Monday, November 21, 2011
Back In The Saddle
Friday, September 9, 2011
The List
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
Hitting the Mute Button
Thursday, August 18, 2011
Outrun for show, Drill for Dough
Roughly translated it means that the drive is for showing off and fun but it is the short game and putting that makes you a winner. In statistical terms to make par on a standard par 72 course there are 18 drives (or 25%) and 36 puts (50%). Yet if you go by any golf course you will see a crowd on the driving range and relatively few on the putting green. Why ? Well, it's much easier and more glamorous to brag about your 300 yard drives off the tee than to brag about consistently sinking 6 foot putts. It's more fun, too !
So what does any of this have to do with sheepdog trials ?
The outrun is only worth 20 points out of a typical 110 points (18%) in an Open run. Yes a bad outrun can set the tone for a bad run - but then so can a golf drive into the trees instead of down the fairway. Yet how many conversations do we have with other sheepdog trialers where we talk about how far our dog can go on an outrun. Our how often do we judge trials based on the length of the outrun.
To be honest it is fun to send your dog on a big outrun - I love watching Piper go off on a 6 or 7 hundred yard outrun - somehow it makes me happy to be able to say she can do a huge outrun. But the reality is that most trials are NOT 600 yard plus outruns. Two hundred to four hundred yards seems a much more common length. In the past year I have only had to send Piper 600 + yards at 2 trials.
There are 90 points remaining after the outrun. And while those elements may not be as glamorous as the outrun they are at least as - if not more - important. But the only way to get them done properly is to drill, drill, and then drill some more. It is not as glamorous or as much fun but it is definitely what we need to do more often. So we are going to try to concentrate more on the less glamorous aspects and put in the time necessary to get the other elements down. Especially the drive.
Sunday, August 14, 2011
The Sheep Get A Plan
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
Why Can't We Be Friends ?
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
Ewers Last Chance
Thursday, July 14, 2011
Grandma Piper
Piper is due to come into season sometime in the next month. So - out of pure curiosity - I decided to check with Laura Hicks regarding the litter Piper had before Laura sold her to me. Laura got back to me with the news that Piper was bred to Laura's Jag dog and had a litter of two females and one male. They are all on working ranched and are just over three years old now.
One of the bitches - Fly - was sold to Caleb Parker in Massachusetts. This is how Caleb describes Fly: " Fly is an even tempered dog that loves to work and loves people. She turned 3 this March. Fly is a working dog and spends about 5 or more hours a day working and enjoys every minute of it."Here is a picture of Fly
Fly was recently bred to Maria Amodei's dog Levi and had a litter of two males and three females in May. I have been in touch with Sharon Perkins in Maine who has one of the male puppies as well as Maria Amodei (also one of the males) and they are both very excited about the cross.
Here is a puppy picture
Piper is not yet 6 so she must have skipped her prom to have her puppies. She says she is a little young to be called granny but I told her now that she is a grandmother she needs to act more maturely. LOL.
Thursday, June 2, 2011
Dry Lake - Open Education
The field is a 3500 acre pasture that appears essentially flat at first appearance. It is definitely not flat. The outrun was set at about 600 yards. After about 300 yards there were dips in the field deep enough so that the outrunning dogs lost sight of their sheep. Either they needed to be on an already good path at that point or trust their handlers. Many dogs got lost getting out to their sheep. They crossed over. They ran past. They circumnavigated. They stopped and looked back confused. I should have been forewarned. Should have !
I sent Piper to the left. She was on a beautiful route for about 350 yards. Unfortunately the sheep were at 600 yards. At about 400 yards she started to turn in and cut across. I tried to blow my redirect whistle but for some reason I could not get it to blow. I shouted LIE DOWN !!! She ignored it and continued across. I shouted "come bye" and she sped up on what was already a come bye route. (I needed to give her a "get out" but did not think to do it.) She continued on, gaining speed as she crossed over a good 150 yards in front of the sheep, never seeing them. She eventually made it to the group of pine trees a full 100 yards to the right of the set out. Finally she took a recall whistle and I waved thank you to our judge Patrick Shannahan and walked out to meet Piper on her return trip.
