So I went to Dianne's on Tuesday for a lesson. I really think that the bad/frustrating lesson on my birthday actually turned things around for us. Cedar is thinking much more, and seems to be working with a purpose now, if that makes sense. Cedar never dove in and split, and didn't grip once! There's a milestone for ya! We worked on a lot of the same stuff, but I started being much more authoritative and really getting after her for not walking up straight behind her sheep. It seemed to work; after I got in a couple good corrections for her going to fast/flanking around/being too close, she stayed much further off her sheep and made intelligent choices. I knew she had it in her somewhere.... :D
.... but I guess Cedar's improvement probably has a lot to do with the fact that *I* am making more intelligent choices as of late.
I only worked Cedar once at that lesson because she worked so well the first time. However, I hung out for a couple hours and watched Rhonda and Katy work Belle and Scout, watched Dianne work a couple dogs drank some Chelada, and had a great (but COLD) time. OMG my feet were so freezing by the end! Dianne also let me work Annie, which was really fun. I drove her basically all the way to the road, messed around with some direction changes, and did a couple outruns. Annie is so great, I want one just like her! haha. She's really patient, sweet, and really talented too. She gave me time to kind of figure out what the hell I was doing. Working different dogs will only make me a better trainer and handler in the future. Thanks, Dianne!
I guess this is sort of Thanksgiving-ish (yeah yeah I know it's more Halloween, but it's cute)... baby Cedar in her pumpkin costume:
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