[Foobar]

My 14 month old welsh sheepdog goes a bit mental if he thinks I've left the house to go to do something with the sheep and I've left him behind.  He wines and barks and runs around and gets himself in a bit of a state.
He also gets overexcited if I he watches me do something with the sheep, or whilst watching anyone else do something with sheep - he just wants to get involved, desperately.
Obviously he's getting over excited and doesn't know the meaning of calm.  Can anyone give me any tips to try and train him to be more calm, and learn that not everything needs to involve him?  I want to be able to take him to training days with other handlers and dogs, but I can't if he won't sit still and be quiet whilst the other folks have their go with the sheep
Any tips gratefully received!

[SallyintNorth]

Watching with interest... 

[Foobar]

Watching with interest... 

... and there was me hoping you'd have all the answers!

[shygirl]

My gsd used to jump on the windows sills and try n dig her way out of the house if I left without her. Still bonkers, just slower now she's 12.
Lol
No advice sorry. But been there. Ha

[SallyintNorth]

Watching with interest... 

... and there was me hoping you'd have all the answers!

lol, nah, mine go spare too. 

I do two things that help. 

• Every dog is trained to obey 'on the bike' - get on the back of the quad bike and stay there until told to do something different. 
• A dog is never sent to sheep when it is other than calm and quiet.  (It can be brimming with excitement and coiled like a spring, but it must not be jumping about or yapping)

I could write pages and pages of stories about collie dogs finding their way to work...

Oh, and I have inadvertently trained Dot that her 'get on the bike and stay there' command is the horn.  When she was learning, she'd get overexcited when we were gathering big batches, so would get put back on the bike.  This was on the moorland farm.  I'd be coming behind the sheep, helping the dogs, using the horn to chivvy the sheep if needed.  So in Dot's head, a connection was made between the horn and being put on the bike!     Skip of course has the other association, so if I beep the horn, Dot gets on the bike and Skip runs at the sheep!   

[Foobar]

I have been trying to take him into the sheep fields and make him lie down and just sit there and watch, and maybe we walk around a bit on the lead.  He'll do the watching, but the walking around isn't great, he'll pull constantly.  I'm going to go back to basics and work on "no-pull" on the lead a lot more, and lots of sit-stay, trying to extend the stay period.  He can be very good when there are no distractions, but anything around sheep he is pretty useless!

[Cosmore]

Well, my border collie who is nearly 13 yrs old (going on 2!) is just like this, whatever you are going to do he wants to be there and actively involved. He impatiently waits at the door, as you approach it he wizzes round and round in a tight circle sqeaking with excitement and has to be first out. If it's not sheep, he herds the geese or ducks, or he herds the pony (!) and if I'm walking around checking things he herds me .
If he could get into the pigs paddock (which fortunately he can't ) I'm sure he'd try herding them!
Yet, when the works all done, he's satisfied and is quite obedient, I think he thrives on routine and is just a workaholic! .

[nutterly_uts]

Have a look at Control Unleashed by Lesley McDevitt (http://controlunleashed.net/)

Is about teaching focus in all sorts of highly exciting situations. A lot of the agility handlers are now using it to get dogs that aren't nearly as nutty and bad behaved as they were for a while (A lot of what agility dogs are allowed to do would have their owners SCREAMING for the hills if Jo public's dog did the same on a walk... )
You might need to adapt it but it should help

I got my copy on amazon for a few £

[Foobar]

Ooo, that book looks good, I will order one immediately!!   Thanks [member=74867]nutterly_uts[/member]!

[landroverroy]

 Given that sheepdogs are what they are  , I was told by a trainer that having an adult dog on a high protein diet makes them more excitable. She reckons that 18% protein is adequate and if you give them more then they do tend to go a bit hyper.
I can't verify this, but it's worth trying. 

[SallyintNorth]

Oh totally.  Mine get half-and-half of an 18% complete meal thingy and biscuits-and-tinned-meat.  The biscuits are about 11% and the tinned meats between 6% and 9%. 

So the overall diet is probably around 14% protein - and yes, the hyper one becomes a helicopter on higher protein - unless she's working on moorland all day, in which case she needs it.

[Foobar]

The hyper-ness is from the carbs not the protein.  Mine is on 35% protein, 19% fat, 29% carbs, and he's much better for it.  I've seen dog foods that have 65% carbs - that's like giving high sugar orange squash to a child!  (oh and they don't list the carbs% on the packet do they, you have to work it out for yourself!)

[SallyintNorth]

It's probably also to do with what sort of protein, what sort of carbs, how many E-numbers.   

Anyway, it's certainly worth experimenting with diet and seeing if anything calms your nutter down

[Foobar]

E-numbers?!!  Why would a dog care what colour it's food is

[SallyintNorth]

E-numbers?!!  Why would a dog care what colour it's food is

Shakes head sadly...

If pet food producers made food that appealed to the pets, Felix' best-selling flavour would be 'Mouse' and Pal's 'Smelly old bone with added fox poo'