Some of life's best lessons are delivered in painful ways. The trick is not getting so hurt you bear emotional or physical scars that prevent you from taking those lessons and moving forward to a better place. Diva getting stepped on by the cow was an emotional lesson for me and one that stemmed largely around guilt. I felt ultimately responsible. She may have come in hot and to close but she wouldn't have been in that arena if I hadn't chose to be. I have to wonder if working stock is like falling off a horse? If you don't get right back on does fear and self doubt set in? I have never been one to let something stand in my way, and I don't plan to make an exception this time, but I do wonder what it will be like taking that lead off and stepping into the arena with cattle again.
In the past 3 weeks I have done everything I can to get Diva back on track physically. Thanks to Scott's fast action we were able to start ice therapy on her back within minutes and continued to do that for the first 48 hours. I also started giving her relatively high doses of Traumeel immediately after and continued that for the better part of two weeks. Traumeel has a lot of Arnica which does wonders for bruising. Once we got back home I started doing heat therapy 4 times a day for 15 minutes at a time. Diva let me know how much she enjoyed heat therapy by stretching out and falling asleep with a content look on her face at each session :-). Just 6 day after the incident Diva went in to see Dr. Z and start acupuncture and cold laser therapy. Dr. Z mentioned she had a spleen meridian deficiency which is the area that controls inflammation and bruising and that she was very reactive to palpation of her right hind quadriceps. Surprisingly she was not all that out of alignment skeletally. To say that Diva was unimpressed with acupuncture would be an understatement, lol! Most of the needles went in fine but over her kidney area it was very sore and she got squirrely. Once they were in she settled down but never really relaxed. I noticed an immediate improvement following the acupuncture though, especially in her back!
The first test came just a couple of couple of days later when Diva went to stay at Kelly's while I was out of town for a wedding. 6 Aussies in the house is a recipe for play and running. Kelly did a great job of limiting Diva and saving her from herself ;-). She had one time where Kelly mentioned she looked a little sore upon getting up after laying down but that was it and it didn't last more than a couple of steps. We went back in this past Thursday to see Dr. Z again and I was ecstatic to hear that all her reactivity in the quadriceps was gone, her groin and cruciate felt great, and the area in her back was down to a very small localized area. Dr. Z did acupuncture again but because she was so much improved we decided to fore go the cold laser treatment. This time Diva was much more relaxed about the needles and she even snoozed while they were in! She was still showing a spleen deficiency so the Dr. and I decided to schedule one more session for the following week. The best part though was that Diva has been given the OK to start straight line jumping again and to get back into stock work (conservatively at first ;-))!
Yesterday I set up the jumps at home and did a small set of 4 reps through an easy grid with the jumps at elbow height. Diva was so excited and clearly ready to go. We also played a little tug with her new Angry Birds toy and I tossed the Frisbee for her to "catch". So no one freaks out, I had her sitting a few feet in front of me and I tossed it at mouth level ;-). On Monday we are headed out to work stock. I have every intention on putting her on cows in the small pens to work on some things that are more mental than physical but we will end our day with ducks so I can watch her shine!
Heat therapy is very relaxing
The eyes say it all. Not impressed with acupuncture!
These were taken at Kelly's house before we went out to MI. Diva loves working the lambs!
What does it take to make a champion? Courage, strength, skill, desire, intelligence, commitment? I would argue that it takes all of those things but perhaps the most important thing it takes is heart. Heart is that something special that makes it all come together. Heart is what it takes to dig deep and go beyond where your body tells you to stop. Heart is over coming a challenge when it would be easier to quit. I have been truly blessed because this post is the story of a dog who gave me her all....she gave me her heart.
