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Meg


Ludi
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Hello all! It's been a while since I have updated. It's winter now, so that means it's fairly quiet on the training front. I had the opportunity to attend a sheepdog trial with Lady but sadly, life and work got in the way, and it was the last trial of the season in my region so that means we'll have to wait for 2016 to make our trialling debut. Lady is doing well now at 3.5 years old, is of great help on the farm, and recovered very well from her spay procedure.

 

There is a new addition, Meg, from Northern Ireland. Meg is ISDS reg,, and her parents work cattle and sheep alike. She came to us at the start of December, at 6 months of age. I took Derek's advice and got a pup who had already been to sheep several times and was showing "the right stuff" to my tastes. I am so pleased with Meg. She is tenacious, stubborn, and essentially the polar opposite to Lady in terms of working personality. She takes corrections/body blocking-pressure really well. Nothing seems to faze this pup. The move from NI to France seems to have gone without a hitch for her.

 

 

Just a short clip of our second time to the farm together. She is tight on Away and tends to do "fly-by" grips when going that direction. I have been reading Carol's blog entries on one-sidedness and will deal with Meg's with a combination of body blocking and working along the fenceline. I will try to encourage settling into the stop at balance after sending her out with good space on her favoured flank, and encouraging her to walk up positively towards the packet. I recognised Meg's qualities in some of the dogs Carol spoke of in her blog, almost to a T, so I am very thankful that the entries are there to be read and digested!

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  • 4 months later...

 

A little update on Meg. She's just turned 11 months and we've had a very difficult time getting started up until now! Between the sheep wintering in the shed, having to fly out of the country a few times, and then work piling on, Meg has just had to twiddle her thumbs for the most part.

 

Anyway, it worked out for us in the end since I believe she is well and truly ready for training now. She's not an easy dog to stop, she's keen as mustard and it does take a bit of a strong presence to get her to take heed! But I'm thrilled to work with a dog who is honest and loves work as much as she.

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  • 3 months later...

 

 

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Meg is 14 months now; we've been doing a lot of yard work since she went through a brief phase of discomfort when near the livestock. She got over it within a few weeks. :) In this video, I work on keeping those flanks free, reward with some driving, and get her used to working sheep who don't necessarily like humans. It's all very well fetching sheep who just book it to a human's feet but it's another thing to move these awkward girls who don't really like me (and aren't used to dogs, either).

 

We've been on holiday in England for the past 3 weeks. We saw the English National, we caught up with friends, we have had daily work to do on the lowland farm my friend owns. It's been really fun and I think Meg has come on leaps and bounds. We're headed back to France tomorrow, hopefully we can keep the momentum going!

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