Another lesson, lot's more learned!

See? I knew it!!! There was so much I was doing wrong with Lucy. Working alone allowed me to ingrain stupid behaviour on my part. Lucy and I had a lesson yesterday. Here's the highlights.
1) I need to be calmer with my voice when I ask for her outrun- when I tone it down, and am more calm, Lucy's work is much calmer. Simple eh? 2) I need to NOT ask for a down when I surely won't get it- I knew that, but, clearly I had forgotten it. 3) After I get the down, back off immediately- I always just keep the pressure on the dog- and that just isn't fair- pressure on, pressure off- that's what Alisdair told me, and clearly, I forgot. In just a few times of doing this right, Lucy's downs were calmer.
Lucy and I worked on me walking her around the sheep- on a lead (that could be slipped off) and having her give when she bent it- man she took that well. I didn't do anything but tap the ground with a stick, and she got the message. This translated into her being calmer when I released/flanked her. Oh, and then we did this neat flank exercise where I would ask for a 1/4 flank in each direction- without me moving, and this allowed her to be calmer, and realize she didn't always have to head to 12:00 all the time- which in Lucy's case we need- for now. She needs to realize that she can control the sheep anywhere. The best part of the day for me was when I was able to ask for flanks, stop her, have her walk in, and basically steer the sheep around me. We have never done that. We have only just done long straight lines- as I was afraid to mess up her outrun, because I wanted to differentiate the flank for driving versus the large flank (outrun). We do that by using shortened versions of the outrun flank for the driving flank- YES!!!!!!!! Now I feel like we can make some real headway. We have a long way to go, but Lucy does love to drive. And, she is so receptive to me saying "there" after a flank- that means stop and walk in- this ability to feel in control of the sheep from behind should also help with her fetch concerns (too pushy, wanting to be in control). Lucy's work just got better and better as we went yesterday. Lucy is truly ready to move on to more challenging stuff. The lessons are helping ME so much- and Lucy is so happy to work- no stress. It's just great. Well, enough for now. Stay tuned to more Lucy adventures!!!!