iLLt3cK Posted January 4, 2007 Report Share Posted January 4, 2007 Right now, I'm working on starting Tate on small outruns and beginning to familiarize him with his flank commands and to work more off of my voice than the crook. We are also working on slowing him down and having him "take time" when fetching / following me with the flock. What about you? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rebecca, Irena Farm Posted January 4, 2007 Report Share Posted January 4, 2007 Cord is learning to open up his flanks and not overflank. Also not bust the sheep down the field. I'm learning to let him work on his own, but stay in control. Wax on, wax off. Baby Ted is learning to come off sheep when called, and will have his first official lessons next weekend. Patrick is helping Rocky get comfortable flanking and getting some distance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Black Watch Debatable Posted January 5, 2007 Report Share Posted January 5, 2007 The landshark continues to amaze me. Today, for example, I was amazed to see that a 35 lb dog can flip a large ewe to the ground if said dog's useless handler is A) waaaay too far away, snail slow and C) never thinks to use a lie-down whistle, which the dog actually knows and generally obeys. For a while this afternoon I stuck the crook in the ground and my hands in my pockets in order to focus on whistles with Lulu. (This was at Anna Guthrie's.) We are also working on pace, tiny outruns and short fetches. On a baby outrun to her not-favorite side, I was happy to see that Lulu was calm, chose a reasonable distance, didn't rush, and checked in on the sheep as she ran, just like a real border collie Did I say I was happy? Grinning like. an. idiot My good girl Twig [trained to PN by Suzy Applegate years ago] is busy with driving. Twig is a sweetie and would never, ever, take hold of a sheep and not let go for 20 or 30 yards Twiglet is solid on her flanks but works much better to whistles than to voice --- thank heaven I managed to find the tape of Suzy's "Twig whistles." Twig can do a servicable outrun, but her driving will be better when I just use whistles with her. Where I'm at: must keep hands in pockets, not confuse Lu with flailing gestures. Must practice Twig's whistles. Must use a soft voice Etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kelpiegirl Posted January 5, 2007 Report Share Posted January 5, 2007 Just had a lesson yesterday. Working on us working together as a team (as opposed to me not in the picture). Also working on my timing, if that is good lessons go well. As for what we are doing- lots of footwork (serpentines), and some walk ups. Good lesson yesterday. Julie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iLLt3cK Posted January 7, 2007 Author Report Share Posted January 7, 2007 Luisa, It's great to hear from another sheep herding person in the area. I also train at Anna Guthrie's place on the weekends! I went out to watch her & Riddle run at Poway and will be at her ranch next Saturday and Sunday since we missed our lesson this week due to the trial Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
juliepoudrier Posted January 7, 2007 Report Share Posted January 7, 2007 Lark (11 months) is learning her flanks and doing a tiny bit of driving. She's trying to learn to feel her sheep instead of pushing all the time, but since I don't want to remove her push I'm not really getting on her for being overly pushy (not at this age anyway). Oh, and she's trying to learn to lie down when I tell her the first time (and not jump up instantly to keep pushing). She has a pretty nice natural outrun at 75 yards or so, so I'm not working on that much, unless she claps on the pressure. The pups (5 months) are attempting to learn to go around sheep without doing their alligator and crocodile acts. They did a lovely bit of brace work the other day (by accident) as we were coming back from our walk to the pond. Just the fact that they actually went around the sheep (who were out of the fenced area to graze) at a distance of about 25 yards and brought them to me (okay it wasn't beautiful, but it wasn't a wreck either) rather than just trying to eat them was rather heartwarming.... Julie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pippin's person Posted January 9, 2007 Report Share Posted January 9, 2007 Hamish (almost 2) is learning short drives past a holder, better outruns--particularly at the head--and to combat his sticky eye Pippin (3) is learning to slow down, lie down on the first command, to trust me and not to cut in at the top of the outrun. She's also learning that long outruns aren't scary. I'm learning to keep a steady voice and not fall down. About to start learning to whistle (the whistles just came in the mail) Robin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mbernard2424 Posted January 10, 2007 Report Share Posted January 10, 2007 Originally posted by juliepoudrier: The pups (5 months) are attempting to learn to go around sheep without doing their alligator and crocodile acts. They did a lovely bit of Julie [/QB] ROFL! The alligator and crocodile acts, that's exactly what my four month old puppy, Kessie is doing. Julie, do you discourage that much at this age? Michelle Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
juliepoudrier Posted January 10, 2007 Report Share Posted January 10, 2007 Well, I don't *encourage* it, but as long as they're not damaging sheep I don't really get on them for it either. Actually what I try to do is set up the situation so that they pups can't pull wool much (i.e., get close enough to grab), but as I don't really have dog-broke sheep (they don't automatically come to me for protection), I just have to deal with what happens as it happens. Overcorrecting for biting at this age risks removing the grip altogether, so I just make it my mission to try and protect the sheep as much as possible and not let a situation arise where the pup gets away with a lot of grabbing. Actually my two were so bad at one point recently that I just put them up for a couple of weeks. That's a better solution (waiting for some maturing to occur) than correcting constantly for grabbing, which is usually a sign that the pup doesn't know what else to do. (Caveat: I'm not talking about pups pulling sheep down and trying to gut them, but just your typical puppy grabbing and wool-pulling acts.) J. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mbernard2424 Posted January 10, 2007 Report Share Posted January 10, 2007 Since this is the first little puppy I've started (Gel was about seven months old before I put him on sheep), I wasn't sure if I should be correcting it at this point or not. My gut feeling was as long as it's not excessive, to let it be for now. She isn't getting much time on sheep at this point in time anyway. I don't plan to do too much with her until she's closer to a year old. No sense in rushing it. Michelle 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.