Drifting with on the fetch

[Georgia]

Hi Carol, hope I can make this clear!

If all goes well on the lift, there are times on the fetch, if the sheep aren't marching in straight to me, but start to drift to one side or the other my dog will drift with the sheep. He places himself on the side they are drifting and goes along with them. What should I to get him back on line with the sheep.

Thanks

Georgia

[Guest carol campion]

Hi Carol, hope I can make this clear!

If all goes well on the lift, there are times on the fetch, if the sheep aren't marching in straight to me, but start to drift to one side or the other my dog will drift with the sheep. He places himself on the side they are drifting and goes along with them. What should I to get him back on line with the sheep.

Thanks

Georgia

 

 

Go back and look at the top of his outrun and make sure he has covered the sheep properly there. If he has and the lift is in control and straight, watch to see where the drift starts. I bet it is maybe on the lift.

 

Your job is to start seeing it sooner and not wait til the sheep have taken him off line for too long. Then you need to be able to flank the dog cleanly on the fetch to put the sheep back on line. You see, once they are allowed offline for too long to wherever the draw is, they start feeling that the dog doesn't care and will try harder to go offline to where they want to go again. You see, he is only flanking enough to actually be pushing them further off line rather than turning them back on line. The sheep are taking him and they will keep questioning him.

 

So be more proactive and use your flanks as a preventative rather than a means to fix something already gone wrong. If you can sense when the sheep are leaning, a small flank to prevent the sheep from going off line rather than a big one to fix it is more of a deterrent to the sheep so that they don't keep trying the dog. It will give your dog more power and control and the sheep eventually give in and allow themselves to be taken by the dog.

You will see an improvement in the quality of the entire runs when you and your dog handle more proactively.

 

Another way to handle this is with a fast walk up. If you have a dog with lots of feel, it the sheep start drifting and a flank might give the sheep more room to go off line, I ask for a fast walk-up knowing my dog will use her instinct and balance to angle up the side onto the pressure rather than flank out away from it. Which I use depends on the sheep and where it might be occurring. Also, this works if you catch it early. And I have a flank ready as a back up in case the sheep are pushing that hard.

 

Carol