He's balancing, he's balancing! Yes, Freeway is balancing to the sheep. Heh - dog sports can come up with some really strange terminology. In herding "balance" refers to the dog's ability to shift its position to hold the sheep in relationship to something else. Typically it is the handler, but it might be an opening in a fence, or chute or ...

This Sunday when we were practicing herding Freeway started compensating for my position relative to the sheep. When I moved left, he moved left i.e. away from me and around the sheep. And if I suddenly changed to move to the right, he started moving to the right. The general idea is for the dog to keep the sheep to the handler. So in the open where the sheep have no particular preferred direction it is handler at 12 o'clock, dog a 6 o'clock - on opposite side with sheep in between. If the sheep have a "draw" then the dog should shift to keep the sheep from heading that way, and keep the sheep with the handler.

This "balancing" movement is a huge improvement for him. Just last week if I shifted position I found myself standing right next to my dog. He wasn't responding to my change in position. This week he seemed to be getting it. This is the fun thing about herding, watching the instincts in the dog develop and emerge.

When we started Freeway was very one sided. One sided refers to a preference for moving in one direction - either clockwise or counter-clockwise. He prefers counter-clockwise. At first he was working very hard at not going the way I wanted. But last week he seemed more comfortable going both ways. This week he shifted without much effort. I'm looking forward to seeing what happens on Saturday.