Starting the stock dog pup

As I discussed in an earlier post I like to take a pup to stock at 5 or 6 months. This is not a training session but more of an evaluation session. What I am looking for is the reaction of the pup to stock. I usually use sheep for this and try to get a group of somewhat passive sheep if possible All I do is release the pup in the general area of the sheep and stand back and watch what happens. Several things can happen:

1. There will be no interest.
2. The pup may show some signs of curiousity.
3. The pup may advance towards the sheep.
4. The pup may charge the sheep.
5. The pup may start to circle (head) the sheep.

When checking this out you should try and have the sheep moving slowly. This may spark some interest to the pup. Now if there is no interest after a few moments, at this early age this is no real problem. The hormones and instinct have not kicked in yet. I will take the pup away and try again in about 1 month's time. There is no sense in trying to force the issue as you may end up doing more harm the good.

Now if the pup takes an immediate interest and starts to do something then I will give her a few minutes and then call the pup off. I want you to note what I said here: “I call the pup off”. This is very important because if you can not call the pup off you have not done your preliminary training. With a pup 5 to 6 months old and for that matter any new pup or dog, I will not expose them to sheep for at least 3 or 4 weeks later after this initial exposure.

Handlers have to accept the fact that not all pups can be started early. I have known dogs that were18 months before they were turned on. I'm not sure if I would want to wait that long and usually would place the dog in a good home.

If you take a look at the following picture, you will see a very young bitch pup displaying obvious herding instinct. No commands are attempted and she is allowed to “do her thing”.




She was first taken to sheep at 5 months and displayed similar behaviour. She is 6 months in this photo. I took her off the stock after approximately 5 minutes and chained her to a post while I did some training on another dog. When I finished the training session I let her have another short go at the sheep be for calling her off. I will follow this routine every couple of weeks and watch as her confidence builds. I suspect at 7-1/2 to 8 months she will be ready for daily training as well as doing some work with the other dogs.



Now this all may sound like I am trying to force the training issue. Quite the opposite. If a pup is ready then it will become more satisfying to the pup, after all, these are herding dogs and that is what they do. The key is don't force it. Also remember “exercise, discipline, then affection” makes for a happy pooch.

Until the next time