Taking Inventory

Wayne out working Ricky this past fall

I took Ricky back out to the field yesterday to try again, but as we worked to get the sheep out to the field I took inventory, what was he doing, was it right, was he listening, was he obeying. I found three major issues that I needed to address, he was slipping to the left into a flank while driving, he was taking 3 - 4 extra steps when I asked for a stop when he was flanking to the left and when I called him to me he was not coming straight to me but rather bending telling me that he was not 100% committed to the recall and concerned about the sheep.

Before we ever got the sheep to the field I put my foot down on the sloppy recall, then I made sure that when I asked for a stop that he gave it to me, and I mean johnny on the spot. The third issue was taken care of when I dealt with other two. I felt like we were back on track and ready to roll.

I sent Ricky out on a outrun, he got around the sheep and listened 100% better when I asked him to stop. I had him cross drive the sheep, flank around to a different spot and drive again. I found that I was not happy with how he was breaking off of his sheep when he would initiate a flank, he was flat and not wanting to let go, so I got his case for it. Soon he let go and just floated out and around with alot of feel and very relaxed like he did for Marc down in Missouri and also how he was for me this past weekend at the clinic and fun day. You would think that he would handle the stock the same way from place to place, but he doesn't. He had developed a poor method here at home out in the field prior to leaving for Missouri and was reverting back to that method when he thought it was right.

I'm really looking forward to this summer and the upcoming demonstrations. I have a few trials that I would like to go to, but in all reality I'm not looking forward to them as much as I am the demos, we get so much more work at the demos. I really feel that the demonstrations give us an advantage at the trials and also help me to build confidence with my dog and my dog gains confidence and trust in me. I've come to the conclusion that the demonstration and real work that we accomplish are the cake any trial success that we have this summer will simply be the icing on the cake.

We are also looking forward to hosting a Marc Christopher Training Seminar June 4-5th here at our place in North Central Iowa, I will be posting information and the flyer to our website soon. Marc has been instrumental in our success with our dogs both from a training and breeding direction. When we met Marc 4 years ago this coming May, our first Border Collie, Jake was just a pup and we were clueless as to what it took to get around the trial field. Wayne knew how to use dogs out on the ranch and how to get them to be useful, but he had never dreamed that it was possible to do the things that we do with a dog now.

Our website is http://www.waynescustomleather.com/

Marc's Website is http://www.christophertraining.com/