Come Away with Me
Molly is proving a little more hesitant on the Away side than the Bye side. I thought it might be helpful for me to map out what we’re doing. Hopefully it will make more sense in my head and when i go back this weekend to do it all over again it will be more clear.
I am the little green gem. Molly is the sun. The sheep are the little pink flowers.
Position 1 – I send Molly on the Away to Me command. She moves along the fence line (ish) in a pretty controlled manner. Which i love.
Position 2 – She moves the sheep into balance and continues just past that center (balance) point. I tell her to Lie Down, which is actually a sit as soon as she shifts her shoulder to wobble back into balance. At first i was downing her every time, but i’m getting better at reading when she’s getting uncomfortable being off balance. If i can be consistent, i want to encourage her to keep moving toward me whenever i can. I’m getting better at being consistent.
Position 3 – This is where things get sticky. From this position, i need to get her moving toward me along the fence and move the sheep off me. Which sounds easy enough (Here!), but she is being really hesitant and deliberate in her Away to Me Here flank. After watching her break her down and go back to cover while i’m using the Away to Me Here command and encouraging her to come to me… i bagged using a command at all. I open my mouth and she goes Come Bye to cover. /sigh We’ll do some pressure work until she can at least quit swinging back over to cover consistently – she did it a few times – and then i’ll install the commands. There’s no sense in accidentally teaching her that Away to Me Here means Break Your Stay & Go to Balance.
Position 4 – is what we’re going for. Her coming in front of me and pushing the sheep off. Asking her to pause then immediately sending her on the flank again. It’s a reward of sorts as the flank is something she’s super comfortable with. Pressure off.
We did do other things. More of the Bone exercise from the last post on the lighter sheep. I’ve gotten to the point where I am sending her into the pen by herself and using her flanks to guide her around to get her sheep. She’s very methodical and getting more confident moving the sheep past me.
How about if you step to the away side (more off balance) then rotate yourself to the left and pat your right leg and say “That’ll do, here” so she comes to you without disturbing the sheep. Halfway on her path to you, rotate back around to the right, and with your left hand, say “away” and then “lie down” to get her between you and the sheep. Then you can do a walk up, or whatever. Or have her flank back to 3:00 and down her and repeat. Do this with as much room as you can between you and the sheep so she doesn’t feel confined. Make sure to practice going both ways. Is she up to driving yet?
Amy, one thing that you might try on that Away side is putting a line on her and giving her a gentle tug towards you when she has the urge to break and cover. I used that method years ago when I taught Hoss his inside flanks and it worked quite nicely.
Thanks Debbie. That’s a great explanation. She’s a funny little thing. She’ll go off balance to about 9 o’clock and then stop again.I need to get more tape as i’m sure there is something happening in my body language that isn’t working. But I have found that moving to a *slightly* larger pen has allowed for the sheep to move more. So when pressure is let off, it’s really off – not just a little further away. I’d often thought about sending her back around on command to take the pressure off and let her cover. Then swinging her back around to do her inside flank again and see if she’d start to come in further. It’s only her 2nd time doing the away inside flank and she’s not totally failing… just not getting it as quickly as the Bye side. LOL Impatient, me? NEVER!
Ferreh, if i get truly stuck i might try that. However, we found on the Bye side flank that even when just using a single finger under her collar she was fight every step. Can’t really effectively force her to do anything. Not my dog at all.
I recommend not taking a dog by the collar unless you mean it to be a correction- they all hate that. Which is why letting them drag a line can be useful- it’s much less unpleasant for them if you pick it up and guide them with a long line.
Instead of telling her to go back and cover when she flips around, what about stopping her, walking across her path and then having her “way to me”?
Have you done a bunch of bringing her around you in an off balance outside flank? I usually do those before the off balance inside flanks.
That last sentence didn’t make much sense. What I meant was having her do an off balance flank coming around behind you. Just so she gets used to being off balance.
Hey Anne,
I started working off balance stops and flanks just before we started to do this and use those random stops and off balance flanks to take the pressure off of what we’re doing. As you’d expect, she’s less sure about the away side off balance flanks than the Bye side.
Practice practice practice.