Just a quick Scribble

I'm just going to write a few things down and hopefully expand on them as I digest them.

The Bluegrass was amazing.  If you have ever wanted to go, just go you will not regret it.  The car ride however was meh.

So what I learned:

To let go of my ego
To expect perfection
To practice non-judgement and play the game moment to moment

I'm starting to become the handler I want to be.

Homework for dog training:
Gears- we have fast and stop but we need a little in between
Range sheep-need to work on more difficult sheep to improve my timing and keep the dog's work sharp
Cross drive- need to sharpen this up but with gears it should come together pretty quick
Terrain- need to work in places that aren't flat
Must gain a little more control over the dog when he's on the far side of the fetch panels, seems to be a deaf zone between the lift the the fetch panels.
Distance-must get him working a bit more farther behind the sheep.

What I liked about my runs:

My dog moved and controlled every packet of sheep we drew-4 of  our runs were on TX range sheep and 2 runs were on Vergil Holland's very cranky farm flock.  Verigil's sheep had been trialled on two weekends in a row, before coming to the Bluegrass.  He took control right away and moved the sheep down the fetch line, beautiful cover at the top.

Last 2 runs no points off outrun or lift-sent him every day to the come bye side which is his least favored side.

My dog tried hard every run, listened well and the things we had been working most on in training came through even under big pressure.

I worked every element of the run trying to keep as many points as possible without beating myself up over what had already been lost.  I kept my act together every run for the whole run.

I gave necessary corrections and backed off the minute Z reacted and adjusted. Less talk more whistle-we made that happen.