Driving Practice

Yesterday at Fido's we worked mainly on more driving.  Gears, distance behind the sheep and off pressure flanks too.  There was an L- chute in the middle of the field and I stood about 100 yards away.  We drove them up to one opening and put them through.  Z had to actually walk into the chute to make them go all the way through, which was hard for him to figure out.  He was very willing to listen and be patient.  Once they were going though smoothly in both directions we pushed them through the L and made a tight turns  to bring them back through the opening they had just come out.  We played all sorts of games.

As for his gears, he is actually beginning to back himself off if he gooses the sheep.  These sheep sometimes need to be hit firmly to get them going.  He was doing a nice job of being firm and then backing off.  He's really finding the place he needs to be to push but not bang on the back of them more and more.  this means things are getting smoother.

On the second session we worked a little bit on out run and fetch.  I figured out the his come bye flank is pretty weak.  On the fetch or drive I can send him  360 degrees around a stopped set of sheep on the away to me flank and he is so square those sheep don't move.  On the come bye flank they sheep move.  He slices this flank ever so slightly, enough that the sheep move and he gets closer and closer until he's on top of the sheep.  After this bit of observation I stood with the sheep and we did circle drills.  I pushed on his face every time I asked for a flank, making sure he was square.  Come bye got neater, but still needs some more work.  We worked some shedding as a reward for the boring drill.  He did a nice job hold singles.

So this is what we have been up to lately.