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bad bad bad day


kelpiegirl
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As good as yesterday was, this was bad. Went to work the sheep today. I had Lucy lay down and sent her, but one ewe kept staring at her, and basically giving her the eye. She caused all the others to follow suit, and pretty soon I had a dog who was really hesitant about going around. She just hasn't experienced this before- and she is so young. She has had NO issues with the other sheep we work when they are in a corner, or along a fence. It was bad. I felt bad. I then called my stellarly wonderful trainer and headed up there to work his "normal" sheep. She was good- no problems. He said he would come down this weekend and work my sheep. Now, the thing is, these sheep were worked by aus sheps before, who generally have very little to no eye- and move a lot. When Lucy got ahead of me into the field, she stopped, eyeing them. This set the white sheep on edge. Then Lucy was hesitant going around, and that made it worse. Anyway, fast forward to tonight. I brought my other two dogs out there. ONe, a little show kelpie named Nikke who has no fear of sheep. She came running into (but not at the sheep) the pasture, and the sheep (ALL- even the white witch) got together and moved- as one unit. They were worried about her. She has NO eye. Then I got my trusty Kylie, who has saved my butt more than once in her life- she is a very very special dog. Now, she has no fear when it comes to ME, and something that MIGHT bother me. So, she went in, faster, and white witch was trained in on, and decided to go back to the flock, and not cause a problem- again both these dogs have no eye. Then I bring Lucy in who has seen all of this and was crazy to get in the pasture. I sent her around- the white witch did take notice and hesitate a bit, but I kept moving- and they stayed with me this time. She did grip one sheep- I think the white witch. Afer all of this, everyone moved just fine. What do you all make of this? I was SO upset after what happened this morning. She is young, and I don't want to screw her up.

 

 

Julie

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It is very difficult to keep good training sheep if they are worked badly by loose eyed dogs. Which unfortuantely seems to equate a lot of Aussies anymore - fly in, fly out, on and off pressure, bite here and there, the sheep never get a break or a reward for responding to consistant quiet pressure. Bad breeding and/or bad training doesn't really matter...the sheep get sour fast and stop responding to an appropriate acting working dog. And if that dog is young it can then be forced to change its work habits to the negative to deal with them. Not a good cycle to get into.

 

To be fair and see if it's just inexperience on your part or Lucy's, having your trainer down is an excellent idea. If you trainer finds them as you have, it may be that it's better for you to work his sheep less often, but with better results, until Lucy is older and more experienced. good lessons, less often, hands down beat everyday bad work.

 

If the sheep I want to use have been harassed more than herded I take my experienced dogs out first, and drive them around the pasture a bit until they settle in and trust pressure from a dog. Drive, instead of fetch, because usually the same sheep have learned to cling to knees like barnacles rather than respond to what the dog does. After they settle in I work younger dogs with them and it works well.

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Thanks so much. My trainer also brought up that these were recently weaned ewes, and perhaps are still protecing the lambs that aren't there... They were much better when I worked them last night, so that gives me hope. As a side bar here, I had a dream last night that I had to make sure I got up before 5:00 am, because I "heard" that Lucy and Kylie had planned to go work the sheep- without me. OH MY.

Julie

 

It is very difficult to keep good training sheep if they are worked badly by loose eyed dogs. Which unfortuantely seems to equate a lot of Aussies anymore - fly in, fly out, on and off pressure, bite here and there, the sheep never get a break or a reward for responding to consistant quiet pressure. Bad breeding and/or bad training doesn't really matter...the sheep get sour fast and stop responding to an appropriate acting working dog. And if that dog is young it can then be forced to change its work habits to the negative to deal with them. Not a good cycle to get into.

 

To be fair and see if it's just inexperience on your part or Lucy's, having your trainer down is an excellent idea. If you trainer finds them as you have, it may be that it's better for you to work his sheep less often, but with better results, until Lucy is older and more experienced. good lessons, less often, hands down beat everyday bad work.

 

If the sheep I want to use have been harassed more than herded I take my experienced dogs out first, and drive them around the pasture a bit until they settle in and trust pressure from a dog. Drive, instead of fetch, because usually the same sheep have learned to cling to knees like barnacles rather than respond to what the dog does. After they settle in I work younger dogs with them and it works well.

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Well, I think this is becoming sort of an online journal- but what the heck! Today I worked just my girl today, and things went even better. The white witch ewe stomped, but not out of aggression as much as - uh oh, I am nervous- and then turns back to the flock. This is good. Lucy is starting to return the "look" that any of them give her. This may end up being a very good thing- to teach her how to handle less "friendly" sheep :rolleyes: I will keep helping her, and watching her back- teamwork really comes into play.

Julie

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