Driving, Pressue and chutes, oh my!

We've started working on driving. It's been really slow going, but going. I'm really proud at how she's coming along. She now starting to push with ease and we're just trying to get everything going quickly and going straight. I've found it most helpful to have a goal in mind and try to push the sheep there and it seems to help Soda too when she can understand where we're going.

I still have trouble with her blowing off her stops--I suspect I'll always struggle with that. It's frustrating.

This last lesson I had a major break through with her crowding the sheep up on me. We've always had trouble with her pushing the sheep up past me and just not reading her sheep. So she was RIGHT behind me, crowding the sheep and I just whiped around gave her a small whack on her chest with the stick and told her to get out. Then I walked off a bit and asked her to walk up on the sheep (to bring them to me) and she did and then..... she stopped. On her own. So she wouldn't push the sheep past me. I watched her watch the sheep and slow her pace on her own. Couldn't believe it. The little turd knew what she was doing but even better, she at least kind of knows how to read her sheep.

We've also been working on getting her to push sheep through a 40' chute and that's been a lot of fun. At first she kept going to the heads of the sheep but with some big pressure from me she finally started pushing the sheep through through the chute-though it was a little wild and hairy! Refinement will come.

We have a trial coming up that I'm nervous/excited about--I hope she continues feeling her sheep and not putting so much pressure on them and we'll qualify fo' sho.