Peejy Posted September 2, 2008 Report Share Posted September 2, 2008 I have an Australian Koolie that i am currently training, she is 20 months old. We got her back in May after her owner previous owner returned because she 'didn't like her'. When we first tried her on sheep, she showed no interest at all until we put her sister in the yard as well. That was whn the light came on.. but she still only worked half-heartedly.. I have worked with her over the past months and she has come along so well, is so much more focused and and she has now progressed from the yard to a small paddock. She will now continually bring the sheep to me as I walk backwards around the paddock but lately, instead of keeping her eyes on the sheep, she turns away from them, runs a few paces in the opposite direction and then comes back to continue bringing them in. It is like she looses concentration.. I have tried calling her back as soon as she begins to turn off, but that hasn't really helped much. She is doing it more and more each lesson and it is beginning to be worry. Does anyone have any advice on how I can stop her from doing this? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ragtimedog Posted September 2, 2008 Report Share Posted September 2, 2008 I have an Australian Koolie that i am currently training, she is 20 months old. We got her back in May after her owner previous owner returned because she 'didn't like her'. When we first tried her on sheep, she showed no interest at all until we put her sister in the yard as well. That was whn the light came on.. but she still only worked half-heartedly.. I have worked with her over the past months and she has come along so well, is so much more focused and and she has now progressed from the yard to a small paddock. She will now continually bring the sheep to me as I walk backwards around the paddock but lately, instead of keeping her eyes on the sheep, she turns away from them, runs a few paces in the opposite direction and then comes back to continue bringing them in. It is like she looses concentration.. I have tried calling her back as soon as she begins to turn off, but that hasn't really helped much. She is doing it more and more each lesson and it is beginning to be worry. Does anyone have any advice on how I can stop her from doing this? I'm not an expert, and would love to hear other comments, but I'll jump in with my 2 cents. I had a dog that was very hesitant to do outruns. He'd stop and look at me as if to say, "are you SURE?" I took him to a friend's farm where she had much more room, more sheep and they ran! He got so turned on that he was a different dog when we came home. So my thought would be to get them in a bigger field, or lighter sheep or something that will really get her excited about working. L Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peejy Posted September 3, 2008 Author Report Share Posted September 3, 2008 Thanks Ragtimedog, I'll try her in a larger paddock tomorrow and see how she goes. I also have a short video of her doing this 'turning back', I'll try and upload it and post the link here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rebecca, Irena Farm Posted September 3, 2008 Report Share Posted September 3, 2008 I had a dog who really lacked confidence. When I worked with her with Jack, he'd make sure if he had to correct something, that it was set up so she was really enjoying the work or it was really obvious and easy what he wanted her to do. She was a runner - if you pushed a bit hard on her she'd just run off. Frustrating as heck and I'd get concerned when it happened and try to stop it. "No," he'd say, "Leave all that - get her working right and that will go away." But it's important to work them where if they go off contact, they don't leave entirely on you, or they will learn that's an option. I actually wouldn't go in a bigger space more than, say, once, to see whether that's a huge help. If I saw her eye flicker over her shoulder even once I'd go back into a more secure area and just try to make the work easier. Often dogs like this have a lot of instinct but aren't team players to a great extent. They don't want to accept interference. So you have to get them used to the idea that you'll have a say in what's going on. Take this with a grain of salt. This one time though I do have a bit of experience with this kind of dog. I don't know if it's because "throwaways" tend to be this kind of dog (probably), but I do see it more than that "team player" attitude I actually prefer for myself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peejy Posted September 5, 2008 Author Report Share Posted September 5, 2008 Thanks for you advice Rebecca, I haven't tried her in a larger paddock yet, haven't had time. But will tomorrow. If it doesn't help I will bring her back into a smaller paddock. She isn't really a great 'team-player', is a bit stubborn at times. And as you said it could be the reason for her 'Turning away' and I know she definately still has a few confidence issues.. Here is a short vid of her, she turns off only once during this clip at about 10 seconds into it, but did it much more after the video finished. http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=z9OU5ZWcjOg&...%3D0%26ps%3D20% Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.