Calling her off the sheep.

[deadlywarbler]

I have a quick question regarding my 1 year old BC pup. She started doing mild sheep work about three months ago and is doing very well for her age. She's nice, light with the sheep and responsive to my body language commands (no verbal commands yet). The one weakness she has is when I say "That'll do" she rushes in after the sheep. She doesn't even go after them like that when we are normally working, but it's very difficult to get her off them unless she's really tired. Outside of the farm, she has an embarrassingly bad recall despite my months of effort. Has anyone encountered this or found solutions to training a clean recall or "that'll do"?

[Maxi]

IMO I think your dog thinks 'that'll do" from you actually means .. " work has ended, so you can do what you like and go blast into the sheep", so you either need to change the command (or else use a whistle) or else change her mindset about what this command means.

 

You probably need to go back to using a long line and positioning yourself so that you are in a position to enforce your commands

 

For a young dog that needs to learn to leave sheep when I say so, I usually do something like this

1. have the dog on a long line

2. work the sheep so that they end up near a fence (the dog wont feel he needs to stop them "escaping")

3. ask the dog for a flank so that he moves towards me and then ask for a "lie down' or "stand" (depends on the dog)

4. pick up the long line (wearing gloves)

5. ask for a "that'll do" ... and walk away.

6. If he tries to continue to want to work the sheep, I quietly, but assertively, move into a 'block position" between him and the sheep and use my body language to push him away from the sheep and again ask for a lie down. Then again walk past him holding the line and say 'that'll do" as I tap my leg encouraging him to come with me.

 

The important thing is to remain calm and authoritive however annoyed you feel. Lots of arm waving and shouting or showing your anger will just excite or worry your dog..

 

The other thing I do, is show a dog that 'that'll do" does not necessarily mean that this is the end of the work session.. so throughout the training session, I will do the sequence of actions described above (but without a long line once I'm pretty sure the dog will come with me and also with the sheep in the middle of the field) and then after walking a short way, set up the dog for another short outrun.

 

If the dog continues to want to work, I will move so that I am between him and his sheep and use my body language to block him from working his sheep, push him away from his stock and ask for a stop. Once he has settled his mind, I will walk past him and ask him to come with me. If he again rushes into the sheep, then again block and repeat the exercise until he gets the idea.

 

When doing these 'mid session' exercises, I often do not use the fence line to help me. For example, once the dog has balanced the sheep, lifted them and fetched them towards me for a short while, I will walk through the sheep and continue walking away as I call the dog to come with me using "that'll do'. Again, then set up for a short uprun.

 

Doing this kind of exercise means that the dog does not associate walking away from the sheep with me as meaning that the work has inevitably ended.

 

Once we have walked calmy away from the sheep, I give lots of calm praise (especially at the end of a session).

 

No doubt others will have different methods, but I find this system works for me.

 

Good luck.

[deadlywarbler]

Thanks Maxi, I have tried a few of those things, but I might have to make my reaction calmer. The only problem is that she is so fast its hard to calmly move to block her. I use a flag to block her now, but I'm afraid that is causing too much excitement. I may have to go back to having the long line on her...

[Maxi]

When training a dog who wont leave the sheep. IMO there are 3 basic things that you need to set up in order to succeeed

1. Most importantly it's about calm authority from you

2. only ask your dog to walk off her sheep, when you are in a position to enforce it. This means that you need to be close to your sheep . Also asking your dog to flank so that she is near to you will give you the opportunity to pick up the long line before using the 'that'll do" command. ..

3. If your sheep are light, ensure that they not in a position that they can run, so use the fence line to help you..

 

It is not something that happens over night.. but consistency from you and practicing throughout a training session means that gradually you will win.. you just have to believe in yourself

 

ETA... throw away your flag if that is overexciting her.

[deadlywarbler]

When training a dog who wont leave the sheep. IMO there are 3 basic things that you need to set up in order to succeeed

1. Most importantly it's about calm authority from you

2. only ask your dog to walk off her sheep, when you are in a position to enforce it. This means that you need to be close to your sheep . Also asking your dog to flank so that she is near to you will give you the opportunity to pick up the long line before using the 'that'll do" command. ..

3. If your sheep are light, ensure that they not in a position that they can run, so use the fence line to help you..

 

It is not something that happens over night.. but consistency from you and practicing throughout a training session means that gradually you will win.. you just have to believe in yourself

 

ETA... throw away your flag if that is overexciting her.

You are the second person to tell me to ditch the flag, so I will be doing so immediately! I think I'll just use a light stick for extension of my arms. Thank you for the help here. I will be putting this to use this week and will stay consistent and not sweat the setbacks. Thank you!

[dsmbc]

my young dog was like that, when we said "that'll do" he rushed back to the sheep. He just didn't want to quit. the trainer I was working with had me do something very similar to what Maxi suggested, the only difference is that she had me walk up to him and past him and did not have me say "that'll do" until I was next to him and walking past him at first, so that he would get a clear picture of what I wanted. She also had me do it many times during our training session so that sometimes he got to go right back and work the sheep after we walked off and sometimes we ended our session. That kept him guessing a bit and helped a lot.

[Sue R]

I second the suggestions to "practice" the that'll do command by walking away, setting your dog up, and sending her to fetch her sheep again. I did this with Celt and he has a terrific call-off and I did not practice this with Dan (didn't have training stock so he almost entirely was called off when we were done with the job) and he also tends to buzz his stock when he's told "that'll do" when we are out working in the field. Frustration at being called off? Maybe, but not what I like as a response. On the other hand, when it's a job like putting calves or cattle back where they belong, he stops at the fence line himself and readily calls off. He's a funny duck...

 

Also, when working a pup in a pen with a corner, if you can get into the corner and have the sheep come in there with you, walk through them and then block the pup, you are stacking the odds in your favor for catching the pup and keeping the sheep steady. Others have explained this but I wanted to add my agreement.

 

On some stock and in some situations, you can use a drag line. I don't because we have rough fields and places where a line can be snagged, and I don't want a dog caught up and vulnerable to an angry cow.