Timing Is Everything

It is true in many endeavors. Timing is everything. A joke with a poorly timed punch line or delivery will fall flat but get hysterical laughter if delivered with the right timing.

It is also true of corrections or commands to our dogs.

We were working yesterday on getting Piper to kick out and deep on her away outrun in one particular direction where she had been flattening out at the top. It is a semi tricky outrun where the dogs get kicked in by a fence line and then need to bend back out as soon as the fence ends. She was bending out a bit - but not enough - and coming in flat and a bit tight on the away side. Result - a rushed and slightly off line lift. (In fairness there was a time not long ago when I would have been happy with what she was doing and she was not the only dog having the problem. But if we are going to get to the next level it needed to be better.)

Solution - put on the running boots - and go down and convince her that I was serious about that redirect and get out command. After three or four of these run down the field and convince her I was a Psycho Killer on the loose, we tried it again with me staying at the post.

This time I got the timing right and just as she came off the fence - bent out a little bit - and then took a half step to cut back in - I hit her with a well timed "away" whistle. VOILA. I got in her head before she had committed to the new (wrong) path and she took the redirect on the fly bending wide and deep. The benefit was substantial and flowed through to the lift. Because she was deep enough I was able to bring her up properly behind the sheep without disturbing them and we had a nice, controlled, straight lift. It was a magical moment. We hope to have many more.