Afterwards a couple handlers tried to tell me I was wrong to walk. One said I should have stayed until the judge told me to leave. One suggested that by not taking the opportunity to walk her out to find sheep (it was an available option day one) that I was just punishing myself. My thoughts were that I was sure not going to reward her for not listening to my attempts to redirect her and also that Open is not the time to be training my dog. Talking it over with Jennifer later I think it was the right decision. I could not get her out to the sheep on the original trajectory and best not to teach her she can take a figure eight route, ignore me, and still get her sheep.
So we made a plan. Second run she was going to listen and get redirected. Otherwise it was going to be a very long drive never to find sheep.
Sunday I sent Piper left again. This time after about 30 yards I lied her down. Then told her to get out. She immediately went way wide. Then at about 400 yards she took one step in and I gave her an immediate lie down. This time she took it. Then she took the get out command and travelled the rest of the way on a good routing arriving well behind her sheep. Her fetch was off line at the top as the sheep wanted to pull toward the set out (which they did to a lot of dogs) but she got them on line near the fetch panels and finished the fetch well.
The drive was a bit wild and quick but we did make both panels. In all it was certainly not good but better than she has been doing on the drive.
The sheep - which had been getting difficult to shed late in day 2 of open - actually parted for me like the Red Sea and Piper came in on them and turned on a group of two as asked. It may have been a bit sloppy but it was a clean shed. We did have some difficulty at the pen sending the sheep around twice before getting them to stop in the mouth of the pen. Then Piper walked them in for a completed course.
Final score 63. Just out of the top half. Work to do but improved.
I learned that I need to be aggressive in handling Piper and get in her head early if necessary.
Dry Lake - Nursery Report
Rylee ran in the Nursery at Dry Lake. There were two Nursery Runs - the first class had 15 entrants and the second had ten. Three dogs earned qualifying legs in the first go and two in the second go. We were not among them.
Dry :Lake - The Travelogue
The first post is devoted to the journey. It was a long one. But fun !
On the way up we stopped at a wonderful RV Resort called Boulder Creek in Lone Pine, California in the High Desert foothills of the Sierra. It was a nice campground and earned a 5 star rating from the Ron and Jennifer RV dog travel rating system. Here is a pic taken at the camp.
The second night we made it to Reno where we were guests at Marla Corey's house. Marla certainly made us feel welcome pulling out all the stops for a wonderful brisket dinner. Best of all she has a great backyard that the RV barely managed to fit in and the dogs all had a great time playing in the yard. Thanks mucho Marla.
But no trip to Reno would be complete for this crew without a trip to outfitters Mecca. Marla generously drove us over and Ron got some new rain pants at this place.
Sunday, May 22, 2011
Piper is a fan of Magellan
Sunday, May 15, 2011
Fast Sheep, Failure to Shed and Torn Pads
Monday, May 9, 2011
Rectangles in the Pasture
Thursday, April 14, 2011
When is the last time ???
Monday, April 11, 2011
Looking Ahead to Dry Lake
Sunday, March 27, 2011
Recalibrating
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Good Outrunners
In four judged outruns over the weekend in Soggy Sonoma we lost a total of 4 points. Three of those came on one whistle to Piper her first time on the tricky hill field.
In two rounds of Nursery there were a total of two runs scored zero off the outrun. They both belonged to Rylee - one to each side.
So my dogs can outrun - it's what happens after and once I get involved that gets us in trouble.
Monday, March 21, 2011
Storms in Sonoma
Monday, March 14, 2011
Rough Weekend in Poway
But before getting to the details congratulations to a friend who had a very productive weekend. Mike Burks and Sport won the Open on Saturday for 7.8 points giving him just under 30 points to qualify for the USBCHA Nationals. That point total should be safe for qualifying. Then, to complete a good weekend, Mike and Mia won the Nursery Class on Sunday to get Mia's second Nursery leg and qualify for the Nursery Nationals. Good Job, and good weekend Mike.
Also Thanks to Mike for running my video camera for Piper's two runs, and to Tierney Graham and Ron Ewers for taping Rylee. Thanks also to Jennifer Ewers for a more detailed post mortem than usual from the Judge.
Now, to our runs. Piper ran fairly early on Saturday. She went out slightly narrower than usual (but not too bad) and was a little flat at the top. Three points lost from the outrun. Her lift was not the explosion it sometimes can be but was probably just slightly on an angle to my left, which Piper quickly fixed it and actually a better than usual lift for Piper.
