New Year's Goal!  To keep up with this blog better!  I am still recovering from over a month's stretch of trials and training (along with my regular full time job and life), so rather than backdate a bunch of things - I want to really look at this New Year.  I have trials coming up this weekend - so I plan to blog those results and evaluations, and another at the end of the month.

For a while now, I have felt like I was drifting a bit in herding.  I did not have a real instructor - but rather someone giving some suggestions and someone to work dogs with.  I am now working with one of the top USBCHA handlers in the US, taking lessons at his farm twice a month.  He is incredible.  He has ages of experience over me and is an incredible trainer, focusing on bringing out natural ability in the dog - wanting it to work and think on its own with you there to help and guide.  I have taken four lessons with him now, and I am really starting to feel a difference.

His methods are a bit different from other approaches I have taken and they certainly seem effective.  I am feeling a lot more confident in my own handling - which is rather remarkable really.  Enough so that I am looking at moving my main trial dog up to the Open class in USBCHA trials in another month.

For Beck (my main man), we have been focusing on using lighter control.  I have been using quieter and quieter whistles so that it doesn't sound like I am yelling at him all the time.  Beck carries a lot of tension in his work and it builds resulting in unnecessary grips.  So, we are also working on letting him work more naturally and doing exercise where I am not putting any control on him - talking sweet to him, unless he grips where then he is given a nasty verbal correction.  Just one 10 minute span of doing this made a quite a bit of difference in a trial course.  I am looking forward to seeing how taking off some of the heavy handed reins results in a smoother and happier dog.  This dog is my first dog and I desperately want to do well with him.

For Quelle (the up and coming dog), I had taken off the reins entirely since I purchased her, building back her confidence and getting her more comfortable with pushing on livestock, teaching her to grip, etc.  Now that I have all that back, we are working on adding control back to the work.  It has been pointed out to me that she has great feel for her sheep - she does a great job of reading her livestock and knowing how to bring them on.  But in a fetch (bringing sheep to my feet), she starts speeding up and flipping back and forth rather than staying nice and behind them steadily.  That is one major thing we have been working on - additionally, we are trying to get that same sort of movement when she is driving (she is moving livestock where directed, me not in the picture).  Yesterday's lesson really did show a lot of improvement there. 

My main thing recently has been shedding.  In USBCHA trials, the open class has to do things like splits and/or sheds.  And I don't mean buildings here (although that might just be easier).  A split would be to take your group - lets say four sheep - and literally split the group into two groups of two, your dog and you make that separation in a tiny circle  and the dog takes control of one of those groups that you direct the dog on.  The dog has to keep the two groups separate while moving one away from the other.  A shed is much the same, only it is not two even groups.  Usually here it is a group of 3 sheep and you are asked to shed off a single sheep.  I will get into specifics about shedding (and the international shed) at a different time.

Point is, this is a skill level you exhibit in the top tier class of USBCHA trials.  It is a skill I am desperate to gain as it makes zero sense to me!  I get it in theory, but in practice making that space for my dog to come into and let sheep wrap around my legs....  it is taking some time.  I will have to search for some photos (that will not belong to me) to illustrate this for you.