I Have My Beatcake Back :)

So I finally got Cedar back from Dianne... thank god! I missed her desperately this week. Yes... I KNOW I'm way too attached to her; what ya gonna do about it? :D Dianne said that she worked really well this week, and that she was starting to get a lot more comfortable in small spaces, which was the goal of sending her away for a week. I worked her out in the open field today, and could totally see a difference in her. She was a lot softer, more confident, and less likely to panic and cut in. She did some good sized outruns with me really far from the sheep, and took my "get out!" corrections sensibly. I just have such a problem with trusting her.... I really need to get over that. I don't seem to have that problem when I work Moss.

Moss was most excellent today, as usual. His driving is really coming along; I can walk parallel to him about 40+ feet away, and he keeps his head and does a good job at keeping the sheep on line without me having to say a whole lot. Where we had trouble today was with the outruns; I think he's getting so used to driving that he's forgotten temporarily how to bring the sheep back to me :-P. But we worked on that some today, and he figured it out towards the end. I love when Dianne just lets me loose to work my dogs and figure stuff out on my own. I know my timing sucks, but I like being able to just go out and work.

I really wish I had my own place wish some sheep so that I could do a little of this stuff every day with both my dogs. I think Cedar in particular would benefit from doing a lot of practical work. She's really coming around, though... and I think I will for sure be able to trial her next year. I am so glad to have her back... I can't believe how empty the house was without her here! She's laying at my feet as I type this...