I AM SO PROUD OF MYSELF!

I am so proud of myself. For several weeks now Kinsey and I have been working on the long line. Practicing "Wait" Stop" and a whistle recall. The line is thirty feet long. When I'm about two thirds of the way out Kinsey calls "Stop". I'm supposed to stop no matter what and return to her. I'm real good at it when there isn't anything else competing for my attention. The big thing for Kinsey is that I not chase the deer which roam all over our ranch. And believe you me that's a distraction.

When I was really little I just sat and watched the deer. You can see photos of my cute little self in this post Watching Over My Deer Flock back in April. As I grew older, I am now 8 months as of yesterday, I started thinking chasing them would be a lot more fun. Before long I was obsessed with chasing them. I would go absolutely whiz bang nutty. This led to my getting my wings clip as in I lost my unsupervised free roaming privileges.

This morning I had a major breakthrough. We had been out practicing on the long line. When we got back there was a deer on the knoll across from the house. I saw her but tried to ignore that I knew she was there. Kinsey made me acknowledge its presence. She took me over to look right at it. I shuddered with excitement. I couldn't resist. I took off to go get it. At the very same moment Kinsey hollered "STOP!" And I did. I DID!

I was still on the long line but I stopped all by myself before I got to the end. I've never seen Kinsey so excited. You would have thought I'd won Westminster. I know I still have a lot of work to do but this was a real breakthrough moment for both of us. I know I'm going to get then hang of it.

I think my photographer needs a photographer. It's pretty hard to train and take photos too.  Below are a couple of photos Kinsey took of me this week in the flea bane. I like wildflowers.

 ©Kinsey Barnard