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walking up on sheep


Guest kimkathan
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Guest kimkathan

The same 13 month old dog I have been posting is doing great except for the occasional grip and release (which unless compleatly uncalled for I'm over looking right now), and that she has a hard time with walking in on the sheep on a lift/fetch/wear. She'll push them away from me with no problems, because the sheep are easier to move. However on a wear, they really don't like to move easily. She'll flank slightly to try and get them to move, and they'll shift ever so slightly. After a while she'll start to flank to the head or circle compleatly around. She'll down off balance 85% of the time, so usually I can stop her before shegets too far and place her back to where she was before. I don't have "dog broke sheep" but they aren't standing her off, just very heavy. I've been told to gt rid of the sheep and get doged ones, but my philisophy is that if my dogs can work these sheep then they can work about anything. Besides we aren't always able to choose what we need to work, right? Should I be holding her at the point that I want her to walk up til she does, my only concern with this is that she's liable to go in to grip out of frustration, and I'm just getting her out of that habit.

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Guest aurdank

Whether dog-broken or not (the term has variable references; see my last comment below),clearly the sheep are too heavy for your young, inexperienced dog. And if she can't move them, she might develop a gripping habit and/or lose confidence. The best thing would be to get sheep that are intermediate in difficulty (not too light, nor too heavy); she'll be able to control and move these with confidence, and later when she has that confidence solid, you can graduate to something more challenging. Now if she stalls a little on these sheep, stand next to her and the sheep and make her walk into the pressure directly, as you seem to be doing when you correct her flanking around to head. As soon as the sheep's heads turn around, make her stand (not lie down, which can weakn the dog in this circumstance)and tell her "good girl". The slower you make her walk into the pressure and have the sheep turn, the more she will feel her power and gain confidence that she can do this without gripping or going to head. She will also later be able to walk directly into the heads of the sheep and turn them if later on she finds them facing her. To make her walk slowly, I'd give her the "walk up" by first drawing out the words and/or the whistle tone "waaalllkkk") and doing it softly. (This might also help you at the pen, if you need her to walk up but not disturb the sheep). Now if you can't get intermdiate sheep, but say only light sheep as an alternative; get these and have her work a mixture of the heavy and light; the latter will speed up the former and the former will slow thee latter a bit once they learn to act as a flock.

 

Just as point of information, too:"dog broken" can refer to sheep that have become exceptionally heavy because they are so used to any dog; or it can refer to sheep that have become super-light because they have been overworked and traumatized and run madly at the sight of a dog. Woolies, especially Ramboulliet, tend to be the former, while hair sheep tend to be the latter. Sometimes woolies, who have NEVER seen a dog, especially if they are lambs without a leader, might react to the first sight of a dog with curiosity and without moving for it (i.e. be very heavy); but sometimes, if they've encountered predators on the range, they could be light and run from the dog (as Texas woolies do)or get heavy and stand to fight the dog, as the do in California. So "dog broken" is an odd term. enerally, I take it to mean sheep that have some experience of being worked by a dog, even in a large flock, but are still relatively fresh and not overworked.

 

Albion

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Guest aurdank

Sorry, just a small correction. When you get her to walk directly into the pressure on intermediate sheep, as soon as the sheep MOVE FORWARD, let her stand and then say good girl to reinforce her lift, and then let her move forward again more continuously. If the sheep are FACING HER, and she moves into the pressure, let her stand as soon as they turn around and say the same. It's important to get her into the habit of walking straight into the pressure, not wear back and forth, because there's no power in that.

 

Albion

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