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Well if you are getting improvement you are going in the right direction.

Even if you only improve 1% a day then that is 100 days to get a 100% improvement. Then work on the next thing.

The most part is being able to control the dog against his instincts but at the same time, not overcommand him so he can't use his instinct. He needs to be allowed to use his instincts most of the time so you don't take it out of him and make him wait for commands.

Edited by dasha
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Well if you are getting improvement you are going in the right direction.

Even if you only improve 1% a day then that is 100 days to get a 100% improvement. Then work on the next thing.

The most part is being able to control the dog against his instincts but at the same time, not overcommand him so he can't use his instinct. He needs to be allowed to use his instincts most of the time so you don't take it out of him and make him wait for commands.

That is what I am finding now. If I shut up and let him work until I need to command then we work a lot better. It is all down to trust in the dog. He was funny on the weekend when Colin worked him for the first time and you could almost see him relax say "thank Dog a handler who knows what they are doing" :thumbsup:

ETA Until now I haven't been confident to 3 sheep tial him as I haven't felt he was mature enough but the way he is working now I am looking forward to trying it.

Edited by Janba
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Give it a go. Most people are frindly and will offer you advice and encourage you.

When you have a go, then you know what areas you need to work on for next time.

Molong is in March. If you enter you could get 3 runs if you wanted. Encourage, Novice and Improver (if he has a good long cast) If he can cast EP oprn ground and pick up 3 sheep and deliver put him in it. You soon know what they can and can't do.

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Give it a go. Most people are frindly and will offer you advice and encourage you.

When you have a go, then you know what areas you need to work on for next time.

Molong is in March. If you enter you could get 3 runs if you wanted. Encourage, Novice and Improver (if he has a good long cast) If he can cast EP oprn ground and pick up 3 sheep and deliver put him in it. You soon know what they can and can't do.

He can cast further than EP open arena and the sheep are always delivered to me even is some what rushed and a bit out of control :thumbsup: but we can work them in the square to get everything under control again. I had forgotten about Molong and was thinking about Rockley as his first 3 sheep trial and I have also trained on the grounds there. I will do the fun trial at Sofala if it isn't cancelled.

ETA He may not be a good 3 sheep dog, few ISDS dogs are as the trialling they are bred for is very different.

Edited by Janba
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When is the Sofala trial on? I forgot about that one.

I have a new dog and that would be a good one for her first go. Otherwise it will be the big one at Canberra for her but would rather know if she is ready before that one.

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Thanks all, lots of food for thought. I will ask around about this walking backwards thing. I am unlikely to ever do three sheep as I have a liking for yard style kelpies, but you never know! Wish we had people with three sheep experience down here in Vic (that are accessible at least).

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When is the Sofala trial on? I forgot about that one.

I have a new dog and that would be a good one for her first go. Otherwise it will be the big one at Canberra for her but would rather know if she is ready before that one.

It is on Sunday 27th of Feb. Thinking I will head out there to check it out. Hoping to learn a lot from watching others :(

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When you first start on ducks has anybody ever had an issue with the dog being too forceful? I.e. You were worried they may harm the ducks? Tilly is still young (10mths) and gets incredibly hyper around things she can 'play' with. I would like to try her on ducks at some time but am a little worried that she would be dangerous. We had a rabbit that got trapped in our front paddock a while ago and although she did not try and eat it she ran it to exhaustion. I finally managed to call her off when she had it in a corner and was lying next to it play bowing and kelpie slapping it with her paw :D She did not seem the least bit interested in killing it like my BC would have. I think ducks would probably get the same reaction from her.

I would guess it is just a matter of slow and careful introduction, but are some dogs just completely unsuitable to work on ducks?

cmkelpie,

Over here when we introcude dogs to sucks we have a very strict long line rule with an experienced person manning the long line. We also prefer (I say prefer not must as there have been cases where we have not reuqired it before letting dogs off lead - in particular shelties and pups) to see a good response to a stop command.

So far I can't think of any dogs we have started on ducks in SA that have been felt to be totally unsuitable. A few we have suggested go back to sheep for awhile and work on flank commands and control which they have done and then been back on the ducks without an issue. The ducks are very pressure sensitive compared to sheep. It was explained to me that they are like sheep on power steering. 1 step from the dog can create 2m movement from the ducks.

Also many dogs that are grippy, grip as they are slightly anxious about the situation. Ducks are less intimidating so the dogs often seem to be calmer about it.

Thanks for that. Think I will do more work perfecting commands on sheep and then look at giving ducks a try.

Cheers :grouphug:

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Thanks for that. Think I will do more work perfecting commands on sheep and then look at giving ducks a try.

Cheers :D

In NSW we have very little duck trialling or training. Trialling is only at the trial levels not tests and when we do have training dogs are usually required to be a least PT level. This may change if we are ever allowed to trial and train ducks at EP but unfortunately we aren't allowed to at the moment. You would need to find private training or get your own ducks.

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Thanks for that. Think I will do more work perfecting commands on sheep and then look at giving ducks a try.

Cheers :D

In NSW we have very little duck trialling or training. Trialling is only at the trial levels not tests and when we do have training dogs are usually required to be a least PT level. This may change if we are ever allowed to trial and train ducks at EP but unfortunately we aren't allowed to at the moment. You would need to find private training or get your own ducks.

Thanks for that, yeah I had not seen any info about working ducks in NSW.

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Think they are planning to trial cattle this year in Vic. That should be interesting.

They had cattle at the Vic state titles last year - a first in Aus for ANKC herding I think. I haven't been game to try cattle. Knowing my luck Cole wouldn't duck a kick quickly enough and end up damaged.

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The cattle at the VIC state trial last year didn't go ahead as planned unfortunately.

We have been working the new mob for this year's trialling season and they are still quite small (see my video earlier in the thread) so no damage done when they kick out. Cash has copped two kicks now and is learning to keep his distance and to keep low if he needs to go in close.

Edited by superminty
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I'm not enjoying reading about herding at the moment :hug: because unless something changes soon I won't be doing it anymore :hug::cheer:, even though it's only been 2 weeks since our last training session I'm missing it like crazy :). Going to try for one more pass in jumping to get Pebbles title & that'll be it, so at the moment I'm a very unhappy, grumpy old bag. Was hoping to put Delta in HS this year & be ready to give Izzi & Pebbles a run in intermediate, ok enough whining & :D happy herding everyone I'm off to pray for things to change.

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