Yesterday afternoon and today saw Diva and I meeting up with Hugh Emerson and Nell at Jackie's for some serious herding practice, firstly going over the exercises we worked on with Carl when he trained us last month, and then with Jackie's guidance tackling a new exercise.

She had us take our Beardies into the barn to work with about eight sheep in a pen, in very close quarters.  Although this seemed intimidating at first it actually built up confidence, as our novice sheepdogs learned that the sheep moved easily away from them without them needing to push and rush.  Eventually we had them moving steadily and smoothly around the perimeter of the pen, keeping their eyes on the sheep but responding easily to halts and direction changes.  All very quiet and controlled!

We were so proud of the progress made. New photos are on the Beardie Herding page.