My Nell is a very rare working Border Collie
Not in a good way...... Nell has always been a bit slow at eating; she would eat some when her food was put in her crate and she might finish her food by noon. About 4 weeks ago she was eating les...
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It wasn't her concentration.
These sheep (undogged commercial wool sheep) brought out (in a lot of dogs) the desire to chase the sheep as opposed to slowing down behind the sheep (the dogs were concerned about losing control of the sheep). The 4 sheep we were running were often difficult to get started moving because they wanted to just graze, once the dog got close enough to get their attention they jumped (startled by how close the dog was), after being “lifted” by the dog they were scared and wanted to run and possibly go in separate directions. This behavior cause inexperienced dogs to become concerned about losing control (sheep running away from them) or about having to relift them if the sheep stopped again to graze. Many dogs chased the sheep in the beginning of the course which was 400+ yards away from the handler. Eventually the distance between the dog and the handler decreased to where these chasing dogs were willing to be obedient despite their "instincts" about losing control. By the time these dogs were under control the sheep had been running hard enough they were winded and hot; now all the sheep wanted to do was run to the shade or to the exit gate. This meant the dogs now had to work harder to counter act the desire of the sheep to leave the course which often made the inexperienced dogs grip the sheep or lose control of one sheep willing to leave (or be left by) the others. there were several runs where the group of 4 sheep did not want to stay together and were willing to be 1 and 3 often trying to move in different directions and not on the prescribed course.
Nell’s problem was not being disobedient to my commands to stop and slow her down in the beginning of the course which I needed her to be since she hasn’t had the experience working these type of sheep (sheep rarely worked by dogs). Nell also has a genetic component in her working instincts (a flaw) which predisposes her and her litter sister to the fear of losing control of sheep moving away from her towards where they want to go. This flaw comes from her sire along with many great traits.
My Peg (Nell's dam) has 3 more years experience on Nell and does not have the flaw that came from Nell's sire. She essentially managed the 4 sheep on her own in the beginning of the course and she had groups where one sheep either didn't want to keep up with the others and would stop if pushed too hard or was willing to run away from the others to head to the exits.
These sheep (undogged commercial wool sheep) brought out (in a lot of dogs) the desire to chase the sheep as opposed to slowing down behind the sheep (the dogs were concerned about losing control of the sheep). The 4 sheep we were running were often difficult to get started moving because they wanted to just graze, once the dog got close enough to get their attention they jumped (startled by how close the dog was), after being “lifted” by the dog they were scared and wanted to run and possibly go in separate directions. This behavior cause inexperienced dogs to become concerned about losing control (sheep running away from them) or about having to relift them if the sheep stopped again to graze. Many dogs chased the sheep in the beginning of the course which was 400+ yards away from the handler. Eventually the distance between the dog and the handler decreased to where these chasing dogs were willing to be obedient despite their "instincts" about losing control. By the time these dogs were under control the sheep had been running hard enough they were winded and hot; now all the sheep wanted to do was run to the shade or to the exit gate. This meant the dogs now had to work harder to counter act the desire of the sheep to leave the course which often made the inexperienced dogs grip the sheep or lose control of one sheep willing to leave (or be left by) the others. there were several runs where the group of 4 sheep did not want to stay together and were willing to be 1 and 3 often trying to move in different directions and not on the prescribed course.
Nell’s problem was not being disobedient to my commands to stop and slow her down in the beginning of the course which I needed her to be since she hasn’t had the experience working these type of sheep (sheep rarely worked by dogs). Nell also has a genetic component in her working instincts (a flaw) which predisposes her and her litter sister to the fear of losing control of sheep moving away from her towards where they want to go. This flaw comes from her sire along with many great traits.
My Peg (Nell's dam) has 3 more years experience on Nell and does not have the flaw that came from Nell's sire. She essentially managed the 4 sheep on her own in the beginning of the course and she had groups where one sheep either didn't want to keep up with the others and would stop if pushed too hard or was willing to run away from the others to head to the exits.
