Thad

judges would never cheat. who would think such a thing. And if a judge did sway the rules a tiny bit one way or the other, there is protocol to follow in filing a dispute. just saying :rolleyes:

I would look to myself first and see what I was doing. The dog is having a confidence problem and you say she was good before, so she is associating some sort of pressure from you and the stock. When things go wrong when training a dog always look in the mirror first.

Cogratulations Hicky, The run was great and the shed was superb and gutsy!!! PS when you are hung over you sure can suck it up and get'er done. Good luck at the finals I wish I could have made it

Where did you see Stuart? I am going to meet Rene in person, which will be fun and it will be good to see stuart again. I am taking a young dog that is out of Cap which Joni used to own and Brians Queenie, he has never been trialed, so he will be on his maiden voyage. It will be a humbling experience I am sure. Thad

All the talk about trials has given me the bug so I entered diamond S trial in marmoth ND. I have not been humbled in a couple of weeks so I am due. Is anyone else going? I think it would be fun to meet some of the people that post on the boards. Thad

I think a dog that shows alot of presence is a hard to to trial with. Sheep are very afraid and the dog has to work so far off the turns and smoothness of the run are affected. A dog that shows a medium amount of presence and has lots of power is the one I am looking for. A dog like this will step out on the field and sheep will group up and know he is there but not be scared shitless of him. I have a dog that has lots of power but no presence, she has to be right up the sheeps ass to move them but she will walk up on anything and enforce her authority if she has to. I found it is best to let her trot sheep around,because if you steady her up sheep will start to drift apart. One thing I believe that people mistake push in a dog for power and there is a big difference. Also there is a difference between a dog that has feel because he sometimes looks weak, a dog with no feel will sometimes look pushy and powerful but in reality just no feel for stock.

Can a dog show alot of presence and have no power? Is power and presence the same thing? I like this kind of topic is always interests me to see what the responses are.