I first headed out to the Swanson field on Sunday, May 17th to work dogs. I had Tes hold the sheep and had to encourage Corbie out and around the sheep. Then I flanked her around the sheep a bit. Cash did fine and picked the sheep up off of Tes and Grover. I took Corbie back out and she picked the sheep up off of Grover too, but I did stay closer and kept it "happy" for her.
Since Wendy Peters was going to be at Bill and Mary's, to pick up her puppy, I headed out there on Sunday, May 24th to have her hold sheep for me. Corbie absolutely would not go out there to pick up sheep off of her. So I ended up walking the whole way out and then flanking her around the sheep with Wendy standing there with me. I did finally get her to do that. It is frustrating when I watch her start out beautifully and then just freeze when she sees that someone is out there.
Now Cash would go out and pick up the sheep off of Wendy so I think that he will be fine. Until I get the chance to work Corbie again on June 20th I won't know what she will be like. At least she will be out of heat by that time. Wendy is coming back up to Bill and Mary's to pick up another puppy. So that will be another good test for both of them. There is always something to work on.
One thing that Wendy noticed with Cash is that he is not tucking the ends in on his sheep. So when we were out at Bill and Mary's this past weekend helping with vaccinating, ear tagging, etc their lambs we also worked dogs. I worked Cash on the big group so that he learned that he had to go around all of the sheep and not leave any behind. Also, I wanted him to keep the sheep together and to think about keeping them together. I did not bring Corbie out with us as she was still in heat.
At home on Sunday I worked both him and Corbie on just doing walk abouts. That way they would learn to keep their sheep together. Corbie does fine with that, Cash had to work at it a bit. I also worked both of them on their flanks and off balance flanks.
So, if anyone reading this has any ideas, just let me know. Thanks.
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