Winter Trials

I live in an area of the country, where if a girl does not mind driving, there are a plethora of one day winter trials available.  These trials are supportive to working some of the kinks out....those darn kinks that became apparent over the course of summer trialing.  I really love it when the trial is just a skip down the road, and even better when the day dawns crisp and mostly clear. 

As my friend says, Nell started the dance as the first dog to the post in open.  I do have to confess to my friends that care, I actually told Nell she was being "ridiculous" when she would fought me to let go of the pressure on a flank. The good news is, I did give her a correction then went to my "you are not doing what my command is telling" correction...and when I told her "this is ridiculous" she actually pulled up and looked at me like "whatt kind of command is that?" which got my flank.  I am trying to get rid of all nonsense talk from me...and there goes Nell, rewarding it.  That sure makes a girl laugh out loud from the post.

Bella was the next dog to run open. Yes, I slept with the running order under my pillow, studied it all the way to the trial, and thanks to those who love to tease me, got asked each time if I had the correct dog.  Bella looked real good......very tension free....however, I fell asleep at the wheel and forget how amazingly long the drives are on this field.  Bella, being new to open and having not seen a cross drive that utilized most of the width of the field, took my small 'correct the line flank' to mean we were done about 2/3rds through and that was a very costly handling error.  Good news was, she let me get her back together and finished her drive.  I am loving the relationship she is continuing to develop with me. Better step up to the plate on my end.

Sally was a good girl.  I left the field when she was struggling to shed a farm flock....Sally's Achilles heal.  I did not want to get mad at her for not coming through so we retired.  She tried hard and I really loved how she worked.  She does not know we did not get a score and that is all that matters.

Now I am fine tuning my list for Scott Glen.  I have one list for the shedding clinic, and another for each of the dogs I am working in my lessons.  Good thing about Scott is, this does not bother him.  I like his input as he is honest with me on my assessments and that is what I am looking for right now:  making sure I am reading the situation well, be it dog, sheep, training, handling.

Fabulous news is...this weekend, Little Horse Mountain Productions will start filming for the training courses that feature Scott Glen!  It is an exciting time to be working dogs!!!!

Seize the Day!