The Perpetual Motion Machine

After a long rest… i decided to take Pea out on stock again. I didn’t have any real expectations as it really could have gone any one of 3 ways: 1) generally poor 2) remember somethings, mostly bad habits 3) amazingly good.

I’m so used to options 1 & 2 that when 3 showed up i couldn’t decided if i should pass out or cry. She was beautiful; pushing out on her stock, covering… even when i didn’t want her to, coming square on her corners, and barking at me when i deserved it. We started to learn the ‘proper’ way to pull stock out of corners. Instead of the ‘run along the fenceline and pray it works’ version.

What i was really impressed with was her level of control and connection to me. She was My Dog out there, working hard to bring the sheep back to me every time instead of running like a mad fool and working for herself. She was downing most of the time. I didn’t ask v. often and when she didn’t comply i was frightfully wrong. It was usually followed by the afore mentioned barking. When i asked her to watch the sheep, they didn’t move of of the corner i’d left them in and when they tried to inch on over she shimmied over a little to put them right back, thank you very much.

Don’t get me wrong, she is no stepford stockdog. She is young and inexperienced. She is fast… my god. i was grateful for my waterbottle tied to on the of the fence posts. A few times i thought about my inhaler! She’s still over-flanking; going past the sweet spot and continuing on her wide circle. She gives well to the stick though and the offending arc is less and less. After about 3 turns, the sheep heavied right up and started coming to me anyhow. “who let in the whirling dervish!”

was nice to get her back in the arena. Taking time out away from stock to work on her foundation and let her bond as made a huge difference.

no pics, sorry! I’m fired, i know. Not like i own a camera with a fast enough shutter… zoooom…….. zooooooooooom……..whhhhhhiiiiiiiirrrrrrrr.