Training

[Guest Bart]

Kenneling my dogs has made a big difference and now I can really ask some training questions. My oldest and most talented BC has developed a very cautious outrun and fetch. He sails out and even if the sheep are together he seems to take forever to round them up. Once he starts he brings them back perfectly. My other two sail out like shot from a canon and round them up and bring them back too fast. One of them if the sheep are split brings the closest ones and I have to tell him to go back and get the rest, which he does - but still he is too intense. Any thoughts, thanks

[Guest Amanda]

I'm proud of you getting those dogs shut up and prompt results at that. Great. I should have expected no less, with your name as it is.

The oldest most talented one sounds like too much eye. He shouldn't take forever to get the gather done. Too much eye is a hard problem to beat. But without seeing it I would not like to judge. Shorten your gathers, so that you can run out and keep him moving. If things are not going well at hand, a dog cannot be expected to do them correctly at a distance. Sort out problems, if they can be sorted out, in close.

The same applies to the other two. Make them stop at hand, before you stretch them out and expect them to stop. And stop the one that splits them, before he does it. "Too intense" sounds like too much eye, but an experienced hand should see that to say.

 

Your asking a lot of questions. I am having trouble discerning which dog is which, but i hope that helps.

Amanda

[Guest Bart]

thanks, I was confused about (bart)the one that takes too long thinking he might know more than I did about how best to gather them when they are on a steep hill, but I have noticed he is doing it all the time. It sounds like all of mine have too much eye, which I probably caused by giving them too much freedom.