Just had a go at this a few hours ago. I've got two border collies and a springer spaniel and no sheep so I know what you mean about needing an outlet. It seems to be really good fun so tomorrow I'm going to go and buy another three gym balls as we only have one at the moment. So far I've been teaching them to push the ball in the right direction (forwards,backwards,left,right) but I've already taught them the directions so it was more about pushing the ball.
We haven't got passed the push it till I say stop in whatever direction but I think that was quite good, it was really fun and we've all enjoyed it. I don't see why you couldn't use sheep herding ques but it won't make the dog feel any different unless it previously worked with sheep, if that's the case I really don't know but it would mean your collie would already know what you wanted. I just used "push left" or whatever direction and that worked fine for me.
But I would say that it was great fun and I have some rather worn out doggies (border collies never seem to be completely exhausted *sigh* but then mine are young).
Have you tried it yet? How did it go?
We haven't got passed the push it till I say stop in whatever direction but I think that was quite good, it was really fun and we've all enjoyed it. I don't see why you couldn't use sheep herding ques but it won't make the dog feel any different unless it previously worked with sheep, if that's the case I really don't know but it would mean your collie would already know what you wanted. I just used "push left" or whatever direction and that worked fine for me.
But I would say that it was great fun and I have some rather worn out doggies (border collies never seem to be completely exhausted *sigh* but then mine are young).
Have you tried it yet? How did it go?
