Winter Herding
Posted By Sandy Wilson on December 31, 2010
Aiko von der Kleinen Wiese (Diesel v. Schulmeister, AD, SchHI X Hera v. Fafnherhaus)
Aiko working the sheep in the vinyard.
This week we had our first real snow and it was fun to take the dogs out in the snow to work the sheep. Even in this weather with the grass down low and the pastures covered with snow, the sheep are able to forage in these cold weather conditions. The dogs love this cool weather and are happy to go out and work.
Aiko is coming along very well in his training and will be ready to trial this coming October at the 2nd Annual HGH in Knowlton, NJ at Kerloff Farm. He is doing well with his road work and certainly has the confidence and power to control a large flock. He is a dog who is very relaxed and calm around the sheep and is always watching over his sheep. Aiko is very responsive to his handler, as well as an intelligent worker. He keeps a nice steady trot while going around the boundary and so he is very calming to the flock so they can eat close to the boundary and eat all the available pasture in the vinyard.
Delta von der Kleinen Wiese (Hawk v. Eichenluft, SchHIII X Arla von der Kleinen Wiese
Delta is just a young gal and a very good size for a working dog. She is only about 54 lbs. and is as light as a feather and she is very quick and agile. For me she is the perfect size and build for a working german shepherd who is going to herd sheep. She can move quickly when needed, she is able to maneuver around the sheep effortlessly, and she can work all day. She has a very smooth balanced trot when patrolling on the boundary and she seems so light on her feet! She is really a pretty sight to behold.
Delta working the boundary.
She has been working the boundary and doing well with her commands for changing direction and we have been also working on making her corners accurate. When she is moving quickly, sometimes she would cut a corner (Post) and so I would go out and show her what I wanted and have her do the corner correctly several times to show her what I want. At home, I have a graze all set up with a mowed boundary that I use for dry run work and this is helpful for training. I have posts set up at each corner of the graze and I direct her to move along the boundary and then before she gets to the post, I will remind her “easy” and then she will go around the post with the “come over” command. She is very obedient and she learns quickly, but when she is moving fast, the tendency is to cut the corner, so I have to have her slow down a bit and then she is able to think about it and take the corner correctly. I don’t want to be constantly correcting her verbally and nagging, but I want to remind her and then praise when she is doing it correctly. She picked up on this exercise quickly and is doing well.
Delta working the cross border.
More on training for the coming New Year!
Looking forward to 2011!
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