I have a young bitch to get ready for the Nursery
finals. Purdy is a love child: the product of a mismate between
Kate Broadbent's Salt and my Roz. She was born at the end of April, an
awkward Nursery time. This year, I knew I would not get to training
her over the summer, her heat in early May was prime for July pups, so I bred
her. Career sidelined by motherhood, just like Roz. I left her at
home to help with sheep moves, while I went west. Now that I am back, I
have started onto her in earnest, twice a day, if I can fit it in, meaning get
home before dark. Over two weeks, she goes left and right freely with
a good feel for her sheep. Her flanks are confused from time to time, but
she is new to it and I have patience.
She stops, never down, always on her feet. She cheats a
little, taking extra steps after my stop and pirouettes on her own to turn in
the other direction, before I ask her to do. Sometimes I think that's clever, but sometimes
annoying. She has no shortage of gas, being quite bossy with everything I
show her.
Bobby Dalziel came to town last week. I took a
lesson from him. One of his suggestions with her, was to stop gathering
altogether and just drive. Drive, just as she starts a training session,
while she is fresh. The reasoning was that she was proficient at
gathering, but what needed work was to stop her "twitching". That is how he referred to her, stepping from
foot to foot, fussing like a young horse. Twitching. I have taken his advice.
For the last couple of days, I have driven. She has taken it all right, but when I see pressure cracks,
I let her do little gathers to please her.
My control of her has improved, although I wonder if it would have, just
because I was working her everyday. The
Bobby advice was paid advice, so I think I will take it for the time
being. Driving on and on with a
youngster is pushing the envelope to me.
A little rub against the grain.
However, who am I, to question the word of the great Dalziel.
I was never doing big outruns with her anyway. I like to get things in hand before I stretch
them out. I will just forge ahead with
the driving a little more quickly than I
would have done, left to my own devices.
While I was getting ready for work, I routinely leave all
my dogs loose, until I depart. Purdy was
nowhere to be seen when I was putting all the dogs away. I left, alerting a few about my missing
dog,even called the dog catcher and the pound, just in case. I have been anxious about her all day. Just a short while ago, Don Whittington
called to say he found her where I tied her up this morning.