Piper's fetch was pretty straight but brisk (not out of control fast - but definitely moving at a good pace.) We got three of four sheep through the fetch gates and got things calmed down for a pretty nice turn around the post. This was a major accomplishment as the sheep definitely wanted to run to exhaust on most people near the post. Six points lost on the fetch (there was one 3 point fetch and one 5 point so our 6 point fetch was one of the better ones for the day.)
We got the drive away started toward one of the other draws and had it going on a pretty straight and fairly controlled line. It was looking much better than usual and then suddenly we went over the edge of a cliff. Near the panels I gave an away flank when I probably should have just tried to hold the line. Piper took my away whistle as a come bye - which was even worse. Turned the sheep back and gripped. DQ.
So it was actually some of her better work, right up until it suddenly was not. And with Piper, when the run loses control it can go bad quickly, and did.
Rylee's Nursery run on Saturday was also abbreviated. She did a gorgeous full point away outrun. The lift was slow and cautious - but not as slow as at Zamora - and the sheep came off calmly but on a slight angle to the left. Unfortunately they stayed on that angle and I could not get Rylee to take my away flank and put them back on line. When she came around in front and crossed the course I retired so as not to put too much pressure on her. We need to work on that steering on the fetch line. Anyway as soon as I walked from the post Rylee regained control and exhausted the sheep rather nicely.
Piper ran late in the run order on Sunday. The run was almost a repeat of Saturday's although there were subtle differences. First, her outrun - she started to bend in early and I caught her with a redirect which she took nicely going deeper at the top. Interestingly, although we got there by different methods we lost the same three points. Her lift was very similar to Saturday's and sh again lost two points.
By this point in the trial, the sheep (which had been rerun) were pulling more strongly toward the draw than they were on our Saturday run. But Piper took my come bye flanks and though we were slightly off line due to the pull she put them back on a pretty good line fairly quickly and I was actually very happy with the level of steering she gave me. As we approached the post I over corrected the line a bit to get on the right side of the post and our turn was not as clean as Saturday. We lost nine points on the fetch but I actually thought she did better work on Sunday due to a more difficult group of sheep. Nine points was a fair deduction.
The drive was a little bit more difficult to set up but again we had it started and largely on line. Then when the sheep leaned inside Piper took the inside come bye flank and zoomed the sheep a bit much. From there it fell apart quickly. When the sheep made it back to some cattle holding pens it was another DQ. Then she calmly brought them off the cattle pens to exhaust.
Rylee on Sunday fell victim to my bad decision. Because of the fetch problem we had on Saturday I sent her left. Big Mistake. Her sheep, which were never really fully at the set out to start with, took the opportunity of no pressure coming from the draw side to take off well before she even reached 9 o'clock. From that point the chase was on. Unfortunately Rylee did not give a full speed chase and we never really got them back from their planned escape to the cattle pen draw. We did find a surprise group of ducks that wandered across the path between Rylee and the sheep though. Rylee politely decided to lie down and allow the ducks to pass losing her last chance to gain control of her sheep.
Next week, Sonoma - hoping for better finishes.
Monday, March 7, 2011
Cow Doggin'
Saturday, March 5, 2011
More Training
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Zamora - Odds and Ends
First, Congratulations to Jennifer Ewers and Soot for winning the High Combined Overall Open Trophy/Award. It was well deserved.
Second, Congratulations to all my friends and acquaintances for their runs. Even going to the post at Zamora is an accomplishment and many of you did very well on top.
Third, food news. Bummer that Bill and Kathy's is now closed. Was looking forward to the fried chicken with country gravy. Enjoyed Granzella's two nights in a row in Williams - just wish it was not 20 miles north.
Fourth, probably should have been first but oh well, Big Thank You to the Slaven Family for hosting us, Terri Pelkey for all the work in organizing from nearly 500 miles away and at the trial site, Roy Pelkey and Katy Deardorff for setting, the sheep for cooperating and God for giving us such a fabulous place to run a sheep dog trial.
Fifth, Thank You Laura Hicks for pre-installing an outrun on Piper. We sure used it at Zamora.
Sixth, Thank You Jennifer for all the support and training that made it possible for us to even attempt this trial. When we first came for training about 2 1/2 years ago I was struggling with my dog to get a 100 yard outrun and we could not drive.
Seventh, Thank You Elizabeth Baker and Stephanie Goracke for my newest sweetheart, Rylee. We are coming together and I think - from Casablanca - this is the start of a beautiful friendship.
