Dawg Unleashed # 3

Dawg on pears

Welcome back! I had to shove Barb away from the computer to get her to relinquish it so that I could share my always valuable insights. Enjoy!

I don’t really have much to say about pears, although I do like to eat a bite or two once in a while. Instead, I want to talk about pears as they relate to herding – the “pear-shaped” outrun.

If you are not familiar with the pear-shaped outrun, allow me to introduce you to it. When I first started outruns, going around the sheep and bringing them back to Shandler, they were nothing more than a short flank with a new cue. I was a bit confused at the time since Shandler is not the greatest trainer in the herding world. I soon realized that the flank cue still meant the same thing that it always had but this new “shush” cue meant I could turn into and bring the stock without waiting for any other cues.

Having this cue was wonderful because I, obviously, can read the sheep far better than Shandler can. I know exactly where to turn in to bring the stock straight to Shandler, while she often is slightly, and occasionally very, off in her timing of her in cue. Things went MUCH better once I took over that responsibility.

After we got that situation sorted, she started sending me on longer outruns. Yay! At first, I ran a regular half-circle flank-shaped outrun but as the distance became farther and farther I realized I had to change my path as I was too lazy smart to run so far. I figured out that if I started my outrun less wide I could save a lot of steps. Unfortunately, Twitchy - the blue sheep and not to be confused with Witchy the pink sheep, started to take off before I could get behind the group to lift them. Thus, I had to change my trajectory and open up as I got closer to the flock. Voila – a pear-shaped outrun was born!

Well, that is my story and I am sticking to it. I pretty much figured out the pear-shaped outrun in spite of Shandler. (Sometimes she can be a bit thick but she tries.)

So now you know why I like pears so much – they make my life easier and my outruns shorter. If you want to make your dog’s life easier, read Barb’s book, buy a copy for your friends, and make all of our lives better!

Once again I implore you to buy Barb's book and keep her (and me :) happy.

Get the book here!

Until next time, tell your mates about this blog and...

Grow the pack!

Come bye to learn more about herding!

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