Herding education and agility

The last few times I've tried to go out and herd during the week no one was around. This means we have to work on a leash. This means its really really difficult for us to get just a few sheep out at a time. The first time I tried this I had a really long line made of twine. This turns out to be really dangerous if you're not constantly vigilant, so that was stressful for me. The second time I used an extendable leash which is much safer, but a little shorter. Both times I really wound up stirring the sheep up something awful before finally getting a few separated. Furthermore Kola was pretty stirred up herself. The best things I can say about these sessions is that 1) I've really learned a lot more about how dog savvy sheep react to various stimuli, 2) I've learned that sheep are pretty good at figuring out my plan and are willing to put up with extra pressure from the dog or a fence to thwart my plan, and 3) Kola can calm down after being revved up and the sheep have been willing to calm down substantially.

All our on-leash work has been in the round pen, so one thing we worked on is me stopping and Kola just holding the sheep. Its not her favorite thing but she's getting more willing to do it. She'd rather push the sheep slightly to one side and then switch sides and push them the other way. No one else likes it when she does that. I guess and additional thing I can say about the leash work, at least with the extendable leash, is that when she breaks down and chases a sheep I can stop her dead in her tracks. I don't think that's actually much of a deterrent, but at least it helps keep the behavior from being excessively re-enforced.

I've swapped Jesse in for agility lessons and the two of them have been doing really well. I think they might be the best team in the class. (I'm totally unbiased in this assessment, of course.) The team that's also really good is the woman with the Cairn Terrier. She's an experienced agility handler though, so its to be expected that they'd be good. Kola I think has a higher drive than the terrier.

Kola's gotten a little calmer about waiting her turn on the equipment. She didn't lunge on her leash much at all.

Here is a little summary of her progress so far:

Jumps - with Jesse she's very good, with me she's pretty good, she generally clears her jumps but knocks them down with her tail when she goes to get her treat.

Tunnel - She has no fear of the tunnel but she also recognizes that its not necessarily the most efficient way to the treat. If you assure her that she's not getting the treat without the tunnel she blasts through it with gusto.

A-frame - no problem. She even holds her two on two off position relatively well, although sometimes she likes to rotate around. I'm not sure the two on two off is the way to go for her, she'd probably be happier just keeping four paws in the contact zone.

Teeter - she'll do it if she has to. She's not especially fearful of it, but you can tell its not her favorite thing.

Weave poles - I started her on a few weave poles on Tuesday. I set them up in a weave-a-matic style, with the poles tilted. I also set them just ever so slightly off center. She hasn't quite gotten the concept. I may change tactics and go with the channel strategy. We'll see how chris likes to do it on Monday.