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Walk up/wearing


Guest kimkathan
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Guest kimkathan

This little dog is ever so trying at times. First it's gripping too much and that's coming along quite well ( I'm begining to think it was a maturity thing) Now we've started doing gathers of around 50 yds or so. She's never been really keen on walking in or wearing, but does it under diress. We went for a lesson on Monday and she was wonderful. The past two days we've been working with a friends sheep which are REAL KNEE KNOCKERS almost too sticky. Anyway, the past two days she's down right refused to walk in at the balance point, or any where for that matter. She wants to flank all the way around and do balance exercises. I can down her at the top easily and she'll drop. I'll back up, the sheep will start to come to me and I'll call her in to "walk up" She'll lay right where she is and eat manure or admire the bugs. If I were to go off balance she pops up and flanks properly til I back up and give her room to walk in and she shuts down again. I've tried to jazz her up calling her in , shuffeling the sheep around, anything to get her up on her feet and moving, but to no availe. How should I go about getting her moving in a straight line again?

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Guest aurdank

The knee knockers are probably too heavy for her to walk in on directly. She no doubt feels them and finds the pressure intimidating,so she shuts down. She prefers to flank because this allows her to release from the pressure of the stock. It may be also that she has a bit of eye, so that when you lie her down, you tighten the eye ever so slightly, which on heavy sheep can make the dog stick or freeze in the lie down position. For this reason, I'd recommend that you teach her to "stand" instead when you want her to stop. But I would work on freer moving sheep, if not exactly light ones, and would go back to balance exercises but emphasize the part when you straighten up after a flank and walk back to encourage a fetch. Perhaps in doing these you had her flanking too much. The key thing is to try not to stop her but to make this all one motion, so that she can transition from flanking (which she prefers) to walking up. These balance exercises work best anyway if the handler continues in perpetual motion, as far as possible.

 

Yours

 

Albion

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