There are a lot of challenges when it comes to training a young dog to work sheep. I want Fate to be with the sheep, but not willy-nilly or unsupervised.  I don’t want to overdo it, or underdo it, the line isn’t always clear. The biggest thing in this phase of our work is for her to build confidence. I leave her alone for 10 or 15 minutes each day (I am there) to be with the sheep, get used to them. I want to do things that build her confidence. Notice that Red is in the rear of the photograph, sitting in front of the Skip-barn. She knows he is there and draws strength and direction from him.

I also make him stay back so she can have her own experience with the sheep. This morning, Liam came out to challenge her and she had some decisions to make. I don’t like these standoffs because she might as easily lose confidence as gain confidence. She seemed ready to stand her ground against Liam, so I let her. He lowered his head as if to butt, she lowered  hers and gave him a dose of eye. He lowered his head, turned and backed away. I ended the lesson, that was a good note to end it on. Fate has a lot of confidence, I want to build on that, especially while she is so small. Red is a great help in that.

A woman wrote me this morning and talked about only asking her young dog to lie down when he was looking at the sheep and in command, I like that. It is pretty much what I do, but good to have it reinforced.