Nightmares and Dreamscapes

This past weekend--Saturday in particular--was a whirlwind of (mostly) dog activities. We did a LOT of both herding and agility... which is never a bad thing :) I've been so immersed in training, that it's begun to permeate my dreams.

Which is not always a good thing :-P

Last night, I had my first ever nightmare about herding. It was one of those dreams that is just vivid enough to leave you unsettled and disoriented when you wake up. In the dream, I was running Moss at a sheepdog trial (same place we'll be running in a few weeks). We were basically a big pile of fail... but in that exaggerated way only dreams can capture. Moss crossed over on his outrun, blasted into the sheep, and somehow tossed one about thirty feet into the air. It fell to the ground and I/everyone watching thought it was dead, but it wasn't. I decided to continue trying to complete the run. However, after completing the fetch (I don't think anything else happened there), I completely forgot to do the driving portion of the course, instead going straight to the pen. The pen was at the far end of a long chute, surrounded (conveniently) by really tall hay bales. Needless to say, we couldn't get the sheep penned. They kept jumping out of the chute and onto the hay bales. I was really upset and unnerved the entire dream because I didn't know how to "fix" things.

Ugh. Maybe this is my subconscious expressing my anxieties about our upcoming trial? Or maybe it means nothing. Who knows.

Either way, I am going to make a big effort to mentally prepare for the trial. For some reason, herding makes me nervous, and I'd like to be able to relax and enjoy it more. I think I get nervous because I really want to be good at this, and do my dog justice...but it's SO complex with so many different factors that can affect your success on a given day. Unlike obedience or agility, where it's just you and your dog, herding has a third factor: the sheep, which are notoriously unpredictable. And I'm not experienced enough to know how different types of sheep tend to react to things. I guess that will come with time.

I have some things to report about agility, but I'll save that for another post, maybe tomorrow. Plus, I need to upload pictures :) For now, here's a picture of my Moss as a baby puppy :)