Just some fun training with Jessie

I just realised that maybe you would like to see Jessie on sheep, and since my mother came along a few weeks ago to test her new camera on my dogs I finally have a recent video of Jessie on sheep. Just a little fun training though, these days she usually helps out on the sheep farm more than she does trialling. But she loves to go with me as I go training with the youngsters, so she can have a go too ;-)

Here comes Jessie!!

Floyd's first encounter with lambs...

It seemed to me that Floyd is a bit anxious around sheep, and that might be the reason he dives in when we're training flanks. So I was thinking of taking him to the sheep farm where me and Jessie help out, so that he could be around sheep in a relaxed way without working them. Since they have a baby boom of lambs, it was also an opportunity for him to learn to know the difference between sheep and lambs.

I took him into the barn where the lambs are taken after they leave their mothers, so they are not the new borns from the previous post. They roam free in and out the sheep pens, and they're very curious and know no fear at all yet. Floyd on the other hand didn't quite know what these little white creatures were, smelling like sheep and not entirely being sheep... And especially because they had no fear or respect for him! So he was a bit uncomfortable at the start, but after a while he got used to them. I put him back in the car for half an hour, while Jessie helped me moving some sheep. Later I got Floyd back out, and the second time he was more relaxed with the lambs. He even started to sniff their noses, and then their bottoms. Actually, he even licked their bottoms! He's such a weirdo sometimes...

Anyhow, I managed to film it with my mobile so I made a video of Floyd and the Lambs :)

Lambs, lambs, LAMBS!

There's a baby boom at the sheep farm, some twins and quadruplets but also a lot triplets are being born. Lambs are such cute creatures, and have no fear at all. They are very curious too, so I had no problem taking pictures today. (Click on the pictures to enlarge!)

These are a couple of triplets, some were just born when I got there....

Since these are milk ewes, their lambs move to the milkbar after a few days. Their mothers' milk is needed for the production of cheese, yoghurt, ice cream and a lot more.

The older lambs run around with the grazing sheep, who are inside for the winter. The milking sheep are in the other stable, where the new born triplets are. Enjoy the pictures!

 

Suki in training

Suki is a bit of a handfull... she is very keen and very natural, but also a little rocket and hard to stop. So last week I decided to work on her stops and her pacing, and also the start of a little outrun since she kind of does it natural herself already. She is actual easy to train, because she wants to work with me, but sometimes she's so focused that she can't hear me.

Regarding her stops: I don't want her to lie down specifically. She may, stand, sit or lie down, as long as she pauses herself. And I think she improved her stop from 2 seconds to 5 seconds now, ha ha...
Anyway, this session I used a bag on a stick for the first time, since she isn't much impressed by an upturned crook or stick by itself. The bag didn't impress her much either, so I got rid of it after a few minutes. I just have to remind myself to be patient and let her learn by herself and try to guide her as good as I can.

The flanks are good, I think, and I like how she gathers her sheep very natural. I try to make her gather both sides, so she doesn't get the habit of always taking the one side. I'm not trying to get her much wider yet, as this tends to come with age. What I also like is that she goes between the sheep and the fence easily, and did this from an early age on. She is not an anxious one, very brave of heart and has authority. But she seems more gentle than her mother Jessie, something I really like in her. Is it obvious I like her a lot?

So bear with me as I am a novice handler, and enjoy watching this youngster!

Floyd's Herding Training

Floyd is a bit of a new learning project for me, he's totally different of Jessie who is my first Border Collie. For a start: Floyd likes to herd the sheep in a direction, weather it's to me or away from me, he likes that. However, sometimes he gets it in his head that he must head the sheep and then it's hard to get him behind them.

Another thing I couldn't understand when I started him, was that he totally didn't knew how to flank sheep. He just charged right in and scattered them around, and I had to teach him how to flank sheep. He still finds flanking very exciting, and sometimes he does well and sometimes I can see him getting all overexcited again. Most of the time that happens when I'm putting too much pressure on him, so I know now I have to stay very calm and patient when I'm training with him.

He seems to pay a lot of attention to my body language, though I never see him looking at me. He must watch me from the corner of his eye, even when it seems his eyes are glued onto the sheep. I notice that when he turns away from the direction I'm looking at, much like described in the video of Derek Scrimgeour. That technique never seemed to work for me before, but it sure works when I'm training Floyd! So now I'm learning to use it when I'm working with Floyd, and that's new and thus not easy for me...

Here I have a video from last week, but he works a bit messy here. It must be because my bitches are in heat and the boys are very excited. So their training was more excited too that day. However, if it wasn't for my mum who came along and filmed it, I would have nothing and so I'm grateful!

I also have another video I made with my cell phone 3 months ago when I was at my friend's place and she helped me with Floyd. Here it shows how we were showing him how to pace himself while driving sheep.

Floyd is a very nice dog, and I do my best to learn how to handle him. I hope it turns out well!

Jai's training

When I started herding training with Jai, something strange happened to me. I couldn't communicate with this dog: from the moment I opened my mouth he was running away. He would go and lie down at a relative distance and watch the sheep, and he wouldn't come back. Well, not very easy or very soon anyway. I suppose he had a combination of a lot of "eye" and being very easily "impressed".

So for months I just walked around with very quiet sheep without speaking, and Jai started to lose his aloofness, though he is often still cautious in what he does around the sheep. But he is keen, and that pulled him through. He just can't resist herding sheep, and while it's been a challenge at the start when I somethimes despared if he ever was going to be any good, I now enjoy training with him very much!

Jai stays a lot more on his feet now, and I know we have a long way to go still. But now I have hope we will get there!