Winter Plans

It's been awhile since I blogged.  It seemed I was just repeating myself over and over so I gave it a break.  Now fall is hard upon us.  The trees are loosing their leaves, the frost is on the pumpkin and the water buckets are frozen in the morning.  Trialing season is over and it is time to get back to training.

Goals

• Improve our stop--it has come a long way but I need to be vigilant to not let it slide.  Easy to have happen working my sheep.  Dog and sheep know what to do so easy to not notice when Rave isn't precise
• Keep working on keeping myself quiet-soft voiced unless really needed.  Soft body, no conductor motions, queit comands only raising the volume in real emergency
• Make sure I have square flanks
• Work on the back--turn around and go straight back.  A back isn't a really good square flank.  Rave should not flank until I tell her to
• Work on adding a few whistles.  Of course I need to get much better at whistling!  I would like a stop, that I could use when her focus is too intent to hear me.  A slow down,  a walk up, and a that'll do.  Will decide if I want come bye and away, there, get out, back.  My skills at whistling may prevent anything but the easiest of whistles 
• Train in new places.  I am always saying this but failing in being able to make it happen.  But I really need to at least load up a crate of ducks and go somewhere new now and then.  No excuses about how hard it is to get the ducks out of my field and into the truck!  Which is a real problem when it is winter if there is mud instead of frozen ground.  My truck gets stuck trying to get up the hill.
• Let Rave have some fun.  Don't always insist on controll.  Fast is not always bad.  Remember to praise her efforts.

I am sure there is a lot more that we need to and will be working on as the winter progresses.  Fingers crossed that it isn't to harsh and that we can get lots of work in.