Stampede!

[Rebecca, Irena Farm]

OK, I have another one. My sheep know the routine here. If they are pointed in a particular direction, they know where they are going. The thing is, with the hot weather they tend to BOLT in that direction now. There's many different little routines that this is true of.

 

There's very few fences to prevent the stampede - there's often 200 or more yards between our objectives. Like, moving from the front field to the barn. Or from the side field down to the pond. They're like a horse with its nose pointed to the stable, but it's true for most destinations.

 

I"m sure this is screwing with the dogs' heads. the work gets done here, but I'm tired of the sheep leaving us in the dust - and of course there's times when we're doing something off the beaten track and it's extra work to make the little mandatory detours.

 

The dog is NOT, by the way, pushing them. Cord does a very nice job trying to anticipate the stampede now and he even stops himself - to no avail. Although, I'm sure my novice handling and letting the dogs get away with bad flanks and such, contributes to the sheep's overall bad attitude! We're working on that but it won't be solved overnight, lol.

 

I know one solution is to simply change things up and throw in some different things, but I barely have time enough for the usual stuff and maybe a little dog-focused training.

 

Can I help the dog somehow, not lose the sheep? Wearing doesn't work, they just run past me. I thought about just sending my dog to the heads over and over until they quit, but he already has a problem with going to the heads on the drive.

 

Again, I have such a teeny little toolbox. I really appreciate your time here!

[JW]

OK, I have another one. My sheep know the routine here. If they are pointed in a particular direction, they know where they are going. The thing is, with the hot weather they tend to BOLT in that direction now. There's many different little routines that this is true of.

 

There's very few fences to prevent the stampede - there's often 200 or more yards between our objectives. Like, moving from the front field to the barn. Or from the side field down to the pond. They're like a horse with its nose pointed to the stable, but it's true for most destinations.

 

I"m sure this is screwing with the dogs' heads. the work gets done here, but I'm tired of the sheep leaving us in the dust - and of course there's times when we're doing something off the beaten track and it's extra work to make the little mandatory detours.

 

The dog is NOT, by the way, pushing them. Cord does a very nice job trying to anticipate the stampede now and he even stops himself - to no avail. Although, I'm sure my novice handling and letting the dogs get away with bad flanks and such, contributes to the sheep's overall bad attitude! We're working on that but it won't be solved overnight, lol.

 

I know one solution is to simply change things up and throw in some different things, but I barely have time enough for the usual stuff and maybe a little dog-focused training.

 

Can I help the dog somehow, not lose the sheep? Wearing doesn't work, they just run past me. I thought about just sending my dog to the heads over and over until they quit, but he already has a problem with going to the heads on the drive.

 

Again, I have such a teeny little toolbox. I really appreciate your time here!

 

I'm having a hard time coming up with something you haven't already suggested

Try practicing your driving by letting the dog catch them and then drive them back to where they started. This should help your dog to understand the job and stop trying to head when driving.