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Yesterday must have been the day for it. Jazz hasn't been on sheep since um October at a guess.

We are running a clinic in a few weeks at a property we haven't used before (and OMG it is AMAZING!!) so we had arranged to go out there and work things out with the owners. When I rang to confirm yesterday he said "bring your dogs and do some training" He very considerately pointed out that his sheep have only seen kelpies so it would be good for them to see some other dogs before the cilnic. 3 of us went out witha GSD, and Aussie and a BC. The sheep were great, really nicely dog broke but not heavy at all. The other 2 worked first and Jazz got herself all stressed out watching and was literally screaming on the end of the lead. She was fine while the GSD went in but every time the Aussie woofed she went nuts.

I didn't hold much hope for her doing anything nice given how keyed up she was and that we were working in a small area which she is not keen on but she did a really nice job and we even had a few short drives around the perimeter of the area. The sheep were great, they would orientate to the handler, group together nicely but they did not stick like glue to our legs, instead they would stop about 1m off.

The only touble is with Jazz having just come in season (yes the property owner knew but only has female dogs so was not worried) and being mated this season we will miss the clinic :laugh:

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Only a few days til Lynn Leach's clinics start! I am so excited :laugh: Got a list of questions a mile long :)

This is the woman that really changed how I thought about herding - she is a wonderful teacher.

Anyone else going? I will be there the whole time :cheer:

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Only a few days til Lynn Leach's clinics start! I am so excited :grouphug: Got a list of questions a mile long :laugh:

This is the woman that really changed how I thought about herding - she is a wonderful teacher.

Anyone else going? I will be there the whole time :D

I know of at least 2 SA people going. 1 auditing the first weekend and 1 participating the second. Dova might be going too, not sure on that 1?

We then have K&K over here for the first weekend of April, and Jazz is in season and being mated so will miss out :D I have been looking forward to this clinic but also waiting for Jazz to come in season all year.

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Only a few days til Lynn Leach's clinics start! I am so excited :( Got a list of questions a mile long :thumbsup:

This is the woman that really changed how I thought about herding - she is a wonderful teacher.

Anyone else going? I will be there the whole time :D

See you in the last weekend Hannah. I'm camping with my two, should be interesting with three of us in the tent, especially with babycakes, he hasn't even seen the tent yet, but he's a pretty chilled character.

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Have fun Kirty. I was meant to be going to help out but don't think I'll be making it now.

We had Lynn Leach down last week and my head is still spinning! What an amazing clinic. I came away from it very inspired!

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I have just spent 2 days with Kate and Karen over here in SA. We had a fantastic time. Some of the ideas were very different and will take a bit of a adjustment to get used to. Piper initially thought we had gone a bit made but sort of worked it out this afternoon. Some of the other dogs did amazingly well over the day.

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I have just spent 2 days with Kate and Karen over here in SA. We had a fantastic time. Some of the ideas were very different and will take a bit of a adjustment to get used to. Piper initially thought we had gone a bit made but sort of worked it out this afternoon. Some of the other dogs did amazingly well over the day.

Glad you enjoyed it piper.

I am so glad these ideas are getting out there so I have more people to discuss problems with! Been doing this stuff on my own for far too long - since Lynn Leach came out in 2007.

Lynn's clinic just gone did break my dog's brain though, despite the fact that we had the basics :thanks:

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Took Quinn out to see sheep again yesterday, first time she's been out of the roundyard.

I really wish I had more of a clue, I can see why the instructor places himself where he does and why but I don't know if I'd be able to get there and know why myself. Oh well, will come with time and practice.

I only really wanted to take her out a few tmes to see what she could do but the instructor is impressed with her, we did a short session in the roundyard yesterday and I can see that when I move around she does tend to bring the sheep back to me... with much gusto.

I didn't think I'd have too much interest in herding, I just wanted to give her the oppurtunity to see if anything came naturally but now I think we could really enjoy it, so much of our training is "I say this - you do this" which we love but it would be cool to have a go at something where she has to help make the decisions.

eta - The second we pulled into the gate she stood up and started yipping and carrying on, something she NEVER does and it was only the second time she had been there. And my goal for the next week is to teach my mum the basics of my camera so I don't get 20 wayyy overexposed pics that I can't use.

However I do have this one, she was more than happy to be there obvisouly.

5605034701_f23ebe1c79.jpg

1 by Buster-Quinn, on Flickr

Edited by B-Q
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Took Quinn out to see sheep again yesterday, first time she's been out of the roundyard.

I really wish I had more of a clue, I can see why the instructor places himself where he does and why but I don't know if I'd be able to get there and know why myself. Oh well, will come with time and practice.

I only really wanted to take her out a few tmes to see what she could do but the instructor is impressed with her, we did a short session in the roundyard yesterday and I can see that when I move around she does tend to bring the sheep back to me... with much gusto.

I didn't think I'd have too much interest in herding, I just wanted to give her the oppurtunity to see if anything came naturally but now I think we could really enjoy it, so much of our training is "I say this - you do this" which we love but it would be cool to have a go at something where she has to help make the decisions.

eta - The second we pulled into the gate she stood up and started yipping and carrying on, something she NEVER does and it was only the second time she had been there. And my goal for the next week is to teach my mum the basics of my camera so I don't get 20 wayyy overexposed pics that I can't use.

However I do have this one, she was more than happy to be there obvisouly.

5605034701_f23ebe1c79.jpg

1 by Buster-Quinn, on Flickr

I have taken Tilba to 4 herding training days. She has the instinct for it & 3 of the 4 instructors we've had have said she would get her herding instinct test easily. I have had 4 different takes on what I should be doing & it is hard to do. At least the instructor we had on Sat asked me what we were up to & when I said each other instructor had said different things he said that could be a good thing.

On Saturday the instructor got his dog to put the sheep in the middle of the paddock as Tilba seems to keep them on the fence line. Well, the sheep didn't stay in the centre for long. I had to decide on what commands I was going to use & say them over & over each time she changed direction. Most of the time she was going anti-clockwise around the sheep. If one sheep broke away from the group Tilba would go after it & bring it back to the group, but the instructor said to get her to bring the group to the single sheep. It ended up with the sheep scattered in all directions. :eek:

With someone who knows what they are doing I'm sure Tilba would be a good sheep dog.

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I have had 4 different takes on what I should be doing & it is hard to do. At least the instructor we had on Sat asked me what we were up to & when I said each other instructor had said different things he said that could be a good thing.

This is the hardest thing to work around - everyone does things their own way!

It's no different to the myriad agility handling systems there are out there - you just need to pick the one/ones that work best for you and work with them.

I've been training a certain way for a number of years and no-one else was doing the same thing until recently, so I just had to experiment and see what worked for me. All got too hard so I gave herding away for a while.

Now there are more people working their dogs the way I do here in Vic so I'm back into training and loving it :(

I have learnt though to go to clinics WITHOUT a dog first. Then if I like the trainer's style, I might consider working a dog next time.

Edited by superminty
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