Herding Clinic - Day 2

Poor Boris. The Day 1's experience left him exhausted. After he had his dinner, he slunk off to the bedroom, by himself, to go to sleep in the nice, cool, AC. He, and I, was spent physically and emotionally.

I conked out immediately when my head hit the pillow. But, after a good night's rest Boris and I took on Day 2 of the herding clinic. I must admit, I was concerned that day 2 would be a repeat of the day before, but I was committed to finishing the weekend. It helped that I prepaid for the clinic. So, off Boris and I went.

Day 2's clinic had less participants than the day before (just 4 of us), so the atmosphere wasn't charged with as much energy. That alone was a big help for Boris. When it came time for Boris to work, the instructor, as promised, put on a prong collar on him and then we attached a second leash to his regular collar. My job was to let the leashes as loose as possible, which is a task. Given Mr. B's propensity to react to the slightest movement, I'm used to tightening up in preparation for the excitement.

Boris and I entered the ring and he gave a few barks. As instructed, I gave him a quick tug on the prong collar. Of course, this got his attention immediately. He stopped barking and had a look on his face of "What? Where am I? Oh, you're in charge." We then preceded to walk around the ring, and, what a surprise - Boris did not react at all until around the third lap around the ring! He even manged to walk up to the sheep with me calmly and without pulling.

The second day he was a completely different dog. We worked the ring a couple of times, got close to the sheep, without much excitement. I couldn't believe it. We even stopped to chat for a long while in the ring and Boris laid down at my feet calm and collected. I was so proud of him! He didn't get to go off leash to work the sheep, but that's okay because he made tremendous progress in keeping control of himself.

I'm so glad that Boris had a good day, and he felt better about himself, too. After finishing our second round, he earned the right to hang out with all the non-dog members of the clinic. He walked up to everyone wagging his tail and accepting congratulation pats on the head and scratches behind the ears. I believe it was his way of thanking everyone for being patient with him and for helping us figure this out a little.

I want to continue to train Boris to herd, but this last weekend has shown me that he has so much to learn. But on the other hand, he has great potential and he learns quickly. I think I've decided to start down this herding road with him and just see where it takes us.

Lesson learned: Patience, an experienced eye, and kindness make all the difference.