MickeyDogs Posted July 2, 2009 Report Share Posted July 2, 2009 10+ years into this I'm still working on "reading" sheep so can someone answer me this: Your dog is driving the sheep and one stops to pee. Is the sheep 1) stressed; 2) bored; 3) giving the dog the sheepy finger; 4) <enter your answer here> Curious minds want to know Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caroline Reichard Posted July 2, 2009 Report Share Posted July 2, 2009 4) <enter your answer here> Gotta be menopause. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MickeyDogs Posted July 2, 2009 Author Report Share Posted July 2, 2009 Gotta be menopause. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rebecca, Irena Farm Posted July 2, 2009 Report Share Posted July 2, 2009 I generally interpret this as stress, but it's not always. I'll keep an eye on that one for further signs of stress (high head, falling back, or signs of illness). Sometimes it can be the opposite - the sheep feels confident enough to stop and take care of business. You can usually tell the difference though - a stressy pee is usually high headed and with ears or eyes right back at the dog. Watch sheep when they pee under non-working circumstances and then compare to the peeing you are seeing while working. I'm personally looking for ways to help keep things calm without falling back on the novice-y "lie down" or even "time." As the majority of what I do is related to raising sheep rather than trialing, I tend to put a ton of pressure on the dog to keep the sheep calm. I see something like a stressy pee and my reaction is automatically - "Time! LIE DOWN!" Bleh. I'm realizing now I need to find a happy medium - I'm taking the push out of my dogs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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