In the days preceding our trip to Michigan I had Diva in to see the chiro. She had been having some on again off again mystery stiffness upon rising and I was worried she was experiencing a flare up of Lyme. We decided to run a blood test but upon palpation of her lower back it was discovered that her pelvis and sacrum were out and the muscles surrounding the loin were inflamed. After doing an adjustment and cold laser treatment the area was much more free and the Dr. and I discussed that her issue is likely related to our tile floors and slipping as she chases the kids around the house. I was relieved that it wasn't her Psoas or cruciate and that the blood test revealed she was negative for any tick born diseases. We headed home with Diva looking better than she had in weeks and I was optimistic about a great weekend ahead. Not only were we closing in on her WTCH but for the first time ever Scott was going with me to a stock trial! Even more significant was that he was willing doing so on our 11 year anniversary :-).
Due to work commitments we weren't able to leave until Saturday which meant that I only entered Sunday and Monday's trials on sheep and cattle. This gave me 4 runs per type of stock and the best chance possible to get that one cattle Q and 2 sheep. We made the trip uneventfully, got settled into our hotel, and had a our anniversary dinner at Red Lobster in Adrian, MI. Scott was impressed with Diva's hotel behavior but not so much with our plan to start early the next morning at 6am ;-). On Sunday morning I was nervous but excited to get started. One of the best things about stock trials are the people and the Michigan club was no exception. The facility was very nice (loved the mowed arena!!) and the people were very welcoming. The trial was set to start with cattle and Diva and I were the 7th advanced dog to go. I sat down eager to watch the cows and see if I could gain some insight into their behavior. They had been challenging on Saturday with no advanced dogs able to get anything into the center pen and many dogs struggling to get them to work at all. Sunday quickly proved that they were going to be difficult again but what I was noticing was that it seemed the less a dog gripped and got into it with them the better they were. The difficulty was first in getting them started going up the fence line and then of course setting up the center and preventing them from running back towards the re-pen. These were pretty young calves and from what I was told they had never been separated and penned like this before. Without prior exposure to dogs to teach them to give to a bite what we started seeing was a few calves that just got frustrated and would run over, or past, a dog no matter what. Despite this there were a few dogs who worked really nice and did the best they could under the circumstances. When it came time for Diva and I to go I was nervous but also resigned to the fact that they likely weren't going in the center so what the heck! Diva started out strong and the cows were definitely moving off of her. I was excited to see her enthusiasm but that quickly changed when she made a bad choice and straight lined into the shoulder of a calf that had broken away from the group. The calf kicked out and when he came down he landed directly on her back effectively stomping her to the ground. You know that moment when your heart stops and you feel like everything has slowed down? I watched as Diva got up and noticed that she immediately looked for me. In turn I evaluated (through a glance) that she was walking on all 4 legs evenly and started encouraging her to get that calf and turn him around while I moved in to help her if needed. As it turns out she was likely in the throws of a big adrenalin rush and needed very little help to get back in there and make that calf move. All of this happened within seconds but it felt like forever. We continued our run and got all the cows through obstacles 1 and 2. The set up to the center pen was less than stellar and I used my two attempts without success. We re-penned as quickly as possible and I left the arena knowing that Diva was hurt and just not feeling it yet. My heart was in knots thinking about how he had landed directly on the part of her back that we had just treated. Already you could feel the heat so bless Scott's heart he headed out to the gas station for ice so that I could make ice packs. The AM and PM trials were set to run concurrently which meant we had about 6 dogs before we went again. It gave me enough time to ice her once and do some gentle massage.
Below are the videos of those cattle runs on Sunday. When we went back in for our second cattle run I knew right away that Diva was not going to be the same. She was not moving freely, eating poop, urinating (despite being pottied before), and going so slow. I was having to cheerlead her all the way. Her confidence level had taken a hit but it was her body that really held her back. It made me so proud when she continued to try despite everything. Dana McKenzie was our judge and she wrote on our score sheet, "Nice Pup. She is trying her heart out to please you." What you will see on the video is NOT how Diva normally works stock. I have some reservations about sharing because the world is a judgmental place but in the end I think it is more important to recognize that stock work is dangerous and there are consequences for our choices. I agonized all afternoon as I continued to ice her back about pulling her altogether and heading home. She was never lame but you could see a stiffness to her back when she first stood up and then she would stretch and look a little better.
