What I'd like to know (and feel free to offer input- the worst I can do is delete your comment) is- how on earth are we supposed to sort out an issue before a trial if the bloody mongrel only produces the issue on the trial ground? Hmn?
Case in point: Fly and her sticky cast.
Now I have multiple issues with Fly, and yes, some of them should be "sortable" at home and I do need to pull my finger out and sort them. But what is really blowing any motivation I have for training her as well as chance of our success at present is the fact that she sticks on her cast. She will run maybe 3/4 of the way down the ground (maybe 30% if she's feeling particularly obnoxious) and then she sticks. If I whistle her on, she'll jerk forward and creep a few paces, then re-stick, repeat ad nauseum until we've shed a good wad of points, then when she gets to the edge of the danger zone, she'll zoom around behind them and pick them up, often over-running in the process. Her lift is often fairly straight, but the tension that's built on her creeping approach has already stirred the sheep up, to say nothing for the dog and the handler. So by the time she collects the sheep, they're planning a hell-for-leather escape down the ground, Fly is hyped up beyond listening, and I'm developing a migraine. It's usually irrepairable damage. I've tried sending her to the heads or to the tails, and while she's better going to the tails, she'll usually still stick.
At home, of course, she doesn't do it. She doesn't stick on a mob, and even when I set up a few sheep in a hook-pen type arrangement in the training paddock, she won't stick.
Look- I have proof:
Fly casting in our little training paddock. She was a bit over this exercise, which we had repeated a few times, and she was quite footsore (delicate tootsies, those Scottish dogs), but this is what she does every time (except quicker, usually, and she usually stops in a stand), in big paddcoks or small yards, on light sheep or heavy sheep, on mobs or just a few. See? Not sticking, and she does listen to her stop whistle!
I have no video of her casting in a trial, but here's a technical diagram. Probably the handler's face should be bright crimson or even puce, but otherwise it's pretty accurate:
So, clever readers, thoughts?
My whining about this problem was overheard by our local trialling sage, a figure slight in stature but enormous in presence, wisdom and experience, much like a sheepdogging Yoda but with smaller ears. He did give me some food for thought when he asked me if Fly is looking for sheep when I send her out around a mob at home. On consideration, she isn't- she's totally focussed on the sheep she sees immediately ahead of her, and that may be the issue. Perhaps it isn't a casting problem, it's a focus problem, and I think what Yoda was getting at is that if I can free up her intense focus on the trial ground, she may lose the stick. So I'm thinking of heading out and working on some shedding/recollecting, "look back" type exercises, which I have never done with Fly. We'll see how it goes.
Posts
5 comments:
Are the sheep being held at the trials? If not, she is probably feeling that they are going to break and is holding them there with her eye. One way of making her finish her outrun is to work in a field where the draw is opposite to the way you are sending her i.e. if you send right, the sheep should be set so as to want to break left. This will induce her to break out and cover rather than pull up.
You can also try to replicate the situation at home or even exaggerate it by having the draw behind you. Send the dog and then correct her every time she turns in prematurely by running up the field etc. No point inuring her to the flank command by repeating it endlessly. Just loses you points at a trial.
Finally, at a trial, always send to the butts rather than the heads.
Cheers!
No, sheep aren't being held, and we tend to have totally undogged, unpredictable sheep so I'm sure you're right, the control/eye thing is a big factor.
In our training paddock (on the video above), the draw is actually either up to the left of where the sheep are (there's a rocky outcrop/trees where the sheep can hide), so the opposite of where I'm sending her, or directly behind me (because the rest of our training mob are in yards behind me). She just never seems to stick at home.
I wonder if I should collect some fresh undogged sheep and go out in a paddock where she doesn't know the landscape, and try your suggestions there.
When you say to have the draw behind and correct her for turning in prematurely, I'm assuming you mean as the sheep move off down the ground- but isn't that then correct, if the sheep have come forward? Or just if it's an "about to stick" turn inwards?
Thanks again.
(and I always try to send to the rear, but often the sheep mill around after being released, so it's not always successful, and one of the sucky things about the dog sticking is that of course once she's stuck the sheep turn onto her. Sigh.)
Hi again,
Yes, technically it's correct to turn in prematurely and not finish the outrun if the sheep are breaking down field, but you are trying to instill a habit of always finishing the outrun. Of course you don't want to practice this scenario all the time, but only to make an impression on her. Maybe have a session where you keep shifting to your right each time you send (if the draw is to the left) so that by the time they are breaking straight towards you, on the fourth or fifth outrun or whatever, she has gotten into the pattern of breaking out to reach their heads and finishing her outrun on the side she is sent.
Basically, if you can get her far enough off and keeping the same distance all the way around, she won't affect the sheep at the critical juncture and the eye won't kick in.
Hi Sam
As the owner of one of the worst trial ground casters in WA - and he also casts brilliantly at home and even when visiting - I totally sympathise.
Neil reckons I need to start again from scratch so we are doing 6 a day most days (3 each way) with the sheep in the pen. I am using a 7 acre paddock and starting him on the fence and ten days in am noticing a considerable improvement in speed and depth both at the sides and at the top. Of course I am pushing him out and up but even so it is getting better.
Now here is the killer - Neil reckons the mistake we all make on this problem is that once the dog has done about 20 right we assume it is fixed and off we go again. In contrast he believes we need to instill the habit of good casting and get 1,000 before we consider it retrained. I calculate that at about 4 months worth if I do it most days which should make Avondale interesting. Also until we are happy never put the dog in a position where it is possible to break the "good casting habit" so I have been very aware of setting him up for success.
Hope that is some help
Jean
No real advice because so far I've not dealt with any sticky dogs, but it IS difficult to fix a problem that only shows up in certain situations. Anyway, I just had to say that your drawing gave me a nice giggle this morning. :)
Post a Comment