Saturday, January 2, 2010

Herding Lesson Plus... and Grooming Session

Saturday morning Grace had a herding lesson. She continues to be much calmer around the sheep. Much better about walking, downing, and waiting. If I don't get her out and around the sheep far enough she still dives in and I get a pool table cue ball break from the sheep. We tested her "Come By" and "Away to Me" directions - standing in a neutral position when we asked her to move from a balanced position. Her direction understanding was better than Linda thought it might be but she still prefers "Away" if her vote counts.

Linda spent a few minutes working some obedience concepts with her. We tugged, dropped the tug, gave a down command, and marked the down verbally and quickly threw the toy for Grace to grab. She really liked learning commands this way.... I see some stands coming from this also. The small stuffed toy lasted about 5 minutes. Linda then worked on getting Grace to let her do Novice Obedience Stand for Exam touches WITHOUT TALKING. It took lots of patience from both Linda and Grace but Grace did let Linda examine her.

In the evening I watched a herding training video while I brushed out dogs. Dogs with Frodo (the Hobbit of literary fame) foot cases got trims. I also trimmed up long hair around ears, etc. They each still need more trimming but at least everyone looks much better.