11-28-09

MO head-butts a ram:

She did three runs in the arena, the first two with lambs and third with two sheep and a ram.  Her first run was pretty grippy and we’re starting to get the stick on her nose to get her off. It doesn’t take any force to get her off and she doesn’t seem to mind since she just goes and gets another body part as soon as she lets go.

In the first run she started off strong and then Janna came to the fence which distracted her a bit but she refocused and went after a lamb but then got distracted by all the penned lamb and sheep and then by some dogs tied up outside the arena.

The second run she went like gangbusters the whole time, a black lamb peaked her interest and she chased it all over, gripping and chasing, taking the group off the fence and ultimately chasing a lamb the length of the back fence. Whenever it seemed like she might get in over her head we’d put the leash back on and set her up on a small group and then try to have her take the many to the few. This worked out well until she fixated on one lamb and grabbed onto its leg for a while until the lamb just gave up and laid down.

The third run was two sheep and a ram and she was very focused and high energy for the whole time. She did a pretty good fetch, some gathering and a lot of her trademark cutting and chasing down a stray until it turns back to return to the group. Her agility is coming together very nicely and she reads the sheep better than ever. The highlight was when the ram started doing its own thing and she went right after it and when it lowered its head she lowered hers and head-butted it with no hesitation. The ram faked a move back to the group and then went off on its own way again so she went right back after it and it got ready to charge her again so as soon as it lowered its head she met it right on and showed him that she was in charge. We pulled her out right there since that’s about as good as it could get and she wasn’t even breathing hard. Her stamina is terrific so as soon as she can maintain focus for the whole time she’ll be in great shape.

Stevie:

We did two runs in the big field, both with long outruns. she did great picking up the sheep, balancing the handler from a distance and even slowing down when needed. We practiced some pen work and some running the sheep through panels which she did well. She brought the group all into the pen and had no problem running in there to get behind them and push them back out. On the panels she moved them through without a concern and kept a nice steady pressure.

The downside is that she wanted to stay off-balance and cheat to the away side and when she could she would cut in instead of going come-by, Paul also said I’m turning her too quick and I should let her get to the head sheep before sending her the other way. She also ran off on when trying to call her off and ignored a couple of lie-downs. Paul took her out for a while to see if she was picking up some bad habits or if I was doing something wrong and it looked like it was all her. He thought that she was getting a little spoiled and that I shouldn’t work her without supervision so to make sure she didn’t develop bad habits. It also seems like having her work in the big field is too advanced since she’ll always be far enough away that I can’t reinforce the commands or force her to turn when I want her to.