Sunday Cattle AM This is a short clip taken before the camera battery died. Diva gets stepped on and we have to work hard to getting them started going up the fence.
This is the second part of that first run. Scott has to switch to his phone (love my cheerleading husband!). At this point Diva isn't acting hurt but I can tell that she is going to feel it once the adrenalin wears off. My attempt at the center panel was not all that great and in watching it back I should have flanked her on the away side to head them off and stop motion. She was not fast enough getting around on the go bye to be effective with the speed they were moving at.
Sunday Cattle PM
Something about her demeanor told me that going on as planned with sheep was ok. I could see that she didn't really want to quit. Sheep in general are much less dangerous and she always works them calmly so I thought the movement might be better for her than getting stiff in the car. The sheep were working very nicely which also helped my decision ;-). Diva went out and turned in some very nice runs with scores of 99 and 113 respectively. It was obvious that she was not her normal enthusiastic self, especially to those who know her, and with that in mind I am certain that had she felt better our scores would have been even more impressive. Ultimately that matters very little since I am not chasing finals points. What mattered was that she earned two qualifying scores and her ATDs title! We decided to take her back to the hotel to rest and continue the ice therapy with the intent to pull our sheep runs the next day and see how she looked before deciding on cattle. Below are the videos from our sheep runs on Sunday.
Sunday AM Sheep (99)
Sunday PM sheep (113)
When Monday morning came I was surprised to see that Diva was looking much better than the evening before. She still had heat on her back but the stiffness was less and if you didn't know her you wouldn't see it. We headed back out to the trial anticipating doing our 2 cattle runs and calling it a day. You know what they say about Assuming right? I assumed that cattle would run first but the course director and judges decided to run sheep which left me with a choice to make. Pull her or let her go in and test her body? I must emphasis how nicely the sheep were working which is what helped my decision yet again. We did our 2 sheep runs on course A and Diva again pulled in two qualifying scores with a 94 and a 110. Her mannerisms while working (urinating despite being pottied before and the sniffing) still let me know that she was not 100% but honestly I didn't expect her to be. I was happy to just have her out there with me!
Sheep AM Monday (94)
Sheep PM Monday (110)
As luck would have it Michigan decided that we needed some rain to make our cattle runs more fun. This made day 3 for the cows and they were noticeably less cooperative than the day before. By now they were used to doing course B so getting them going up the fence for course A was a challenge. And then of course we still had the problem that so far no cows had been put through the center obstacle all weekend long. Diva and I were the 4th advanced dog in the first trial and while we worked hard the center obstacle was as elusive as the Q, which we missed by 3 points! In hind sight I could have settled the cattle longer and used my second attempt but I was being careful not to over tax Diva. When it came time for our last cattle run my heart was in my throat. This was our last chance to get our WTCH this weekend and I was also determined to make the center obstacle. The commentary on the video is hilarious :-). I made some handling choices that likely cost me the Q and the audience was pretty vocal about it ;-). Their plan and mine were vastly different. What did happen though was that Diva and I were the first and only advanced team to get any cattle through the center obstacle. That alone was a triumph and worth the weekend. Diva gave me 110% and got it done. We didn't get our WTCH but I am not worried. The WTCH will come. I learn so much each time we trial on cattle. I have learned that might doesn't always make right when it comes to livestock. That when you think you have settled the stock you should probably take another 30 seconds to *really* settle them ;-). That a good dog is the one who goes home with you at the end of day. That there will always be another trial and that the only person you are truly competing against is yourself.
Cattle Monday AM
Cattle Monday PM
If you are lucky like I am you have a good dog laying beside you. A dog who will give you that little bit more when you ask. A dog that lets you know you are their whole world when you look into their eyes. I have often wished that Diva had more of this or less of that, but what I didn't appreciate fully was that she has heart in abundance. We will be taking the next 6 weeks mostly off as I set about getting my partner back to 100% by whatever means necessary. I have spent hours since the trial massaging, stretching, applying heat, and just being there for Diva. It's time well spent in my opinion and I look forward to making our return at the next trial and getting that WTCH!
