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When Is Stopping Short Not Short?


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We had a great time working our dogs at Julie's this weekend putting them in situations that were just a little more difficult, but not crazy or with a lot of pressure. Perfect for what I needed with Ted.

 

I have sort of a weird question. My last advanced dog, I never thought about his outruns because at all the trials we went to, he'd get at most a point off if that. So I trusted him and I guess didn't actually learn much about this part of things.

 

Ted's got a really nice outrun, too, but as he is a baby dog, and since I'm a novice responsible for shaping his future at a mature dog, I do a lot more second guessing when he goes for his sheep.

 

I had one moment like this on Saturday. The sheep were very strong to their right (to my left) and behind them. The first couple of times I sent him to the left, Ted flanked past balance, then flanked back and lifted them.

 

The last time I sent him, he stopped on balance, but that was significantly short and almost on the sheep's shoulders (oh, these sheep were very heavy and being somewhat naughty about breaking when given the chance). I opened my mouth to do - actually I don't know what I thought I was going to do, I was just reacting because it "looked" so "wrong." Then he lifted the sheep and they were spot on straight. Yeah, novice moment there.

 

Comments? Suggestions? I'm posting this for Carol, too.

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Becca,

 

There are a few possibilities. Ted wasn't initially finding the balance point to lift correctly and with practice he found it. The sheep needed to "see" Ted before they would react to Ted and then he slipped back to balance. The latter can occur when the sheep have their heads down and don't react to the dog coming around. Another possibility is that because of the individual sheep in each group the balance point changed from where it had been for the previous outruns. Often when sheep are held, what we see as the balance point is not really the balance point for the held sheep. At our last trial, the set-out dog was on the pressure side and this lessened the draw for those first few steps that the sheep took during the lift; once past the set-out dog the draw was much stronger and the dog needed to sift over to cover the increased pressure.

 

Bottom line, if the sheep lifted straight, Ted was right.

 

Mark

 

P.S. Ted's dam is very good at lifting; I rarely say anything to Peg until after the lift (unless she is being too careful). His sire was very good at gathering, except for being pushy on the fetch.

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I'd say then that Ted got Peg's lift because right from day one Ted's been terrific at lifting - it's a great thing in a dog that is used mostly in small paddocks, and working ewe/lamb pairs and lambs. And he seems to be shaping up to have terrific gathering skills. He was pushy on the fetch until we sort of back chained that part - once he learned that the point of bringing sheep was to settle them at my feet, he started coming up with the pace on his own.

 

What especially pleased me during the work this weekend was when he found he could control the pace while driving, as well. Cooperative sheep make a big difference and I'll be making traveling with him more of a priority now that lambing and church Bible drill is almost over. :rolleyes:

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Nothing to add Becca, except Ted was doing a lovely job the weekend. He has really come along nicely.

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