Come bye and Away to me

Fly and I had an awesome day herding!  Laurie says it was the best yet.  Fly was nice and relaxed and 'going nicely' around the sheep.  She was on the edge of chaos which Laurie says it good!  Now that I have control of Fly, we were working on letting Fly loosen up and get back her natural speed.

The last two months I've  been working on getting 'respect' from Fly.  She is doing great now, sits and waits at the gates, Lies Down when I tell her (without yelling) and finally does a 'That'll Do' and almost runs off the sheep!  I was able to stand 20 feet away from the sheep with Fly on a down just waiting , not running off like a crazy puppy.

So, with that control, I was able to get her going around the sheep , on wider circles so we can work on flanking commands , Come Bye (clockwise around the sheep) and Away to me (counter-clockwise).  It's hard to learn how to move properly and which side of the sheep to be on.  Fly and I are learning together and today it came together nicely!  

We started with a nice pickup at the beginning, and had two more nice ones throughout the session.  Fly and I walked out away from the sheep , NO LEASH :-), and i put her on a down.  Then i walk toward the other side of the sheep, not on a direct line but away from Fly, I then let her start walking, then ask for her to go around.  It wasn't perfect but I'm finally learning to take advantage of any fast running by continuing to move away from Fly.  This gives me the distance she needs from the sheep and allows me to set her up for another flanking command.

Things I'm learning and need to continue working on:

1. TRUST my dog. Fly WILL lie down when I ask her so I have to allow her to be natural and FAST (which can be scarey) because I now CAN control her.
2. Send Fly to the sheep butts, not the heads.  This allows her to turn the sheep, instead of running into them.
3. Take advantage of Fly leaving the sheep.  Use this time to get some distance and prepare for her return.  Get ready for a flank command when she gets back!
4. NEVER say a flanking command in a harsh tone.
5. Make sure she is moving BEFORE I give the flank command since she doesn't know them yet.  We are still learning.
6. KEEP it FUN!  If I shut her down, then Fly is not having fun.  Today was wonderful, I could see she was having fun.  I stayed loose and relaxed.  
7. Give her a job.  This is like number 6.  If she has work to do, it's more fun for her!  Again, this means letting her GO.

Next challenge, get more video! Thanks for following along.

Longarm quilting progress

I've been doing a lot of quilting lately and I've been pretty happy with my progress, especially since my class with the dealer.  Here for your viewing pleasure.
 

My attempt at 'McTavishing

Love this 9-patch by Janet Mehmert.

open feathers in the border

Cat tails to go with the kitty theme

The back of the kitty quilt, more tails in each corner.

continuous line with a twist, love this idea and how it turned out.

The back of the quilt above, again love how this turned out

close up

my attempt at 'sticky buns' free hand

the back

table runer, the green swirly print was my inspiration

I won a giveaway!

A few weeks ago I won this awesome giveaway from my friend Gerry!  I was forced to loan the recipe book to my daughter but I still have everything else!  And I love the little note pad.  Thanks Gerry!

 awesome apron.!

 Doesn't that look scrumptious?