Adrenaline and Control

We went out to Roy's for a lesson today. Working on getting Rave to calmly take the sheep down the arena, at a walk. Rave has gotten a bit confused between the open field, stay behind the sheep driving we have been doing at Dianne's and the stay out to the side and hold them on the fence driving we are doing at Roy's . She got better and more relaxed as we worked the sheep around the arena a few times. She is doing better at setting them up at the chute. Not applying as much push so we are in more control as we approach. I am still tending to watch her instead of the sheep so we had some near misses. I also need to remember to settle the sheep, not rush the center obstacle. I am still unsure which way to send Rave a lot of the time. I need to be sure to question Roy on that instead of just send her the way he says to. Sometimes I would have sent the other way. If I don't ask I won't ever learn how to judge it myself. I may loose the sheep that way as we talk but I will learn.

Our second turn started out quite exciting. There was one sheep in the group that had never been worked in a small group and two that had only been worked in a small group a couple of times. Roy's take pen is on an uphill slope and has a small enclave at the upper corner. There is another pen behind it. The two gates of these pens can be slightly opened to form a barely sheep width opening to move the sheep from one pen to the other. That is if the sheep knows the opening is there, otherwise it is almost invisible. This sheep did not know the opening was there. So I sent Rave into the take pen, the inexperienced sheep headed to the enclave and squooze through the slates of the pen into the next pen. Roy thought this would be good experience for Rave so we sent her into the second pen get the sheep back. After much maneuvering, me yelling slow and cracking my stick, Rave and the sheep playing cow pony we finally returned the sheep to the take pen. So now I send Rave again and dang if the other two inexperienced sheep hadn't been taking notes. Off to the other pen they go. Now this was a bit harder as Rave tried to push them into a corner the sheep thought was a trap, the sheep, not seeing the little opening, would bust, one going one way, one going the other. We would re-gather and try again. There is a half drum sticking up out of the ground about two feet in this pen. Its about 3 to 4 feet across. Have no idea why its there. The sheep would maneuver around that. Rave could circle it which would put Rave in the wrong position to push the sheep to the corner. If Rave jumped up on it to stay in ther right position it would startle the sheep and they would take off in the wrong direction. With many reminders to go slow Rave finally put one foot up on it at a time, she had to really struggle to get her hind legs up without jumping but managed to get up there and go nose to nose with the sheep. She held her ground and it was really pretty. Of course in the end it busted but I was quite proud of that move. I am not sure how, but with Roy holding one side and me directing Rave we did finally get those sheep back in the proper pen. Rave was snorting, chest swelled and full of herself by this time.

Now no one has ever said I was a fast learner but it only took me two times of disaster to realize I needed to stand in the enclave not at the take pen gate if I wanted to get those sheep out of the pen. It meant that I had to let Rave take them through the gate into the arena without me there to help. Roy's sheep tend to take off as they come out of the take pen and the dog needs to cover. Rave handled it very well, although I did hustle down to the gate to give a verbal so she wouldn't go on a chase.

I took very firm control, correcting her for the tiniest mistake at first knowing that she was full of adrenaline and raring to go. She calmed down and did a nice job. I was very proud of her.

Accomplishments, Goals, and Plans

• Rave stayed controlled and focused even when things became very exciting
• Rave's rate is improving steadily
• Rave's stop is becoming more dependable but still needs work
• Continue to work on Rave taking her inside flanks at the end of the arena
• Continue to work on rate and stop
• Work half moons, stopping in various locations