Thursday night: I worked Zip out in the pasture. I am doing a lot of shhhh'ing him up to get him to go faster (and thereby hopefully take off a few pounds), but am focusing more on squaring up his flanks. When I was out at Don's for my lesson, it became painfully obvious how much I've let his training slack. Anyway, Zip took the pressure very nicely, as he always does, and worked beautifully for me. Fine tuning ... fine tuning ... fine tuning.
Saturday: Saturday, I went to the fair to watch the trial. I saw Judi Mault (Tess' breeder) and updated her a bit on Tess. We're going back to the fair today, so Judi asked me to bring her along. I guess I'll bring Echo, too, so Don can see her. After the fair, Jen, Phyllis and I came back to the house. Later on, I went to dinner with Jen, Tory and the kids, and then Jen and I worked the young ones. Tess is doing great. I am really enjoying working with her. Her speed keeps me on my toes, and her reactiveness gives me something I know how to work on ... and beat. When I saw Charlie Torre yesterday, he gave me some ideas about how to get Tess to leave my feet properly on an outrun, and if she doesn't, what to do about it. So we practiced about a 50' "outrun" and focused on her first few steps. She did great! By the end of the training session, she was actually arcing out from me by choice. So I think we should move along pretty quickly in getting her outrun together. Her "stand there" is awesome. It's making her think about how quickly she walks up on the sheep. I know eventually it's probably going to make her a little less confident when she drives, but I'll cross that bridge when I get there.
For now, she is just as fun as ever!
Happy tails,
JD
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