airbear Posted March 25, 2008 Report Share Posted March 25, 2008 A random question: in a trial situation, do you think your dog *knows* that the sheep are supposed to go through the panels? I've heard so many differing opinions on this, from those who swear that their dog knows to push the sheep through the panels, to those who say there's no way that the dog can know the purpose of the drive (and fetch) panels. Whaddya think? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marilyn T Posted March 25, 2008 Report Share Posted March 25, 2008 Any dog that has trialed a lot will understand panels. I can run my 10- y.o. and if I shut up half or even less than half way across the cross drive, he hits those panels better than I ever can. He still needs to know which panels to aim for though, so I do have some input. Lyle Lad said to me once that she was in a training session with her old Mick dog, and used him to show something, then turned and got into a discussion with her client. When she looked, Mick was driving sheep through a panel, and turned them, and headed towards another panel. Any dog that is smart enough to do all this dog work is also smart enough to figure out panels! that is why everyone says to not practice panels...the dog starts ignoring what you say, and goes into auto pilot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
juliepoudrier Posted March 25, 2008 Report Share Posted March 25, 2008 ^^^What Marilyn said! I'm more likely to miss a panel if I'm telling my dog what to do than if I just let her do it herself. J. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stockdogranch Posted March 25, 2008 Report Share Posted March 25, 2008 I agree...my depth perception really sucks big time, and I find that sometimes, if I just shut up, and tell Riddle to just take them through the panels, she does. And then, sometimes if I am giving her lots of flanks just in front of the panels when my eyes are playing tricks on me, she turns and looks at me like I'm nuts, as if to say, "are you really sure you want that flank?" She'll take the flank, cuz she's a good girl, but that usually causes them to miss, and had I not directed her, they would have gone through... You'd think I would take the advice I give students all the time, "Trust you dog, trust your dog..." A Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laurae Posted March 25, 2008 Report Share Posted March 25, 2008 I was told by Craig's former owner that Craig has "panel anxiety." She said that if I do a bunch of back and forth right before the panels to try to line the sheep up perfectly, I could expect him to stop listening to me and just turn them around to fetch back to me Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1sheepdoggal Posted March 26, 2008 Report Share Posted March 26, 2008 What they said! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caroline Reichard Posted March 26, 2008 Report Share Posted March 26, 2008 I have occasionally gotten down on my belly to try and see the world at a dog's-eye-view. Whether or not dogs actually aim for panels I couldn't say, but I feel very certain that they often would be unable to see them on account of grass, small rises in the ground, or sheep bottoms. I'll also add that from down there a group of sheep standing and looking down at you looks like a herd of elephants; I believe that dogs are routinely braver than we think. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Billadeau Posted March 26, 2008 Report Share Posted March 26, 2008 Yes, and some will question your commands when they know it will cause the sheep to miss the panels. Some will fight you if you run courses at home and then one day decide to not drive to the panels. Mark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeltaBluez Tess Posted March 26, 2008 Report Share Posted March 26, 2008 A yr or so ago, I was running Tess in Open. She was in heat which means...”she will do the course at her speed (fast) and downs are for other dogs" so needless to say it was challenging..... The fetch was a extreme dog leg fetch with the fetch panel about 20 above the last drive panels . She does a great fetch, turn around the post, good first leg, right on the cross drive (fast at this point and no down at all, even though I was telling her so) and then as she pushes the sheep through the cross panels, her head flips up and she sees the dogleg fetch panels, ignores my commands, repositions herself and then drives the sheep through the fetch panels, flips back and drives them back through the fetch panels and then to top it off, then see the cross panels and put them through the wrong way and then straight to the shed....partway I quit commanding her and turn to the judge who was a few feet away and shrugged my shoulders...we both laughed...she did a great shed and pen and then tried to sauntered off to flirt with the male dogs....I grabbed her and then the judge leaned over to me and asked me what was she doing....I replied she was in heat and had a mind of her own...his response was she wanted to make sure all the panels were covered and by God, she did. I could not but laugh at her as she was proud of herself putting the sheep through, five sets of panels on her drive Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sue R Posted March 27, 2008 Report Share Posted March 27, 2008 Five sets of drive panels. Sounds like Tess is a real over-achiever. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeltaBluez Tess Posted March 27, 2008 Report Share Posted March 27, 2008 >>>Sounds like Tess is a real over-achiever< somehow I don't recall using those words about Tess while muttering under my breath!!! Diane Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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