We've worked calves a couple of times since the last time I posted. Russ helped me out a lot the time after last. He basically provided some more pushing power from behind so that I could focus on keeping Keiko from circling around to stop the calves, which is what she REALLY wants to do. I think it's safe to say that Keiko is a very strong fetch dog, so I'm glad we're starting some driving work now. We ended up moving out of the round pen and instead worked around the arena. We basically worked ASCA's Course A. That wasn't the real goal though - the goal was to take the stock around the fenceline and back, working on building Keiko's ability to drive the stock.
What we ended up doing was something like a cross-drive, where I was on one side of the stock and Keiko was on the other and we were moving them together. The last time I worked before I left for Kansas on Friday morning, I ended up working Keiko by myself. Things went very smoothly. I took Keiko in to take the calves from the pen, then worked them clockwise around the pen, then re-penned. Then after a water break and a few minutes of rest, we worked them again - the take pen, then moving the calves counterclockwise around the arena, and then re-penning. On the way back to the take pen one of those times, we were working off of the fence...I was really pleased with how this went. I am going to remember, especially in these times of peace & harmony, to thank God for sending me this dog.
On Friday, I drove to Kansas to pick my brother up from school. I got in pretty late. Saturday morning we loaded up the car, visited with his bible study leaders for a bit (they both graduated ~ congratulations!), and then drove back to TX. So as you can imagine...I'm exhausted! I'm going to get some sleep...I've gotta drive back to school tomorrow and Keiko and I have agility in the evening.
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