Guest Charles Torre Posted December 4, 2002 Report Share Posted December 4, 2002 The last few weeks I have been experimenting with simple dog-sheep maneuvers at - what is for me - very large distances, say 400-500 yards. What has been very irritating is that my dogs have this habit of hesitating before enthusiastically taking my whistles. (Of course, if I ask for too much the dog will often not take my whistle at all at these distances. But for simple, sane flanks and so forth the dogs seem pretty happy to take the whistle - after a pause.) It finally dawned on my puny mind that the speed of sound is playing a role here. At room temperature the speed of sound is about 375 yards/second. So it is taking over a second for my whistles to get to the dog! Doh! If you are in one of those killer trials and you are trying to keep your dog on a perfect line during a fetch from 850 yards, how do you deal with this time delay? I don't expect to have to worry about this situation in the foreseeable future, but it is an interesting problem, no? I guess the ideal situation is to have a dog that knows how to fetch properly without any guidance. Still, this is never an ideal world; can you tell me how people deal with this? charlie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest PrairieFire Posted December 4, 2002 Report Share Posted December 4, 2002 Pretty simple, Charlie, the Acme, Handy-dandy whistle accelerator...comes with a pair of yellow glasses in aviator frames... I think you hit it on the head when said, "a dog that fetches straight"... When I've been at these kind of trials, they are not the precision game of laser straight lines you see at some trials - in many cases, the sheep simply wouldn't let you do that anyway...so it takes a pretty good dog to complete a course like that...even so, it usually isn't a score in the high 90's that wins a trial like Gene Litton's...although I have seen some pretty spectacular runs - by folks that simply anticipate the dog and the sheep and the terrain... Engineers, huh? I didn't post this thread... ------------------ Bill Gary Kensmuir, Working Stockdog Center River Falls, WI 715.426.9877 www.kensmuir.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tucknjill Posted December 4, 2002 Report Share Posted December 4, 2002 Quite often, even at smaller distances, I will have whistled tuck a half flank, steady and another stop all before he even gets up. It is just something (the time deley) you get better at with practice, or at least thats what ppl keep telling me! I am still waiting! If you watch some really top handlers, you can see it..three maybe four whistles given before the dog even moves and he takes them all. Sam Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Charles Torre Posted December 4, 2002 Report Share Posted December 4, 2002 Remarkable! What a beautiful challenge this stuff is. Just when you think you have finally climbed up a bit into the mountains, the clouds part and you see that you have merely conquered the foothills, with the REAL mountains somewhere off in the distance. charlie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tucknjill Posted December 4, 2002 Report Share Posted December 4, 2002 These dogs are so humbling...the minute I think I have half a clue, I realize how much more is out there and that generally, I dont know s@#t!!! Talk about your highs and lows...One day you can be on top of the world and think wow, I am getting a handle on this...and then the next minute, you are picking yourself off the ground and going damn what hit me???? Anyway, just liked your topic, because it really amazes me what some handlers can do...what really amazes me and makes me jealous is their darn eyesite! Its one thing to blow all those whistles, it is totally another to be able to see and comprehend at that distance...Wow! Anyway, off to check on the lambs and do last walk..it is snowing to beat the band here! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest PairDogx1.5 Posted December 5, 2002 Report Share Posted December 5, 2002 Really interesting discovery Charlie! And what you said about thinking you got somewhere only to see more off in the distance -- you used mountains -- but that's exactly what it's like climbing up from the river out of the Grand Canyon. You work and work and climb to reach the top of that ledge that was WAY up there, and when you get there it allows you to see another cliff WAY up there -- this happens over and over and over. And it was so easy going down!! It's the opposite of mountain climbing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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