One of the purposes of this Blog is for educating herding enthusiasts on the aspects of training necessary for success.  In this regard, I am filming a DVD to illustrate the first 6 – 8 sessions of training.

It’s all about the “flank”.

“Flank” is the technique enabling the dog to get around the sheep and establish control.  It should not be within the “flight zone” of the sheep enough to produce a chasing response.  It needs to just close enough to cut off all paths of escape, allowing the sheep to go in one direction only.  Sounds easy?  NOT!!  It is the most difficult training technique to get across to both dog and handler.  That’s why I am doing a training DVD on this only.

Most dogs want to make the sheep run.  The more they run, the keener the dog becomes, the faster the sheep run, the keener the dog….you get the picture.  In fact, most of the breeds of dogs we train here are “prey drive” dogs and the herding is only a by-product of that.  If too much “chase” is taken away from the dog, the less happy they are in a herding situation.  However, without a proper flank, the dog will NEVER CONTROL THE SHEEP!  You can have the BEST stop on a dog and it won’t work to stop sheep.

The flank is also the premise for an outrun.  It’s just much wider on sheep and farther away from you.  The outrun should allow the dog to “sneak up” on sheep and initiate a calm, introduction (lift).  This will set the tone for the relationship between prey and predator.

How do you achieve a good flank on your dog?  Alas, a great deal of running on your part and chasing the dog away.  The dog does NOT get the sheep until they are calmly moving the direction handler desires.   Suffice to say, the dog doesn’t understand WHY he is being chased away so don’t be surprised at a lack of enthusiasm.   However, if he is allowed the sheep again when he is NOT engaged in a chase behavior, the light bulb will turn on pretty fast.

Much more difficult teaching people this discipline.  Most people just don’t want to use intimidation to make the dog move away from the sheep.  They are hoping they get it.  No so.  Handler must FORCE the dog away from the sheep, wider and wider.  When the SHEEP feel the dog is a safe distance, that is the contact point.  Each dog and different sheep will make that  distance a constant changing position.

We pride ourselves  at this facility for producing the best flanking and outrunning dogs, of all breeds, in trialing today.  That is the key to their success in gaining titles (AKC, AHBA) at a rate not seen at many facilities. Over two dozen of our clients have achieved Advanced titles, many becoming Champions.  I have trained that number to aspire to the United Border Collie Handler’s National Finals and compete.  I think our emphasis on the Flank Training is a key to this.