Sometimes you get a young dog that really tries your patience. Ruffy has not been an easy dog. An immensely strong drive coupled with a mad desire to head means his instinct often takes over, and he doesn’t listen. He locks on to the sheep and wont move, and if they run he wants to get to the head. These can be good traits but can make dogs like him difficult to control. I found I was just getting into a fight with him every time we did some training, and it was frustrating for both of us.
He is not a hard dog, nor is he an arrogant dog, in fact, he is very soft natured, and does not cope well with pressure
I think when we get to this point, we need to just back off a little. Take the pressure off both you and the dog and just let them work, let them find the right position, without insisting they stop when we want. Let them bring the sheep how they want (Within reason of course). This doesn't mean we're not going to train them properly; it is just a mini break to let things settle and get some confidence and fun back into your relationship with the dog. Then when we are both ready, we can start a little more serious training. Getting into a fight with the dog constantly creates too much friction, so just take the brakes off for a while and let the dog (and yourself) take a breather from the pressure.
