Casting wide

I arrived late for our lesson today so we didn't have much time with Dave, but we did practice on our own a little too.

With Dave we worked on Kola moving the sheep calmly while in tight spaces. The key was to use my stock stick to put pressure on the sheep, not on the dog directly. The difference was amazing. We went around and around, changing directions occasionally, and most of the time she just calmly rounded her sheep and didn't dive for them when they scooted to the other side of the aisle. Plus, after a while they settled down and didn't run as far or as fast.

On my own we just worked on bringing me the sheep and holding them on me. Plus, bringing them off the fence.

It turned into outrun 101. Lots of chasing the dog off the sheep. The problem was that every time she turned for the sheep and didn't take the "get out" then I had to run after her. That meant that to be right she needed to cast out even wider for longer. Basically Kola, the sheep, and I all ran in circles. Kola following the sheep slightly to the outside, me trying to push Kola further to the outside, the sheep just doing what Kola was inadvertently directing them to do. Namely, run in a big circle around me. It was a frustrating exercise for all involved. Still, I'm thinking Kola probably learned something from the whole thing.

We also practiced a little bit of flanking along the fence. She was OK. She likes to step into me after I tell her to stop but before she actually stops. I'm thinking about teaching her a "back up" command. Probably wouldn't use it for trialing but it might be a nice training tool.

In other news, Kola is doing six weave poles with about 70% accuracy. The speed is pretty variable, but when she does it both right and fast she gets lots of treats and praise. I think she needs better poles that are straight up and down, and uniform in their spacing. I see a lot of pvc and T fittings in my future.

Herding Ranch Dog I

I've got my sights set on the HRDI title for Kola. The trial is October 30th and 31st. I'm skipping Friday's informal trial because of logistical concerns and because if we qualified the first two tries then we'd have to move up and we're not ready to move up so it would be a waste. The course is above.
The stylish way to leave the round pen would be to have Kola hold the sheep off the gate by flanking her off balance so that she's to the left of the gate. Covering the draw but still holding them close. We've done something like this before. Then I flank her to the come bye side just a little bit and the sheep file out in an orderly fashion. Then Kola gets upset because the sheep are leaving. She might keep her head about it if we practice a little.

If we have her left of the gate when the sheep come through I'm hoping that they'll want to head out away from Kola and take a left as they're leaving. That would set us up for the tricky part. Getting the sheep into pen I without anyone getting upset. If I walk to my sheep and then call Kola to hold them to me, I can walk everyone to the next gate. Again the stylish thing to do is have Kola hold the sheep just off the gate this time on my right as I face the sheep. Open the gate, let the sheep slip through by giving Kola just a little Away to me flank. I will move through the gate and straight into pen I. The hope is that the sheep move with me and then I call Kola to come along. All the gates will be open so its up to Kola to act as the closed gate. Then there is the narrow alleyway. I'm predicting the sheep will bolt down the alley to the draw of the grass and the open field and away from the nutty dog. If they don't run then its pretty straightforward. If they bolt I need to set Kola up to fetch them back to me by stopping her, moving towards the sheep a little, and then sending her for them. If she holds them to me again, then its back to being pretty easy. I get to walk through the panels and all the way to the pumpkin. Then its just a matter of calling Kola off and setting her up for the outrun/lift/fetch. Back through the panels and then into field three.

There is some risk the sheep will want to run to the alley. If they do then I need to bring Kola around the outside and see if we can push them back. If not we'll go to pen I and then J and push them through again and it will be slow. We've only got ten minutes. Hopefully there will be too much pressure in the alley and they'll prefer to go through to field three. Just in case, I'll try to have Kola cover the alley entrance a little bit while pushing the sheep into field three.

Along the fence all the way to the re-pen shouldn't be too much trouble. Kola will want to be too close but she'll still get the job done. If I'm proactive keeping her at her proper distance it shouldn't be too ugly.

In other news, Kola is starting to get the hang of the weave poles. We're doing six poles now and probably wont move up to twelve until she can run through six. That will take a while. She still has trouble getting all her poles if I don't walk along with her. If I'm in front of her she watches me too much. My timing with the clicker is terrible but good enough to be helpful I think.