Piper was good Piper today. I think in part it was because I was a better handler today also. I did not let her get away with getting out of control in the first instance. We found that as long as I micromanage her on the fetch and drive she can actually be pretty good and have pretty straight lines and controlled pace. After finally making the goal of moving up to Open without embarrassing ourselves at Zamora I think I may have relaxed a bit and handled better. We still need to step up the game but today was a good day. Pretty straight lines, controlled pace, good shedding, actually worked on cutting a smallish group down in multiple passes as a precursor to an international shed. Piper walked the one group well off and took her look back nicely.
It seems Piper is pretty good on her outrun and shedding. It's those pesky parts of the course in between that seem to bother us.
Rylee continued her pattern of being just a bit better for me each time out. Jennifer said we were going to train on Rylee today instead of just running her and we did. After the first mostly silent gather to our feet - we made Rylee take some directional commands on the next fetch. Halfway down we made her turn the sheep to the left and cross drive. The beginnings of steering. She is still being extremely cautious and is hesitant about flanking off pressure but we are getting it together a little more each time.
Next two weeks are trial time. First Poway and then Sonoma.
No comments:
Post a Comment