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.