low with her shoulders she keeps her head up and looks just below the hock. I really hate to encourage a grip here as it is dangerous waters. I think that she would have hit a head but Dawn's calves are very compliant so the face off opportunity never really occurred. Diva loves the heads though and this training session allowed me to see that there is a teaching opportunity to be had when it comes to turning the heads and waiting instead of rushing in and barking.

   I had fully expected to spend that first trip in the pen building back up to where we were but Diva did so nicely I found myself in a place I haven't been on cows before. I actually needed to come up with an exercise and do some fine tuning for a very specific result! In this case the most important thing a dog that is moving up from open to advanced can have is the ability to successfully peel the stock off of the fence. This skill is what makes for a smooth take pen and great set up to the center obstacle. Up until now I hadn't really had faith that if I sent Diva around to the other side that she would even commit fully and follow through. I had used her ability to hold the 45 degree angle while driving on the fence and my presence to peel the cows off the fence during our open runs. It had been a demonstration of our partnership but it isn't how I want our future runs to look. So with that in mind we worked a very simple and basic driving exercise of moving the cows down the fence and then having Diva get between them and the fence to get to the heads and turn them back around. I was supposed to try and stay stationary if possible and really let Diva do the work. The first couple of attempts didn't get the desired result as Diva just couldn't seem to make the space she needed to get along the fence line. What would happen then is she would miss the corner and the cows would continue to drive on down the next straight section of fence. The go bye side was noticeably more sticky than the away. Finally on our third try going away she got the break she needed and made it to the heads. What she didn't do was turn them and wait patiently ;-). Instead she took all of her excitement and charged at the heads barking like crazy, lol! So on the next pass down the fence I needed to prepare better for when she made it and get her to stand and hold. This took some timing and I found that my encouragement to get her in along the fence made for a very pushy dog on the heads. We worked this for a few times and in the end I got one beautiful go bye side with a wait and hold which was a good place to stop for the day.

   What I learned from this is that it's ok if life sometimes gets in the way and you have to take some time off. Is it better to work regularly, of course, but the reality of being a hobby stock dog trainer is that things come up. Dogs have an amazing ability to retain information and I think this is especially true if you end on a really good experience. The old saying of "Put em' away and let them think on it." certainly comes to mind. We've had our break but it's time to get serious again. This spring I hope to finish Diva's WTCH so it's full steam ahead!