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Holding pressure


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Back to Yoko....Almost 3 yrs. old,lacking forward drive, a bit loose eyed and upright, but loves working stock. I haven't been messing with her wide outruns. Since she isn't 3 yet, I hate to interfere. She is working it out herself. Last few trials her outruns have been spot on.

Last year she couldn't move range sheep. Last week she had another chance with range lambs. She didn't have a problem with the lifts. The first lift she had to blast them (jump into them to get them moving)and the judge must have felt she bit them. I don't think so. She did what she felt she needed to do to move them. The next days lift was soft and nice on the same lambs. I try to let her decide what she needs to do. She KNOWS she is to bring the sheep to me. She is also holding ground when confronted this year. All good.

I think I have made lots of progress with a little dog that I wasn't too sure about how talented she would be on stock. :0) Our biggest problem now is "holding pressure." Sheep lean on Yoko. Yoko doesn't lean on sheep. I do a lot of shedding two from five and have her work the two out in the pasture through obstacles, etc. This keeps her on her toes or she will lose them.

What other exercises can you suggest to me to use with her to get her to lean into her sheep versus the other way around?

Happy New Year!

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  • 1 month later...

Back to Yoko....Almost 3 yrs. old,lacking forward drive, a bit loose eyed and upright, but loves working stock. I haven't been messing with her wide outruns. Since she isn't 3 yet, I hate to interfere. She is working it out herself. Last few trials her outruns have been spot on.

Last year she couldn't move range sheep. Last week she had another chance with range lambs. She didn't have a problem with the lifts. The first lift she had to blast them (jump into them to get them moving)and the judge must have felt she bit them. I don't think so. She did what she felt she needed to do to move them. The next days lift was soft and nice on the same lambs. I try to let her decide what she needs to do. She KNOWS she is to bring the sheep to me. She is also holding ground when confronted this year. All good.

I think I have made lots of progress with a little dog that I wasn't too sure about how talented she would be on stock. :0) Our biggest problem now is "holding pressure." Sheep lean on Yoko. Yoko doesn't lean on sheep. I do a lot of shedding two from five and have her work the two out in the pasture through obstacles, etc. This keeps her on her toes or she will lose them.

What other exercises can you suggest to me to use with her to get her to lean into her sheep versus the other way around?

Happy New Year!

 

Hi Suzanne. Once again, I don't know what happened here but I missed a couple of posts during the holiday. One of the things you could do is work her on a bigger flock (20 sheep +)and work her so that she is pushing really hard and getting them to trot. Slow her down and speed her up so that she gets the idea that she is in charge. Sometimes we work so much at controlling the speed of the sheep when we trial that we take a certain amount of confidence out of the dog by making them work at controlled slow speeds all the time. Let her razz them a bit and get a little full of herself at times to bring that confidence level up and let her know that she is capable of doing anything you ask her to do. It's good to challenge dogs in a controlled environment at times when training so that you can see what they are capable of and build their confidence and yours at the same time. It's not always about control and straight lines and tight turns; it's sometimes about handling change and being successful with it. Create situations from your imagination that she could possibly run into while you're training her and then help her get through them and be successful with them. Get outside the box and do "real work". Hope things are going well with you and we'll see you down the road sometime this summer.......Bob

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  • 4 weeks later...

"Slow her down and speed her up so that she gets the idea that she is in charge. Sometimes we work so much at controlling the speed of the sheep when we trial that we take a certain amount of confidence out of the dog by making them work at controlled slow speeds all the time. Let her razz them a bit and get a little full of herself at times"

 

Thank-you Bob...great advice for both of my girls. This last weekend at a small trial, Kilt got her first open win and Yoko was in the money in both pro-novice classes. Yoko still gets a bit nervous going to the post. I try laughing, yawning...anything to get her to relax more. She whines as soon as I stand to walk to the gate.

I notice she runs through my whistles a bit at the trials. At home, she works quite crisply, but at the trial, her brain is working overtime. I have to go to voice on occasion just to check in with her. She is the type of dog that tries very hard. I'm guessing she just needs lots more trialing experience.

I have been letting her push larger flocks and put her back on Boer goats to rock n'roll a bit. I love the slow/fast suggestion. I have to quick with both of the girls when I give a fast walk-up, because if I'm not on my toes they will bust them up. :0)

Suzanne

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"Slow her down and speed her up so that she gets the idea that she is in charge. Sometimes we work so much at controlling the speed of the sheep when we trial that we take a certain amount of confidence out of the dog by making them work at controlled slow speeds all the time. Let her razz them a bit and get a little full of herself at times"

 

Thank-you Bob...great advice for both of my girls. This last weekend at a small trial, Kilt got her first open win and Yoko was in the money in both pro-novice classes. Yoko still gets a bit nervous going to the post. I try laughing, yawning...anything to get her to relax more. She whines as soon as I stand to walk to the gate.

I notice she runs through my whistles a bit at the trials. At home, she works quite crisply, but at the trial, her brain is working overtime. I have to go to voice on occasion just to check in with her. She is the type of dog that tries very hard. I'm guessing she just needs lots more trialing experience.

I have been letting her push larger flocks and put her back on Boer goats to rock n'roll a bit. I love the slow/fast suggestion. I have to quick with both of the girls when I give a fast walk-up, because if I'm not on my toes they will bust them up. :0)

Suzanne

 

 

Hi Suzanne. Glad to hear of your successes this past week end. Your dogs sound like they are very keen which is really nice to have. Your young one, Yoko, is just very keen going to the post and wanting to get at it right now and can't wait to get going. She will settle somewhat as she gains more experience but I think you'll find that she will always be ready and willing even as she gets older. Going to voice works very well when the dog tends to run through you and is the right thing to do in that situation. I always say that if what you are doing is not working try something else. Definition of insanity is, and I'm sure you have heard this, "doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result." Keep up the good work. You will become dangerous! ....Bob

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