Recap

On Friday, June 1st, Gracie and I attended an all day sheep herding workshop. It was cold. The forecast was for partly sunny and the mid 60's. It never did become "partly sunny", nor did the temperature go above 58. Did I mention the wind? Straight out of the north, (it was in the mid 40's in Chicago!) and very strong. I had a sweatshirt jacket over a short sleeved t-shirt. Needless to say, I froze my butt off.

I hesitated to sign up for this workshop, because I don't have a great deal of confidence in myself when it comes to herding. Gracie can do excellent work. I am the main problem, and it is a long road to improve. We were the 5th ones in the line-up. I swear, not 90 seconds after we entered the pen, Gracie had taken off, split the herd, and was barking. Larry, the gentleman from Missouri who was running the workshop, said "Can I help you?" Well, yeah, go for it, Larry. He then announced that Gracie had attitude.

Hello? Australian Shepherd? Spoiled rotten? Sassy mouth? Duh! Yeah, she has an attitude. Major. But a few minutes with Larry, and her highness was doing what she was suppose to do. And looking at me with a bit more respect. I did learn a lot, not only from what Larry told me, but from watching a different set of people with different dogs. This is the first time I saw Shelties and Corgis herd. The Shelties were amazing. The poor Corgi was chased by a sassy sheep named Daisy. Evidently Daisy doesn't care for Corgis.

I know a lot of my friends think I'm nuts for doing the herding lessons with my dog. But I've learned a lot about dogs and people in the past 2 years. Learning is a good thing. It means growth. And, to me, that's what it's all about.
Linda