Porsche, Vala and I made the reasonably short trek to Fort Saskatchewan (only about 90 minutes to Lyn's place) for our first herding lesson...though I'm not quite sure it could be called a lesson - more like a comedy of errors? I think the only thing I did right was to NOT trip over the sheep and land on my ass...I saved that trick for Lesson #2 - but more on that later!
We met Lyn, checked out the round pen where we were going to start working, said hello to the sheep and then got started. Poor sheep! LOL
Actually, it wasn't so bad considering that I didn't really have any idea what I was supposed to be doing and only a vague idea about what Porsche was supposed to be doing. Luckily, Porsche has some natural talent and Lyn has lots of patience, and I picked up a few things that day. Mostly, trust your damn dog. :)
So Porsche did well for her first lesson, got over her excitement about seeing sheep again and settled into some actual work. We still need work on our stops, but as all things in life, it's a work in progress.
Then came Vala's turn. With Porsche having seen stock before, I had some idea of what to expect (i.e. I knew she wasn't going to eat the sheep!) but with Vala I had no freaking idea and was more than a bit apprehensive. On top of that, Vala's no retiring flower - she spotted those sheep and was pulling on the leash to go check them out. Eek!
Lyn, trusting in my dog (and in the fact the round pen wasn't that big and I had running shoes on) said, "Just let her off the leash". ....Gulp!
So, I let Vala off the leash and stepped into the middle of the round pen with my stock stick and said a silent prayer...Please don't eat the sheep...Please don't eat the sheep...
Well, she didn't eat the sheep, but Vala SURE was excited! She circled the sheep, faster and faster. You could just see her little brain work..."If I go faster, THEY go faster!!!" It took a few minutes, but Vala settled down and then was able and willing to take some direction, changing directions and learning her new least favorite word...OUT!!!
Even though Vala had a lot of excitement/energy and worked too close and too fast, Lyn thought she showed a lot of promise and encouraged us to continue...and so we will!
Overall it was a very good experience, just a lot for my brain to put together. The girls did great and I learned something...how could it not be a good day!?
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