*Photos below take by Liz Wise*
Of all of the photos taken this weekend this one is by far my favorite. Just a girl and her dog but the bond is obvious!
Yesterday Diva and I made it out to Hog Dog for what was day 1 of implementing our "homework" from the Terry Wofford clinic. This isn't going to be a terribly long post because frankly what we did was pretty boring and very basic. I am not saying that it wasn't insightful though!
The set up was us in the round pen with three sheep. I like the round pen at Hog Dog for exercises like this because it is relatively small in diameter and well, it's round :-). This seems to naturally invite the smooth continuous motion I am looking for. On the down side if you aren't careful or you do to much in such a small round area your dog can quickly lose their nice square flanks. So with my back up against the fence and Diva at my side I sent her around on the away side flank and when she got to the top, before she turned in at balance, I gave her another flank command combined with an out to keep her going. As soon as she got past the stock I gave her the flank command again and called her in to me. Sometimes this went really well and other times my poor timing at calling her in had her coming in straight line by the stock. Not such a big deal on broke sheep in a tiny round pen with no where to go, but in a trial situation the sheep would have been long gone by my center obstacle :-/. I did this direction several more times until I had success getting what I felt was a more continuous circle and then changed direction to work on the go-bye side. This side was much harder as Diva isn't as wide and she really, really, wants to balance as soon as she is on the back side of the stock. I had to make more adjustments in my position to have success but in the end I got enough to call it a day.
What I noticed about myself was that I say commands way to many times (Duct tape anyone?) and the tone of my voice escalates. I am a firm believer that tone makes much more sense to a dog that the actual words itself especially with a sensitive dog, which Diva is. The louder I am I can actually see her start to lose focus on the sheep because she is trying to figure out what I want. In a 30' diameter round pen there should be no space between us that Diva couldn't hear me whisper and so the next time I am out I plan on trying just that. I am going to whisper and be very careful of my tone of voice and we shall see if Diva *hears* me better.
So I know I left the last blog post kind of hanging in regards to what my *homework* was but I did so because I feel it's an important enough topic to have it's own page. I am also hoping that by writing it down before I go out and try to put it into practice that I will be better set to think on my feet if it doesn't go exactly how I envision it. I am a firm believer in the power of the mind which is what usually keeps me awake the night(s) preceding a trial. I will run through my game plans over and over trying to work out the best strategy for several different scenarios. If I am lucky this will get me some extra sleep over the next couple of weeks ;-).
Terry's advice was simple...go back to the basics and work on inside flanks. It didn't matter what type of stock I was working but I was to start and end each session with inside flank exercises. The middle of our training would be configured of a healthy dose of driving so that I didn't suddenly end up with an orbiting dog with no sense of walk up and push at trial time. How we were going to accomplish this was by doing the most baby step of all. In a small pen with my back up against the fence I am going to flank Diva around and BEFORE she stops at balance I am going to pat my leg and call her in to me. Rinse, repeat, and for good measure, repeat some more(In both directions I might add)! When I am no longer having to pat my leg to get her in to me and I can send her around continuously in both directions we will move up to a little larger area and start the entire process again with my back up against the fence. Gradually I will step away from the fence and we will progress to playing the around the clock game with flanks. Once that is reliable then comes handler movement to make sure that her flanks are independent. This isn't something I expect to get done before SEMASA but you have to start somewhere and anything I do between now and then can only improve our performance at the trial.
