| 8/11/04 Trim…the sheepdog Last weekend we went to Debs. I have been very keen to put Trim back in with sheep since her 1st time at 6 months. I am so glad I waited, not only for her to mature a bit, but also to do it under Debs guidance. To begin, Deb took Trim in on Friday afternoon in a small square yard, with 3 sheep. Trim was extremely keen and quite confident. In that first session, she did a bit of gripping and also started flanking & even brought the sheep to balance a few times. She was more comfortable going one way than another, so after a rest, she was taken into a smaller round pen where she became comfortable going both ways. Next it was my turn…not with Trim but with Taryn, one of Debs young dogs who has been started but has not had a heap of training. I always thought herding was about teaching the dogs what to do. What I learnt very quickly, at this early stage in a small pen, is that the dogs are completely hard wired to do what is right and that I was the one who had to learn. We talked a bit about what would happen & then in I went with Taryn. It was utter chaos! I stood there like an idiot, all theory out the window as I watched Taryn chase the sheep wildly around the pen. It was like I was paralysed, no longer able to think and she quickly realized that she was getting no direction from me, so she took control. Finally I started to move, but mostly the wrong way & I kept finding myself stuck in a corner on the fence with nowhere to go. It was at this point that I realized that I needed a lot of work before I could even consider taking Trim in. On Saturday, we started again. Deb started with Trim and she was just as keen, (maybe more so) but also had a calmness about her that hadn’t existed the day before. Probably, like me, she had spent all night thinking about what she had done. She seemed to be working more and playing less. She was happily going both ways around the sheep and responding well to changes of direction. She started to come into balance and fetch the sheep to Deb. She still had bursts of “oh my god, this is so much fun” but was also starting to widen out a little around the sheep & became more comfortable going in to corners. My turn again. With a lot of discussions and diagrams, the evening before, I felt ready to try again. Throughout the day, I worked Taryn, Eve, Pepper, Bryte and Buddy. I definitely improved and by the end of the day I had real moments where I could “feel it”…I was working sheep. The dogs started responding to my change of direction and were really bringing the sheep to me. It’s very easy in a panicky situation to do what comes instinctively and that was usually to move in or to lean in. Throughout the course of the day, as my understanding of “balance” increased, my instincts changed and I started to release pressure, rather than give it and reward the dog by letting it come into balance, rather than moving the wrong way so that balance could never be achieved. I still had a long way to go, but felt like things were happening because I wanted them, rather than the dogs taking over. Again, a night of discussing and diagrams was to come. Overnight, like me, Trim must have done some more thinking. Again, she settled in and worked for Deb very nicely. Some refining was done and she started going out a little wider and responded very well to easing up on fetching the sheep and standing while holding them. Very nervously, I entered the yard with Trim. I had a few minutes of running around like a mad idiot but now I had seen her working calmly & confidently with Deb and I forced myself to calm down enough to get her working for me. Certainly not with the same confidence and finesse she had with Deb, but I now see that we’ll get there & that I will be able to work her without everything falling apart. Our herding weekend finished with me taking Taryn & Buddy back in. Buddy is old, slow and very calm but he is a very good teacher and a number of pennies dropped while I was in with him for those few minutes. I would have to say that my highlight was the last time I worked Taryn, it was a great note to finish on. While I am sure it was far far from perfect, I knew I was in control and it was a really inspiring feeling. I am just prouder than I could ever imagine of Trim. Right now, she is everything I could want in a dog and I think she and I are in for a very exciting journey over the next few years. If only I can do her exceptional talent justice. Thanks Deb, not only for letting me have this perfect little dog, but for giving me the tools to bring her to her full potential. |
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| Good Job Trim... That'll do! |
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| Click here for more photos of Trim working sheep |