Then & Now 2

I bought L&M Belle (Bella) in September.....by a fluke of the heart. After admiring Tommy Wilson's Sly, I'd always wanted a Nell X Spot pup.....Bella about as close as I could get being a Nell X Moss pup.....just a little over 20 months old.....purchased site unseen.....and husband untold! I saw her for the first time on Friday night...and loaded her into my car early Saturday morning to head off to a Kathy Knox clinic. I could not think of a better person to help me evaluate my new dog....and help me make a plan.She was a funny little dog....a little upright, loose eyed, and did not take corrections well. She did a few things that warranted a harsher type of correction...... silly stuff like this.....turning into this...... that had her going to the gate and not wanting to work after a hard verbal correction!

At that time, Bella was working way too close....not feeling her sheep....was working by just doing and not thinking. Well that is how if felt to me.I have to admit...I left the clinic wondering what, exactly, I had done...but believing 100% in a dog well bred. Bella and I had some work ahead of us....and I needed to take a good hard look at myself to make sure I was being consistent, fair, and making sure the corrections fit the crime. I also needed to think outside the box and evaluate what she was actually learning as we approached training through habits. One of my first goals was to get Bella to settle down and think, loose some of her "franticness". And a close second goal was to get her to take a correction, understanding they were not the end of the world but rather cues to let her know I did not like what she was doing....so do something else!

That was then....and this is now....4 months later.....a litter of pups behind us.......She has found her eye! And is feeling the pressure point and is getting comfortable staying there.....

She is developing nice feel for her sheep......Is beginning to get an understanding of driving, holding a line, and that an inside flanks require her to go in between me and the sheep!Enthusiastically she has a second gear.........I've also discovered that she does much better on sheep that require her to work and control. On challenging sheep, she is very intense.She takes corrections as if she has taken them all her life......and sometimes she confidently totally blows my corrections off! We still have work ahead of us......I need to be more consistent with enforcing a correction (without getting frustrated! grrr). I also need to keep true to myself....being good with the journey and pace Bella and I are on. I need to remember that she is young. Time and miles, and miles, and miles.....she has become such a joy for me to train.....and has taught me so much about myself.

L&M Belle......
Seize the Day!

PS All the pictures on this page are by Bonnie Block from http://fieldandfarmphoto.com/ Thank you, Bonnie!

PSS for the first time ever, I was hit with a spammer on my comment section....the world creates the need for moderation! So comments are now being moderated....welcome to America, the land of free speech (with moderation!)