Sheepdog “Eye” – Condition or Habit..?
If the dog’s standing or even lying down and staring at the sheep as though it’s in a trance, rather than moving when commanded, this is commonly referred to as having “too much eye“. On the other hand, Eye is said to be a great asset for controlling sheep. But so is positioning a confident dog (which isn’t sticky) in the right place at the right time.
Our Online Sheepdog Training Tutorials include a video called “Sticky Dogs” to help you get your ‘sticky dog’ working freely.
Impending chaos
Too much of this stickiness means the dog stops responding to commands. Typically the dog will stay in place for some time. Then it will dart to a new position very quickly and unexpectedly. If the dog stops responding to commands, it’s no longer in control of the stock. In addition, the sudden movements can startle them. The result is usually chaos. Unfortunately, a dog which has developed this habit will often get worse unless it’s corrected.
Unfortunately what’s known as ‘too much eye‘ is widely regarded as a genetic trait which many believe cannot be corrected, and has to be tolerated. This is not true. To us, a dog which refuses to move when it’s holding the sheep has simply developed a bad habit through lack of confidence. However, it’s a habit which you can fairly easily train-out of the dog with patience and determination.
Keep it moving
I usually start with working the sticky dog on sheep without allowing the dog to stop. The dog must stop in order to clamp-down and stare at the stock, so I keep it moving as much as I possibly can. While the dog’s moving, the sheep will be too. It’s great for the dog’s confidence, and good practice for the trainer, too. I don’t worry too much about other aspects of the work, such as distance from the sheep, but just concentrate on keeping the dog in motion. The dog should still flank both ways though.
Inevitably the dog will stop from time to time, so I make sure I’m ready for it. I aim to send the dog off again as quickly as possible, before it “sticks”. If I’m too late and the dog won’t budge, I walk towards it repeating a flanking command and encouraging the dog to move (I use a shushing sound). If the dog hasn’t moved when I reach it, I give it a firm but gentle push with my foot to encourage it to go. I don’t kick the dog, just push it hard enough to make it get up and move.
Quite soon the dog realises that when I walk towards it in this way, it’s going to get a push. The dog learns that it’s preferable to move away first.
Keep it moving again!
I keep the dog moving again, walking around the training area, simply allowing the dog to bring the sheep up behind me. It’s a great way to make the dog more fluid. I constantly change direction, even doubling back through the sheep at times. As a result, I give the dog more of a challenge to bring the sheep up to me.
If the dog works without sticking when it’s close to you, but sticks at the end of it’s outrun, you won’t be able to do much about it until you’ve walked all the way up the field to get closer to the dog. So shorten the outrun to a distance where the dog doesn’t stick, then increase the distance very gradually. Once again, encourage the dog to keep moving steadily, rather than stop behind the sheep. If the dog stops again, shorten the outrun back to a distance at which it won’t stop. Then build the length of the outrun gradually again.
Now walk away
Another way to get the dog to move, is to walk away. Think about it. The dog’s instinct is to bring the sheep to you and hold them there. The “sticky” dog has done this, and refuses to move unless the sheep break away. If you walk away (and keep walking) it will occur to the dog that it’s no longer holding the sheep to you – it’s no longer done it’s job – and in our experience, it will nearly always get up and bring them to the handler.
Dogs will normally be less inclined to be “sticky” if the sheep move freely. Heavily dogged sheep (those which are so used to being worked by untrained dogs that they run to the handler, and bunch tightly together around the legs) are not ideal for training a sticky dog. It’s much easier to keep the dog moving if the sheep keep moving.
Often, the presence of another dog working alongside will encourage the sticky dog to keep moving, but on other occasions, it seems the sticky dog is prepared to allow the other dog to do all the work! Remember, every dog is an individual – no two are identical, so different methods work better for some dogs than others.
Once the dog is working more freely, you can put less emphasis on keeping it moving, and more on polishing its work generally. As the dog becomes more confident, it should begin to work more and more freely.
One of our Online Sheepdog Training Tutorials covers “Sticky Dogs” in detail. The topic is also discussed in the tutorial “Close Work” (part one).
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