Sheepdog herding with Decker went fairly well. He respected my presence and gave to me when he was asked. I put him in the round pen three different times, with improvement every time. The boy is out of shape, but seems to like sheepdog herding more, than getting tired. The third time that he went in with the sheep, we had the whipflag in with us instead of a training stick. He responded well, giving when the whipflag was in his way or close to him. Usually Aussies are a little more determined to get to the sheep than he was, so care will be taken not to be too strict with corrections. I will make sure that he is really "hooked onto sheep" before putting too much pressure on him. I feel that Decker has had a good start on sheep today.

My friend Roland came over with his young border collie (socializing her). I had warned Roland about Decker on the phone before he came over, so he was prepared for him. He didn't give us any problems with aggression. Decker sure liked playing with the young Border Collie. They played and played and had the whole lawn, but chose to play right under foot where Roland and I were sitting. It figures.

When Roland was ready to leave, he had forgotten his leash around the back of the house. Coming back from getting the leash, Decker alerted to his presence, and came off of the porch to the lawn. I proceeded to run after him and put him down on the ground with "bite" corrections, along with NO! He seemed fine as Roland prepared to leave.

Around noon, the FedEx man came delivering a package. I went to the door and said hi and thank you to the FedEx man as he was leaving. I grabbed the package and Decker tore out of the house apparently after him. I dropped the package and and was barely able to hold on to him. That was a close call! He got more corrections for that. The way I see it, if Decker doesn't make any mistakes, then how can he learn what is acceptable behavior or not acceptable behavior?

Later in the afternoon my nephews came over for a visit. I invited them in and Decker started in again. I really got on him this time, and I was in his face, as he was being "bitten" and on his side. He was scared! He peed on the dog bed that he was on when I went after him to protect my family and correct him.

So that seems to be a large part of his problem. He is not "protective", he is scared and doesn't trust me to protect him. Later during the visit, he did warm up to my nephews.