Coming off a trial that gave me much to consider I knew that I needed to fix some of the things that I had neglected to solidly proof as we moved up the ranks. Everyone is excited when you finally teach your dog to drive. It's one of those milestones that marks your ability to start trialing with the *big dogs*. Suddenly, Fido gets the concept and off goes the stock and your dog! But what happens when you realize that you still need Fido to get around the stock in the corners to come to the center obstacle or that you need Fido to start taking true inside flanks that can't depend on you being there to help with your body? The trial in Indian proved two things to me without doubt. Diva didn't truly understand inside flanks and what little she did get revolved around me standing perfectly still. As soon as I moved her brain says that se needs to get to balance and she will quit a flank mid go to do so. This made for one blown cattle run where instead of kicking out as I had asked her and coming in behind me to set up for the center obstacle she very neatly balanced and ran the cows right by me (and the mouth of the chute, lol)! I am laughing now but you can bet that at the time I was far from it ;-).
With dreams of a WTCH still fresh in my mind I decided to enter SEMASA's 35th annual Great Lakes Stock Trial on Memorial Day weekend. So when the opportunity presented itself to participate in a Terry Wofford cattle clinic I jumped on it. I have worked with Terry a couple times before including back when Diva was more afraid that not of cattle. This time I knew we had a lot more going for us and I was hoping that Terry could give me some tips to fill in the gaps. I explained to Terry what I wanted to work on and so what he had me set up was first putting the cows in a corner and then pulling them back out. As they were coming out to our imaginary center obstacle I was supposed to flank Diva around and work on getting her to continue that flank until I said other wise. Diva did as I expected and then I did as I expected. What's that you ask? I get flustered, I yell commands louder, and I inevitably change position and try to correct Diva by chasing her on the flank. If you think sounds hilarious then you are right and believe me you should see how it looks! Terry blamed me for moving and said the dog was right, and I blamed the dog and silently accused Terry of not knowing anything ;-). Hahahaha...sorry Terry! So we continued to work on it and when we finally had success we called the first trip in the pen done and made a big deal over Diva. Session two went along better and Diva was getting around in the corner nicely. We were still missing the complete flank though unless I moved to help keep her motion going. On a good note there were so many things that I would normally stress over when working cattle that I didn't have any time to focus on and low and behold Diva did them wonderfully. She held her ground, stayed in the pocket under pressure, worked her cross drive at a good distance, and turned back a challenge from one of the steers. These are all things that a year ago I wasn't sure I would ever see from her on cattle.
At the end of our time with Terry I left knowing what our homework was going to be and how I needed to go about starting. It really wasn't a surprise as it's what I had been thinking myself but getting confirmation from someone of Terry's experience made me feel good about my own growing knowledge in the world of stock dogs.
I have been sitting on this blog post for more than two weeks now while I gave myself time to digest what happened, what didn't happen, and more importantly why. To say that the weekend was less than spectacular would be an understatement and yet to say it was a wash would be lying.
One of my dearest college friends passed away unexpectedly the Monday before the trial and at only 34 years old. Meghan was a bright and shining star who touched not only my life and my husband's, but our lives as they were first joining together. She had a smile that could light up a room and a laugh that made you want to join in. I think the most shaking thing for me was that I am never going to get to experience those things again and in the last few years I didn't reach out as much as I could have. In a single word, regret.
As if the emotional heartache wasn't enough Indiana decided Spring was over rated and that a dose of winter mixed with 40mph wind gusts would be fun for all. The mornings were bitter cold and the wind cut straight to the bone. I suppose this should be expected since I am convinced trials don't ever happen during nice weather ;-). The good news was the dogs and stock were feeling great. The bad news was that none of us were prepared clothing wise. I ended up wearing a hodgepodge of various items that had been left in my truck which included one of Taylor's winter hats and two different colored stretchy gloves (I think one was Jayden's and the other was mine, lol!). Anyway, as they say, the show must go on and in this case so must the trial.
