A Herding We Will Go...

Donna, Sarah, Myself and doggies: Zip, Klink, Even, Lynn, Spot and Reese (yes 6) all piled into the minivan and headed down to Nebraska for a 3 day Kathy Knox clinic...I am hanging out in the hotel room this evening...trying to make notes on everything...whew...the brain is ALREADY full of great things...

A great group of people...lots of talented dogs...and a great instructor...what more could you want?

A group of us, all listening intently :) That is Lynn...taking notes... :)I always get a ton out of the clinics...lots of little things that I try to keep in my brain...so I write them down...making lots of notes along the way. Klink ran BEAUTIFULLY today...she is definitely ready for Pro-Novice...lovely work, great whistles, so happy with her. She was falling a TINY bit in on the end of her Come Bye flank on the cross drive...so Kathy as able to have me work with her a bit on that and it cleaned right up. She is such a fun dog to run and we are really becoming a team.
Lynn...I was mentioning before about her not covering completely on her Come Bye side, only when in the big field...so to the field we went from the start. I was thinking I was putting too much pressure on her...she would get "worried" and then I freaked...thinking it was my deal and I was going to ruin her. Kathy informed me that Lynn had my number, she sulked a bit, I gave in, she won. What?!?! Really?? Sigh...

Yep...really...a few good corrections and she was covering just fine, she did try to sulk a bit, but I just ignored her and she was great. See...another pair of qualified eyes is a GOOD thing :) I can't wait to work her tomorrow to see what else we get accomplished!Lots of good work done by both dogs...and my friend Sarah was very nice and took these pictures of them working. Thanks Sarah!! I don't have time to post all of them as I want to sleep this evening, but just thought I would share a few. I also realized I really don't care for round pens...I feel pressure in them, and I do weird things...things I wouldn't do out in the field...will need to work on that.

Trust my dog, trust my dog, trust my dog. Correct and then let it go. WATCH YOUR SHEEP (which I do need constant reminders on---how sad). Move OUT, Don't get so caught up in if the dog is following the command you gave it that you fail to see what the sheep are telling the dog, Slightest Change, Smallest Try...good good stuff... It was also neat seeing how far I have come in my education on sheepdogs...things I wasn't able to grasp at the last clinics I was able to see and figure out. Explanations were clearer, not do to Kathy saying them any differently, but I was more mature in my understanding. My dogs have more training, more polish and I could see a lot more in them. I am so ready for Day 2... I am not sure if I will be able to retain all of it...I really would love to have Kathy up for a clinic in Minnesota...there are several people who would come to it I know....hopefully I will get a chance to talk with her about it...crossing my fingers.
"Butt" for now I am off to bed :) Good Night!