Sheep herding

Last weekend we spend a day in sheep herding school. This was Freya's first time doing sheep herding. I wanted to know how she would work and would herding be something that Freya would like to do. First round was just horrible. Freya just barked and jumped all over in the line. My thought was that this will be a horrible day. Kaisa Hilska ,our trainer, just told me that this is normal with young dogs. It still didn't make feeling any better at this point.

On the second round we started to see will Freya have natural flanks. First she tried to come close and took after that some distance and look away. After a little brake she started to found the flank in both directions. This was really exciting watch when Freya started to use her genetic skills. I was just amazed. At that point I really knew we people get to involved in sheep herding. This is the sport where dog need to have own ideas and skills.

Third round we started to see will she have natural way to find balance in when she controls the sheep. This was pretty wild. Freya kept going on flanks at first and didn't really find the balance point. When she founded the balance point she started come forward right away. This a little problem because Freya didn't have any control commands yet. So this was our homework for the next. We need get "lay down" command better before we can start practicing moving in a balance with the sheep. In the end this day was so super and learned so much about my border collie and I now could tell better why have certain abilities and habits. Super super day!!! Thanks Kaisa!! Herding will be something we will work on in the future.  

Some much more to tell.. Until next time.

MLPF