Work Ethic

[Guest Bart]

I ahave 2.5 year old Male BC in tact who is the most talented of my three BC's. He was doing double lifts before he was two. I won't bore you with his accomplishments but today he brought all 15 down that were trapped on a hillside much too steep for me to climb. They could have easily slipped and rolled right off the hill all 15 of them. He went up on his own after I just pointed to where they were and brought them down so gingerly you would think he was working with raw eggs. Here is my problem he will quit on me or run off especially at night. When I send him at night to find the sheep on my 50 acres he will actually bring them close enough for me to see them and then take off (probably hunting). He has incredible tracking skills and can find a plastic bottle that I have hidden in the brush easily. He does so many other behaviors he needed his own web site www.k9basketball.com. We don't do most of them anymore. You acutually met him last year at the Millburg Trial: His name is Bart and even looks like your BC.

Any ideas of what I can do?

[Guest Amanda]

Alright. The expert is stumped.

I even took a run at your dog's web page to try to get insight into what in the world you are doing with him, what distractions you are loading onto him. Couldn't get on.

You say he brings the sheep gingerly. Is this entirely on his own, without command? If so, it may be that he dislikes work at hand where he will be asked for compliance. The alternative jobs you offered him earlier in the day grow compelling, they allow for the sort of independence he has come to know and likes. I am speculating. There is something you have done with this dog, that has let him be distracted, happily, from the serious job at hand.

I do not like tricks, obedience, flyball or any other applied distraction to interfere with the focus required of good sheep dog. For instance, I want to clobber a fetcher. I had one of my own. One guesses that is what has happened. If he is a dedicated work enthusiast, you can try to keep him with flanks, left or right, or something else that he likes. Some little move that will appeal to him and encourage him to stay with the job. I do not know what he likes. One fears its one of the games you play with him, that he prefers, to sheep work.

I sure would not be happy about it. No one is ever happy about a dog taking off. If you are serious about sheep dogging, you may have to get a dog you reserve for work, and not allow the other stuff.

One thing is for sure. If you call him and he continues to disappear, you are flat teaching him to disappear when you call him, so you need some other way to bring him back. Hopefully it won't be a tennis ball.

yours

Amanda

[Guest Bart]

Try this link, you can see him read.

http://www.newdig.com/bart

distractions = yes

You are right about the agility I stopped that but "fetch" yes he loves fetch and find it. Better than sheep, I would say it might be close but at 5PM he is runnning to the gate to bring the sheep off my 50 acres and to let one of the other dogs have a turn I have to drag him away, he won't give in easily. What I was describing as gingerly was when the sheep are in a precarious situation he is the dog I send, my other two are way too intense and could easily panic them. He reads the sheep and the situation and knows exactly the right pace and position to move the sheep with incident - yes all on his own. From your post I am thinking that having an independent sheep dog is not a good thing. My fault because when I read the dog had to work on his own I thought you wanted to encourage independence.

[Guest Bart]

did you have a response regarding him being too independent?

[Guest Amanda]

The independence thing is not quite how you imagine i. A dog has the side of a job to manage. If he leaves, he is letting down the side. "Independence," is more freely taking up his part of the job, but make no mistake. a handler has to be the brains behind the operation. It's the hand who is deciding where everything goes, the direction. If the dog fails to partner up and do as you require, you have mayhem. That's where you have seen runs go wrong at sheep dog trials.

You are describing to me, (and this is risky commentary bacause I havn't seen him work) a dog happy to take sheep as long as he does it on his terms. Very bad. The dog is very much in it with you.

You are also describing acitivity, like running to the gate every day at five, that is independent and sounding like your dog has been loose too much. He shouldn't be at liberty to take it upon himself to run to that gate every day. Shut him up somewhere. Reference my profile on this web page. I do not like loose, idle dogs. They get ideas; ideas that are not conducive to good dog running. Put him away to concentrate.

Amanda

[Guest Bart]

I think your analysis is correct and I am sure I did not understand "the dog thinking on his own and being independent". You have helped me make sense out of this situation and I appreciate your comments. I have to decide if I want to trial bad enough to confine my dogs.

 

thanks