Eighth, Thank You Amy Coapman for a very pleasurable conversation while watching the trial on Saturday as we both waited till for our attempts. Also, for the beautiful Corian whistle. I tried it in the hotel and I think I am going to like the sound. I was not brave enough to switch whistles for the trial though.
Finally, thank you to everyone who passed on words of encouragement and nice thoughts on completion of our first ever Open Run.
Monday, February 21, 2011
Zamora - Nursery Report
The course was very similar to the Second Open Course except that the sheep were set further down in the hill. Estimates on the distance ranged upwards of 400 yards but the most reliable estimate seemed to be 350 yards. The set out was definitely further up the hill than it was last year for Pro-Novice. Whatever the actual distance it was a long way for the young and less experienced dogs and there was still danger that the hills would kick them down and either narrow or crossing over. The drives were both shortened and we had 8 minutes.
Before getting to Rylee a word of congratulations to Dr. Bob Schooley, DVM, and his dog Spike. They ran Pro-Novice and made it all the way around the course timing out at the pen. They have been working extremely hard and it is paying off. I think it was probably the farthest Bob has ever sent Spike on an outrun and I am pretty sure it is their first time completing the PN course (only the 2d or 3d try I believe). The outrun was beautiful, the run controlled and I am pretty sure Bob's heart rate may be back to normal by Sonoma.
Rylee ran eight of twelve Nursery Dogs. My plan was to attempt the drive this time - as opposed to our first trial where we did a planned retire. Based on the current state of our partnership I did not really expect her to do particularly well on the drive but I wanted to give it a try as long as I did not think I was putting to much pressure or stress on her. If I saw signs of stress I intended to retire. But I thought it would be good to get her some experience with me on a different field with different sheep.
I sent her "come bye" and her first few steps were pretty straight up the middle so I gave a more stern "COME BYE". That seemed to do the trick as she bent out and up the face of the hill to the left. As she went up the face she bent out further - which was good since the tendency and fear was that the hill would kick the dog back toward the center. When she got deep enough so she was fairly well behind the set out she kind of turned and came in on sort of a flat trajectory and stopped and lied down on her own at about 10:30 on the clock face. A big difference from Piper.
It took some encouraging to get Rylee up and walking in on the sheep. To those who have not seen her it undoubtedly looked like she was being stared down by the sheep and losing the stare down. Knowing her careful approach and that I could see her slowly inching forward I was not really worried that she would be unable to lift. Sure enough she eventually lifted them - much more calmly than a Piper explosion lift.
The sheep leaned on her to my right all the way down the fetch line. Rylee did take my come bye flanks and we had a bit of steering on the fetch but we certainly need to work on getting more, As seems to be common for me we had a bit of a problem at the post getting the sheep lined up to go around the proper side. After coming down the right side most of the way down the fetch line I over corrected and put the sheep on the wrong side of the post. We had to unwind them to get around and start the drive.
On the drive the sheep were a little to the right and then a little to the left. Rylee took my flanks without being too harsh on the sheep. (That's my memory - I have to check the tape.) We narrowly missed the drive away panels to the left (memory again) and made the turn for the drive away. The sheep were coming down low back toward me and I knew we were running short on time (I was late starting my watch) so I just tried to get them headed in the right direction and make as much progress as I could.
Then I heard a beep from the judges area. About ten seconds later my own timer went off but the Judge still had not called "time". When I saw the exhaust dog coming for my sheep a few seconds later I asked the Judge "That's time, right ?" He confirmed time was indeed up.
I was very pleased with Rylee because I thought she was listening to me and trying hard to do as I asked. The partnership seems to get just a little more well founded every time we go out. Give us time and I think we will make a good team.
Sunday, February 20, 2011
Zamora - Open Report
Insanity is moving up to Open at Zamora. By this definition I am insane. Piper and I just moved up to Open together this weekend and we did it at Zamora.
Zamora is one of the most difficult dog trials on the West Coast. The outrun is nearly 700 yards and the field is bounded by large hills. The sheep - always range ewes - are set in the saddle between two hills. There is a creek- about ten feet wide - about 75 yards in front of the normal handlers post. The turn to start the drive is about 150 yards in front of the handlers post and on the opposite side of the creek.
Throw in nearly a week of rain and the creek becomes an obstacle that sheep do not willingly cross without strong encouragement. Add fog on the morning of the first Open Trial leading to a 2 1/2 hour delay getting started. Reduce time to 9 minutes due to late start.