Saturday's trials were using course F and so with that thought in mind I decided to only enter cattle and ducks. Diva and I were coming off a long winter of very little practice having only worked cows once in January and once at Easter time. Our duck practice was even sketchier with just 15 minutes of work back in January before our time on cattle! So one might question why I chose to not enter on sheep which we had at least 6 practice sessions on in the last 4 months ;-)? The answer is that I simply wasn't sure how the course would run, how the sheep would be, and I didn't want to frustrate my dog. When it comes to stock Diva and I make an interesting pair. I have the most experience with cows and am comfortable working them in all situations while Diva found them scary at first. Ducks I have the least experience with, and am not fond of at all, but Diva loves them and is a very natural duck dog. Sheep seems to be where we log the most hours but I also find them to be the highly variable when going from one farm to the next. From light to heavy, fetchy to flighty, and everything in between. So right or wrong my logic when entering a trial on a course I had never practiced before was to pick the two types of stock we felt the most comfortable with and hope that our combined skills carried us through. I dare say that I also might have had a touch of overconfidence going that I could secure the 2 needed advanced Q's on sheep the next day on course A ;-).
Without picking apart the details of each run I will say this. If you haven't run course F before and your dog is not familiar with driving off of the fence then you will likely find it frustrating and have little success. It is a very tight course, particularly at the free standing pen. Time was also an issue when working cows. Those 10 minutes seemed to go by very fast ;-). Diva and I didn't have a very successful first attempt because we struggled to get everyone going up the middle. I was reminded that I needed to work on teaching Diva to come out of the take pen and cover her cows more effectively so that we aren't starting out with the cows already going down the fence line. On our second go I think we both had a better idea of what was happening and we had a pretty decent run. We managed to get something through every obstacle and put 2 in the free standing pen. At that point time was ticking away and I can remember hearing people on the sidelines yelling, "run!" as I was headed to the re-pen, lol. As it turns out we made it with 14 seconds to spare...phew! When I left the arena the general consensus was that we had likely earned our first advanced Q but truth be told I was on top of the world for just having successfully navigated the course. Diva had worked her butt off for me! At the end of the day course F came out the clear victor with no advanced Q's in 2 trials on cattle.
Day two presented pretty much the same as day 1, bitter wind and cold. At least everyone was in better spirits since we were trialing on course A! The cattle were very happy to go around the fence line but they were no longer waiting for the dog to get around them in the take pen. Instead it was a flying leap to get out even if that ment going over the dog. Diva's new found confidence in doing take pens with cattle suffered a hit but nothing that I don't think we can fix. She was put off her game when the cattle came charging over her and I can't say I blame her. My desire to have her hit and be tough doesn't include having her suddenly become suicidal ;-). I was very proud of how she worked away from me and we had some nice pieces that finally came together and earned our first advanced cattle Q. Our duck runs went much better also and she earned her ATDd title with a very nice 105. I wish I could be as positive about the sheep but unfortunately we had little to no success. Diva was very steady and working at a good distance for her so the drive through obstacles 1 and 2 went pretty well. Where it all fell apart was trying to work the sheep at the center obstacle. They were very reluctant to go in the chute and I watched many a good dog and handler teams struggle at the same spot. For the few who found success the dog had to be way off and lightning fast on switching flanks when told. If you couldn't do this then the sheep would squirt right or left of the opening and haul for the re-pen area. I had not encountered sheep like this before so there were many lessons to be learned but no Q's to be had. I left feeling very frustrated and being a little hard on Diva but once I had time to reflect I was able to see how nice she worked and how hard she tried on those sheep. She is normally a much closer working dog and always stays on her feet so the fact that I was having to push her out behind panels 1 and 2 to work the center obstacle was very hard on her. Despite that she stayed engaged and tried to make it happen for me so what more could I ask for?
