A Couple of Small Achievements

It's Monday. Today's theme is Be Positive.

With that in mind, I'll report that the dogs and I have achieved a couple of good things.

First, I worked Ryme last night for a little while, just easy stuff on a large group of sheep in the arena field, and he was 98% sound on that left shoulder, both before and after.  We just walked the sheep around, turning them this way and that and walking some more. No sharp turns or much running yet for Ryme. Things are looking up. He was very happy!

Second, it is always concerning, when we get a young dog far enough along in their training, to begin picking up their sheep off of a stock handler and setout dog. A few dogs take this really personally and react negatively. Most dogs, however, take it pretty much in stride but need a few exposures to feel comfortable with it. I'm pleased to report that Cap had his first real formal training session, taking sheep off of a stock handler and her dog, yesterday. And, the sheep were held on hay, as well. A few weeks ago, we tried (successfully) to have a handler and his dog just standing there in the field with us while I worked the sheep around them, with Cap, but they were not holding the sheep. Cap did not seem to notice them there. Now yesterday, he did notice the handler and her dog, but bent out around them correctly and picked up his sheep, bringing them to me. This was super helpful for me with the outrun practice that we are supposed to be doing, via our lessons. Now the sheep set on hay was a bit more of a challenge, as the sheep did not want to move; we will have to work more on Cap being able to just walk in and make them move when they do not want to. But that is a topic for another day.  For the most part he was able to bring them and in one case I walked toward him to provide more of a helping presence, and then he walked right in.

Sorry, no photos this time! :-)