A variety of things have kept me away. None which are all that important, but now that things have settled down I hope to keep active posts again or finally. I guess it depends on how you think of it.
Last weekend I finally got back on sheep with Scot. Terry Parrish had a clinic near Murrieta this past weekend. It was on doing the AKC A Course. It was an outstanding experience. You can see some photos here.
All three groups, Advanced, Intermediate and Started were all included and each handler got 3 runs with plenty of tips and critique included. Scot and I are in Started otherwise known as beginners. Our first run was choppy and full of handler mistakes. Second run was solidly better as I began to remember what I was supposed to be doing and was better able to watch sheep more and Scot less.
The third run was nearly flawless. My only real mistake was keeping Scot too still. I would have had points deducted for him losing contact or nearly losing contact. But otherwise it went great. I got better at remembering to give the commands a fraction BEFORE Scot needed it as well as just generally relaxing on course. Scot needs the commands earlier than I had to with Beag because he is so fast that I have to anticipate where he’ll be versus where I want him by the time I get the command out and it registers.
Now I just need to get some practice in and remember to actually register for a trial or three.
See you there!