Amanda: training Purdy

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 drivinga 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.