Lynn...late maturing. That was the name of the game with this little girl :)
Coming off of Gator, who at 2 1/2 had his ADCH...well...I had expectations.
Stupid expectations...
Hind site 20/20 I would have just let her be for that first year. Run around...do nothing but be a dog. And when we started working sheep she would have bonded to me. The ultimate reward and relationship builder for a Border Collie...working stock. It's an amazing thing.
BUT...I didn't. And I had some struggles along the way. HOWEVER...she was just what I needed to grow as a trainer and a dog owner. Once I realized what was going on...I backed off...less expectations, less training, more just enjoying her as the dog she was. No worries.
I wouldn't call Lynn soft, she is for sure not that...but she is a thinker. I embraced that. Trained that dog--My Sheldon of sorts. And enjoyed watching her figure things out. With confidence, came less thinking :) I learned to make things VERY VERY clear, follow steps to not be a lumper but a splitter when it came to new behaviors. Now...she is evolving into a dog that sometimes doesn't think at ALL on course :-) And I am OK with it.
This little dog, who I really had to work on to build that relationship, due to her extremely independent nature...is probably the dog I am closest to...she's my shadow, constantly with me. And I wouldn't have it any other way.
That thinking that sometimes works against me in agility, is a GODSEND in herding. She figures things out, she gets what I want her to do...she's as tough as nails when it comes to a ewe standing her ground...I couldn't ask for more from her. I need to get some video! She's just a lovely little dog, brings her sheep a BIT too fast, and a BIT too into their space...but that's OK. I want that :) Thinking has it's advantages and I wouldn't take that away from her.
In fact...I wouldn't change anything about Lynn---sure faster maturity would have been nice, HOWEVER...the lessons it taught me were invaluable. I could recognize it in my students dogs. But I failed to see it in my own dog. Thanks for that Lynn :)
We went to a trial this weekend, Lynn finished up her JM...only 1 Standard and 2 Gamblers legs for ADCH. Really? OK..wow. Her team also got 2nd and she ran like a trooper, winning classes, placing in others. I love running her!
Coming off of Gator, who at 2 1/2 had his ADCH...well...I had expectations.
Stupid expectations...
Hind site 20/20 I would have just let her be for that first year. Run around...do nothing but be a dog. And when we started working sheep she would have bonded to me. The ultimate reward and relationship builder for a Border Collie...working stock. It's an amazing thing.
BUT...I didn't. And I had some struggles along the way. HOWEVER...she was just what I needed to grow as a trainer and a dog owner. Once I realized what was going on...I backed off...less expectations, less training, more just enjoying her as the dog she was. No worries.
I wouldn't call Lynn soft, she is for sure not that...but she is a thinker. I embraced that. Trained that dog--My Sheldon of sorts. And enjoyed watching her figure things out. With confidence, came less thinking :) I learned to make things VERY VERY clear, follow steps to not be a lumper but a splitter when it came to new behaviors. Now...she is evolving into a dog that sometimes doesn't think at ALL on course :-) And I am OK with it.
This little dog, who I really had to work on to build that relationship, due to her extremely independent nature...is probably the dog I am closest to...she's my shadow, constantly with me. And I wouldn't have it any other way.
That thinking that sometimes works against me in agility, is a GODSEND in herding. She figures things out, she gets what I want her to do...she's as tough as nails when it comes to a ewe standing her ground...I couldn't ask for more from her. I need to get some video! She's just a lovely little dog, brings her sheep a BIT too fast, and a BIT too into their space...but that's OK. I want that :) Thinking has it's advantages and I wouldn't take that away from her.
In fact...I wouldn't change anything about Lynn---sure faster maturity would have been nice, HOWEVER...the lessons it taught me were invaluable. I could recognize it in my students dogs. But I failed to see it in my own dog. Thanks for that Lynn :)
We went to a trial this weekend, Lynn finished up her JM...only 1 Standard and 2 Gamblers legs for ADCH. Really? OK..wow. Her team also got 2nd and she ran like a trooper, winning classes, placing in others. I love running her!
She keeps getting faster, she keeps getting pushier :) I am loving it! We are having those"in the zone" runs where we are connected. I am getting more confident with the running dogwalk...sure we still have bobbles here and there, but whatta girl.
It's amazing how changing your perspective about something makes all the difference. From "Why isn't she ready" to "I'll help her grow into a great dog"...makes an entire shift :)
Of all the photos of her doing agility this past weekend...the only one I purchased was this one...
It's just everything that I love about Lynn...all rolled up into one picture :) Happy dog.
That's all I really need her to be, is a happy dog :)
And she's turned out to be so much more...
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4 comments:
Great video! Thanks for sharing!
really great video and love haring your thoughts on what you might have done differently, but boy dogs that push us really turn out to be such treasures. I know Agape, a auntie of my Cricket, my Crickets younger sister is Agape sister Lyric, not that that means much, LOL. great post and thanks for posting videos, you guys are a lot of fun to watch
You are welcome Taryn :) I am always amazing people read the blog! LOL
Kathy--thanks! It IS a small world isn't it? Agape is a cool little girl, we had a lot of fun running with them!
I love this post too! It is terrific to see the team that you and Lynn have become!
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