Soda is not a powerful dog. She lacks confidence (and skills?) to move into pressure.

We worked a bit on this today in a pen with quite a few young, flightly lambs that she could easily push around. I also encouraged her to take some cheap shots at the sheep. She was really getting into a groove and moving the sheep effectively around the pen but still wouldn't walk INTO them, if that makes sense.

Anyway, later in the lesson I was re-penning the sheep and trying to hold the sheep off the gate and one of the sheep gave Soda stink eye and she said "AHH!" and ran off. I also needed her to walk into the sheep to move them off the gate and she wouldn't/couldn't push into them. Basically this is a recurring problem of not being able walk into the pressure to move the sheep.

So, any suggestions for building power and confidence in her? (getting a new dog isn't the answer, ! )

My goal is to allow her to have the confidence to get into the sheep and move them if I need her to and not let no stinkin' ewe sass her.

I would keep working her on weaker sheep. Get her used to being tops out there. Also, certain sheep just have a hairier eye ball than others. If she repeatedly gets stood to by one particular sheep, then don't work that one. It seems like you would want her to "work through it", but all it does is take away confidence. Dogs build confidence by succeeding. Another thing that is *really* good is to put her in a very packed pen with sheep. Packed enough that your dog will have to basically look these sheep in the eye. Make sure these sheep are not going to challenge her. Have her lay down near you, once she is comfortable. Believe me, they will look at her, and she at them. When you see her calm down a bit, then walk out of the pen. This will get her used to being up close and personal, and also show her that a look is not going to lead to a charge (all the time). If you do this right, she may just enjoy the pen work.

This can happen with a dog that doesn't have sufficient feel for the sheep. Make sure she's working at a distance that keeps the sheep settled, and that you are not "taking the sheep away" to get her there.

By distance I don't mean work her in bigger areas, but that she's giving the sheep space when she flanks and stops.

Absolutly! Another thing I do with R and T is to give them a couple of sharp sounds that will bring their ears and power up. A simple "hssst-hssst" or an urgent sounding "whatch'em" will bring Ruffy's power up enough to light up a small city. As her confidence builds Soda will have more and more power. Sometimes when Ruffy was just starting out, I'd let him "rodeo" the sheep to get him used to winning out there. I'd just use minimum control and let him run the show while making sure that he didn't go too far and get a grip on one. Ruffysdad

If I were working Soda, I would never let any sheep get the best of her if I could help it. Any time a sheep challenged her, I would be right there to help her turn it/move it. By stepping in and helping her (while encouraging her to come on to the sheep at the same time), you're helping to build her confidence, not only in herself but in you as well.

Becca's point is important too. Many sheep that would normally move well off a dog will turn and challenge the dog if the dog is working too close. It's all part of a sheep's fight or flight behavior. As long as the dog is working outside of that zone--that is, far enough off the sheep that the sheep don't feel threatened, then the sheep will likely move off the dog. But if the dog starts getting too close, to where the sheep no longer feel like they *could* get away by running, then the only other option is fight, and that's when sheep that would normally move off any dog will turn and challenge that dog instead (from the sheep's POV, it has no other real option--it feels trapped by the dog and dare not turn its back on the dog in order to move away because the dog is just too close and therefore could very easily could take hold of the sheep, so the sheep thinks the only thing it can do is turn and fight).

As Julie W said, if there's a particular sheep that's giving her a hard time (maybe it's got her number), just pull that one out before you start working her. Especially now that there's a "relationship" between Soda and certain sheep. Once the sheep has figured out it can bully Soda it will probably continue to do so. Later, when she's more confident, you can start working the troublemaker sheep again, but when you do, be prepared to step in and back your dog up so that the sheep doesn't ever get the best of her again.

So anyway, part of building confidence in Soda is making sure she knows without a doubt that you are always there to back her up. The other part is making sure she is working the proper distance off the sheep.

J.

great advice! Thanks! She definently tends to work tight. This particular situation I was trying to put her in place to hold sheep off the gate and she was pretty close because I was trying to get her to push into the sheep to move them off.

EDIT: Dang, I had a cool little ASCII diagram of the situation and it isn't showing up properly. bummer.

I was trying to move soda into the sheep to move them back from the gate. I didn't want to flank her around because on the other side is a heavy draw and I'm not sure Soda could/would cover.

I don't know how to tell the sheep apart, ! They all look the same to me. She has like 100+ sheep and this was just one plain ol' white one, but I think the problem was the situation, not the particular sheep. These are the "easy" sheep.

More work for me! Wish I had my own sheep to work more often- ah, every wannabe's wish!