After what seemed like a very hectic summer full of clinics, we held our first training clinic of the year ran by BATWK trainers.
Russell and Lizzie Keepence kindly hosted the clinic, at a beautiful location not far from Broadway. We were looked after very well all weekend. The sheep and lambs were a mix of Romney crosses, and at times proved frustrating for younger or more inexperienced dogs.
Stephen Welton was the main trainer for the weekend, and was keen to have a focus on stock handling more so than dog training. Steve took most of the training on Saturday, but on the Sunday we all stepped in to give him a hand. For most of Sunday we had three groups of sheep being worked, ensuring that everyone had plenty of time with different styles of trainers and significant time working their dog.
We had a range of dog breeds and ages attend the course, and demos from Russel's dogs. A personal highlight was watching Vic's two GSD's work the sheep, and to see the huge difference in working style to Kelpies. Another highlight was seeing Georgia's kelpie x collie pup really find her feet over the weekend, after being very nervous when she first arrived on Saturday morning. By the end of Sunday she was balancing beautifully, and had made a good start to recall off stock.
From building confidence, to getting pups to balance for the first time, to getting dogs to drive effectively, we covered an awful lot in what felt like a very short space of time! From early feedback forms everyone gained knowledge from the weekend, and had a good amount of banter along the way. Looking forward to the next clinic which is just for one day, and is going to be held in Durham/North Yorkshire on 01/10/2022.
