Good Workshop

This past weekend RESDA sponsored a workshop with Bill B at his place near Zamora. It was a one-dog deal over two days with unlimited auditing. Coal and I were up on Sunday for our turn. The format was structured that each person ran their dog with Bill's instruction and input in the morning and then in the afternoon we were able to run again with the group offering support and suggestions, and Bill leading the discussion. It was casual, laidback and very helpful. Most of the folks were running their younger dogs that they are bringing on. A lot of the work was centered on the dogs' approach to the sheep and working on outruns. 

Coal and I were one of the few more experienced teams in the workshop but that was OK. We worked on the finer points of his fetch, taking my steadies down the fetchline and flanking exercises driving on the great Zamora hillsides. It was exactly what I wanted to work on. The boy and I have just gotten out of synch with each other, I guess it is because of lack of work over the winter, lack of space to work on things, and lack of daylight to put in the time during the week. It was suggested that Coal might also need some more "me time" in order to get tuned back in with me and us as a team to be ready to run open in March.

 

 

I'm really grateful to the Redwood club for seeing the need for this workshop and to the hosts to making it happen. Lessons and individual practice are good, but it's also beneficial to sit and watch other people facing similar challenges and to hear the solutions as they are played out for different dogs at similar experience levels.

 

We also had great weather for January and only a little bit of that famed Zamora wind... :-)