Every trip to up to NY I always make a point of getting over to Dawn's to get in some cow time. This trip it was particularly important because we have a trial coming up and this will likely be our only chance to work cows before then. My focus for today was to work on our take pen skills and just establish more confidence in close quarters. The last time we worked cows was back in January and Diva did a very good job of working the off side and taking control. She has become very fond of getting to the heads and turning her cows but I have yet to get the much coveted heel grip. If we had more access I think that she would eventually get it but I can't say I am unhappy with how she is working and therefore I am confident that we have enough skills to make a bid for our WTCH in April.
Below are a sampling of videos from today though some of the better work that came near the end I didn't capture. What we were doing was using a set of gates, small pens, and two fields to work. The idea was to have Diva push the cows from one pen to the next, back and forth, and then out into one field or the other while maintaining control and immediately turning them back and re-penning. I wanted her to get comfortable applying pressure and holding it as she has a tendency to want to bounce out of the pocket and go to the heads. In the first video she did a nice job of pulling them out of the pen but she lost one when it came to covering in the field. The next time she was faced with same task she covered better and the calves turned immediately and we re-penned.
We also did an exercise in the smallest pen where I went out and then Dawn and I were both (from opposite sides of the pen) encouraging Diva to move the cows and grip. We made a lot of exciting noise and offered encouragement for every time she got close but in the end she hit the heads (and a couple of shoulders :-/) but no heel grips. On the bright side she ducked kicks appropriately and didn't take any hits and for that I am always happy.
Looks like the pressure from dog on the outside of the pen turned the cows back and made Diva's job a bit harder. The dog was right at the gate.
ReplyDeleteIt didn't seem like Diva had any trouble getting the cows to move, so maybe she's not seeing the point of hitting heels. Has she ever had a problem getting cattle to move off of her? If not, what she's doing is working : )
Yes, Enya (the other Aussie) was always at the ready to help if needed. They are her cows so naturally she wants to keep an eye on the action ;-).
DeleteDiva hasn't had trouble getting the cows to move in a long time BUT we rarely encounter cows that are to heavy or very challenging. I understand that her power bark is effective in making the cattle move but my desire to teach her a heel grip was just to have that extra tool in the box, so to speak, should we ever need it! You are definitely correct though, Diva sees no point in hitting heels when there is a perfectly good nose just on the other end, lol!