Another Day @ Training

Yesterday was a crowded day at Canines - n - Ewe. Handlers included Ron, Jeff, Tricia, Hiroko, Mike Burks, Sally Douglas and me. Allowing for multiple handlers with multiple dogs and also Jennifer getting some work in with Callie it was a crowded day. But a good one and I think everyone seemed to enjoy it.

Mike Burks young 13 month Mia is looking pretty nice. Haven't seen her in a while and she has progressed well. Sally had a bit of an up and down day but Trapper sure showed well on the difficult get the sheep in the pen while another dog is tied inside the pen drill. It was being done to simulate the anticipated difficult to pen ewes expected for the Porterville Fall Trial.

Jeff and Dusk were their usual impressive team having the best go in all three rounds we did, followed very closely by Tricia and Tipper, and Mike Burks and Sport.

Hiroko and Dusty did some nice tune up for Willowside PN Trial next weekend.

On our Outrun Practice Piper was flattening a bit on the top after going plenty wide. This resulted in slightly rough lifts. Then the rambouillets we used for this exercise wanted to pull hard to the handlers left and the first time or two we were slow to get them back on line (In fairness they did this to pretty much all of the dogs except I think Dusk). But we managed to get it straightened out and she did a fairly nice job her last go on this exercise.

We also worked on shedding and it was easier than last week but I am still standing too close to the sheep and not setting it up well. Piper would not come in the first couple times when I was in the wrong position but she did start coming through for me as we worked on it. She was also turning on the right group but not immediately taking control of them so Jennifer made us wall them off until Piper clearly took control.

Our final exercise was a driving triangle followed by a pen with a dog inside the pen to discourage easy penning. Apart from my own overflanking and being late on my turns Piper did fairly well on the drive. I noticed that the smoother the first leg the better the flowing leg was. Our first leg was a struggle as the sheep wanted to tip heavy to the left and we eventually pushed them back on, But then when we made the turn the wanted to escape toward the middle panel but not exactly on line. They did not require pushing. It was more of a controlled escape. But Piper took a nice flank - which for once I timed correctly - and hook turned them right trough the middle panel. I was late on my flank on the third panel and missed.

But the line to the pen was clean and controlled. I had one ewe that kept trying to escape the mouth but every time I asked her to, Piper covered it well. She actually seems to work nicely for me once we get to the mouth of the pen and seems to understand the job. It was nice to get this practice because it is something we rarely work on.