Guest kimkathan Posted July 30, 2004 Report Share Posted July 30, 2004 Do you have any advice/exercises for teaching a young dog pace and or pressure. The more I watch her actually, it seems as though it is that she doesn't really have a feel for where her sheep are and the point at which she's too close and starting to put pressure on the sheep. She is a year and 8 months, has great balance and is wearing. It is in wearing that I have really noticed that she's in too close. When walking backward the sheep are constantly running past me and she maintains the same speed. I have tried lying her down letting the sheep drift off a little and calling her up slowly, but hasen't gotten the feel for where she begins to put pressure on the sheep and keeps walking in too fast ( it's not that she's running and bombing them) She's a very keen little dog that takes very little correction to get the point, but given the chance will try to but heads with the handler. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Lori Posted July 30, 2004 Report Share Posted July 30, 2004 Hi Kim- My computer's been down today & I'm just getting ready to get on the road, but will post a reply tomorrow! Lori Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Lori Posted July 31, 2004 Report Share Posted July 31, 2004 Kim- While I'm sure it's true that some dogs just *have* beautiful, natural pace, I've never had the pleasure of HAVING one of those (!) & seem to have to work on pace issues A LOT with my own dogs. As I read your post, I saw that you are providing the basis for answers to your question by the information you provided! You said that your dog is too close & putting pressure on the sheep, and that the sheep are constantly running past you even tho your dog is maintaining the same speed. I think those statements illustrates two answers. One, your dog is still too close, and two, if the "same speed" is causing the sheep to feel harrassed enough to run, that "same speed" is too fast & needs to be slowed even more. Does your dog have a good "steady" or "time" command? If not, or if she's not taking it consistently in this situation, Lie her down, then ask her to walk up & immediately blow a steady or even a stop whistle. Ask her to walk up again, if she gets up too fast or speeds up AT ALL, stop her again. She's going to find this a bit frustrating as there will be a lot ofunattractive starting and stopping at first, by that's OK. If you're consistent, you should see her start to anticipate the second whistle and begin to check herself and pace a little better as she walks. She should begin to realize that she's only going to get to come on to those sheep if she keeps that enthusiam in check and maintain the proper pace and distance. Also: you said your dog has good balance. Are you doing a lot of turns and circle walks as you're wearing in order to practice balance? Turns tend to speed things up and bring a dog in even closer, so when you go out to train with the idea of really managing this pace problem, pick a spot on your field and make your goal to wear those sheep in a perfectly straight line to that spot. It doesn't have to be super far away at first. The sheep are not allowed to run past you. PERIOD. Keep your dog far enough off and under control to make that happen. Let's face it...this is not particularly FUN to train, but if you stay really consistent, you'll see improvement, tho reminding your dog to check her pace may be something you're always going to have to manage to some extent, and that's OK! One more quick thought. Do you have a small area, like a paddock, stall or round pen to work in? You may want to mix your pace training in with doing a little close up work. Don't ever think that going into a small area is a step backwards in the big scheme of training. Spend a few minutes working your dog up close and makes sure that she keeps a consistent distance off the sheep when she's in a small space. Your goal here is to make sure that she understands that she CAN be close to sheep and still work calmly and thoughtfully and not sneak closer and closer. It's important that you are cool and collected here too! Don't let her speed up or slice. If she's doing a good job of this, STILL practice it! It will help balance out the other training. A question for you: is your dog driving? Hope it helps! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest kimkathan Posted August 1, 2004 Report Share Posted August 1, 2004 I have been doing short assisted drives and short drives with her, but only when she's showing the interest to do so ( at this point I'm not forcing her into this, when she shows the intent, I let her go with it). Actually driving is much easier than wearing with her, but I do want her to wear with the right distance and speed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Lori Posted August 2, 2004 Report Share Posted August 2, 2004 Kim- Although you will have to control the pace of your dog on the fetch, the only time you will be truly wearing with your dog in trials will be in the most novice classes. If I had a young dog who was already 20 months old and was keen to push sheep and wasn't already fairly comfortable at driving, I'd be concentrating more on driving, less on wearing. Just my opinion! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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