So after a long, hard, and emotional weekend I settled in to make the long drive home. 9 hours gives a person a long time to think about what went wrong and why. As is human nature I started out trying to find reasons to justify our failures. Its easy to place blame and deflect responsibility and I am certain we have all done it, even if some people won't admit to it. I wanted to explain it all away by talking about Diva's short comings on each type of stock but eventually I came to this conclusion. Herding is hard. The dog is a reflection of its training, experiences, and genetics. Two of those things are variables that depend directly on the human(s) in their life and what you do with them. The third is the raw talent they are born with but again it's the humans job to utilize these strengths and channel them. What does this mean? That when thinking of success and failure, through a haze of disappointment I might add, the only person I really needed to hold accountable was myself. Stock will be stock and they can change from day to day or run to run. It's all part of the puzzle when you walk into an arena and go about making animals with an independent mind move where you want them to by using yet another animal with an independent mind. Diva can only give me back what I have put into her and yet time and time again I have watched her try to give me more. What does this say about me? I can't take credit for her ability to forgive and exceed but its her love for me that makes her dig deeper when I ask. What I learned as I drove home was that I need to aspire to be the handler my dog deserves and not the other way around.
Maintaining a blog can be hard work. Especially if you are trying to keep it fresh and interesting. I try to keep mine honest also but that doesn't always make for the most informative or exciting read. It is a struggle to decide what is "blog worthy" and what is just re-hashing the same ol' same ol' on a different day. I honestly wasn't going to write anything about our sheep working session this past Friday for a couple of reasons. 1.) I have no videos or working photos to share. I don't know why, but for me to want to present something to people I also feel like I need a visual aid to go along with it :-/. And 2.) Nothing exciting or new happened. This got me thinking though that not every time you work do you have a break through or do something new. This in itself is an important lesson for those who are moving up the ranks to learn and plays big into handler expectations. So Friday for me was neither an epic failure nor did any fireworks go off. We came, we worked, and this is the way it went.
Hog Dog is down to just 7 workable sheep at the moment due to lambing. These 7 are all of last years ewe lambs that were not bred and though they have been worked regularly for many months without a more seasoned ewe, or two, to anchor them they don't always make the best choices. Nothing as wild and crazy as some sheep might do but they are lighter that what you typically get at Hog Dog. I actually love working them alone as it offers a lot of awareness opportunities for Diva who can get rather complacent working on what to us is home turf. I didn't have a set training plan for Friday but as usual we started the work session by going out and gathering our sheep in the big pasture. Once we had them gathered I had Diva drive them down to the lower fields and we split them into two groups. Diva doesn't rate very naturally and as we were driving down the field she seemed to have lost the concept of a straight line walk up in favor of flanking to make motion. I decided to put her in the field with the sheep while I stayed outside at the gate and just let her go do her thing and be "responsible". This is a great exercise for her and for me! I always want to say too much and she likes to look at me more than she should. As an extra bonus I forgot my stick over by my truck so I had nothing to wave around like a wild woman, lol!
The first couple of minutes Diva just went and fetched the sheep to where I was outside the gate. Typical of her she just pushed them right to me and when they didn't stop she pushed them on past and was forced to get around them again and bring them back. I let her work at this for a few attempts before I pointed out that she needed to get back and actually watch the sheep to hold them to the gate ;-). Once I was sure that she was thinking more about her position I started having her drive them to various spots in the field and in particular to the one corner they don't like to get into. This was very hard for Diva because I wasn't in the field to help her hold a side and she lost them several times before we had any success. To get that success I was forced to move down the fence line to put myself in a more natural position (though I remained on the outside of the fence). After we accomplished getting them into the corner I wanted to practice a little exercise there using the gate to the small pen. Basically I was just having Diva drive the sheep into the small pen, then stopping at the opening to hold them in a down (or sit as directed), and then sending her in the small pen to bring them back out and do it all over again. She took them in and out a few times and I was happy with how she was able to work independently without me in the pen. To finish off we worked on inside flanks and getting some very direct straight line walk ups to drive the sheep away. As soon as I got a really nice walk up we quit and I made a big fuss about her.
So there you have it. Nothing exciting happened...and that's ok :-). Also, I will leave you with a few non working photos to look at because I just can't seem to bring myself to have a text only blog post ;-).
Lambie cuteness. This ewe had twins but rejected the smaller one.
Another view of the big ram lamb
Unfortunately momma didn't want the little black ewe lamb. She is now a happy bottle baby :-)
