Smokjbc Posted July 20, 2007 Report Share Posted July 20, 2007 Hi... I have a two year old female that has been taking FOREVER to mature. However, in the last 3-4 months, she's made alot of progress in her general attitude (very..very...silly...puppy) and starting to show me some good stuff. One of the problems I had when she was balancing sheep to me is that she was always watching me out of the corner of her eye and I felt I was influencing her to much with my body. I tried to free her up and just ignore her most of the time, shushed her back to the sheep, etc. That seemed to help and I had her put up mostly for about three months and she seems to have grown out of alot of silliness. That balancing problem is mostly fixed, she's balancing nicely now, and doing about 75 yard outruns and flanking ok. Her confidence when she was younger was not too great, but lately I've let her work one of my ewes that is a good indicator of confidence and she's been very good about facing off with her and doesn't grip but stands her ground well. My issue now is that I am doing just a very little driving with her because I like to start on that as early as possible. If I am too near her when I walk along, she will find her way behind me and start wearing ME instead of making contact with the sheep. So.. I've dropped back further than I normally have and just encourage her to walk up, which she does pretty well until I need to slow her down or down her, in which case she either starts back towards me or lies down facing me. I am torn between these three (as I see it) strategies.. Plan A) Down her but as soon as she slows or starts to turn towards me, give her a walkup... which may do more damage to her already negotiable down, Plan B )... Don't down her but ? or Plan C.. forget about driving for awhile. This dog is very forward moving into her sheep, has very little eye and likes to push right through them. I'm kinda intrigued by her style but at a bit of a loss compared to my other dogs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JW Posted July 20, 2007 Report Share Posted July 20, 2007 Hi... I have a two year old female that has been taking FOREVER to mature. However, in the last 3-4 months, she's made alot of progress in her general attitude (very..very...silly...puppy) and starting to show me some good stuff. One of the problems I had when she was balancing sheep to me is that she was always watching me out of the corner of her eye and I felt I was influencing her to much with my body. I tried to free her up and just ignore her most of the time, shushed her back to the sheep, etc. That seemed to help and I had her put up mostly for about three months and she seems to have grown out of alot of silliness. That balancing problem is mostly fixed, she's balancing nicely now, and doing about 75 yard outruns and flanking ok. Her confidence when she was younger was not too great, but lately I've let her work one of my ewes that is a good indicator of confidence and she's been very good about facing off with her and doesn't grip but stands her ground well. My issue now is that I am doing just a very little driving with her because I like to start on that as early as possible. If I am too near her when I walk along, she will find her way behind me and start wearing ME instead of making contact with the sheep. So.. I've dropped back further than I normally have and just encourage her to walk up, which she does pretty well until I need to slow her down or down her, in which case she either starts back towards me or lies down facing me. I am torn between these three (as I see it) strategies.. Plan A) Down her but as soon as she slows or starts to turn towards me, give her a walkup... which may do more damage to her already negotiable down, Plan B )... Don't down her but ? or Plan C.. forget about driving for awhile. This dog is very forward moving into her sheep, has very little eye and likes to push right through them. I'm kinda intrigued by her style but at a bit of a loss compared to my other dogs. Hi Jaime, Instead of walking behind her, walk parallel to her, or even a bit ahead of her, but at a distance fifty feet or so. This way she'll be able to see you out of the corner of her eye. This should stop the looking back, etc. Don't worry that she's pushing. In fact be glad. She should start to figure out the speed she needs to go in order to keep the sheep together. It might help if you can catch her before she splits them and lye her down, then ask her back up. Be sure to do lots of gathering before, during and after you work on driving. Try not to ask her to drive into pressure. The need to control makes it almost impossible to keep a young dog behind sheep that are escaping. When teaching my dogs to drive, I'm very careful to not put them in a situation where the sheep are running away. If the sheep do try to escape, I will stop the dog and immediatly send them to catch the sheep. I want them to trust me that I won't let them loose the sheep. Jeanne Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smokjbc Posted July 20, 2007 Author Report Share Posted July 20, 2007 Makes sense- and I am glad she likes to push into sheep, its just there doesn't seem to be a lot of hold with that push (as in holding together, on line, etc) , so I am trying to adjust my timing to suit her style more and she's just sooo forward I have to be spot on with that down/steady to keep things under control . She was like that at first with fetching too, very right in the middle of things but now she's developed a better pace. Thanks for the response! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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