driving… by accident
It seems that in all the stockdog books and videos, people walk out into the field with the intention of accomplishing a goal a particular way and then do it. There are always issues, but the way that they’ve decided to accomplish something always seems to work. Which is why i’ll never be able to write a book about stockdog things. I come up with a plan of how to train a skill and after much arguing and fussing about, end up teaching it a totally different way. I cannot seem to conform to save my life. 
For the last few sessions we’ve been fussing with ‘the crossdrive’ which is nothing more than driving the sheep along the fence like you do between Obstacles 1 & 2 in the ASCA A & B courses. So the dog learns to drive and cover the head by coming off the fence and tucking them back in. In many circles this is the precursor to learning The Drive in an open field.
But apparently not in the circle that Molly and I are in. Because that would be too easy.
Every time we started to do the crossdrive as indicated below, the sheep took 6 steps and then landed happily at my feet. I’m in gold, the sheep are red and Molly is purple. I can’t get far enough away from them to give her room to cover along the fence and she was really hesitating to walk into the group with me next to them instead of ahead of them. So in the process of trying to make this work, i got to see exactly what Molly’s stress behaviors look like. The ears back, the tunnel vision (i’m going to ignore you b/c you are stupid) and backing off to relieve pressure… and finally coming to me and sitting inbetween my feet. Even if it means walking through the sheep.
Poor Molly.
After suffering this for about 10 minutes i just couldn’t quite get it going. She was frustrated, i was finally getting frustrated and it just wasn’t coming together. I’m not big on torture.
I decided to try doing something similar to line work. We had a big enough group that they were staying together nicely and regrouped nicely. So if she crashed something spectacular it wouldn’t be too hard to get things back under control. I clipped her little 12″ leash to her collar to make myself feel better and downed her a good distance away. I walked toward the sheep they started to move a little and i gently indicated she should walk to me. So for a few feet we walked the sheep along. Then she started to walk ahead a little. Then a little more. Then she started to lean like she was going to try to get around them and i downed her (which i now know was stupid and paranoid, but we’ll get to that). At this point she’s about 10′ ahead of me and when she goes down and i’m still walking, the sheep stop anyway. They are moving off of her and not me.
After about 10′ we were out of open space and almost in a corner. I downed her an helped her negotiate a slow, quiet uturn and she was off again… about 10′ or 15′ ahead of me and cruising right along. When she started to get a little pushy and sheeps gate was starting to change, i’d down her. She learned that trick fast and started giving them more space. I did have to help her learn to change position to keep the sheep straight. The sheep would try to turn and we need to keep some semblance of a line. I’d gut up next to her and use her left and right to help her see that she could change her position to effect their direction. After few times i’d just take a step to the other side of her while still 10′ back and she knew what to do. We’re still working on this as a think that before when i thought she was going to bolt and bring them around, i should have waited just another second and let her catch the eye before downing her. meh.
Hello! I am in the process of writing an article for The Stockdog Journal about stockdog blogs. I have been writing my own stockdog blog (www.thestockdogdiaries.com) for about a year now and have become a fan of many other stockdog related blogs. It is a very interesting venture and I find it very intriguing how different bloggers use their stockdog blogs for different things.
I would absolutely appreciate it if you would be willing/able to take a few moments to answer the questions below in regards to your blog. I hope to be able to include as many different bloggers as possible, as well as their blog addresses. If you do not wish for your blog address to be published, please let me know and I will gladly follow your wishes!
*********************
How long have you been writing your blog?
Why did you decide to start a blog about your dogs?
What is the main focus of your blog?
How often do you post/update your blog?
What kind of feedback have you gotten?
What has surprised you most about the blog?
Do you have ads on your blog?
Do you charge for people to read your blog? If so, why?
What stockdog blogs do you subscribe to?
Do I have permission to print your blog address with my article?
***********************
Responses can be emailed to me at waylonaussies@gmail.com
Thanks!
Ferreh Hiatt
Waylon Australian Shepherds