Breakthrough - or Mirage

Only time will tell if Piper had a true breakthrough this weekend or we just got a tease.

Taking advantage of a fairly rare two days in a row to work with Jennifer and not many other people around we got in two very good days at K9z&Ewe this past weekend. If I had checked Facebook before leaving to drive down to Campo I might have had an idea of what was coming. Apparently Jennifer posted on her Facebook page that "today patrick and piper are going to learn PACE". And learn PACE we did.

It required a religious revival meeting on Saturday where Piper was reintroduced to her lord and master in the form of me, but start to listen carefully she did. Saturday in the lower field her pace and lines were better than they have been and she was starting to take the "Time" command. I tried to be zealous in imposing "Time" whenever she either got up too fast or started to speed up and what a difference it made. When we moved to the upper field and ran a simulated course she was better on the drive away than she had been but still not great and the cross drive was still a mess as she wanted to go high to hold against the pressure and routinely got too far to the head on the sheep. Still it seemed progress was being made and I would have already been happy with the work on Saturday (which also included our beginning formal instruction on shedding).

Jennifer and Ron were off to a wedding Saturday so I had dinner at the Campo Diner with Leon (the new ranch hand and nice guy). Talking with Leon about what had happened with Piper at dinner helped crystallize some thoughts - she had actually slowed down a bit - not enough - and I was too late with my timing to keep her from going high to the head on the cross drive.

Sunday morning started with more lower field work on driving. And the Saturday lessons were still present in Piper's mind. We got the slowest walk up I think Piper has ever given. She even started showing a bit of Border Collie crouch. Such a fine sight to see (apologies to the Eagles). And as things were slow the sheep - who were light runners brought out specifically to make her exhibit pace - continued to slowly move and largely in a straight line. The distance was kept more and she stayed more "on the bubble" than usual. Plus as it progressed the harsh shouted "TIME" gave way to a more gentle "time now" with the desired result. The slower pace and greater distance off of the sheep also made the flanks nicer and steering easier.

Then as we switched sheep and moved to the top field to do some longer outwork and driving the first time or two it was a bit of relapse although still not as bad as before on the drive. Realizing from the discussions that it was largely my timing and perhaps not being as insistent on immediate compliance as at hand we tried again. The last tow outruns we picked up nicely, fetched nicely and then when we did the drive away everything was at a nice easy walking pace. Piper was so much easier to move into position at this pace and have her walk on than the faster pace. And there were no last minute wild 90 degree turns needed to make the panel. The sheep just lined up and she pushed them through at a nice walking pace. Then - bless her - swung around and was driving them away at the same pace and without going to the head. Our last drive she was even lining out and self regulating her pace.

So now we know she can do it. Hopefully it was a breakthrough and we won't have too much backsliding. If learning past tasks with her is any indication there may be slight slippage but once she gets the idea she pretty much gets it and may need refining but rarely goes all the way back to prior bad habits.

So breakthrough or mirage. Only time will tell but I'm betting breakthrough (and if not yet then soon).