Our first trial, Borders on Paradise, is three weeks away. I’ve entered Dare and Seamus in Novice-Novice, and Dot in Pro-Novice. Time to tidy up stops and flanks as much as I can. Now that we’re back on Daylight Saving time, we are able to work twice a week. We recently attended a couple of
clinics, which were well-timed to give me a bit of concentrated work on the
dogs two weekends in a row, then a few weeks of our regular lessons to continue
building on the clinic work. The first clinic was with Jack Knox, in Leesburg, Virginia.
Jack discussing Dot with me. Photo (c)Michelle Dobbs.
I had one working spot for this clinic, but it was a three day clinic so I
worked Seamus two days and Dot one day. There are plenty of things for me to
work on with Seamus, but I think many of these things come down to pace and
feeling the sheep. Overall, he did pretty well; he really likes to work for
Jack, and Jack speaks softly and gently to him, unless of course, Seamus lets
his excitement get to him, and even in that case, Jack doesn’t need to get too
hard with him. I wish I could find that “sweet spot” with Seamus, where I’ve
got the nice quiet control. Quiet is better for him (as for most dogs), but
there are certainly times when he doesn’t take me seriously, and then it
begins; the more I escalate things, the faster he goes and the more anxious he
gets and tries to “escape” the pressure. Knowing this (a lesson learned almost
two years ago when working with his breeder Tina), I try to stay quiet, but
he’s got a fine line between respecting commands and building tension under the
pressure of corrections required to rein in his enthusiasm. Even so, he really
is making progress compared to a year and a half ago. It’s just coming much
more slowly than I’d like. The maturity is helping both of us; he can think a bit
more, which helps me to stay calmer, which helps him to stay calmer…etc.
Seamus at the Jack Knox clinic. Photo (c)Michelle Dobbs.
Dot has a tendency of running quite wide on her outruns in
the big field at “home,” to the point of being absurdly off-contact from the
sheep, so on our first turn at the clinic, I worked her in the largest field to
try to demonstrate and get Jack’s input on this. She ran out beautifully;
totally appropriately each time, and I was unable to get her to do what I was
concerned about. We had a few other smaller things to work on, but no issues
with her running too wide. On her next turn I worked her in a smaller field,
since there was nothing to be gained by working in the big field. She was just
lovely, and Jack seemed to like her quite a bit.
Dot in the big field at the Jack Knox clinic.
Photo (c)Michelle Dobbs.
Our second clinic was with Kathy Knox in Chestertown,
Maryland. I had two working spots here, so Seamus and Dot both got worked over
the three days. Kathy remarked on the progress Seamus has made over the time
I’ve been working him, and it’s nice to hear that it’s a noticeable
improvement. He worked well and tried hard for me the first two days. The
morning of the third day, he was a bit rougher; edgier, as Kathy said. The
wheels came off a bit that afternoon, where he just couldn’t seem to listen and
hear what I was asking, and he was being naughty. Not to the point of chasing
the sheep (at least, not that I remember), but being hard and fast and pushy;
not stopping when told, not taking flanks or impulsively taking wrong flanks
(or so it seemed). I felt like I had the “old” Seamus back. Kathy and one of
the attendees of the clinic, whose handling and input I really respect, thought
that it could be the effect of more training pressure than usual in such a
short period of time (two clinics on back-to-back weekends); it is something
they’ve seen in their own dogs. They felt that that Seamus was anticipating
training pressure was coming each time we went to the field. I think this could
very possibly the case. Still, I am certain he would do much better if I was
able to work him more frequently. If I had my own sheep, he could be worked
more frequently, but doing real work without as much training pressure.
However, having my own sheep is not going to happen in the foreseeable future,
so I’ve just got to muddle along as best as I can.
Seamus at the Jack clinic. Photo (c)Michelle Dobbs.
Dot worked very, very nicely for me, and there’s very little
to say about it. The main piece of advice was to ensure she’s getting far
enough around to cover before her lift, and to steady up the top of her fetch a
bit. She generally comes in and lifts nicely, but once they’ve lifted, they
come down the fetch quickly, something I’ve not been concerned about because
the line is usually good and they aren’t running away, just loping quickly. I
also worked at driving and cross-driving, since I have some issues with
steering. Dot does everything I ask and this makes my handling errors glaringly
obvious. We set out some cones in a rectangle and I stood in the middle and
drove her around in both directions. We were also near enough to the holding
pens and the other sheep to create a strong draw, which helped make the driving
more challenging for me when they were headed in that direction. Kathy liked
Dot and thinks she’s a good match for me. I totally agree!
Dot at the Jack clinic. Photo (c)Michelle Dobbs.
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