Outside of doing chores twice a day , we haven't been setting up a specific practice session where we go out and bring the sheep to a larger area to work on 'lessons'
The calves have picked up the chore routine in just a few feeds so now I have to be abit creative in how I go about doing chores so it's a training session for Quade and not just a 'routine' (... remember 'The 5 Principles' )
For those that wish they had stock outside their door to work dogs but travel to someone for lessons ever wk or so....the bonus is...you have someone making sure you dont fall into 'complacent' work. For those of us with stock as a daily routine...it's not uncommon for our minds to be on something else while doing chores
and / or take a few short cuts to get the job done....not hard to lose what finese you have on your dog if you arent mindful that each time you take your dog to stock to make it 'good stock work'...We set the criteria so dont accept anything less.
There still a lesson that can be found in each element...all starting as
you go out the door with your dog at your side before you open any gates. That's one lesson.The second lesson is how you walk through your gate and making it black & white each time.And the list goes on , however a person wants to break it down.
We've got several gates that we can enter the pens so makes for setting up & sending the dog different ways.Some pens lead into another one that isnt being used ( holding pens ) so I have a few options to incorporate when it comes to chore time. We can certainly work on our take pen work...teaching the dog how to enter properly,
the drop at the back fence so stock can quietly walk out should go a long way in doing Take Pens at trials.
Last few days I've been moving my Electra Net fence around in the neighbors summerfallow field to eat the green growth before he gets time to spray it. With the price of hay this year, I'm trying to delay when I start using my hay supply so grazing the sheep where ever there is anything green. The fence is pretty slick
to use with a solar power source....can set it up anywhere's I can spike the fence posts into the ground...no moisture in the ground makes it feel like cement most days.
Quade holds the sheep in the one open wing while I move a section and re spike it....takes awhile for me to do it and I'm too far away for verbal commands so the onus is on Quade to be responsible for covering/holding the sheep from the get go. We get in abit of driving the sheep off the open wing before we move the next section of fence and repeat the process with the hold until I can join the two ends.
That patience work we did this summer is paying off...glad we made the time to do it.
I see a more seasoned dog over the summer at home...now to take the dog 'I see' at home to the trials.
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