A Gorgeous Fall Day

    It's not often I feel inclined to rave about the weather, especially early September weather in Maryland, but today mother nature delivered a beautiful fall like day that was perfect for working stock! Diva and I had morning plans to meet our agility trainer at Hog Dog to help her do a first exposure for her young Sheltie as well as get in some work for one of her Border Collies. The first order of business was to go out in the big pasture and bring down the flock. It's been a while since I have worked on Diva's blind outrun and so in the interest of having things go smoothly I walked to the top of the hill before sending her. Once she had the sheep to me I had her push them off and drive them down the pasture to the smaller working fields. The feeling of working in such a wide open space after doing a lot of trialing was awesome and I was able to enjoy my walk while appreciating how Diva was managing the group. Once the sheep were  where I needed them to be I proceeded to sort of 3 older ewes to put in the round pen and a group of 5 to put in the "arena" field (said loosely because it is a tad to small to be a true arena). The rest were left in the back field to serve as a draw for the arena group.

   Today really wasn't about a working on a specific task but more just enjoying the day and relaxing. I spent a little bit of time working on a better go by outrun and then practiced some inside flanks and walk ups on the group in the arena and then decided it would be wise to work the round pen ewes some before putting a green dog on ;-). Diva was happy and confident, the sheep were calm, and I remembered to smile :-). With her job done I put Diva away and we got down to doing the instinct test with the young dog. Instinct tests are the best! I know I have said this many times before but I LOVE watching a dog turn on. What I saw from the sheltie was a very engaged, confident, and naturally balanced dog. He was fast at figuring things out and never once in either of his two trips in did he stop to sniff, eat poop, or even look away! This one has the potential to be a very nice working dog and I hope my agility instructor sticks with it with him (hint, hint ;-))!

    As exciting as that was the best part of the morning came when Diva helped her BC friend have a major break through in working through the pressure of a fence and stock. Her first time in the arena she worked very nice but it was easy to see that she was very sensitive to the "bubble" and any fence or obstacle. Rather than force her or continue to cause stress by repeating a failing exercise I suggested that we put all of the sheep (about 20) into the round pen and then let her work with and watch Diva. Diva is awesome at working with other dogs because she doesn't get distracted by them nor is she possessive of her stock or space. While we stood on the fence line I had Diva drive the sheep around and then flank to pull them off the fence...rinse repeat. At first the BC wasn't sure but then she really started working with Diva and following her lead. It was actually a really touching thing to watch one dog helping another to figure something out. Our input was very minimal and in the end she was able to start going between the stock and the fence! I am told that this has been a long time issue for her and that it has prevented her from moving forward. My guess is that another time or two in a packed round pen with Diva and she will not be nearly as worried about the external pressures! I am continually amazed by Diva and how far she has come. He capacity to be what I need in the moment is what makes her so special as well as her easy going nature. Truly a dog I can take anywhere and get results!

The Next Big Goal

“There will come a time when you believe everything is finished. That will be the beginning.”

 

Louis L'Amour (1908-1988);

    I love this quote! It is very fitting considering we have just finished a major title and I am now looking forward to our next set of goals. I have been very fortunate in surrounding myself with a group of friends that are more about the journey than the end and so after the hugs and congrats were over what I heard was, "So now it's time to get her PCH, right?" The answer is, YES! Getting Diva's PCH is definitely on my radar as well as getting her ATCH. I also plan on trialing in AHBA this fall and have toyed with doing some AKC. Diva and I have many adventures ahead of us and I don't see getting her WTCH as the end of anything.

    So with the PCH (Performance Champion in ASCA) in mind I sat down to evaluate where we are and what we need to do to accomplish this. The requirements for a PCH are 2 advanced stock titles, all of your open level agility titles, and a CDX. This means Diva needs one Open Regular agility leg and her CDX to finish this goal. Not that much! I have been talking about getting back in to obedience for a while now and I definitely want to continue on in Rally. What I don't want to do is go back to obedience classes because I feel like that took away the fun. Instead I plan on working at home and with friends to make sure I keep things light and exciting for Diva. I doubt we will continue on to utility work but ya never know ;-). So my first step in training is to build my own set of obedience jumps. I have agility jumps but I want to make a nice set that is specifically related to obedience. The next thing  need to do is order a new dumbbell. Diva has a plastic one but I think that a wooden dumbbell will suit her better. Her retrieve is very natural, my throwing...not so much ;-).

    The one leg of RS-O will play a part in not only the PCH but also because I want to start working towards her ATCH. Our agility training has been sporadic but I am committed to changing that this fall/winter. I have continued to work on training the box for her running A frame and we will be proofing our other contacts as well. We will be back in the agility ring soon and burning it up! In the mean time everyone needs to take a vacation once in a while and our family just got back from a fun weekend on Chincoteague Island! Diva enjoyed just hanging out with us but we are both itching to get back to working stock. Good thing we have some sheep time scheduled for this Friday!