yogibear

Hi sparty Yup i agree with you when we meet up i can help you with any obedience stuff you need just ask. yb

Hi Dave Ia gree having seen your dogs wwrok it gives people a lot of respect for what you do. There is so much more to training a dog to that level than just letting them go play sheepies yb

REading this thread is making me rethink whether i will bother with ankc herding i am interested in working with mu dog seeing what instinct he has and working with him to bring out the best he has to offer To me trialling in ANkc would be a benchmark something to aim for to see how training is going but if its this political why bother the only person who benefits if my dog gets a title is his breeder she gets to say one of her line has a herding title I already know my dog is great but i thought that it might be nice to try something new.

hi guys Ok i can get obsessive at times today i borrowed training working kelpies and two boks on raising sheep Hope i get a gold strt at the next trining day

Hi Nickyp I feel the same way i wanted to try herding to learn to work with my dog in a different capacity if i felt my dog or the sheep were in dangre i would pull out of the idea. I too am having second thoughts about ankc trialling after ready the sentiments here but then i wont be put off my a few peoples attitudes . I als agree with David there are good and bad in all breeds Daid is very good at looking at a dog and handler and knowing what they can handle

when i first discovered obedience i had a crossbred we joined the ankc as associates and went on to ud In this time i tried agility flyball and some retriving training tracking then we didnt have herding. When i dcided to get another dog i took all the things i loved into consideration and chose a gsp so i could do retriving trials as i loved it One point poeple are missing you may own a non herding breed go along to some great workshops and fall in love with the sport then when getting another dog decide to get a herding breed because you know you want to go further Without an oppurtunity to try these sports how will you knwo what you like and what you want to achieve. I have been wantd to give herding a go for ages but was worried about my small dog getting a bad introduction to sheep if he gt a scare he would never herd I new of only one person i woud trust to start us but was unale to get there then i found Daves workshop knowing he had worked with this person and speaking with him on several occasions i was confident that he would give onnor the right introduction and i was right the workshop was run with great care to set the dogs up to succeed the trainers running the workshop had eyes in the backs of their heads and everyone left feeling confident and inspired. The workshop was not ANKC bt a couple of people there now plan to go onto ankc herding with our dogs so the workshop has also benefitted the sport greatly yb

Well i had fun and im going back for another go in a couple of weeks

a lot of hot air

WEll said Hannah

Funny i was thinking what a lovely relaxed and friendly bunch herding people were none of the politics of other sports silly naive me

wow where did this come from jealousy lol We used to have the same argument in retrieveing and yes why wouldnt epople want to put their ability as trainers to the test with non specific breeds by whippet was trained to retriving trial level why because i could my shelti will also be trained to novice retriving because we can Ive watched some herding trials and to be honest the 'pitbull' at the worshop had ten times the control and manners than some of the 'herding dogs' ive seen and in Scott lithgows book where he is talking about herding he mentions adding a bit of bull terrier to herding dogs so having a bit of staffy shouldnt be an issue how about judging epople and their dogs on their ability and achivements rather than getting all wound up coz a dog has a bit of staffy in it shame oh shame if that dog goes onto win a herding ttest wouldtn that look bad for the 'herding breeds'

hi Kk Pretty much though a lot of your previous trianing dissapears in th pen anyway but i think when you get control in that environment your dog will be the better for it in other environments too if i can recall connor off sheep then calling him in the park wll be a cinch connor will drop anywhere anytime but he has been taught in drive and we have had occassions of what mum dont know that one. His rcall which is usually very good went awol in the sheep pen he would look at me lick his lips come away from the sheep but all the way to me he was worried the game would be over but think of the rcall you will have once your dog will come off sheep. yb

nah beginners day will be perfect there were a couple of non recalls on sunday even connor looked at me and i had to drop him instead to regain control lol One dog had a shakey recall but still went really well Daves very good he will let you kno what you need to do and you have to start somewhere yb

what exactly do they do with the sheep in an insticnt test yb

Maybe we could meet up there one weekend im hoping for new years day lol but i think the week after that

Lol lancefield is along walk Nah wont be going that far from home though it would be a challenge t have him ready in two weeks to do his instinct test lol he stil has to get the sheep moving without help froma big tough kelpies lol We are aiming for the instinct test at the start of march i think southerns running it but we will train towadr the next level whatever that entails. Im big on setting challenges for myself so the challenge is to get his first tite ht i think before the start of August. Hear that Dave im planning a few tripe to your place i think yb

Ive been practising recalls stop and sit and we did do some direction work more for me to practise hand signals and get used to the commands i want to use around + clockwise and Back+ anti clockwise only because i use over for jumping so if i said that he would jump on the sheep lol Informal recall to me is come to me and stay close enought for me to touch and hold collar no front though cnnor usually sits anyway Stop means that stop moving i get a drop or stand when i say stop but am happy with eiter so long as he stops where he is I teach stop and slow together on our walks sit is to sit but the dog can be away from you not sure why we need stop and sit and drop i guess stop could be just to stop fr a second whereas sit for stability and drop for extra control Dave is that anywhere near right yb

hmm hubby will be happy he neer know what to get so a day out herding will be great yb

I know what im getting for my birthday now perfect timing yb

Hehe te way we are going we'll have it booked for the same group lol cool then we get to see how much our dogs have improved

Im in if i have a lift maybe we need a herding second time rounders day lol yb

someone tried to tell me that by allowing a dog to use its instincts in herding lure racing and the like that we will bring the chase to the fore and the dog will beome aggressive and it wasnt a good idea for city dogs i of course laughed at that but connor has just proved how wrong they were wel connor spent SUnday being encouraged to chase sheep and get bossy with them then last night he found a lost budgie in the yard very sick nd tired he picked t up ever so gently and bought it in to me and placed it at my feet

connor says yeah sure he saw him sooking just coz his mommy walked away connor thinks hagrid is a big baby and that he needs Yogi to come along in case hagrid gets scared and wants his mommy lol yb

hi Hedds the photos are great so i wonder if Hagrid got that date or a hone number maybe lol Connor says if he did he wouldnt mind double dating with rosie

Gee thankyou David he is a big dog in little clothing now if i can become the handler he needs me to be we will be unstoppable Yesterday reminded me how much i miss working livestock