Herding Lesson

Iris had a herding lesson on the 5th. Actually, it was a pretty full day for her. We went to a horse show in the afternoon (Iris was crated in the car in the shade) and had a lesson at 5 pm.

Iris did do better than last time. First, we worked on driving to try and build interest. Then Diane had us walk straight up to the sheep in a corner (holding them still in one spot). Iris was on a short line and when we'd get close, I'd encourage Iris to look at the sheep. After she looked at the sheep for a few seconds, we turned and walked away. Taking Iris away from the pressure was her reward for focusing for a few seconds. We did quite a few repetitions of this, moving the sheep around to different corners of the pen.

Next we worked a little bit on fetching. Iris likes to dart in for a few seconds and then checks out again. This had been a chronic problem for Iris, but lately she checks out so much it's like she's quit completely. Diane had me get Iris interested and as soon as Iris started running around the sheep, I'd walk backwards toward the fence. Because Iris had already started going around, she'd end up on the opposite side of the sheep and bringing them to me. To keep Iris from checking out, I had her on a really long line that I looped around one sheep's neck. When the sheep started coming towards me, got tugged along behind them. I was walking backwards in a circle around the pen. I had trouble getting Iris to follow the sheep because she wanted to follow me instead. Because she was focused on me, Iris kept wanting to come inside too far, instead of walking directly behind the sheep. I tried to push her out more with the rake, but I didn't have much success trying to juggle the line around the sheep, the dog, and the rake. Oh well. At least she was "working." Or doing something beside eating sheep poop.

After Iris' lesson, I chatted for a bit with Diane. We ended up talking about Iris' epilepsy and her medications. Diane really thinks that the meds are affecting Iris' working ability. Damn. I've been suspecting the same thing. Iris just doesn't have the same focus she used to, especially since starting the Pb. Actually, she doesn't have the same focus for training in general. This last lesson was better than the previous. That previous lesson was only a few days after a round of seizures (and the medication changes that go with that). Even though I thought it had been long enough for Iris to be back to "normal," it clearly wasn't.

This last lesson was better. It was also later in the day, which is a factor we're going to experiment with. Iris normally gets her morning meds around 9 am. For a 10 am lesson, maybe she has more drugs in her system and is more spacey in general? She doesn't get her evening dose of keppra until 6 pm and her Pb until 9 pm. Maybe a 5 pm lesson has her more focused because she has less drugs in her system? I'm not even sure if AEDs work that way. I'll have to ask her vet. It is something to think about. Even if Iris never gets to the point where I could trial her, Diane pointed out that I'm learning a lot and I'll be a better handler for a future dog (Diane asked when I'm getting a puppy! Ha! My roommate would kill me if I brought home another crazy dog).

We have another lesson this Sunday at 6 pm. This Wednesday is also Iris' 4 week mark since her last round of seizures. We're cutting it close. If she has any seizures towards the end of the week, I'll cancel the lesson.