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Puppy's First Attempt At Herding :)

koalathebear

By koalathebear,
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koalathebear

koalathebear

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We drove out to a property in Yass today to give Elbie his first attempt at herding.

First of all, it was almost an hour drive there and back and Elbie did very well in the car. He still barks a bit, but my OH bought some bits and pieces from Bunnings to modify the car harness so that Elbie can't extricate himself, doesn't get tangled and also can't fall down the footwell. All in all, he's made a lot of progress car travel-wise because he seems to like being in the car now, isn't afraid and isn't showing any snappiness. He's a little bit over-stimulated now and then, hence the barking but his periods of quietness are increasing and the big improvement is that he is responding to voice commands in the car.

The owner of the property (and herding trainer) spent almost two hours with us. Some videos below - probably boring to most people but funny for us :nahnah:

  • When first introduced to the sheep, Elbie disgraced us by
    .
  • Poor
    .
  • Then he showed more
    .
  • Then he showed more interest in
    .
  • As a real sheep dog shows us how it's done,
    .
  • Here's where Elbie
    .
  • Elbie finally
    .
  • Elbie
    which are told is fine given that he's just new to the whole thing :(.
  • Here ... errr ... Elbie
    :bottom:
  • Elbie

The owner had 14 working border collies - all outdoor dogs who never came inside and he seemed very affectionate towards Elbie although he did swat him with his hat a few times and bat him across the nose a few times when he was jumping about like a crazy pup. Elbie looked quite bemused at first but became very well-behaved - he liked the owner very much. The owner pronounced Elbie a well-balanced dog who possesses herding instinct - although not yet fully developed. We'll probably take him back when he's a little bit older to do it again - once it clicks in his head that he has a job to do he may take it more seriously.

Although Elbie probably doesn't have a very developed herding instinct, he seemed to have a very good time although it was raining and the three of us were wet and muddy so Elbie had a bath as soon as he got home, much to his disgust :rasberry: He's now in his dog bed, curled up and fast asleep - perhaps dreaming of sheep.

Edited by koalathebear
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Mrs Rusty Bucket

Mrs Rusty Bucket

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Chasing sheep towards handler is normal, good even.

Sheep used a lot for training sheep dogs know the safest place to be is on top of the person with the stick, but failing that, any person will do. Expect to get run over by the sheep many times during lessons. Always keep your knees bent and loose. I'm beginning to think shin pads and knee pads would be good too.

Elbie certainly doing well. No fluff pulled off sheep - excellent.

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koalathebear

koalathebear

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Great vids! :) Elbie looks like he's having a great time.

Was this at the property of someone you know, or it is an organised lesson type thing?

It was an organised lesson - $25 per hour (although we were there almost 2 hours), recommended through the behaviourist that we had consulted about Elbie's Bad Behaviour in the car. The herding trainer works a lot with our behaviourist. I do have a friend whose family owns property with sheep and dogs out in Yass and this was offered up to us, but I felt more comfortable going with someone who is in the habit of giving lessons and working with people referred by our behaviourist etc. I had considered one of the herding clinics but then you share trainer time with 10 other dogs and trying to keep Elbie calm while other dogs were bouncing around and waiting his turn wasn't very appealing so we liked the idea of one on one lessons. The trainer was great - the session after us was a person driving all the way from Sydney for his herding session.

It was a very interesting day for all of us. Elbie is quite shy with other dogs so we were fully expecting him to run away from the sheep like

.

I had also heard a lot about farm dogs from lots of people but hadn't ever met any. My friend has a farm in Finley and she told me about how they have working kelpie x dogs for the outside but her dad has 2 inside pet dogs. I saw the same thing at the property yesterday, they had a Chihuahua and a fluffy dog for indoors and a stack of outdoor dogs. Given that they don't get any pandering/special attention/affection and sleep outside on hard concrete in kennels with no blankets etc, they were remarkably friendly and chirpy dogs. Seeing the working dogs in action is so amazing - they're so focussed and disciplined and even when called off the job - they still want to work :)

Edited by koalathebear
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ravenau1

ravenau1

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What a great idea! I never knew such a thing existed. I love the concept, that it's sort of like a 'Dude Ranch' for city dogs :) What a great outlet for all those herding urges.

I agree, working dogs are fantastic to see. My ex Husband is from a farming background so I've seen quite a few sheep dogs (mainly kelpies) at work. I've also been lucky enough to know a police dog, and when I worked at the International Airport here in I used to watch the AQIS dogs during my lunch break (this was WELL before Sept 11 when security was far more lax than it is now lol).

That Rottie :) poor thing!

