Star took some initiative this week and impressed me with his maturity. He demonstrated "feel" at the top of his outrun by gauging flightiness of the sheep on his own without any prompting from me. This week's lessons:
- Turn in, gather up
- I can do it on my own
- Load 'em
Here's an excerpt:
I noticed a tendency to read his sheep at the top today, and instead of turning in and rushing things, I saw him gather himself up before the lift. I have not stopped or otherwise steadied him on his lift at all, because I suspicion that I will need more dog there than less with him, especially when he gets a first look at range ewes. I have left him completely alone at the top to encourage all the confidence I can, but today it appears that he may develop some feel on his own. Star has never encountered sheep that he cannot move, but sooner than later he is going to encounter sheep that intimidate him, so I am doing everything I can to engender power.
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