Back in the Swing… Saturday
Saturday was Molly only and all about pens. It was hot and it seemed like perfect opportunity to work on keeping things slow, easy and in short sessions. Excellent for working on new things!
So here is the section of Fido’s we used:
Out sheep first had to be moved quietly out of the Large Field and down into the sorting pens next to the Round Pen. The easiest course would have been to go down through the Round Pen, but i wanted to also work in the alley a bit. In our Ranch trial she was purposefully off contact and this was a good time to work on that. I started her doing some show slow fetches in the alley way. It’s not comfortable for her as she’s not a fan of fences, but the more we do exercises like this the more comfortable she gets. I had her working hard at doing gates properly and consistently. So pushing the sheep off, going out wide and bringing them in through the gate appropriately (read: slow, controlled and not trying to run me over tks).
I purposely chose to use the center sorting pen. It provided the least amount of fence assistance, had a little grass and water and it is the sorting pen Molly hates. Perfect. 
I started with something that used existing skills; the repen. The hard thing about a a repen with little fence assistance is that she has to stop in exactly the right place of the sheep will end up somewhere else. Usually behind me. And they did that a number of times. I found it helpful to anticipate their motion by a few seconds (and insert a few sheepprayers) and then i finally got her stopped where i needed her and all noses pointing the right way. Not consistently, but enough that she was starting to get the groove and intention.
The next little project was removing the sheep from the pen. Remember she hates this pen and would prefer not to go into it. The possibility that she might try to use a different tool – like eye- and cheat is very good. And the first time i just sent her in using her commands to see what she’d do and sure enough she stood on the outside of the pen and turned on the eye and out the sheep came. While that’s a helpful tool, we needed to have other skills. Can’t always cheat like that. I slipped my finger under her collar and said ‘come’ as we walked together going the Comebye (clockwise) direction slowly. She still turned on the eye, but after the third time i didn’t have to hold her collar. I let go of her collar and stood behind the gate about the 4th or 5th time and she started to go in on her own. I didn’t really give her a directional command and she chose the Away (counterclockwise) direction. I thought this was interesting as it’s her stronger side, but not the side i was instructing her on. Oddly enough in looking back, the way the pen is designed one could argue it is the better direction to go. Then she pushed them out, paused for a moment and went out and returned them on command. Not smooth or with a ton of confidence, but enough that she wasn’t ragged or crazy. She’s not especially strong on her Bye side, and we’ll work on that more next weekend as time allows.
I’m super proud of her. She’s not happy in hot weather, but she didn’t try to quit or blow things up. She got the job and stuck with it.
Strange for an Aussie like Molly to think that she knows better than her handler.
She’s an amazing little black dogs and I don’t blame her for not liking the heat. I don’t like it and I’m not wearing a black fur coat. Go Molly and Amy!
It is really surprising about how much the heat makes these guys pout. I’ve been purposefully working Z in the hotter parts of the day either on sheep or on bike rides. You never know when you might draw the mid day run. Yuck, I have a hard time thinking in it too.