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koalathebear

koalathebear

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Wow, looks like you guys had such a great day! :o

I'm sure my boy would just bark at the sheep all day long and bounce around like Elbie..!

Hee! It was a lot of fun and we are definitely going to take him again - although i was a bit grossed out that he wanted to eat sheep poo. :rofl:

Also, I saw you and Mars last night! I wanted to say hi but my OH and I didn't want to disturb your assessment/fun and games :rofl: We were standing on the other side of the fence from the beginners section looking in like creepy stalkers :rofl: We saw you and Mars complete the newspaper relay/obstacle course thingy. After we brought Elbie home, since we don't have little traffic cones we've been practising having him weave in and out of paper towel rolls on the ground :laugh:

Our beginners assessment is on Sunday but we wanted to see what the bronze assessment was like (i.e. the road ahead!) and we were afraid we'd be too preoccupied on Sunday. We felt very weird being there sans dog but it was very interesting to see what the bronze assessment's going to be like. Elbie's going to find the "sit still and don't jump up while examiner pats you" test VERY, VERY difficult.

We met the adorable Saxon and Saxonpup who seemed to be doing well with Saxon's assessment. I find it a bit hilarious that apparently you and I have the same name and Saxonpup's name is very similar :rofl:

Also, last night a dog and its owner walked by and the dog lurched towards me, sniffing madly and the owner said: "Leave it!" My OH thought it was hilarious that I was an It.

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Clastic

Clastic

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Hee! It was a lot of fun and we are definitely going to take him again - although i was a bit grossed out that he wanted to eat sheep poo. :o

You'd be impressed by Mars then.. sheep poo.. cow poo.. kangaroo poo.. doggie poo.. anything he can get his mouth on.. he'll it eat!

I thought I saw some crazy stalkers on the side... :rofl:

As you could probably see.. we weren't doing too well. Mars's concentration level was at 0.02% last night. He FINALLY decided to pay a bit of attention to me on our last activity.. my OH looked at his watch and was like "He's paying attention, must almost be time to go.." Surely enough, only 15mins to go..

Still trying to get him to have his attention on me when there are so many other exciting things happening. Like dogs and people which aren't me and he can go play and roll around like a crazy hooligan! :cries:

I think that I may have to be the crazy stalker this weekend and watch from the sidelines. :rofl:

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wuffles

wuffles

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I think that I may have to be the crazy stalker this weekend and watch from the sidelines. :laugh:

As long as you watch koalathebear and not us :laugh: Surely Ava can't get shown up by her below average intelligence big brother Satch who passed this level first go :rofl:

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wuffles

wuffles

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Elbie's going to find the "sit still and don't jump up while examiner pats you" test VERY, VERY difficult.

This is probably the hardest exercise for Little Miss as well. Not sure how we're ever going to do the stand for exam which is the more formal version of the exercise in trials :rofl:

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koalathebear

koalathebear

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I think that I may have to be the crazy stalker this weekend and watch from the sidelines. :cheer:

As long as you watch koalathebear and not us :clap: Surely Ava can't get shown up by her below average intelligence big brother Satch who passed this level first go :laugh:

Haha, OH is Elbie's handler during obedience class and I am the chair fetcher and card fetcher so but I was going to go and film you and Ava so you had a video record of her assessment :mad I shall stay away so as not to distract you!

This is probably the hardest exercise for Little Miss as well. Not sure how we're ever going to do the stand for exam which is the more formal version of the exercise in trials :laugh:

Urgh. :laugh: Elbie's stands are pretty bad in the sense that they're very brief. His tendency is to sit whenever there is any sort of lull so while we can get him to stand, it's really hard for us to keep him in a stand position for more than a few seconds. I guess I'll add that to our wish list. We're still at Mega Basics for him - this morning, I spent quite a while ringing the doorbell and rewarding him every time he didn't bark and yodel like a maniac :cheers:

Then I made him sit in the front yard and and try to ignore people who walk by. He doesn't bark when he's in the backyard, but if he's in the front yard, he'll bark. It didn't help that one of the guys upon seeing Elbie decided to do strange break dancing moves and wiggles as he walked by ... :rofl:

clastic: there was someone in your group (I think with a cattle dog?) and we noticed that the collar seemed to have two chains attached to it. It wasn't a check chain or a martingale - I don't suppose you happen to know what kind of collar that was? The owner seemed to be able to get very good control over his dog.

Also - from what we could see you and Mars did very well. You made it around all the traffic cones. We had Elbie practising this morning and he was still stepping over a few paper towel rolls instead of going around them :cheer:

Edited by koalathebear
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