Herding Lessons

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HopeShelties

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I have taken herding lessons off and on very infrequently over the years as the only herding trainer I have been able to find who wouldnt beat on my dogs is a 3.5 hour drive each way. Well, it looks like I am finally going to be able to do more with herding! Yesterday was the CKSSC fun day, and we put all of my dogs on ducks, including my new puppy Blaze. Several of course have already worked stock on and off, and several showed good natural instinct. The best out of the group was Blaze, who I was told has a lot of potential and I was told I should really consider pursuing herding with him. When she asked me where I live, and I explained the trouble I've had in finding an instructor who could work shelties, she offered to let me come to her place to come take lessons from her, which would be much closer to home and very doable. I am very excited about this opportunity. The woman I will be working with has the #1 herding sheltie in the country. So Athena, Ember, Lark, Blaze, and Caleb will all be going for herding lessons soon. She thinks we could have some of them ready to compete by spring.
If that isn't already good enough, Blaze took winners (puppy) dog yesterday at the fun match, and I showed my friends sable girl to a BOB for the adults match. It was a very successful day. Score for the performance people :) my friends dog and mine had the best showmanship, and my puppy was definitely the most trained. Helps that he's been everywhere, on leash constantly, is well socialized, and has already been to two noisy agility trials already at fifteen weeks old.
 
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How wonderful, I am so envious! Mikos showed a lot of herding drive at his HIT in the spring but our closest place for herding is also a long drive and not very doable at the moment. Congratulations on all the accomplishments this weekend, and happy herding!!
 
Congratulations and how exciting. I always wished we had some one around her that taught herding. Please share more with us.
 
I've been wanting to see how Koji would do with sheep. Either he'll chase them down and that's it, or herd them, or run from them. The closest one to me isn't all that far (15-20 miles), but it's only on Thursday. Um, yeah, I work. lol.

But I was curious, you said you were looking for someone that works with Shelties. I know they're nippers, versus staring down like BC's, but how is "training" them different?

Oh and congrats on the wins. :)
 
Most of what I meant by that was that I needed to find a trainer who understood the amount of pressure a sheltie can handle, and the amount of a correction (or lack thereof) they can take. I have worked with a Collie trainer who believed in kicking and throwing dogs down on the ground, and an Aussie trainer who used too much pressure and too harsh of a correction for shelties. The Aussie trainer turned my most driven dog off, and it took a very good trainer to bring her back. She was someone who wanted to use very strong corrections that my shelties can't take.
The trainer in Indiana could work the dogs just off of her body language alone. It was beautiful to watch. No hitting the dogs with a rake, or excessive pressure was needed. It's just she is too far away (surprisingly she has Tervs).
The sheltie trainer got my dogs. She read what they could take, and they were handled accordingly. They were very happy to work.
 
HopeShelties said:
Most of what I meant by that was that I needed to find a trainer who understood the amount of pressure a sheltie can handle, and the amount of a correction (or lack thereof) they can take. I have worked with a Collie trainer who believed in kicking and throwing dogs down on the ground, and an Aussie trainer who used too much pressure and too harsh of a correction for shelties. The Aussie trainer turned my most driven dog off, and it took a very good trainer to bring her back. She was someone who wanted to use very strong corrections that my shelties can't take.
The trainer in Indiana could work the dogs just off of her body language alone. It was beautiful to watch. No hitting the dogs with a rake, or excessive pressure was needed. It's just she is too far away (surprisingly she has Tervs).
The sheltie trainer got my dogs. She read what they could take, and they were handled accordingly. They were very happy to work.
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Beautiful, you found a match... too bad she's far away.
Yes, I figured that is what you meant, interesting you were surprised by Terv's, I find them to be WAYYYYYY softer than Malinois... because those are the craziest devils, ever imho :biggrin2:
 
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