Guest urbana Posted February 16, 2006 Report Share Posted February 16, 2006 I was wondering how do you get a young dog to be consistent. I have a 2 1/2 year old who runs great one day and bad another. I know when we walk on the field if he is being "hyper" or not. I wonder if I should just not run (at a trial) when it's going to be a bad day. By bad I mean he spooks the sheep on the lift and runs them to me. He forgets his stop and steady. Some days (even at home) he takes 3-4 out runs to settle even with me running up to put pressure on him to stop on the first one. Other days is he perfect and has pace on his own. And it doesn't seem to matter how tired he is before we get to the sheep. I haven't run him at any real trials yet because of this. We just go to a few different places to practice. He was just supposed to be a small working farm dog, which he is fine at. Maybe that is all he can be? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Tankertoad Posted February 17, 2006 Report Share Posted February 17, 2006 <small>[ February 17, 2006, 09:48 PM: Message edited by: Tankertoad ]</small> Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Amanda Posted February 17, 2006 Report Share Posted February 17, 2006 Consistency takes lots of time and training. No one got to the top taking it easy. Your dog isn’t very old which is in its favour. Nursery dogs are frequently inconsistent and he is nursery age. Good idea not to run him in any trials with the vices you describe—it would just let him improve the vices. It is a handler’s job to make the most of a dog, to develop his assets and shelve his liabilities. Every dog has weaknesses and conversely they have strengths. If he is already a good small farm dog and you have some vision and tenacity, I’m sure he can be more. Successful sheepdog/handler partnerships are complicated, just like any partnership. Give him your best shot and maybe he’ll give it back. Just keep plugging along, resolving problems that occur on bad days and celebrating things he does well when he does. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Smokinjbc Posted February 17, 2006 Report Share Posted February 17, 2006 Amanda, This is kind of in line with the same question- but what if you did make the mistake of getting a Nursery age dog in over her head (in this case, second trial (first trial went quite well but easier sheep) and we had a nasty, wet wintery day with nasty, wet, grumpy sheep and long story short- she got beat. If a bad or confidence shattering thing happens at a trial, what steps do you take to prevent it from happening again and building the dogs confidence back up? (believe me, I did learn my lesson about putting them in over their heads in the first place!). This particular dog, I'm getting more looking back in her driving and occasionally if she really feels overwhelmed, she'll come back to me. If she does that, I get closer to the sheep and don't let her come to my feet and send her out again. This is a nice, spayed little dog, I just want her to be as good as she can be, but realize some of her trouble is that she is not the strongest dog in the world. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest urbana Posted February 18, 2006 Report Share Posted February 18, 2006 Thanks for the ideas, to both of you. I see so many young dogs doing well at trials, I was wondering how much was me, how much was him, and how much was just us both learning how to workout distance and a course. He is also very silly off the sheep. Cracks me up with his antics trying to get my old dog to play or me to play when I am working. I guess that is a sign he is still puppish. I like the dog and he does help out. He moves the sheep where I need them, holds them so I can catch any I need to catch. He works really fine up close. We will plug along at distance and see if we can get more consistent before we do trials. Anything you do special with you dogs when you get to a trial to get them warmed up? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Amanda Posted February 18, 2006 Report Share Posted February 18, 2006 I do not do anything special. I don't like getting a young dog too fired up watching. For the former poster If I get a dog in over his head, I fall back to something the dog does well and let him do that. Keeping dogs positive is an important part of training. Enthusiastic dogs learn better than disenchanted ones. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Tankertoad Posted February 18, 2006 Report Share Posted February 18, 2006 Originally posted by maryC: I was wondering how do you get a young dog to be consistent. I have a 2 1/2 year old who runs great one day and bad another. I know when we walk on the field if he is being "hyper" or not. I wonder if I should just not run (at a trial) when it's going to be a bad day. By bad I mean he spooks the sheep on the lift and runs them to me. He forgets his stop and steady. Some days (even at home) he takes 3-4 out runs to settle even with me running up to put pressure on him to stop on the first one. Other days is he perfect and has pace on his own. And it doesn't seem to matter how tired he is before we get to the sheep. I haven't run him at any real trials yet because of this. We just go to a few different places to practice. He was just supposed to be a small working farm dog, which he is fine at. Maybe that is all he can be? But, how does maryC approach this specific problem? If it takes 3 or 4 outruns to settle down, what should she do to try to get that first one close to right? Does she keep taking three or four outruns to get the dog to settle? Is she building a poor habit pattern in the dog to keep doing that? If she has any intention of trialing, the first one counts. By the way, maryC, if your dog does it perfect at his first trial, you'll be the first one I know of. Regards Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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