6 years later, I still enjoy this trial. As I pack the car and make preparations, I always make my mental list of what I want to work on with each dog. This year, for the first time ever, Snook was co-pilot and did not get to work in the trial. She is so arthritic...it kills me to see her in such pain.
Sally got to work sheep and ducks. The first sheep run, my goal was to do the whole thing with finger whistles....which I did. They were fine but they still need work. I also worked on pace.....ASCA judges seem to like a quicker pace with no stop in forward motion, lines not being so important. So I worked with Sally feeling her sheep and not using her eye inappropriately. Same thing with the ducks.....I think Sally might need to find a ducks anonymous group to join! She loves them so much!!!!! We were able to keep a nice pace without compromising lines; goal met!
Nell....well Nell was a little naughty in a good sort of way. She ran on sheep and ducks as well. Nell loves ducks too but in a different sort of way. She was good on them....just fast. Fast with control but still fast! Her sheep runs were all about using her eye to keep the sheep on the fence. Like a drug.....she kept wanting more and more....holding the sheep and catching their eye. There was some serious dog management going on for me with her runs. I've come to the conclusion that Nell is a big field sort of girl...so that is where she will run.
Bella, Bella.....I signed Bella up for ducks, sheep and cows. We were working on communication and understanding...looking for her to be supple and tension-free no matter what happened. All I can say is...I had a lot of fun running Bella.
A friend gave me a pre-cow run pep talk and told me to channel paint drying. So Bella and I did...well, I did and then held Bella back into a slow pace, all the while giving me sideways dirty looks! Once we got to the corner panels...all of which were shaded up....Bella had to put some 'cowgirl-up' into the show....which she did! I tried to keep calm....enough said.
I appreciated the post run chat with the judges. Not knowing that much about working cows....it was good to get feedback from folks who really do run them in real life. For me, it was fun working Bella on the cows for a number of reasons. Mostly because I had to trust her more than I generally ask her to trust me on the sheep. When Bella got a little over her head...I was able to settle her back into calm work. It just felt a bit magical....trust, relationship...all the things I have been working on with this dog....coming together for us to walk out onto that field and do something really out of my comfort zone. I was also very pleased to see that, after her cow run, where she had to face bite to turn a cow, she could settle in and work the sheep with such open flanks and trust in me to finish the run. All that and a buckle too...she earned high combined "other" breed.
Gyp and Grace hung out socializing and meeting dogs that were not border collies. Grace is really coming along in hanging out and being a dog. Gyp, however, saw the cows and thought perchance she should have a go!
Maybe some day, Miss Gypsy Rose. Maybe some day.......
Seize the Day!!!
It's always fun to do new things with our dogs and learn something too!! Glad you had a good time.
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