He's run off his feet!!!

Well, Jock has certainly earned his food this last week.

My sheep refuse to stay where they are put, so today I decided that enough was enough!

With Jocks help, we managed to move the sheep out of the paddock they were in, through another paddock (that I might add has heaps of obstacles), and into the last paddock where they will stay until I can get the rest of the fencing sorted out.

Jock is progressing surprisingly fast. He is now reading the sheep much better and is able to anticipate their next moves. He's also responding very well to voice commands, and I'm hoping to change him over to whistle commands in the coming months.

Today we did a lot of work on slowing him down. If he got closer than 15 feet from the sheep, I'd put a stop on him, wait for the sheep to move off a little more and then tell him to 'walk up'. He still hasn't entirely grasped the concept of 'walk up' but he is getting the idea. With him walking and stopping and then walking again, I was able to stop the sheep heading for the gate they came out of and down to the new paddock gate. At one stage I needed Jock to come around to the flank to stop them making a run for it, which he did, and then went back to following them again.

When they made a run for the gate into the new paddock, I knew that Jock would want to head them and bring them back, so I called him off, which he did almost willingly (I say 'almost' because had I been less firm with my command, he would have happily circled the sheep again and brought that back to me) and came and sat on my foot. Not, at my foot, but actually sat ON it. That way he knows where I am without looking! Smart pup, but a hazard if I have to walk off!

So, with my ewes only about 3 weeks off lambing, Jock is now out of work. If I can figure out how to do it, I'll separate the ewe lambs off for working and leave the others in peace. If I can't, then he gets a break until I can find some more sheep to work him on.

I'm not sure what level he is supposed to be at in his training or at his age, but to give you an idea of where he is up to, I'll list them below:

1. He stops when I give the 'Stand' command (98% of the time).
2. He casts round to the left on 'come-bye'.
3. He casts round to the right on 'way'.
4. He walks up on the sheep when commanded (50%).
5. He will come off the sheep when called (99% of the time).
6. He stays by my leg when walking around or through the sheep without trying (too hard) to round them up (85% of the time)
7. He gathers them all up in a tight bunch when I cast him and brings them to me (95% of the time)
8. He goes back for strays on the "look back" command (80% of the time with prompting).
9. He stops and blocks gateways when required so that I can get the gate closed properly.

So, he can't run the fenceline and gather all of the sheep without going too quick, and he pushes them up on me really fast if I don't 'check' him, but other than that, I think for a pup who is yet to hit the 9 month old milestone (16th August), he is doing exceptionally well, don't you think?

I'm proud of my Jock, and proud of myself for having helped him to get to where he is (and where we are) today!