Home again

[JW]

I am finally home and ready to try answering your questions again. Sorry for the long delay.

 

Jeanne

[Liz P]

Did you enjoy yourself?

 

I actually have a question relating to the Finals... We were watching some dogs get lost by the house during the double lift and wondering how to go about training a command to let the dog know they need to bend IN without coming back to the handler. How would you train that? When would you train that (early on, only when the dog is running Open)?

[JW]

Did you enjoy yourself?

 

I actually have a question relating to the Finals... We were watching some dogs get lost by the house during the double lift and wondering how to go about training a command to let the dog know they need to bend IN without coming back to the handler. How would you train that? When would you train that (early on, only when the dog is running Open)?

 

Soldier Hollow and Meeker were great. I especially love Meeker. The trial is awesome and the community is totally behind the trial and the handlers. I saw some great running at both. Tommy Wilson and Sly's winning run at Meeker was a thing of beauty.

As you know, the Finals was one of the best yet. I loved Gettysburg and the whole experience (except for my sheep in the second nursery run!!).

 

As to teaching a "come in" command, I begin teaching it by using my recall whistle. This gets their attention and usually causes them to look in. If they are very obedient and come all the way in on a recall(which never happens with my dogs:)), I'll follow with a direction whistle. Hopefully they have seen the sheep and will carry on on the right path. I gradually change the whistle to a variation of the recall whistle. As to when I train it, I generally teach things when the need arrises or the opportunity presents itself. For instance, if a young dog doesn't see all the sheep or leaves some when gathering, I'll take advantage and start teaching a look back. This could happen during the first month of training.

If I happen to be training on a specific group of sheep with other sheep across the field, I'll let the dog catch the first group when they're thinking of joining the other sheep. I'll use the command that I'll eventually use while working on an international shed. I personally use "here this" The next time it happens, I might give the dog a long, drawn out flank whistle and let them pick up all the sheep. It's a good way to teach a redirect.

 

Jeanne