Ruger's Instinct Test

Ruger had his instinct test this morning and I can tell you that the little bugger keeps surprising me. I thought he would cower and not like being around the sheep, but he had an interest. He also looked toward the herd and not an individual sheep. I was impressed with him. When Kama put the sheep away, he was keenly interested and wanted to run with Nitro. That would have been a sheep scattering experience.

Ruger is absolutely the laziest dog around the house, but with Agility, he has been on and is likes to learn. I sure get a kick out of him and he is slowly developing his confidence. Once he has that, he is going to be such a different dog than the one I picked up in Payson in August. He loves going to Club Doggie and I even traded him out with Lady in the Weaves and Teeters 2 class because he enjoys if more.

Lady is only going to be taking one class a week until we get her "fears" under control. As long as she does not have time to think, I get better performances out of her. She is actually the far smarter dog, but how many times have we seen a really smart person not do well, and the guy who puts in the actual work succeed? Ruger has the work ethic and desire to do the work. Lady, as God is my witness is going to succeed as long as I have a breath in my body.  Not to say Ruger isn't smart, he wouldn't be able to get the things I have taught him, if he wasn't smart. He, after all is mostly Border Collie. Not many of those guys are stupid. Lady, is a genius amongst dogs, but a dog who had decided that she is going to make the decisions and with that knowledge,  I have to re-org my training plan and get her to buy into the fact that I am actually going to make the decisions. I wonder if I am smart enough?