Moving Forward

Hi!  its me Cait!  my mom said i have to work on opening up my flanks so i can't post anything this week.  she has some stuff to say.  i told her she needed to get her whistles more consistent and maybe she didnt have time to post either but she never listens to me!  
so i will turn it over to her.......
I am a big believer in trying to move forward and improve in my life. Staying at a stand still or moving backwards depresses me.
This was a lesson I learned two fold at a trial a few weeks ago.
The sheep were tuff... they had never been worked by dogs before. They were not mean or agressive but would just stand and look at your dog. Sometimes they would walk toward the dog and try to figure out what the strange, little black and white things were.
Cait did not do well with this. Friday when the sheep were unloaded from the truck to wander around in the field... Caitie got to keep them from wandering too far. She was a bit overwhelmed. She would hold her ground til they came toward her and then off she would go.So all weekend I went back and forth between pulling her from the trial and letting her have a go at it. My reasoning.... I didn't want her to have a bad time of it... she had not been on these kind of sheep much before and I wanted to be able to work with her to build her confidence more before I tried to run her on them. I DID NOT want them to go after her or fight her or scare her. We got a few chances to help move the sheep to back and forth form the pasture to the trial field and I helped her as much as I could.... also at the set out pen we got to move them in smaller groups.
Trial morning rolls around and I am still undecided. I am out at the set out pen and my mind is going around and around. What my heart and what my mind are telling me are two completely different things. Finally, I think... what the heck??? Give it a try. I can always call her off and go help her.
It comes our turn... I am running late for cause I had to hike from the set out to my truck to get Cait and then back to the trial field. No more time to sit and watch and worry, just walk up to the field and it's our turn. Up to the post and then off she goes... I have half a minute to continue worrying and then...... HERE COME THE SHEEP! I didn't blow her down at the top cause I wanted her going in a quick as possible, no creeping up to the sheep to give them time to stand and face her. The fetch is not pretty but I let it go cause what is important to me right now is that the sheep keep moving... I don't want to flank her too far and get her up in their eye to give them cause to stop.
I retired her during the drive, after the sheep slowed down they decided they didn't want to move. That's ok... we accomplished what we set out to do... we moved the sheep and, hopefully, Cait gained some confidence with these kind of sheep. The next run was better! We completed the course and did quite well.
So the moral of the story? Actually there are several. The most important... trust my dog, she always comes through for me. Let her run and get the experience. Give her the chance to prove herself. At least to the best of her ability. We learn from our failures... they show what we need to work on.
And, of course, by letting her run... we moved forward. A very important goal in my life. I didn't let my fears, doubts and insecurities get the best of me and I let my dog do what she loves best. That, to me, is moving forward. When you don't do what's in your heart and believe in yourself (and your dog)... that is not really living your life it's just existing.