This was Gabe's winter. Rae was given a few months off and Gabe was the one who got to do the daily chores. He also got to work his first lambing, and I was super pleased with how he grew as a dog. There were a number of times I wanted to get something done quickly and easily, where in the past I would've just used Rae...but I forced myself to use Gabe and only Gabe, and that's just what the two of us needed as a team.
We are now at the point where we feel comfortable with each other doing all aspects of daily work. I barely need to speak to him, he just knows what to do and what I want of him. There were times I wasn't sure we'd get there! I'm so proud of us!
We did a lot of practical work over the winter and didn't do much in the way of training for trials. I think his flanks are finally solidified, at least on verbals. It took a lot of training to get that because he is so in tune with and responsive to the sheep that he often does whatever the situation calls for. AND, since I hadn't really been training for trials, I hadn't noticed that he was responding in context to the work situation vs. actually thinking about what the flank words meant. His whistles are pretty good, and the trouble there has been totally my fault. Gabe's set is very different from Rae's, and I have an uncanny ability to screw them up. So it's no wonder he's not perfect on whistles yet.
Two weekends ago, I took a trip to visit some friends in KY and get Gabe out to 3 new fields. I was SO happy with how he worked on the trip. It would've been hard to imagine that my good boy who was taking every command and walking sheep around a course was the same outrun-lift-grip dog of last fall. I had a really fun time visiting with trial friends I don't get to see often enough. At the end of my trip I took Liver-puppy back to Lyle's for another stay. She'd been there a month, then came home while Lyle was on the road trialing, and is now back out there. I miss her but know that this is a very good thing for her.
And surprise! One day I let the Merlefriend have a go.
Stylish Ella walks up.
Now it is time for Gabe and I to get some trial experience together. This spring will be focused on trial training and getting out on the trial field together. He is much better handled around a course by Christine than me (as evidenced by the one trial she ran him in last fall), but he is my dog and so I need to learn how to do it with him. His method is much different than Rae's and my timing is just not where it needs to be for tight turns and straight lines. And I feel anxious running him...a combination of trial nerves and "please don't grip off" nerves, and putting too much pressure on us to do well. These are all things I am looking to improve this spring. Rae is getting close to retirement, so I'll need Gabe to be able to step up to Open when we are both ready.
