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Chase and grab


Guest Hitime
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Guest Hitime

I have a problem which I can't seem to solve. I have a 2 yr. old female who I work in Novice/novice. She generally works well. However, if she thinks her sheep are getting away she will chase and usually one will split off and she will chase it and grab. She absolutely will not respond until I can get close to her. She will also, if not watched very closely, go after the sheep when we are not working or when we are leaving the sheep. This has become a serious problem and I am afraid she is really going to injure a sheep. Any help gratefully accepted. Darleen

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Guest Carol Campion

Darlene writes:

 

She will also, if not watched very closely, go after the sheep when we are not working or when we are leaving the sheep. This has become a serious problem and I am afraid she is really going to injure a sheep. Any help gratefully accepted.

 

Carol writes:

 

This is the type of dog I put back on a long line. My guess is that she went from point A in her training to point C or D and didn't get point B. By this I mean that if you cannot trust her, you need to go back and do some foundation work.

 

When you have a dog you can't trust, you tend to hover over it a bit because you are afraid it will get into trouble. So the reaction is to keep it under control and kind of harness it in, tip-toeing around its problem because it isn't pretty. Don't worry. I and most of us reading here have or have had this situation.

 

It is time to give her more reponsibility but make sure you are able to catch her in the act if she is wrong and give her a good timely correction. That is where the line comes in handy. Once she has gotten away with certain behavior, it is too late!!

 

I take them and put them right smack in the face of the situation that causes the behavior you don't want. Let her have the opportunity to make the mistake. But have a line to catch her and correct her. The level of correction depends on the dog. Often, just getting control on them for things like taking off back to work sheep is a real milestone. She needs to be looking to you for the go ahead to work. Her whole mind set is not right. She needs to be working for you—not the other way around.

 

You need to correct her and be effective enough that she holds herself back from these bahaviors rather than you constantly calling her back or nagging her.

 

The splitting & chasing is harder to stop. It can be casued by many things like POSSIBLY your holding her back for fear of her damaging the sheep and then she lost lost control so she explodes. Often people with grippy dogs or dogs with a nerve & short fuse do not let their dogs cover sheep right for fear of what they will do. This feeds into the dog's nerve and it perpetuates.

 

I would address the running back to sheep first. That is easier to get under control and see how her bahavior shifts once that is done.

 

Work her in a smaller area. Have her on a thin line and ask her to come off the sheep in a preplanned exercise. Make this your main goal.

 

When you ask her off, do not walk directly at her. This is a body language message to flank. It is how we teach flanks and even though your voice is saying one thing, your body is saying anoher.

 

Make you first objective getting hold ogf the rope—but again, not necessarily near the dog.

 

You want her to think she is free. Call her off while holding an end of the rope. Let her get to the end of it and catch her and give her a firm correction. It needs to be something to make her worry about you. I am not advocatiog hitting her—but she needs to be worried about you. She needs to experience that you CAN get to her and correct her.

 

Work on just this.

 

When you go out to work, make this your first exercise. Lie her down and walk away and call her off a few times BEFORE you send her to gather. Do not let her work until she is paying full attention to you. Then do some work. Ask her off the sheep. (Make sure you have the end of the rope) If she takes off, catch her, correct her and then start again—not with a gather but the lie-down, that'll do exercise.

 

The message is "You don't get to work unless you FIRST show me you are in sinc with me!"

 

Watch her when she does come off the sheep. Don't let her come to you and then sweep around and start right out on an outrun as she goes past. Often this happens and it goes unnoticed and you may just create a new unwanted behavior without meaning to. Make her come to you. Lie her down and walk DIRECTLY away from the sheep. Repeat til she is far away. Then repeat the exercise from the beginning. If she is in sinc and waiting on you, let her work.

 

Try this and then see how she is with the other chasing problem. You can get her and the sheep against the fence like I told Melanie (SOLO) in my post to her on the same issue. Your dog may need to learn to get comfortable wih breaking sheep Read that post and then do what I suggest with the "that'll do exercise" in between.

 

Let me know how it goes.

 

Another thing I have noticed is that hot headed dogs do not do well on high protein foods—just like horses. See what your protein level is and if it's way high, you may want to experiment with it lower. It takes about 6 weeks to see any change. That's one thing they do overseas. We feed a much higher level of protein than they do.

 

Hope this helps!

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Guest Hitime

Carol, Thank you for your reply. There is a lot of information there and I will have to really study it. I will let you know how we do.

Again, thank you very much, Darleen

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  • 1 month later...
Guest Hitime

Carol, I wanted to thank you for your suggestions regarding my Jessie's problems with chase and grab. I have worked her with walking , on a line, around and up to sheep in the field and calling her to me. She is doing quite well with that. Also, taking her off of the sheep is not a problem. However, if I stay in the field where the sheep are after she has gotten a drink and cooled off in the trough, and do not pay very close attention she will then run back on the sheep. Also, when she is working at a distance from me and the sheep seem to be getting away she still has that tendency to chase and grab. If I detect the signs soon enough I can lie her down and then flank her around them. If I don't pick up on her cues soon enough we still have the chase and grab scenario. Any further suggestions? Again, thanks for your help to a very slow learner ( me not the dog <G>) Darleen

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Guest Carol Campion

<However, if I stay in the field where the sheep are after she has gotten a drink and cooled off in the trough, and do not pay very close attention she will then run back on the sheep. Also, when she is working at a distance from me and the sheep seem to be getting away she still has that tendency to chase and grab. If I detect the signs soon enough I can lie her down and then flank her around them. If I don't pick up on her cues soon enough we still have the chase and grab scenario. Any further suggestions?>

 

I would be setting her up in those situations to show her she cannot get away with this stuff. Keep the line on her and keep your eyes opened and wait for her to be thoughtless. Then catch her in the act. Those are the times that make an impression. You see, she won't misbehave when she knows she wil get stopped from that behavior. Make her think you have ryes in your head and can see her "everywhere". Set her up to be wrong so you can correct it! You will see a different dog.

 

Don't get sucked into the idea that you need to be "nice" and give her lots of freedom-especially after a work session is over. Keep her in tow til she is 100%. Once she proves herself to be trustworthy, then give her the freedom again.

 

Remember, you do not want to be hanging onto a lead and restraining her. That is not teaching her to restrain herself. Let the lead hang loose abd give her the freedonm to make choices. Let her think she is free. If she makes a rash move, you can then grab the end of the lead and catch her in the act of rashness-whatever it might be.

 

TIMING IS EVERYTHING!!!!

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