Still training sheep!

I have been training with Troy at Straumsbukt gård one to two days a week. He is doing progress but he is still unwilling to take commands as I like. The sheep is  stressing him too much! He take commands for turning direction, but he is too fast. I must learn him to slow down! He is to fast in his movement and also when the sheep is tough he must not slow down or retract.
He is a tough guy that have to learn to handle or understand the sheep behaveor. This needs experience.
Well, today's training ended good! We ended the days training with a positive experience. He managed to get the sheep out of a corner even when one of them tried to attack him.

Results from last days training!

Since last time herding sheeps.  I have been training:

• Go away (the dog must move away from sheeps/me
• Troy is starting to understand the command. But it remains to see when the sheep is near!
• Advance against me/the sheep
• Results so far (one weeks training)

•   He now have learned to advance against me (the sheeps) when I say so and laydown or stop on command. The stop command is more like laydown command for him at the moment! We must train that stop mean just stop. It does not matter if he stay or laydown.
•  the laydown command and stay there is getting better and better!

New training wednesday, herding sheeps again!

This time, me and Troy was alone together with the instructor Øyvind Trondsen. He is team member on the Norwegian sheep herding team.
Well, after the weekend herding course, this time me and Troy was getting it, more and more!
Going into the sheeps is like going into a boxing ring. Everything happens so fast, that it is difficult for both me and Troy to now how to respond to the sheeps movements.

Troy is now gettting more and more interest for the sheeps. This is fun!!
I must train for the following:

* learn him to go away on command (longer away from the sheeps)
* advance slowly against them
* learn him right/left better than he allready is aware of
* be more steady on stop and lay down under many circumstances

Troy og jeg på gjeterhundkurs.

Hei, Jeg må fortelle at jeg har vært på gjeterhund kurs i helga (http://www.troms-gjeterhundlag.net/32321188). Veldig fin opplevelse.  Lærte mye! Vi var 8 ekvipasjer på kurset. Det var kun jeg som ikke var sauebonde. Fredags kvelden var det teori og test av hundene med tanke på kontakt mellom hund/fører. Jeg fikk bra score på testen. Lørdag og Søndag var det teori og praktisk trening med og uten sau.

Problemet var at de fleste utenom meg hadde dårlig kontakt med hundene sine, så instruktøren brukte mye tid på å lære deltagere å få kontakt med hunden. Derfor fikk jeg og Troy "noe" lite omgang med sau.
Vi var tilskuere til mye av kontakt treningen for de andre hundene. Øyvind Trondsen var en innspirerende og god instruktør for oss kursdeltagere. Han demonstrerte også styring av to gjeterhunder ved hjelp av plystring. Det var enormt  imponerende å se og "høre"!

* Troy må lære seg til å fokusere mot sau og ikke ha all oppmerksomhet mot meg.

* Andre gang med sau gikk det mye bedre. Han må lære seg at fokus på sau er viktig. I lydighet så skal han selvølgelig følge med meg, men på geterhund så er både sau og eier viktig.

* masse nyttig informasjon!
 

* Instruktør Øyvind Trondsen er deltaker på landslaget for gjeterhunder.

* Positivt er at jeg skal ut på gården førstkommende onsdag og virkelig teste mot sau og muligens få anledning til å trene ukentlig på Onsdager på gården til Øyvind Trondsen.

Kort sagt, dette ga mersmak!!

Grouse hunting in Finnmark

This was the first time Troy was together with us in our yearly Grouse hunting trip at our cottage in Finnmark. I had not tested him with shooting noise before, but to my surprise that was no problems at all.

In Finnmark there is a lot of reindeers but I had control of him even if they were really close. It was a fine stay and Troy really enjoyed it and was running for more than 5 hours a day.

Troy and Shiira playing in the garden

Troy's first swimming