Guest ardruinna2001 Posted August 28, 2003 Report Share Posted August 28, 2003 Hi Carol. I have two queations MY dog has started a habit of running completely of contact while doing basic balancing work.She never leaves them during a fetch and she doesent go off contact on her OR (shes usually tight).. but if i try to let her balance them after the fetch she will take off out infont of me and the sheep for what appears to be no apparent reason. I have tried scattering the sheep when she leaves in hopes it would make her relize to stay with her sheep and it helped a little. Can you think of any reason why she might be doing this and is there anything I could do or stop doing that might help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Carol Campion Posted August 30, 2003 Report Share Posted August 30, 2003 Hi It sounds to me like she is heading the sheep. If the sheep have caught up to you when balancing, the dog has no where to go but around. Also, they are hard wired to keep the sheep from getting away. To your dog it may appear that she is losing the sheep because they are to you, clusterd around you or maybe a little past you. On a fetch, the sheep have somewhere to go—to you. She is busy with the task of bringing them. But once to you, she fears them getting past. So she heads them. Possibly there is some pressure behind you that she can sense that the sheep want to get to. Those are the most common reasons for heading when it doesn't happen other places. It sounds to me that she is fetching well, so wearing the sheep like she is might be boring to her and is possible creating bad behavior. The tools for stopping this are to lie her down and not let her do it while moving faster backwards so the sheep have somewhere to go. Then there will be space between you and the sheep and she will still feel there is work there to do. You probably need to get her comfortable working a farther dostance off her stock. Let her learn to move them with her eye and not necesarily her physical presence. Be careful to wear in long straight lines as well as spirals otherwise you may be inadvertantly teaching her to keep spiraling. Make sure once she has gone around them that you stop her on balance and wear in a long straight line. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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