trainings

We have been quite busy for the last few days ... all sort of trainings. The most exciting trainings happened on Saturday and Sunday!

On Saturday, we went to Dial Post to do "Sheep Herding". This was just an introduction training, mainly to see if the dogs are interested in the sheep and have the instinct to herd. I put a lot of hope in Sing as when he was a puppy, he has a very strong herding instinct, he tried to herd the wild ponies when we were in Dartmoor and jump into the freezing cold water to herd the ducks in Wimbledon Common. Obviously we do not like this to happen again, so we "control" him whenver we go out walking in the country. He gradually learned that he is not allow to "chase" them over the years and on Saturday, when we showed him the sheep, he wasn't very interesed in them! He did have a good look at them but decided he rather be obedient!!

I was glad we have two go, so on the second go, I decided to give Saturn a go to see if he has any interest in the sheep. When the other dogs were working, I let him watch them. At first, he didn't know what is going on but when he saw the sheep moving, his vision changed. He was hyper and keen, so when our turn came, I took him in the pen. He dragged me towards the sheep and I let him go off the lead and he charged towards the sheep. The good thing is whatever he did, he did not harm any of sheep. For the 10-14 minutes session, he did not lose his attention on the sheep.

As this was just an introduction, so there is no skill or handling involved and I have never work sheep before. (To be honest, I was very scared of the sheep when I was in there!) I have no idea how to encourage him to work, so I let him get on with himself and occasssionally talk to him. I think he was proud of himself and sometimes he jumped up on my arm for priase!

I take that as a good start and I am thinking to persue a 6 weeks course to see how we get on. Colin has taken the videos but the files are too big (755MB) and I am struggling to upload and post them. I have tried to compress them but my program kept disconnect and fail to finish the compression. Unfortunately there is no photo at all, so to all my friends who kept asking me about the training, please be patient, I will try my best to upload the video, somehow!

On Sunday, we went to Bernadette for a Team training with Sing. We tried different runs and eventhough Sing wasn't accurate but we enjoyed the training very much and that gives me something to think about and focus on with Sing.

I will have today and tomorrow off but from Wednesday on, I will have more trainings everyday until Saturday and Sunday we are going to C Side.