Oh my word, am in AWE having just watched the sheepdog trials on Countryfile! My goodness, the teamwork and cooperation between handler and dog!! And I had no idea sheep could be so bolshy - facing down and even butting the dogs! It was astonishing to watch, there has to be such understanding, and all done against the clock. Have told Poppy she had better shape up. All she has to do is chase after a dummy and bring it back...
Re: One Man And His Dog I watched it too, Karen, and really enjoyed the program. What struck me though was how very vocal the handlers are with their dogs. In a gundog trial you would get put out for noisy handling. ;D
Re: One Man And His Dog We watched it, thought it was fab. OH said "will Charlie be able to do that once you've finished that gundog stuff? Should i get one of those sticks they have?". I said, "yes, absolutely, won't it be great, but you'll have to stop chucking the tennis balls around so much...what do you want carved on the handle of your stick?". He said he wanted a fish. ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
Re: One Man And His Dog I suppose a pheasant isn't likely to head butt the dog retrieving it...although I remember you saying the male birds can fight back if only injured I saw a dog trainer on tv saying she'd never have a collie as they're so bright they're always being trained so you'd better get it right all the time I think a spaniel might be a bit like that too lol !
Re: One Man And His Dog I know what you mean - all that shouting of "lie down LIE DOWN!!" At training today we were working on the stop whistle, which as we all know can be very difficult for a retriever in full retrieve mode. I was fascinated by how swift the sheepdogs were to stop, drop, go again, and how fast the dogs were, and working at quite a distance too. It's also interesting to see how collies are perfectly bred to do their job. When they are working the sheep slowly, they are obviously using a wolf like tactic of stalking slowly, while staring at the sheep in an intimidating manner. I read somewhere that the collie's actions when herding the sheep are absolutely the hunting manouevres of a wolf - with only the actual kill bred out.
Re: One Man And His Dog They are amazing those dogs. We know a sheep dog trainer that people take their young collies to to be trained. He can tell immediately if a dog will be a good worker or not. Although I'm not sure any of us would particularly approve of his methods he definitely wouldn't use a clicker ! I guess the dogs on one man and his dog are proper workers as in they have to earn their keep and only get handled to work or train. From what I'm told this makes them much more biddable. I've warned Scott and Scout if they don't learn there'll be no more couch cuddles or any of the other luxuries not given a working dog. Kennel all the time except for training. None of the sheep dogs I know get spoilt like my two. Who am I kidding they certainly didn't believe me.
Re: One Man And His Dog One day I will get a sec to watch it,sounds brilliant,I'm such a wuss,I start crying when I see dogs being brilliant....I get all emotional about how well they work for their handler
Re: One Man And His Dog Ah I love it, used to watch it with my dad when we were children. The weather really does play a bit part. It's amazing how those collies can do such a great job with lots of whistle and very loud voice commands, much harder than gun dog training in my humble opinion - lovely to watch
Re: One Man And His Dog As I've said on another post, my Mum has two border collies. Training them is so different to training Labradors - they FLING themselves on to the ground when told to 'drop', and are clearly just born to herd. Very very clever. I mean, our labs are not stupid, but these dogs are astounding. Just like with labs though there are clearly working line collies and 'pet bred' collies, and particularly the working dogs don't necessarily make great pets, as they need a lot of exercise and stimulation, otherwise they can become neurotic and obsessive.
Re: One Man And His Dog I recorded it and just watched it. I love One man and his dog. Very brave sheep that didn't make it easy for the dogs. Border Collies are supposed to be the most intelligent of the dog breeds. I think Labs come in at number 5.
Re: One Man And His Dog Chris has just walked out the house on a night out for his friends birthday laughing his head off.... Why??.....Well im sat on the floor with my sofa duvet,dogs head in my lap,crisps ( to one side and out of reach!)and glass of wine watching One Man and His Dog .....oh how things have changed !.... ;D
Re: One Man And His Dog [quote author=Dexter link=topic=3064.msg33224#msg33224 date=1383319393] Chris has just walked out the house on a night out for his friends birthday laughing his head off.... Why??.....Well im sat on the floor with my sofa duvet,dogs head in my lap,crisps ( to one side and out of reach!)and glass of wine watching One Man and His Dog .....oh how things have changed !.... ;D [/quote] And what's wrong with that?......sounds perfect to me
Re: One Man And His Dog People don't agree on how to measure intelligence in humans - and the art and science of measuring it in dogs is even rougher. I've met a lot of Borders in flyball and obedience and while most were very fast to learn, others would make you want to tear your own eyeballs out. Could say the same of any breed though. Of course, there is also the significant factor of what the handler is capable of bringing out in the dog.
