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Beginning Driving


Guest BelgBC
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I have heard a couple of different things regarding beginning driving, and since they contradict each other, I'm not sure which is best for my dog or which is most commonly done.

 

One thing I've heard is teach the dog to keep a line by using some push outs or some 'here here' to keep the sheep on a line as you walk parallel to the dog. So you pick a place you're taking the sheep and help the dog to get them there. The idea is you want to the dog controlling the line and not merely following sheep.

 

The other way I've heard is you DO let the dog follow sheep at first and you don't care about where the sheep go as long as the dog is staying behind them and not trying to flank around to bring them back to you, and you keep stopping the dog if he tries to get around.

 

My young dog is learning driving. He does do some balancing on his own and seems to enjoy taking them somewhere. But if they start to drift off line more than a tiny bit, his attempts at stopping them often turn into him wanting to head them. If I mess with him too much (doing a lot of 'get out' and then stopping before he can head them, or telling him here and then stopping him before he can take an inside flank, or even just stopping him a lot) he seems to lose his confidence and will start eating stuff off the ground or not pushing the sheep, and switches to a very upright posture. Stopping a lot in particular seems to demotivate him and make him unsure. So I try to keep him moving more to give it more flow, but then since I'm not stopping him I find myself dong a lot more of the 'here' and 'get out' to keep things on line and prevent him from flanking. I feel like I'm messing with him so much that he can't possible pick up what we're trying to do from this. I can't seem to find a happy medium that will just let him get a good feel for driving and build his confidence.

 

Also I've heard over and over again that it's better to be off to one side so the dog can see you and won't look back at you. However I've found with my dog that as long as I keep talking to him softly he actually does better with me directly behind him. As soon as I get to one side of him he's tempted to start flanking them to balance to me. When I'm direclty behind him I guess things are so off balance that he's not as tempted. I also can adjust his line a bit without commanding him, just by moving from one side to another behind him, and he'll move a bit the oppsoite way that I move. Almost like he's balancing sheep to the way I'm going, even though I'm behind him he still seems to pick up on where we're going. This is backwards from anything I've ever heard so I'm not sure if I'm creating problems down the road by doing it this way.

 

I get the best driving from him when we first walk on the field. He'll get very intense and focused and keep a nice pace and control the line really nicely. However as soon as we do an outurn or two he seems to lose that. He's not as focued and seems to prefer to flank around them instead of really push at them. You would hardly believe it's the same dog working. So I was tempted to just let him start with driving. However my instructor pointed out to me that at trials and even most often in real life he should always be expecting to start with an outrun and I shouldn't be encouraging him to go straight at sheep as his first contact. That makes sense. But I sure would like to get that really nice driving under my command and am not sure how to duplicate whatever it is that makes him do so well when he first sees the sheep.

 

I'm looking for some ideas for exercises to help develop some really nice driving in this dog.

 

By the way, this is the same dog I had all the outrun questions about a while back. He's doing great now. He'll cast out real nice from my side and stay out wide very consistently, and when I do need to stop and correct (usually on his Come By side) he knows immediately what I'm after and will fix it.

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Guest Carol Campion

<Also I've heard over and over again that it's better to be off to one side so the dog can see you and won't look back at you. However I've found with my dog that as long as I keep talking to him softly he actually does better with me directly behind him. As soon as I get to one side of him he's tempted to start flanking them to balance to me. When I'm direclty behind him I guess things are so off balance that he's not as tempted. I also can adjust his line a bit without commanding him, just by moving from one side to another behind him, and he'll move a bit the oppsoite way that I move. Almost like he's balancing sheep to the way I'm going, even though I'm behind him he still seems to pick up on where we're going. This is backwards from anything I've ever heard so I'm not sure if I'm creating problems down the road by doing it this way.

 

I get the best driving from him when we first walk on the field. He'll get very intense and focused and keep a nice pace and control the line really nicely. However as soon as we do an outurn or two he seems to lose that. He's not as focued and seems to prefer to flank around them instead of really push at them. You would hardly believe it's the same dog working. So I was tempted to just let him start with driving. However my instructor pointed out to me that at trials and even most often in real life he should always be expecting to start with an outrun and I shouldn't be encouraging him to go straight at sheep as his first contact. That makes sense. But I sure would like to get that really nice driving under my command and am not sure how to duplicate whatever it is that makes him do so well when he first sees the sheep. >

 

Hi Diana

 

I think you need to do whatever works!! If he is at his best driving when you first get onto the field, by all means do more driving then. Possibly alternate a few days so it doesn't become a pattern to only drive.

 

Some dogs do best with you at their side, others with you behind them. It doesn't matter. Do whatever he is comfortabe with. In the beginning I personally like them to take the sheep where ever they want to go so long as it is a somewhat of a straight line. If he starts to head them, it is because you let him get too close and he has no where else to go but around. Once he starts bending around, the sheep feel that pressure and they bend which causes him to want to head more.

 

Keep your eyes opened and as soon as he starts to bend around them (and you will know ahead about where this will be based on your experience with him), stop him and let the sheep drift forward. Then ask him up. If the sheep straighten themselves out, then you can just ask him orward. If the sheep have spiraled a bit, then get to the side they are leaning toward and either call his name or say "here" just til you see his head turn and then get his attention quickly back onto his sheep. They get distracted if you pull them off contact too much. You want it to be just enough to straighten out a bit and then ask him up again. It doesn't take long before they realize you are saying here or their name not to take them off sheep, but to help them keep the sheep going.

 

In the beginning, I do not feel they know how to push. Some will but many don't. So break it into parts. Part one is helping them learn to balance sheep without you being the focal point. Part two is pushng sheep.

 

I have had some that get it much quicker when they are pushing sheep away from something, like a feeder they want to get to. Others really started to associate driving with their approach to the sheep as we walk into the field to start to work. They will "set up" on the sheep in the field as we walk into the filed to start a session. I merely "mark" this behavior with a command or a clucking noise-something to let the dog know to pay attention to this behavior of walking directly onto sheep.

 

Make sure you are keeping your flanks clean during this proces. I try to have the dog take sheep as far as it will go without flanks, then give it a clean flank and start again. I also alternate with pulling the dog completely off and sending it on a full gather and starting the driving over. Just keep your eyes open to see if it starts cheating on its outrun. If it does, it is because it might start mixing up what is a flank that might only go 15 minutes, and what is an outrun.

 

My concept and end goal in driving is that I want to be able to flank the dog, stop it anywhere on a flank, pick a line to drive to and excpect the dog to balance and hold that line. If you only practice trial patterns you are denying your dog the option to learn to drive and crossdrive all at the same time.

 

Let me know if this is making sense.

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Guest Carol Campion

Something I forgot to point out. many dogs are only able to hold a line i driving well when they are fresh. When they get tired, they get kind f slack or fade around he sheep. If you find that after a few outruns your dog is not driving as well, it might be it is getting tired. So do the driving when it is fresh.

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