What a day!

Wow what a day!  I have been out with Spryte since 9:30 this morning, and arriving home at 5 pm tonight. It was a day full of doggie stuff and hanging out with friends.  The perfect way to spend a Sunday!

 Our day started with a scent hurdle practise at 10am.  I would love to say this went well, but that is far from the truth.  We had too many variables stacked up against us at this practise, and for a green dog it was just too much.

For one, when we arrived our team captain handed me a new, freshly painted (and very pretty in purple and pink) set of dumbbells.  Next the dumbbells were placed in the scent hurdle box,  a first for Spryte, AND we were at a new building that she had never been to before. 

So ultimately Spryte just wouldn't scent discriminate and seemed very confused.  I'm pretty sure she just didn't recognise the new dumbbells as "hers".  She has been very successful finding her original dumbbell out of a set of 4 dumbbells scented by other people at home in our building.  She was even having success with this when her arousal level rose, when adding jumps to the equation.  But when I brought her to a new building, placed the dumbbells on the box and asked her to find brand new dumbbells that she had never used before, well I was setting her up to fail.  When she couldn't find "her" original dumbbell she became very confused and started grabbing any dumbbell as if to say "is this it?" "no?" "ok, what about this one" "no again???" "well were is MY dumbbell then!!!!"  She just isn't experienced enough to find the one that smells like me no matter the other variables, she was just trying to find "her" dumbbell and it wasn't there. 

So what did I learn from all of this? Well first, I wont stress about her not finding the correct dumbbell, we'll work with the new ones and before long she will know that they are the ones I want her to find.  Next I need to start elevating her dumbbells on something to simulate the box. Third, like anything else in dog training, I need to take the show on the road.

So after that, I killed some time in the city and then off to try herding for Spryte's first time!  Herding is something that I really have no intentions of doing with my dogs. It takes a lot of dedication and time to train successfully in this sport, and I just don't have that much time for another doggie thing.  But some friends were going, so I thought "what the hell, it could be fun".

And it was fun!  Spryte completely shocked me by being very calm and under control.  I really thought she would just rush them barking, with her flag (tail) high in the air.  We have lived beside horses for 5 month now and she STILL rushes them at the fence barking and freaking out. I thought she would do the same with the sheep. Instead she followed them calmly, keeping them moving in a circle.  She only barked once or twice when  they got going a little fast. If I needed her to stop, she willingly listened to her down and waited until I released her back to the sheep.  Her pace was always appropriate to keep them moving at a decent speed, and she didn't get bored and she didn't give up. It was a pleasant surprise.  Will I go again?  I think so.  She had fun and so did I, so why not.

So now I am home and tired after a busy day, but happy to have spent it with dogs and friends, outside on a beautiful February day.  Life is good :)

A short video of Spryte's first time on sheep.