Gunner

Gunner, Reba and I loaded up the car and headed out to Drayton Valley to spend some time with Ken this weekend.  Tessa still being on injury recovery had to remain at home.  Because I can only fit one crate in my car I tied Gunner to the metal thing that holds the car seat to the floor.  This was a pretty effective strategy for keeping him at his floor space.  Likely safer too.  Gunner spent the entire two hour drive with his head on the seat gazing at me adoringly.  

He has decided to bond with me.  At Ken's I had Ken work him mostly because Gunner seems to have some trust issues with men.  The general consensus about the dog is he has been spoiled and then mishandled.  We think he was likely allowed to run wild, at which time he'd go chase the stock and get yelled at by whatever human who had him.  The results of this is he has a strong distrust of people, especially when around stock, he doesn't understand how to yield to body pressure, and is very sensitive to any human intervention when working.

Challenges to say the least.  But the bottom line is he'll work.  I need to spend some time building a relationship, doing some basic obedience skills and showing him what I expect when with the sheep.  Patience is going to be a virtue with this one.