Friday, September 19, 2008

One Day at a Time

So far, so good, with working Chief. We had a better session Thursday evening because I had a more appropriate group of sheep out for Chief. He needs a bigger and slower group than what I had been using. Coal got to sort the moms with little tiny babies off and we penned them separately, which is excellent work for him. Then Coal and I set the remaining large group in the field (about 40 head of mixed ewes, larger lambs, and the big ram) and I went to get Chief. This scheme worked so much better than the Nascar-oriented seven head that I had out for Chief last session. We were actually able to do some little fetches and flanking. It is getting dark faster and faster so it's harder to get the three dogs worked in the evening. Fall is definitely here and soon I will have no choice but to work only one dog in the very early morning before going to the office.

But for now, Coal is taking so much chore load off of Bid that I can concentrate on just what I want to train for with Bid. That is really nice. Last night Bid and I worked on two longer outruns and the little handling details for the fetch and post turn from our last lesson.

Coal is entered in the Sonoma County Harvest Fair the first weekend of October. That should be fun. Then Coal and Bid will probably both run in the RESDA Fall Trial, the last of the season. Entries are not open yet, but I plan to enter Bid in the Pt. Pleasant annual fall trial and whatever else comes onto the calendar locally for USBCHA Pro-Novice.

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