Missed Training Days

I took a couple of days off from training recently and boy did it make a differance. Both dogs, Kate and Wage were kept in there runs except for a morning walk with the rest of the pack. I cut back also on the number of sheep in the training area and it was as if someone held a match to there butts.

Kate has always been strong on stock but weak on handler pressure. She is now hitting hard when she does a lift, something to be corrected later, and balancing like she has been doing it all her life. She is starting to listen to commands and will bring sheep to me no matter where I am. Some more practice on sides then I will introduce her to the whistle then back to cattle where she originally started.

Wage also looks like he finally figured it out and is much stronger. When he lifts the sheep he still wants to come around and head. I stop him with a walk up command and for the most part it works. What I'm seeing is he should be a very good, strong dog by the time he is 1 year old. The next step in his training is sides and working the length of the training area in out runs.

Here in lies a problem with the fetch and lift. In the trial world you are always working towards square flanks. In the real world if your dog is using ssquare flanks he is wasting so much time and energy that chances are the job will not get done or he may miss some of the stock. So how does one solve this problem? I have used 2 word commands in the past: ie Away to me or Go bye. I will explore these 2 word commands in a later post.

Until next time Onward and upward

Into the Field

 I was recently asked to help prepare a group of Heifers for an annual Fall Fair Cow Dog trial. My job is to dog break the cattle which should calm them down for when they go to the arena. The trial is indoors and when you take a bunch of cattle that have never been exposed to that type of surrounding it can take a great deal of fun away from the trial.

This is a perfect time and place to evaluate the training my pups have received to date. I had my new pup, Wage, with me as well as this mother, Kate, and of course my main dog, the old guy. Each morning we would round up the Heifers out in the field and bring them into a paddock. We would then separate a few and move them into another paddock and work them for about 1/2 hour. We then join the separated ones up with the rest of the herd and move them back out into the field. We did this up to 4 times a day.

Wage working the flank

Here he keeping everyone on the straight and narrow

While moving the cattle I used as few commands as possible. Mostly “there” and occasionally a directions command “go bye” or “away to me”. This gives me an excellent opportunity to find out where we are in the reaction to the commands. So now that we are back home it back to the side commands.

Even in the paddock he is keeping order

It was very interesting to watch Wage, he is 8 months old, work the flanks with very little direction. He would swing out and run along to near the head of the herd and then turn into them and run back to where we were driving from. This appears to be natural to him. He exhibited the same technique in the paddocks. He certainly did not pull any punches when one of the Heifers stepped to far of the line.

After 3 days of this, training in the training paddock is not going to be as exciting. Back to working on sides

"Go Bye"

I am frequently asked why the "Go Bye" command rather then the traditional "Come Bye" command? I learned a long while ago that a dog can be come confused by the "Come By" command. Just think about it for a few moments. How do most of us call our dog to us, the recall. The vast majority of us call our dogs to us by using the command "COME". No we know that the dog usually reacts to the first word it hears ie "Come Bye". To avoid the possibility of confusion I use the "Go Bye" command.

Be who you are and say what you feel....
Because those that matter...
don't mind...
And those that mind... don't
matter."

Side #2

This week we start to train on the “other” side, the “Away to Me”. It's interesting when we started the training this week, Wage, would automatically go to the Go Bye. Now I would like to think that he has that command down pat but I suspect that it has become instinct.

In order to counter act that "Go Bye" command I have had to adapt to it and change my approach. I get behind the sheep and get them moving along the fence line and give the "Away to Me" command.  When he moves up towards the head I call him back and go through it again. The heading instinct in this breed is so strong that it does present some challenges. Of course this is counteracted by the easy by which these dogs can be trained. To finish off the training session I do a couple of “Go Byes”.

You can imagine the added complexity of training if we started on cattle. It probably would be harder on fences and the trainer.

And the training goes on.

And the training continues

Training is moving right along with the sides being the key. I move the sheep, in the mornings, to the training paddock. It is 130ft by 60, ideal for teaching sides. Not to big so that the trainer is not run off his feet.

With straight sides and corners, I can teach 1 side at a time. The dogs have the stop command ("there") down pat as well as the "stay" command. When I get the sheep positioned and the dog in the stay position I can get the sheep moving along the side. I then send the dog with the appropriate command and he/she heads the sheep and we then work on the walk up command and bring them back to where we can do it all again. A week of doing this then I will start working on the other side.

