Gaby Baby

Is growing up!

I've recently realized that I've been slacking in his training. During the last couple months I've been very focused on getting together with Rae for the spring trials. Add to that the fact that I've had a major sheep makeover at home where I got rid of a few rotten apples and brought in undogged Katahdin ewes/lambs and undogged Suffolk yearlings. So I didn't really have anything appropriate to work him on at home. After the KY trials, a buddy came over to help break in the newbies, and after a bit of rodeo-ing that day, most of them have been working very nicely. Emphasis on most. So now I have fresh sheep for the boy dog! Time to get serious!

At the beginning of last week he was still in the very beginning stages of driving. He was fine as long as I was walking along beside him, though he still really wanted to get around to their heads. This week I started using him in "real" situations that I'd usually get Rae out just to get it done easily and quickly. One example: after sorting sheep in the barn, I need to move them from the small lower paddock to the big field on the hill. I startied using Gabe to push them across the paddock and up to the hill. He has no trouble wearing them up there since we've spent so much time doing walkabouts, so I decided to up the ante and use it as some driving experience. The first couple days I walked with him, but soon he caught on to the work and figured it out on his own. He doesn't really have any driving flanks, but he's fairly natural at holding a line, so he can get it done. All of a sudden he really seems to understand driving, and instead of being hesitant, he now takes charge of his sheep with confidence. He continues to push them for a good 50 yards before looking back to check in with me.

Our next step will be to put some driving flanks on him. With all this driving practice, I took him out yesterday to be sure his outrun wasn't broken. Well, it's not :) He is a little tight when he senses that the sheep may try to get away, but when there isn't much draw he is wide and deep, checking himself often on the way out. He comes in like a freight train at the top, but I'd rather have that than have him too hesitant. Today will be his third session picking up off someone. Unfortunately the "somone" is his former owner/trainer, so he's still a little unsure. Christine does such an excellent job setting with no movement on her or Bess' part, no talking, no eye contact, that I'm sure it won't take him long to get it.

Now that I've got my rear in gear, I plan on getting him out daily, sometimes twice daily, as he's showing me that he is ready to get going!