Thursday, December 29, 2011

Herding, Lesson 2

Yesterday Irie had her second herding lesson. Wow, what a difference a month+ makes. At her first lesson Diane said she showed sustained interest in the ducks, but she really just watched them and moved them slightly. This lesson she was VERY interested, and had a blast moving those duckies around.

The first time in the pen we let her move the ducks by herself, just to see what she would do.


There was a 15 week old Boxer there for a lesson, as well, so we put Irie up in the car and watched him work. He was quite awesome!

The second time Irie went in the round pen, Diane started to tell me what she wanted me to do and then asked if I would prefer she go in. With Bug I would almost always say "no." In this instance I said, "YES!" I would much prefer Irie have a very positive experience then deal with me being stressed and fumbling to be in the right spot. We can do that later! ;)



At the end of the lesson Irie walked the ducks in to their kennel.



Diane also went over the dry work we can be working on at home, including getting the pups used to the rake. I am SO happy Irie isn't phased by the rake at ll. She respects it, but does not think it is a big deal at all. I am happy that pressure sensitivity is not something we will have to work on. We will have to work on a steady flat-footed walk-up. As you can see in the video her natural stride is a bit exuberant!

Diane's sheep are due to lamb in January, but if the weather holds we are planning on a lesson in about a month.

I am so excited about this girlie. She is just a joy and, although I am biased, I feel like she really has the little extra intangible you cannot put a word to.

1 comment:

Kathy Mocharnuk said...

Irie is soooo cute, and gosh it is ssoooooo neat to see her herding, she is amazing, I bet you had so much fun and were so excited. THANKS so much for posting video, it is really so much fun to watch!!!