Ted and I had a good lesson with Robin, Saturday. I saw where I hadn't been doing Ted any favors (um, not to mention all the rest of my dogs), with my habit of letting the dog overflank. Over. And over. And Over.
Someone may correct me if I'm wrong, but it suddenly occurred to me that Jack Knox using repetitive flanks to open up the flanks, get the dog to release pressure. Yeah, great, and I tend to do it when the dog needs forward strength and power most.
Isn't that brilliant of me?
It happens because I get focused on what the dog is doing and forget to watch the sheep. Until they are pretty much facing at 90 degrees to me.
Yesterday I needed to get a single ewe with twins up to a corner of the yard that was directly opposite the pen where they feed, and the rest of the flock. She parked herself by a large tree got her back to it, and wouldn't move off unless Ted was exactly right. I'd get him there, then he'd weave a bit and let her start back, I'd try to correct this, and then we'd have her doing flips back and forth at my feet again while Ted got more and more off contact.
I stayed calm (an improvement on previous similar situations), but I will freely admit that I felt like sitting on the ground and crying. My frustration was largely in that, I needed to learn the thing that would stop all this, but I always got to this point so fast and ran out of dog. My sheep aren't particularly forgiving, particularly in this situation right now where they can easily take advantage of things being not quite spot on.
Ted gave me the answer (or reminded me of the answer). He finally decided to try something different and made a flying leap at the ewe's nose. He came down and held her eye but wouldn't take a step forward. It was like he was saying, "I've got her now, if only someone who knows what they are doing will tell me what to do next!"
I realized we needed to "reset to zero", let him take some control back, for a bit. I have a bad habit of training with the idea that we've got to get one particular thing accomplished, rather than going with the flow. I need to work on my flanks, sure, but Ted needs to go that next step in confidence.
So we wore that ewe around as fast as her lambs allowed, let Ted really push her around. Gradually, I started throwing in stops and tiny flanks (mostly correct, wow!), then worked up to driving past that same place (we did some driving in easier places first to get me "in the zone"). Much better! Then we turned at the corner and drove about half the fence line at right angles to the hard draw. Finally, I walked around the corner of the house and I had him drive the last fenceline, where the end of the line brought him to the fence where the sheep were. I was really thrill with how calm and "in charge" he was.
Yes Robin, ;) I was able to see where I needed to bring him around - we got to practice that several times and then he was able to do it on his own for most of these lines.
It probably would have been better not to do this on a ewe with lambs ("probably"? Um, duh?), but we've had to keep the mamas in the yard until I figure out how to keep the guard dogs from breaking down the electronet. Or until I put up permanent fencing back there.
We also practiced working a small group of ewes doing fussy stuff. He already can work them sort of pushing them generally in one direction, but it's a different matter to work them into a 10 foot wide lean to, or through a small gate, or through a chute where the lambs can get out one side. We also did a short easy assisted drive on that same path away from the corner that keeps booting me in the rear end. Short flanks. Keep them straight. Watch the sheep. OK, we're getting there.
We've made a feed discovery that thrills my heart. A couple of months ago I noticed our feed store had something called "breeder cubes" out and a really good price on them. Curious, I looked at it. No added copper. Check. 20% protein, whoa! They are not really "cubes" but cylindrical things that are about the size of a lighter. They are made so you can just feed off the ground if you want. They are formulated so the sheep self-regulate their intake, nibbling through the day instead of gorging in one feeding.
The sheep have done wonderfully on these this year. I also added a rice based supplement that ups their calcium and vitamin E intake. You can play like this when you've only got twenty sheep!
As I suspected, we've had a wet cold winter. The grass is going to be very lively in the spring! I'd better figure out how to tune up a lawnmower because ours is going to be working hard, I can see. I put grass out front - the soil is very thin and barren looking so I may end up bringing in some topsoil, later.
I got some flowers for the front but not sure where I'm going to put them. I think I'll do one bed, with some annuals around the rest of the house, so that I'm not overwhelmed trying to keep up with weeding.
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