Week 39

It was a breakthrough week for Star man. His maturity and confidence caught up to his talent this week and he is beginning to make a dog, as they say.

This week's lessons:

1. Flow and go
2. A little feel
   

Here's an excerpt:

I can send him on a gather and get a decent outrun in both directions. Originally he was better to the left than to the right, but that has reversed, and he's a little tight on the come-bye side. I will leave that alone until I see how he is in the big field. He is running out and fetching with enthusiasm. He will flank off the pressure on the fetch to straighten the line. There is some hesitation with it some of the time, but some of the time, he gives it to me easily. Those flanks were sometimes too wide and it wasn't from the pressure of the sheep. It appeared to be out of caution and uncertainty, so I'm not worried about it. When he gave ground on the flanks, I simply said his name, or "here, here" to pull him in. Today he was turning sheep around me and driving them off willingly and happily. That was nice to see from a dog that was reluctant to drive just a week ago. They change so much at this age. He was driving away a hundred yards or so and would flank on the drive as well, inside and out, and I could stop him anywhere on his flanks to straighten the line.