Day 10: Tammy Van Deusen Clinic in St. Louis

Today was the first day of Tammy's "Sheltie Only" herding clinic in St. Louis, Mo. We start the clinic with a lecture about herding in general and herding with Shelties in particular. Some of the big points:
-herding is all about dominance. Basically, the dog has to know we are the boss. Tammy passes out a handout of "10 rules to live by" to assure you have the right relationship with your dog for herding (i.e. you go out doors first, dog moves for you, you dictate when dog eats etc.) This is a hard rule for folks who love their furry, lovable shelties, but the more I committ to this sport, the more I realize it is correct. Dominance is not being mean. A dog feels secure when it has a strong master and clear rules. I committ to re-enforcing my status as "boss." I decide I want a t-short that says "Alpha Bitch."
-shelties, more than most other breeds, become good herders in large part because they want to please us, their masters. It is up to us to show them what we want and teach them to choose the right action.
-one of the most important parts of a successful herding dog is for the dog to have "correct attitude"; it is submissive and attentive to owner versus amped and focused only on stock. Correct attitude starts at the car. Today, many owners work several minutes at their dog having the correct attitude at the gate..the dog cannot rush in.
-Tammy explains- amazingly- that neither of her shelties Flutter or Cloud have not qualified on a run (she admits she has "called" a few runs that were not going well). This is amazing to me. I have "NQ" far more runs than I have qualified.
-Similar to the theme of her CO clinic, Tammy emphasizes the key to training your dog is "pressure" your dog into doing the right thing (with crock, stick body or voice) then releasing that pressure versus "nagging" the dog constantly with the pressure.
Here is a pic of me "pressuring" Winnie with the rake because she was charging and barking (i.e. wrong attitude).<

Here is a picture of me turning my back to Winnie (relieving the pressure) because she went wide on her flank.<
-On a scale of 1-10 for herding instinct and natural talent. border collies are a 10 and sheties are about a 4. Only 30% of shelties can do the started level of herding and only 10% can be a herdimg champion
-have the "picture" in your head of what you want before go into arena; otherwise, you cannot communicate to dog what you want. Make plan or "picture" of what you want to achieve as you are driving to your herding practice or trial
-patience plus picture plus practice = success

We have a great group- all women- and we go out to dinner afterwards. I try some Blackberry wine- yuck! Tastes like cough syrup! I am exhaisted and go to bed right away.