Once upon a time, in a land far away, there lived a novice
sheepdog handler and her first Border Collie.
The Dog took care of the sheep at home, and managed well at trials,
quickly progressing to Open. The Dog was
fleet and strong, hard-working and wise with his stock. The Dog was a good partner, listening to
commands and doing the job that was asked. The Dog was happy. The Handler was happy. All was good.
Yet all is never truly perfect in the world. When given a flank command the Dog sometimes ran
too wide in his arc. The Handler asked
online how to bring the Dog closer, sure that more experienced hands would
share their wisdom. Quickly a sage came
forward with some training exercises to help the dog learn to stay closer to
the stock when flanking. Then a Troll
joined the conversation. The Troll
explained how flanking too wide was a sign the dog was weak. The Troll quoted a famous trainer as one of
his justifications for his pronouncement that the dog was weak. The Troll declared that the Handler should
put the Dog aside and work with a dog of more power and quality. And then Kind People took pity on the handler
and berated the Troll while telling the Handler that she could still be
successful with a weak dog, but to be sure not to breed the Dog and perpetuate
his weakness. And the Troll defended his
position, with another troll or two as reinforcement. And the Kind People continued to wring their
hands and tell the trolls to be nice and assure the Handler that she could get
by with this poor weak dog. The Handler
assured the electronic masses that she fully intended to keep the Dog and keep
working it. The Handler asked that the
conversation return to ideas to help keep the Dog closer on his flanks rather
than debating the overall quality of the Dog.
The request brought another training idea or two from people trying to
be helpful.
Like all storms, the roaring wind of words eventually
ceased, and all was forgotten. The Handler
took the idea first given and tried it.
It was very helpful not only in keeping the Dog closer, but in helping
the Handler understand the dynamic between dog/sheep/person. The Dog was happy. The Handler was happy. All was good.
The Dog went on to be very successful despite some clumsy
handling. The Dog went to the National Finals,
getting to the semifinal round. The Dog
was successful at a variety of trials on a variety of stock, though never that
good on very light sheep. The Dog was
bred and offspring were solid dogs. The Dog
took the handler from Novice Novice, to Open, to the National Finals, to the
World Trial. The Dog was happy. The Handler was happy. All was good.
