Have just spent the weekend with my Kelpie "Tess" at a working dog school, a very interesting experience. This is our first school and getting organised for it felt like going on a magical mystery tour, the actual destination only being revealed the day before. The effect was further heightened by rising at 4 AM and travelling through the dark and mist, heavily populated by wild things (heaps of young fox cubs moving about and dead on the road), to meet up with two of my sheep friends who were also attending.
The teaching
Tess and I learnt so much, the teacher, Robert is very skilled at reading both dogs and people, and soon had us in the yard, working on "first pattern", this quickly showed my deficiencies. I was not "owning" the sheep and was letting the dog work between me and the sheep. This is the basis of all the problems I have had when working the dog in the paddock, and now I understand this, I can work on rectifying it. Amazing how much easier it is to see someone's problem when you are leaning on the railing, not so easy when you are in the yard.
The practice.
I had been going to take the pup "Missy" with me but noticed she was on heat just before we left. I could have been the least popular student if I had had her in tow.
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