Result is a very tough dog trial. And because of that some of the very top dog/handler teams make sure to make it to the trial.
Open started on Friday but we did not run until Saturday so used Friday as a travel day. When we arrived at about 4 pm it was in time to learn that the trial had been even tougher than usual. No one had made it into the pen and only a small handful had even made it across the creek that marked the end of the drive. Scores were very low with only three scores to that point in the 60's and four in the 50's.
Piper ran third from last in Round One and about one third of the way through the Saturday order.
I sent her away into the hills to the right. The left hills almost guaranteed a bad approach. At least on the right there is a chance. Piper was not as wide as she usually is and I had to give her an away whistle on the slope of each of the three peaks on the right side. She took all three and bent out but not as much as they would like and she was to my mind still a little tight at the top. Her outrun was scored six off.
The lift was a bit like a bowling ball and the sheep were startled. Scored three points off but I think I might have hit it even harder. On the fetch Piper kept coming on two strong and splitting off one sheep. Then she would regain her senses enough to put the group back together. A year ago I would have blamed luck at getting bad sheep. Reality is Piper was causing it with her pressure. But she did keep putting it back together. On the bottom third of the fetch we let the sheep get too far to the wrong side of the post for the turn. I was too late giving the cover whistle and by the time Piper had them headed they were on the edge of the creek. Trying to get them out one ewe went into the creek - out of bounds - and we were DQ'd. I was still proud of her.
For Round 2 of the Open the course was changed in an effort to accommodate the time constraints. The handlers post was moved forward about 125 yards and across the creek. The handlers post was also now the turn to start the drive. The pen was eliminated and a single was substituted (we were only using three sheep). The drive was deemed to be completed as soon as you made or missed the cross drive panel. The result was that scores were much better and many more handlers finished.
Again Piper was near the end of the run order so we did not run until about 3 p.m. Sunday. Again I sent right for the same reasons. This time Piper went out on a good wide trajectory up the face of the first of (now) three hills. She disappeared over the ridge with 8:30 approx to go. But Piper appeared to be eyeing the sheep as she disappeared over the first peak into the valley between the first two hills. Thirty seconds of visual stealth and there was a Piper spotting on the top of the ridge line. Then she disappeared over the ridge behind the second peak. After more no sight outrunning she appeared on the ridge line of the final peak and came around deep and on balance. Zero points off the outrun and it was well deserved as the outrun was truly breathtaking - for me at least.
When Piper got to balance I bellowed a lie down and she at least slowed. The lift was better and I lost 1 point. The top end of the fetch was fast but reasonably on line. The bottom half the sheep escaped to my right after I put Piper on the ground. The sheep went way off line to the right and we had to bring them in basically sideways to round the post. Fifteen points lost.
The drive was a bit wild but we were generally on line except blowing the panels themselves due to a case of handler panel panic induced over flanking. Seventeen points lost.
However, where many dogs had made it through the panels with thirty seconds or less to accomplish the single, Piper and I had over 2 minutes left for the task. After checking my timer and seeing this I took a deep breath and tried to set up my first ever competition single as calmly as I could. We had an opportunity after about thirty seconds and a split. Piper came into the hole and turned on the single but apparently did not take enough control to satisfy our judge (Patrick Shanahan). So we put them back together - tried to get everything settled - and soon got another split. This time Piper came through, turned on the single and took enough control to satisfy the judge. Course finished and still a minute on the clock.
It was an incredibly exhilarating eight minutes and it took a good half hour for my heart to stop racing.
I am extremely happy and proud of my little girl but at the same time we clearly have a lot of work to do.
Piper's score of 52 placed her somewhere around 50th out of 84 dogs.
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Whistles as Language
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Bad Dress Rehearsal Good Show
I hope it holds true for dog trialing.
Our "Open"ing night will be in less than a week at Zamora when I run Piper in the Open for the first time. It will be the first time in Open for both Piper and for me. And we could not have picked a more difficult test for our first attempt.
Yesterday at Jennifer's was our final tune up session before the big jump. Jennifer has been devising some tough exercises for us the last few weeks to help us all get ready for Zamora. From our Saturday group there will be four (Jennifer, Jeff, Tricia and me)of us running six dogs in Open. There will be at least three (Sara, Nina, and Sharon) from Jennifer's Wednesday class also running four dogs in Open. There will be two (Ron and Dr. Bob) of us running two dogs in Pro Novice. Two of us (Jennifer and me) will be running a total of three dogs in Nursery.
