That's it. Three dogs. That's all I got. Just three. It's almost boring! See? This is exactly how I get myself in trouble. It's times like this where I come up with the crazy notion that I have time for *cough cough* a puppy. But ... not this time. Nope. Not me. No puppies. Puppies are a pain in the ass. Cute pains in the ass, but pains in the ass all the same.
I am also prone to picking up rescues out of the shelter and working with them and finding them homes. Too bad I've completely burned out on that as well. There are some things I've seen around here that I am just not too keen on, so I will leave rescue to those who thrive on it.
Echo. She's blowing my doors off. I have been looking for a really nice little female, and I think I have found her. First off, she's a wonderful dog to be around. She reminds me ... off stock ... a lot of Kiva. On stock, she's the opposite. Phenominal! She bends off me nicely, she handles pressure in stride, she's is getting out off her stock very nicely now, is getting comfortable lying down off balance, has the cajones to "ssssskiiiiittttt 'em!" and is tolerating anything I am putting on her.
We went out on Monday to work at Dianne's. Her outrun is really coming together. Her away side is still far better than her comebye, but that seems like the perfect topic for the clinic. I am not stressing over it, and actually, I think I figured out what is causing it. The way my place is set up, if I send Echo on the away side, she has no fence helping her on the fetch. If I send her on the comebye side, she has the fence to use. So now I have to be conscious of where I am standing when I send her to get the sheep so she has to cover on that side.
Another thing that was helping her to understand that she has to cover is the trailing work we were doing. We have the trial coming up in a couple of weeks and these sheep aren't comfortable going in and out of the trailer yet. So Colleen and Jaenne have been coming over helping me shove sheep in and out of the trailer. And I've been using Echo. I know I can do it with Zip. Doing this with Echo has shown me where my timing is way off and Zip has just been correcting it because of his eye. He's a great cover dog. Echo is more free flowing and isn't so stuck on covering every little thing that moves, so it's my job to tell her to. So my timing is coming in to play.
In any event, she did great. She's learning to "get outta that" ... and learning a "keep" from a "get" and doing really well. Some stuff, Zip does because I tell him to. With Echo, she seems to figure out why I am telling her to do it, and learning to do it on her own in just a couple of tries. It's amazing.
We had the sheep in great position last night, and we're playing the waiting game -- waiting for them to *look* into the trailer so I could put some pressure on their asses and shove them in. Echo is oh-so-slowly getting one step closer and closer as if in slow motion. She got so close to them, she ... in slow motion ... *gripped* a hock. She didn't grip it, though. She put her mouth on it, in slow motion, and I, of course, could stand there and do nothing but laugh! The sheep moved!
We have one black ewe that is not going with the program. She started to challenge Echo last night and I gave her a "ssskkkiiiittt 'em!" and she was happy to oblige! I love having that final step to work with. Good girl, Echo Monster!
Before the trailer fun, I am also messing with driving, getting her comfortable behind her sheep. It's coming along very nicely. It's better and better each time we do it. Something Dianne pointed out to me ... I was always driving with her on my right side ... Echo's comfortable "away" side. So now I am switching that up a bit and starting out with her on the comebye side and asking her to do small flanks and cover ... driving, effectively, in a square. It's working very nicely. She was covering beautifully at the trailer after we were doing this exercise. In fact, she was then covering the comebye side and almost letting the "away" side slip.
The old kaleidescope effect at its finest.
Happy tails,
JD
Echo. She's blowing my doors off. I have been looking for a really nice little female, and I think I have found her. First off, she's a wonderful dog to be around. She reminds me ... off stock ... a lot of Kiva. On stock, she's the opposite. Phenominal! She bends off me nicely, she handles pressure in stride, she's is getting out off her stock very nicely now, is getting comfortable lying down off balance, has the cajones to "ssssskiiiiittttt 'em!" and is tolerating anything I am putting on her.
We went out on Monday to work at Dianne's. Her outrun is really coming together. Her away side is still far better than her comebye, but that seems like the perfect topic for the clinic. I am not stressing over it, and actually, I think I figured out what is causing it. The way my place is set up, if I send Echo on the away side, she has no fence helping her on the fetch. If I send her on the comebye side, she has the fence to use. So now I have to be conscious of where I am standing when I send her to get the sheep so she has to cover on that side.
Another thing that was helping her to understand that she has to cover is the trailing work we were doing. We have the trial coming up in a couple of weeks and these sheep aren't comfortable going in and out of the trailer yet. So Colleen and Jaenne have been coming over helping me shove sheep in and out of the trailer. And I've been using Echo. I know I can do it with Zip. Doing this with Echo has shown me where my timing is way off and Zip has just been correcting it because of his eye. He's a great cover dog. Echo is more free flowing and isn't so stuck on covering every little thing that moves, so it's my job to tell her to. So my timing is coming in to play.
In any event, she did great. She's learning to "get outta that" ... and learning a "keep" from a "get" and doing really well. Some stuff, Zip does because I tell him to. With Echo, she seems to figure out why I am telling her to do it, and learning to do it on her own in just a couple of tries. It's amazing.
We had the sheep in great position last night, and we're playing the waiting game -- waiting for them to *look* into the trailer so I could put some pressure on their asses and shove them in. Echo is oh-so-slowly getting one step closer and closer as if in slow motion. She got so close to them, she ... in slow motion ... *gripped* a hock. She didn't grip it, though. She put her mouth on it, in slow motion, and I, of course, could stand there and do nothing but laugh! The sheep moved!
We have one black ewe that is not going with the program. She started to challenge Echo last night and I gave her a "ssskkkiiiittt 'em!" and she was happy to oblige! I love having that final step to work with. Good girl, Echo Monster!
Before the trailer fun, I am also messing with driving, getting her comfortable behind her sheep. It's coming along very nicely. It's better and better each time we do it. Something Dianne pointed out to me ... I was always driving with her on my right side ... Echo's comfortable "away" side. So now I am switching that up a bit and starting out with her on the comebye side and asking her to do small flanks and cover ... driving, effectively, in a square. It's working very nicely. She was covering beautifully at the trailer after we were doing this exercise. In fact, she was then covering the comebye side and almost letting the "away" side slip.
The old kaleidescope effect at its finest.
Happy tails,
JD
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