Missing The Forest For The Trees

    I have been sitting on this post for a few days while I analyzed what actually happened vs. what I wanted to happen. It's incredibly frustrating to go from a working high one session to quitting the next time out and I admit I have been pouting. On Wednesday some of my most terrible faults reared their ugly heads...at the same time ;-/. I have never been a patient person and I will stick with something far to long to prove a point. My husband will also tell you that I have a habit of focusing on the details while overlooking the big picture. For lack of better words, I miss the proverbial forest for the trees. 

    I had a plan set out for the day which included focusing on the free standing pen and really getting Diva to "watch" her sheep. I have somewhere along the way got it in my head that I can train more "eye" on my loose eyed dog and Wednesday come heck or high water I was going to do just that. Yeah, right. I set out with Diva and 3 yearling lambs to do an exercise that I hoped would get me the desired result. So picture me about 50 feet away from a free standing pen with the gate only opened about half way. I have Diva push the sheep to the pen and they naturally duck around so I give her a flank command and try to set it up again...and again...and again...and again. You get the point. I was going to say very little and let her figure it out but with each failure I am giving more commands and she is watching me more and more. Round and round they go, changing direction, sometimes splitting, occasionally one will go in while the others split, ect. My training plan has fallen apart and I like an idiot am not helping my dog one iota! All I can seem to see is that Diva is not watching her sheep and she is missing small moments of opportunity when a little eye and just a step or two would have been enough. She is getting sucked into the motion of the merry-go-round. I think there was more than one occasion when I turned to Kelly, who was videoing, and expressed my mounting frustration. Thankfully Kelly had the good sense to tell me that perhaps I should go over to the pen and "show" Diva what the exercise was. Even with that we were still not having the kind of success I was after and so without really achieving anything I quit.


    After talking it over a little bit with Kelly I decided that I would do something different the next trip in and give Diva a break. After all it has been months since she really has worked so my expectations were pretty unfair. This is the part where I really hang my head in shame. I went back in (with new sheep) and went straight back to the pen trying to drill it again. So much for doing something else! This time I stood at the mouth of the pen and I focused on not saying to much. Some sheep would come in, some would split, Diva would put them back together, and finally with me in the pen (door half open) she got them in. Did I stop there and reward like a good trainer? Sadly, no. I was convinced she could do better and so we did it again and again. Ultimately I think Diva's brain was just about fried. She never quit working but she was desperately trying to figure out what I wanted from her. Again, thank goodness for Kelly, who finally made me stop and realize that while I was so caught up in what Diva wasn't doing (using eye) that I was missing all of the amazing things she was doing. She was getting "out" so nice when I asked, taking her "theres", and really trying hard for me. So finally right at the end I decided to empower Diva and let her a little fun. I let her focus on the sheep that split and encouraged her to "get it" which got her really watching and much more engaged. I remembered to pat my dog and tell her she was a good girl. I also told her I was sorry she had me for a Mom ;-).

    So what is the moral of this story? I hope that by sharing it helps other people to realize that we are only human, we all make mistakes, and that having a bad day doesn't mean you have a bad dog or are a bad trainer. Quite the opposite actually, like me, you might have a really good dog! One who keeps trying and doesn't quit, one that stays honest, one that gets the job done (even if it's not the way you wanted it to happen), but most importantly one that will love you at the end despite your faults. Always try and see the big picture and don't get so caught up in a relatively small detail that you too miss the forest for the trees.

    Diva and I ended the day with one last time on the sheep doing what I should have done after our first failure. We went out and played around with things that Diva does well, like outruns and driving. Actually, the idea that I can include driving as something stress relieving is a lesson in itself. 3 years ago I was pretty sure she would never drive at all! Now she switches from fetch to drive and back without a hitch :-). So Wednesday didn't go as I had planned but maybe it went the way I needed it to after all. I got the reminder to not rush and to be a fair handler and I also got reprimanded (albeit gently) by a friend for not appreciating the things my dog does really well. Looking forward to Sunday when Diva and I can get back out to Hog Dog!