What is my girl?

So, Lucy has lost, her, um, listening ears of late. This makes trouble for us, because on a dog who's pushy on the fetch, you need a dog to listen, and take a down when asked. It may be because we did so much trialing with not much fixing in between, or it may just be that Lucy prefers to do as she feels needs to be done... We started out this whole thing with Lucy knowing more than me, and the transition to her acquiescing to my wishes has been hard. Sometimes, Lucy does listen, so I know she can, but sometimes I get well, ignored. This causes those who mentor me some, um, indigestion... I can't blame them. Progress is halted when we are in this rut. So, back to the basics with Miss Lucy again.

Yesterday, Lucy and I worked undogged sheep. They either laid down, split up, or fought. It was a novelty for us- their behaviour. Lucy handled them pretty well, being pretty brave, but sometimes I had to urge her on- I think from now on, I need to just let her pressure the sheep and not push her- it takes her concentration off of them. She tries her heart out for me. Something tells me that Lucy would be a good farm dog, because once she knows what I want, she can, well, just do it- no questions asked. Lucy was presented with several ornery sheep yesterday. To their defense, they are just not in shape, and haven't been dogged, so they will fight more readily. At one point one ewe just didn't want Lucy pushing her out of the corner. I walked up and asked Lucy to git in there- which means push those sheep no matter what. So, she pushed, and the ewe put her head down. She pushed again, and the ewe started to charge at her. Lucy responded by opening her mouth as wide as it would go, and trying to seat a bite on the sheep's forehead - but since foreheads are bigger than mouths, no damage done- but that ewe knew that Lucy meant business. I don't like to have to push dogs hard on sheep if I can avoid, but unless the sheep learn to move off dogs, there simply is no working dogs on them. I believe they will come around (I hope they will), but for now, they aren't much use for trial training, and they are NO good for young dogs. So, will Lucy be a right hand farm dog, or will Lucy be a trial dog. I don't know. I do know that she is a good dog, but it remains to be determined what niche she will fill.