Back on that Variable Re-enforcement thing ;  3 Nebca trial days  and it feels like Fios and I have made no progress since last year :< ( Really bummed out and am thinking of sending Fios off to be trained by another big trainer to see if she can get the stop and down done  or else I am thinking I will quit trialing him .  I keep thinking however that he doesn't work well for anyone else and his breeder has been very annoyed with me saying I am looking for the magic bullet (or whatever you call it) when I need to just work on myself  and get it done !  We definitely have made progress in training but it didn't look like it was carrying over at the trials.  Agility friends, sound familiar ?  But he'll do it or won't screw it up in training we all say ! On Saturday, Fios runs tight and fast on the outrun, missed the center panels, sends the sheep flying for the exhaust, picks them up but sends two around the judge's tent . The judge stands up and says "thank you Betty "  Well at least we didn't knock the judge over !

So Sunday I reluctantly go to the trial again and decide I'll just try to handle and not worry so much about the stop and down on the lift.  And of course as noted above , we get a variable re-enforcement and do well , placing 5th out of 17 with a score of 63 out of 80 !  No slow down or stop on the lift but I flank him quickly to cover the draw and he takes the flank on the run.  Slows down some as he gets close to me, we bobble a bit around the post but once we get moving on the wear, he has nice pace and even stops a couple times.(  He often will push the sheep past me then run to bring them back to me ...such a fun game for him such a major deduction in points and it gets me all screaming meme which excites Fios even more and on and on..not good. ) Another quick flank to cover the draw on the way to the chute and I do believe Fios actually lies down !!! He gets a bit excited at the chute so we have some potential for disaster, one sheep goes through as the others skirt the side and I tell the judge "I'll take that " and gather up my dog .  Good plan as we only lost 2 of the 10 pen points and surely would have lost them all if we got into the ring around the rosey thing that often happens at the pen.

So now I am all happy believing we can actually do a good job :< )  Lots of praise and support from fellow handlers, feeling mighty fine !