A Great Dog Training Day.

Yesterday was a great dog training day. I was lucky enough to be off at noon and was able to enjoy the great weather. It was wonderful.

I took the dogs for an extra long walk at Park Lake (and narrowly missed being caught with 6 dogs off leash. lol). And then went herding.

I am feeling sort of stuck with Brit right now. She is and always has been a dog with limits. She doesn't take pressure well at all, and things need to be taught slowly and carefully to ensure that she understands. Herding is full of pressure, and grey areas. So it's tough for a dog like Brit. But we have done amazing things so far- things that even my trainer didn't think she'd be able to do. So I have hope that we can continue to move forward. But driving is hard when there seems to be this magical line that she can't/won't cross to push them forward.

Anyway, so because of our recent struggles I've gone back and am working on different things for a bit. Open flanks on the fetch for one, and a quicker stop. And my timing. So yesterday was great for Brit because she was confident on each thing I asked her to do. So we were both happy.

Leo is learning to drive. And so we worked on that mostly, with a few inside flank drills on the side. We also worked on keeping calm with the actual farm work portion of the day. It's his job to help me sort the ram from the ewes. I won't even attempt that with Brit because the ram always puts up a fight. Because of that Leo goes in- you guessed it- looking for a fight. So we went slow, and I kept him well off the stock and it was very smooth and calm. Perfect. He's a good boy mostly.

I also did some dogwalks outside at my friends- the snow and ice had melted mostly. I was happy to see that he was able to generalize somewhat from the place we normally train to this one. Our contact training is taking forever- he is so smart and would have it down pat already if I was doing it more. Cannot wait for spring!

The rest of the afternoon was spent doing little things with the other dogs. Wicca is LOVING the nose work. I mean, she's very good and is quite driven to find it. Pixel worked on some obedience, and Vito and Boone did some recall games in the backyard. Phew.

And if that's not busy enough Tuesday nights is my actual agility night- so Leo did his first few full teeters! His targeting is so good! I am looking forward to seeing how it transfers to a more exciting environment!

And that's a wrap, of a good dog training day.