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 :)
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!
