See this little dog here? Doesn't she look like she's saying "what next, Boss?"? Don't let her fool you, this one may be Satan incarnate. One moment, she's clever, flanking nice, putting her best foot forward. Next minute, she's got sheep wool dripping from her mouth.
This dog may be the death of me.
A glutton for punishment, Ms. Jet is entered in the Tonopah, Arizona March Madness trial as a non-compete run. Like our previous Ranch run in Snowbirds, we are going just for the experience of getting Jet to new places and having her listen. I've never done that before with my other dogs, but I have a feeling that this one will need good trial experiences. Since her outrun/fetches are pretty decent, I think we will retire as soon as the sheep are at my feet, that's the plan anyways.
I think she gets bored easily too, so having a goal to work toward and challenges suit her.
Jet's outruns and fetches are doing great. She flanks easily on the fetch and takes her downs well on balance. We haven't really worked on "steady" yet, which has become a problem as we work on driving. I think she will be a good outrunner, if she starts right, she doesn't cross and kicks out nice when she gets to her sheep. If I do not down her at the top though, it will be a race to my feet. She is still very young, so as long as she will down for me, I'm willing to let her come into her sheep.
But the driving work may kill us both. She can handle it for about 30 yards, she has a good amount of push on her drive. But she's bound to push a little too hard, split a sheep off, and then the rodeo is on. Time to take a few steps back and get a little better feel for her sheep I think.
My plan is to hopefully run Jet as a Nursery dog next year. I am trying to set her up for success all year this year. With her birthdate being in September, she's a good age to give us lots of time to be ready for the big leagues!
We will need every precious minute, as she is reminding me now- head on my laptop and saying "Time for work!".
Edited to add: Not a bad practice- down still negotiable, but only one sheep/Jet altercation and several opportunities for bad-ness which did not follow through to their logical conclusion. Plus- got my hardest sheep to pen in the trailer. But she's still a Devil Dog!
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