Herding

Iris had a herding lesson last weekend. She hasn't had a lesson in a while, but she was great! The field was really muddy and Iris did not want to down in the mud. Such a princess! Colleen has me step on Iris' leash when she won't down. The first time I did it, she spread her legs way out and was as close to a down as she could get without her belly actually touching the ground. Goofy dog!

We worked on walk up and out, and Iris was having a little trouble focusing on her stock. I'd walk her up near the sheep, wait for her to look at the stock, and then have her out. When we walked up, she was so busy trying to supervise everything - cars on the other side of the field, sheep in different pens, etc.

We also worked on get around and fetching. Iris is getting much better about changing direction for get around. There's still one direction that she really prefers. I think it's clockwise? But overall, she's a lot better. For fetching, I walk around the pen and it's Iris' job to bring the sheep to me. She's really starting to get the hang of it. She has to switch her direction back a forth behind the sheep so that she doesn't circle around behind me. Iris still wants to nip at the sheep's heels, but Colleen pointed out that there really isn't any malice in Iris' nips. She's not biting them hard. Eventually, we will get Iris to work further away from the sheep, but right now it's more important that Iris stay engaged.

Overall, I thought it was a great lesson, especially considering how long it's been since Iris has seen sheep. She wasn't doing as many "fly-bys" as she's done in the past, and was much more willing to stay working with the sheep. By the end of the lesson, we we both COVERED in mud, but I had a very happy (and tired) Aussie dog.