I got over to the farm about 9;30 and he was already working with 2 guys that were there with there beginner dogs. The dogs had never been on livestock before so it took a while to get them turned on. Pretty much all day. THey were not young pups but young dogs. He started them on goats and with his dog Hank to move the livestock around to get the dogs interested. If the men were more animated, it wouldn't have taken so long to turn the dogs on, but men are men.
Dually and Edge worked parts of the A and B course all day. I worked on trying to position the dog so that on coming to panel 1 the goats are closer to the edge fence and not the panel. When they are closer to the exterior fence, they tend to go farther back to the back fence and not get hung up on the panels. timing timing timing. And then I had to work on the away flank to the fence so that the stock would release and continue on the crossdrive hopefully staying up on the back fence. Coming to Panel 2 , we worked on flanking the dog to the back fence at the right place so when the stock came out , it headed directly towards the center obstacle.
Also worked both dogs on take pens and Dually on retaining control and setting up the drive after the take pen. Continued to work on pulling the dog out on the drive to the panels and used bamboo poles and 2 of us to set the lane for him to work in. That was with Edge who handled the pressure of that very well. Last year, nobody could be in the arena with him or he would quit so he is handling lots of pressure now.
Kathy asked me if he was finished yet, and was surprised to learn he is not even started yet. Probably will start him this year, but I was hoping to finish him in a weekend and right now I can't find a 3 day weekend coming up .
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