Blind Trust

Last Saturday at K9Z&Ewe I was sneaking in essentially my only assisted training session of the month as Jennifer was back in Campo from Soldier Hollow for a very brief stopove before heading off to Klamath for the Nationals.

Little Miss Piper was the first dog up for work duty to get sheep out of the pens and hold them for the other dogs doing outruns from the poolhouse back towards the handlers post area for the On the Border Trial. Basically the other dogs were doing the reverse of the open outrun from Jennifer's New Years Trial andPiper and I were doing retrievals which were essentially the same outrun that the Open dogs do at the On the Border Trial.

Well from my vantage point the terrain was such that the sheep were not visible to me - or I assume to Piper -- down by the poolhouse when the pick up hand signal was given. We were outrunning blind - a first for me with any dog. When I sent Piper to retrieve I could watch the start of her outrun and see how she was setting up until about 2:30 on the away sidfe and about 10 o'clock on the come bye. So I had some idea from watching how she was heading in whether she seemed to be on the right path and whether she seemed to be checking in on her sheep but the critical last 1/3 of the outrun and the sheep themselves were totally hidden from my view.

Talk about taking a bug gulp and trusting your dog. All I could do after Piper disappeared from view was take a deep breath and wait. Since Jennifer and a whole group were down at the other end I guess they would have somehow let me know if things were going horribly wrong but really it was an exercise in learning to trust my dog. So as Piper disappeared from my view I trusted that she would somehow end up behind the hidden sheep and waited (a bit nervously I might add). I waited and then ---- I saw sheep heads - followed by sheep bodies and - wonderfully they were coming straight at me in a nice group at a reasonable pace -- with Miss P bringing up the rear to prevent stragglers. And then we did it again. And again. And every time my wait was rewarded by the wonderful sight of sheep coming more or less straight toward me at a reasonable pace followed by Piper.

The reality is that this was a much bigger step for me than it was for Piper. I had learned that given a chance to think on her own Piper can be trusted to bring sheep in a workmanlike manner.

Then we flipped around and I was doing outruns and fetches the other directions. The lift was visible but if the sheep came down the proper fetch line they disappeared for about 20 seconds or so in a swale or more accurately behind a rise. Another moment we had never experienced before. But another lesson about trust. I know this is a routine circumstance at many open trials but it was not anything I had experienced before. So as the sheep entered the No Vision Zone I tried to remain calm - anticipate where and when they should reappear based on the last observed line -- and wait. Sure enough - in about the right time the sheep magically reappeared still on line and followed by Piper at an appropriate pace and distance.

Then we worked on some straight line driving. She is getting better at this all the time and if I can calm myself enough to trust her she will be dangerous soon enough.