Have A Little Faith

    Spring is finally here and with the glorious weather comes more opportunities to work sheep, yay! There is a trial next month that I feel like we need to get ready for and frankly just being out in the sun with my dog is wonderful feeling that I am in much need of. Our last couple of work sessions had been a mixed bag, primarily because of my short comings as a handler, and I really wanted to not repeat those mistakes. We started by doing a little sort to change out sheep for one of Rae's young dogs. I made an extra effort to control the volume of my voice and Diva seemed to really like it. When we walked back through the round pen where the last group was "resting" and opportunity came up and I took it. The three sheep were putting a lot of pressure on the gate hoping to be able to dart through so it was perfect for having Diva "watch them" and do steady one step walk ups. I kept using my whisper voice and Diva did some really nice steady work without looking at me like she has a tendency to do. Very successful, short, sweet, and done! Followed by judicious amounts of praise and fawning over her ;-).


    We then took an hour off to go watch Rae's agility lesson. I can see just how much Diva wants to get back to agility and it makes me sad that I am not there yet. Hopefully in another month or two I will be able to start testing those waters. 

    When I headed back out to the sheep field they had of course high tailed it up over the hill and out of sight. Now this might sound absolutely ridiculous to some people but I decided at that moment that I needed to have a little faith in my dog. To do this I had a little heart to heart with her that pretty much amounted to, "I can't walk all the way up this field so I need you to go out and get those sheep...please." I knew that Rae would eventually come back out and help me if I needed it but I also wanted to give Diva a chance. So I stood by the gate and sent her off to find the sheep. I couldn't see them myself so I didn't bother with any flank commands. The decision was up to her and I had to trust that she would do what needed done. Diva left at a good pace and when she hit the mid point up the hill she stopped one time to look back at me as if to make sure. I cupped my hands and yelled "go on" and she disappeared over the hill while waited. Now I must say that I am 100% sure that Diva will never do anything naughty to the sheep so that isn't a risk but I wasn't sure that she wouldn't just put them in a corner and hold them there while waiting for me to arrive. The feeling I got though when I saw the sheep start to come over the top of the hill and my wonderful dog wearing along behind is hard to explain. She has once again found her large pasture blind outrun and I am a proud owner. There have a been a lot of times I have doubted the depth of her instinct and wondered how much the arena trials really gauge working ability (bad me, I know ;-/ ) but seeing this in a huge open pasture, acres away from me, and completely out of sight I knew this was not just her being obedient. I could have quit right then and went home happy.

    Once she brought them into the arena field we sorted off a group and did some easy flanking and driving exercises just as a tune up. I was beaming and Diva was working so nice! To end our work we put the group back together and on a whim I decided to practice some shedding. Diva was willing to walk into the group and the sheep split nicely but she was torn on which group I was asking her to walk up on and push off so she paused and look back and forth before doing as I asked. I definitely think the larger group made it a little easier for her and in the end she did two very nice beginner sheds. Cue the big celebration! So not only was it a beautiful day but I had a great time and really felt like my better handling allowed my dog to work more confidently and correctly.