Sunday, December 22, 2013

Turned the Corner

In the last couple of weeks, Spot and I have (finally) turned the corner in getting him started as a sheepdog. Yesterday, we turned the corner on the lack of daylight, with the Winter Solstice. It's a good time to think about where you have been and where you want to go!

Spot and I have had the good fortune to have a couple of lessons with our trainer on a weekly basis. This has helped us to really get started, along with great friends who are helping on our home practices. I thought we were started before, but we really weren't. We have another lesson scheduled soon, and from there I hope we can still have lessons regularly although it won't be weekly. Spot is stopping much better and is much more mindful of where I am and what I am doing, both on and off the sheep. He's 16 months old now and while still acting like a puppy in many ways, he shows he is ready for more and more as the weeks go by. We're ready to start baby fetches and other little moves to continue his sheepdog training. It's all dependent on the stop though. He is so fast and so ultra-keen. It is a huge relief to be able to work him more reliably! Talk about another learning experience. The other day I read a quote from someone that said, "train the dog in front of you, not your last dog"; so true!

We're now officially into the week of Christmas, so I hope that everyone has a wonderful Christmas and happy New Year!   We are still dry and brown everywhere, with no rain...the below picture shows green grass but only because the park is irrigated by the city. All I want for Christmas is some rain...

Ryme and Chief on a walk at the park earlier this week


2 comments:

Kathy said...

So good to hear that you have turned a corner with Spot. Funny thing is that I just had sent you an email about Colt's session yesterday and then I saw this post. I too felt that Colt was looking to me much more yesterday for guidance.

Here to many more fun sessions with our boys.

Kathy

Billy said...

Yes! Thank you and it's great to hear that Colt is doing better too! It has to be more comfortable for the dog to be more in balance and working more calmly...at least that is what I am counting on! LOL!

Billy