Acton
MO
She did two runs today and both were of her new better style – not 100% focused, but darn near 85% and between double or triple the amount of time in the arena without losing interest. There’s still an obvious head-turn as she comes by the fence where people are gathered but instead of coming off the stock she turns her head and then turns it back and goes back to work. She had a bit of trouble getting the sheep out of the sticky corner but a leg-lift assist (mmmm, mutton leg!) did the trick and she was doing her best they just happened to be very heavy sheep today.
Everyone agrees that she’s come a long way already and each time out she’s making tons of progress, it’s just a matter of time before it all falls together and then we’ll see about giving her some direction.
Paul’s assessment, paraphrasing John Wooden: Hurry less and be quicker which somehow became have the handler work less as the dog works more.
Stevie Mac
We worked more on keeping her on balance (not going in circles, but enforcing a better position with body weight) and she took the corrections really well which turned into wearing and driving – so we went from just working out to developing a new skill in a very organic sort of way. We also practiced a few outruns (always come-bye for some reason, should change that – probably because of the heavy draw to the arena corner and sheep pen) and got her to stay wide by running up and forcing her out which worked each time it was enforced but when I hung back to see if she would do it right it never worked. Without trying too hard she took all the sheep off the fence and we tried practicing a “look back” by intentionally splitting the sheep and letting one drift back then bringing the two over and lying down between the one and the two then giving a “look back – come bye.” She didn’t quite get what was going on but somehow the sheep always drifted back together anyway – more to work on. The big lesson was how important body language can be, it’s the same lesson every time really, but it’s good to be reminded.
In the giant Ebell parking lot Stevie finally caved to MO’s insistent nagging to play or chase her (p-p-pplease!!) and tore after her in the spirit of true craziness. They did a couple of loops, neck and neck, until MO exercised her antelope skills and did a few quick turns leaving Stevie behind. pant pant pant.
Acton (40°)
MO
2 runs and she went full out for both. Got the sheep off the sticky fence with her usual style, a difficult thing to do, and she would single out one sheep and just run it down like crazy, like a cutting horse or something. Developmentally the next thing to get is some focus, but for now she’s showing tremendous progress and we’re going to let her keep coming up on her own schedule.
Stevie
The first time we went out when she wasn’t in heat or sick with a stomach virus and she was on fire. We practiced outruns which she did well except for cutting over at the last minute. Even though she crossed over she would still get nicely behind the sheep and turn right on 12 o’clock and head back, except after the turn she would start to speed up and basically just get to a flat out run. She’d get going so fast that she would pretty much overrun the sheep and end up completely off balance and if the handler doesn’t run up and into her she’d probably keep going until she passed everyone in the ring.
We worked on moving the sheep around and coming off for “That’ll do” and she did great. On her second run we practiced “lie down” which she picked up quickly (long story short, up until now “lie down” meant stand and “stand” meant stand).
We also did a little practice on keeping out of the sheep – circling around clockwise and counter-clockwise. She keeps her head out most of the time, but is a bit resistant to moving far out from the sheep.
We need to work on timing a bit and giving a well-timed “there” as well as getting her to “take time” much better. Once those are going well and the “lie down” is consistent I think we’ll start practicing courses and see about squaring up her flanks.
today MO walked from the house to the bank and back – get that? from the house, all the way to the bank and back home.
first time walking down our street in 5 months.
first time ever walking all through our neighborhood with no fear.
and stevie went most of the way without pulling on the leash.
Acton
After a two week break so Stevie could get spayed (went fine) and x-rayed (mild dysplasia in left hip). 
MO:
Awesome awesome awesome. In the arena with three sheep, at least one of them a wooly, she tore ass and herded like a Cattle Dog with panache. The greatest moment was taking all three off the fence right by the gate to the sheep corral which should be called sticky city, and MO is the goo gone. She stuck on them and got all three off the fence, then made a nice gather and brought them back to the handler. Eventually we’ll work on getting her to take some time, but since she was going so good we just let her keep at them and she ended up chasing them all over the ring. Took a few to some many, ran them through a small chute between a panel and a fence, and used very little gripping to get the job done.
Stevie:
She did her usual high quality stuff, even kept up a good run most of the time, still cheated a bit on the away side but took the corrections like a champ and did great on practicing moving sheep through a chute and taking them off the fence. We’re getting to know her better and it seems like she’s getting to know us too. Sometimes she has a real goofy face and seems real happy, not 100% serious Stevie anymore.
While she was out for surgery recovery it rained a lot and she started showing a lot more interest in playing around like a dog. The best example is a long hike above Encino where she sprinted all over the place, running far ahead of us and then running back to gather us up and looking like a super happy pup the whole time.
Unfortunately she has some kind of stomach virus and has been projectile pooping green liquid, so her runs got in the way of her runs. We took her to the vet on the way home and she got car sick then had a time on the examination table which seemed to give her vertigo or something because after dumping another liquid load she barfed all over the reception area linoleum.
Malibu
MO:
We did two runs and both were pretty good but we stayed in too long and she got a little unfocused towards the end of each. On the first run we tried some outruns and she started moving wide before breaking up the sheep and then would collect them nicely, only a medium amount of gripping, and bring them to her handler.
We worked on having her lay down and then gather the sheep which she did ok, but seemed to revert to an obedience kind of mentality and her focus shifted off the sheep and onto the handler so we’re going to lay off that stuff for a while until she gets more keen on working. We also need to start keeping her from gripping the sheep without killing any of her drive.
Stevie:
She continued to hate going clockwise so she got schooled on it by both of us. We would set her up for an outrun and let her gather then work on half-circle directions alternating randomly between come-bye and away with a stand in between and an occasional that’ll do and call her off to do another outrun and so on.
Working like this is called “freeing her up” which is a confusing phrase since it means to get her out of her head and willing to go in whichever direction the handler needs instead of what her instincts are telling her. With the sheep between the handler and the dog, the handler should be able to give a direction command and pivot around in that same direction using the stick at the dogs shoulder to keep it moving and to keep it out. At the half-circle the handler would stand the dog and either have it go the opposite direction or again in the same direction, balancing out monotony against working on her weak side, until she gets to the other half-circle point where she stands again.
Next time we work on this we’ll try to have her lie down instead of stand (confusing since she’s been taught that “lie down” is stand, so sometimes she’ll stand and sometimes she’ll lie down – mostly depending on what’s going on. In the house she’ll lie down, in the field she’ll lie down when we enter the field but then stand while she’s working.)
Stevie goes into surgery tomorrow to be spayed and will have two weeks off, MO is also going to the vet to have some rectal bleeding checked out (one or two drops of funky smelling blood and a swollen anus when she is ready to poop).
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.
