Today Loch and I have our first herding lesson in about a month. As I've shared before I feel this whole summer's training was a waste as far as learning and competing at trials. I have to speak with the trainer, a-gain, only this time make her hear what I am saying instead of letting her filter my thoughts into her way of thinking.
Loch is five years old, he could only have another couple years of trialing left in him. The trainer has spent our time, since late December '05, working on one aspect of his (and my) training and it's a characteristic he only displays at her place - being tight on the sheep in certain circumstances. He was never tight on the trialing field. Never. And there were witnesses who told our trainer he kept appropriate distance from his sheep despite my mishandling of situations (being a newbie, this mishandling is expected and not an insult).
What witnesses said didn't seem to matter to our trainer. Each time we would go for a lesson we would do one outrun, she would feel he was tight and we would do a basic circle the sheep drill over and over and over again. He would become exhausted and she would finally acknowledge he was okay but he wouldn't have much more to give. A waste of time, money and gas since it's a two hour round trip.
So today I say my piece again. This time I will say, Loch is five. There are charactistics that he will always have. We need to work on my training more. He was bought to be my training dog. I need to learn to handle the dog and the sheep. I don't want to spend any more time working on his "tightness."
I need to work on what actually happens at a trial, we have yet to do that. The times we did really well at trials the training that happened in the weeks preceeding was very hands-off for our trainer. Some times there are other people sharing training time and she gets distracted talking to them so Loch and I work by feel (or instinct) without her instruction. That works. I know very well that I do not see a lot of needs to be done on the field, that only comes with time and experience. But one hour a week with sheep and a trainer that is stuck in a rut is not doing it for either one of us.
Someone familiar with the situation and participants said they think our trainer is taking the easy way out with me by just repeating a brain-dead lesson every time we get together. That's not acceptable to me. When I was a personal trainer, no matter how I felt physically or about the client, they got an A+ session. Every friggin' time. That's what I was being paid for and that's what I took pride in. When someone said they preferred not to work on a certain element we discussed the reasons behind the feeling, I listened and actually heard what they were saying and, if this portion of the training HAD to be done for health reasons, we compromised. Sometimes it only takes a moment of emphasis on something else to please a client and it makes all the difference to everyone involved.
I'm blabbering here. Sorry. I'm just so frustrated because trialing is an age limited hobby for the pooch and while Loch loves to move his sheep around the field, when it comes right down to it, I paid a LOT of money for him and have shelled out a fair amount for lessons. I am not getting my money's worth. And I am a penny pincher. Today I need to be a polite yet forceful lady who will be heard.
There is only one other decent trainer I would consider using and he is a six hour round trip. Yipes. But, I tell ya, if he could give what we needed to get on the field it would be worth the weekly trip to New York.
I was going to go swimming before training today but I got nervous about my own limited energy. I do quite a bit of walking, trotting, running and running backward during herding lessons and I wasn't sure how tired I would be after my swimming routine. The Y has an evening lap swim I will try to hit if I feel up to it. I am hoping there isn't a bazillion people trying to smoosh into three lanes. What I really need is a lap pool of my own, in my basement. How cool would that be? One of those with the currents. Oooo, I could get into that. As soon as I win the lottery ... well, as soon as I buy a ticket to win the lottery. See penny pincher above!
Oh! Guess what my husband said to me just now on the phone? Guess! You won't in a million years.
I was talking over the frustrations with training and he said, "With the cost of our mortgage and my shop's rent we could get a sizable piece of land. A farm, with a barn and workshop. Then we both could have what we need and we'd probably save money in the long term." WHAT????? Hello, you did have a good weekend with me, didn't you?!
He then told me he has another three years on his shop lease and we would never disrupt Youngest Son's last two years of high school, but he told me "now is the time to start looking because we don't have to do anything right away. That's usually when people come across opportunities that could change lives." Did the body snatchers visit this weekend? If so, I hope they don't make their return trip for a while!