What goes up, must come down

Went to Dianne's again today for a lesson. The first work was better than the second, but (at the risk of sounding redundant) I really do think we are making some progress.

1) Her outrun was fantastic today! She was calm, extremely wide, and took my corrections very well. We did some very long outruns on both sides, and she seems to be getting much more confident with herself. She slowed nicely at the top and covered the large number of sheep we were working very nicely. I sent her from my feet (albeit not from very far away) several times and she only dove in once. It was probably my fault.

2) Driving is getting a little better, to the best of my knowledge anyway! I feel the need to reiterate that I don't know what the HELL I'm doing, but at least we got some straight lines and I think Cedar is starting to get more of a feel for what it takes to calmly move the sheep. Slowing my walk down helped a LOT.... thanks Dianne! The few times she got away from me, it was because I let her get too far ahead of me. At least I'm learning.

3) Apparently Dianne still thinks we'll be ready for the February Red Top Trial.

I'm skeptical.

4) I guess Dianne thinks we need /are ready to start working on off-balance stuff, which is kind of exciting! Apparently this will help our driving, but I couldn't tell you how.

This is such a freaking "process!"

P.S. Saw Moss today, he's looking great! He gave me more puppy kisses and tried to follow me out of the living room. He's up on his feet now and walking pretty steadily. Here's a photo that Jodi took of him today: