Week 68

The good news is that my entries were accepted into the Sanoma Sheepdog Trial held in Santa Rosa later this month. This trial is one of the biggest, best run trials on the West Coast, and I am very excited to be going. It is a 70-dog trial. Mirk will run in open, Star in the nursery. This week was spent in preparation.

This week's lessons:

1. Wide, but not that wide
2. Over the river and through the rye
3. The start is the start

Here's an excerpt:

He came to the top on one of the outruns to discover that the sheep had lined up in the dreaded 3 - 4 defense. That is 3 had drifted some distance from 4. I watched while Star figured it out. I helped, but only with a few quiet walk-up whistles, because I thought it a better lesson for him to learn on his own. I was happy to see him eye both sets determinedly, and work the corners until everyone came together. When I first started Star we followed the lesson plan on never leaving anything behind, which was his inclination anyway. You can teach it to them, they can be predisposed as Star was, or they are born knowing, but it's an important lesson for the dogs to internalize from the outset if you want to find success working livestock.