Of the group I am the only one using Zamora to make the transition to move up a level.
I am the least ready for the challenge of next weekend but possibly looking forward to it the most. To be clear I have been told I am jumping the gun but we will see how Piper does. My impatience got to me and I did not want to wait another year to have a go at that fabulous field.
Yesterday we started working on a very difficult outrun with the sheep placed up on a bluff in some scrub. Virtually every dog had trouble with it at firsts and many dogs crossed the face of the hill at the bottom below the sheep. Multiple redirects and restarts were required. Piper struggled with this portion of the day's drills but - with a multitude of redirects - we got her out there. Her fetches were somewhat offline and this was the bad dress rehearsal part.
Later we did a driving drill on some lighter sheep where Jennifer put traffic cones out extending back from the inside opening of the drive panels about fifty yards to mark the drive lines. She did the same for the cross drive. In theory this should have simply made it easier to see the drive lines. In theory, that is. In practice it created a psychological barrier and many of the dogs struggled with getting the sheep in the lane, Piper included. Eventually we started to get it together and Piper did some good driving.
Our initial attempts at a shed were total failures as we could not get the sheep to settle well enough to get a split. We asked for and received another try at the end when the sheep were a little tired and less likely to run. We ended the session on a high note getting three in the ring sheds on our last go. So we are as ready as we are going to get.
Rylee was - for the most part - pretty good yesterday. Her come bye outrun (the sheep were set in the flat for the younger dogs) was very nice and she did a nice fetch. For some reason she simply would not go all the way out on her away outrun and required major schooling to eventually get around.
Her driving was good although I am often still having to use "here, here" to get her started on an inside flank. She is very cautious and stylish walking in on her sheep although if she gets to the side a bit much she does want to go their heads. She is paying better attention to me each time we go out and I am hopeful we will be able to complete the full Nursery course at Zamora.
Two things from Saturdays lessonwith Rylee - Jennifer suggested I stop drawing out my "Theeerrre" command and it seemed to work getting Rylee to turn in more sharply if I shortened the command to a quick "there". Second the "shh shh" sound will get Rylee to pick up her speed when needed. Both of these are good to know.
Anyway I hope the theater superstition holds true.
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Training Time and Happy Adoption Day
This time last year we were starting to get it together and have had a reasonably successful year trialing in Pro Novice. Now - against trainer advice - I am moving her up to Open at Zamora. A big challenge and so we need to get a lot accomplished. On her good days she will be OK. It's mainly getting consistency out of both of us.
Also - I now have a young dog we are semi-campaigning in Nursery. At this point with Rylee though it is mainly for training and while she has a great deal of promise we are not really ready to be competitive. At our first trial we did a planned retire after the outwork - although she was very good on that portion. At Zamora I am hoping we are ready to at least attempt the drive.
Anyway yesterday was a very good and fun training session. Rylee is getting a little more used to me each time we go out and if I can stay out of her way and let the drive get started she is actually pretty good. She is a very thoughtful dog and cautious not wanting to make a mistake. Unlike Piper where I have to keep tapping on the brakes with Rylee right now it is largely a matter of pushing on the gas. When she starts to feel comfortable she actually has a very nice pace but still requires a bit of encouragement. I am seeing improvement each time out and she is going to be a lot of fun to work. VERY DIFFERENT from Piper though.
With Piper we still need to keep applying the brakes. When I get on her from the beginning of the run it is much better than if she gets up a head of steam first. Yesterday we did a couple very interesting and challenging exercises and she did better than I had anticipated.
First, Jennifer set up a horseshoe cone pattern around the post to practice controlled turn of the post and good start of the drive. It was pretty narrow and somewhat difficult to get the sheep inside and complete the turn. Piper actually made slight adjustments and did a good turn leading to a nice start to the drive. And if the drive starts nice I can do a much better job just keeping her going in the right direction. She did pretty well on this exercise.
Then we practiced a dogleg fetch to force the dogs to come off pressure on the fetch. First attempt Piper stopped at the right spot but slid over onto balance for the fetch and did a pretty straight fetch - which we did not want. Second attempt she started to slip over and I stopped her. She took the off pressure flank and then walked on from the right spot. We made the dogleg fetch panels. I was very proud of her for this as it was clearly a difficult task and showed her willing to listen to me even when it did not seem natural.