Movin' On...

Movin' on and picking up the pieces...

I've been working Spot every night in hopes of getting him back to that "buttery" (for lack of a better word) state in which we make progress and move forward (and he works beautifully). When we have to take two or three or four or five days in a row off of sheep work, then it is almost like starting over. When I can work him three days in a row (minimum) by that third day, he is buttery and flowing. Ahhh. In this mode, most of the time he does not blow up; once in a while he will blow a little but then all dogs do at some point. Tonight it was what should have been a simple pickup off the barn/fence that threw him off. I just called him back and started over on opening up the flanks, as I was told to do by Derek. I am figuring out what triggers the problem at times (the guardian dog on the opposite side of the fence where Spot needs to pick up the sheep off the rail for example).

We haven't skipped any days recently...

The evenings are long as we head into High Summer, which allows me to work dogs on the sheep after I get home from my job. The sheep have to be put in every night, because of the mountain lion threat, so we will get out there even for a few minutes almost every evening.  Ryme and Coal can alternate sorting sheep and putting them away. Coal, by the way, has been attentive to command and almost picture-perfect on the home fields, since our RT at the Pt Pleasant trial. The little monkey. :)