On the walk up

Wage, the young dog, comes with me to the field each evening to round up the sheep. It seems that I have to go less distance each night and he is out there looking for them. He is now rounding them up and moving them back to the barn, mostly on his own. I don't think he realizes that he is being trained!!!!

The first day of the rest of there lives

The first batch of sheep arrived to day, I custom graze sheep and cattle. With the arrival of the sheep the start of custom training for Kate and her son Wage begins. Kate has been rough trained and is very effective with cattle. Wage has been exposed to sheep starting at 4 months of age and showed a remarkable talent for heading. Formal training is now underway.

Today the training is all about control. The dogs must learn, at this stage, that they will only work when told to do so. It's like boot camp where they learn the other side of themselves. First command is the "with me" command. This is some what like a heel command. Incorporated with this command is the “There” command. This is the stop command.

Today's training incorporating the above commands, was primarily shepherding. In other words we got to watch the sheep eat grass. It's a great self control exercise for the dogs and will be very useful in the future when checking cattle and sheep. This training will likely go on for about a week. All things being equal, we should begin to start on some directional commands: the "way to" and "go by" commands. Until the next time enjoy ....

Training Kate

 Kate is a New Zealand Heading dog/Border Collie, 18 months old and works Cattle instinctively. Her main job up to this time has been keeping cattle away from feeders while I put the hay in and then to bring them in. She also filled in nicely when moving cattle by taking up a flank position and all of this with minimal training and only a few commands. The time has come where commands need to be put on the dog for better control and directing her. In my case I want to eventually begin to do some trialling so will need that control.

After a lay off, both me and the dogs, this spring I have taken her to sheep on 2 occasions. I'm getting a different reaction from what I was expecting. She is not acting as strong as she does with cattle, you might even say that she is “soft”. I guess she thinks they are delicate. So its back to basics. 

If you have read my blogs in the past you will know that I'm not a fan of round pens for basic training purposes. Her training will take place in a small pasture that is 3/4's hill side with lots of dips and mounds. I start out the training on the flats and then will move to the hill side to give variety.

Moving up the flank to head

 I firmly believe that if all the training is done in one location, ie flat and no obstacles, the dog will become bored very quickly and lose interest in the training sessions. In each training sessions I use my main dog as a training assistant. His main job is to guard the gate and when we get into a sticky situation to lend a hand.

Jim lending a hand

Bonding

This is a repost from 3 years ago and should be of interest to new pup owners

Well you have a new pup. The question(s) is when should I start training. I am of the opinion that training can not start until there is a bond between you and the pup. Now if you look at that statement something should leap out at you! If the pup is going to bond to you then how can you send it away to be trained? That is a good question for which there is many answers, some good and some not so good. This will be the topic of another entry in the blog in the future

When I get a pup for myself, I start out with the pup spending a good part of the time with my wife. That mothering instinct goes along way to eventually bonding with me. A pup has to be a pup. A pup has to learn some basic manners and the mothering instinct usually facilitates this and usually in a very short period of time.

During this phase, I feed the pup, as I do with all my dogs. You know where I'm going with this. If I am feeding the pup the pup begins to see the association between me and the pack and quickly begins to find it's place in the pecking order. I also take the pup in the car/truck anytime I go on short trips. This is usually to town for one reason or another. When I am in town I will put a leash on the pup and take her for a short walk exposing her to different sounds, smells, noises, and people. Holding a leash during this time also allows her to associate me as the pack leader. Of course there is plenty of praise, at the appropriate time, which she will also associate with pleasing me as the leader

This routine will continue until she is ready for training. I will take the pup to, usually, sheep, the first time at about 6 months of age. If the interest is there in any form, then this is my que to having the pup move from my wife to me. The pup is now officially mine and will be with me most of the time. The the real bonding begins.

When I am asked to train a dog, I usually turn the possible engagement down for the reasons stated above. I am often asked to evaluate a dog to determine if it is ready for training or shows any interest. I have found quite often a handler will say they want to begin training a dog but there is no bond there. As most of my trainig is now handler training, I will usually send the handler home with instructions to bond with the dog. When this is done then I will start working with the handler and dog. Training goes much quicker and usually with better results.

There is some food for thought. Comments are always welcome

That new pup - what should I do

Having placed a number of pups from my latest litter, the new owners have asked for some hints and tips for settling the pups into their new homes. The following could apply to any pup. It is very important that the new owners treat the pup as a pup and not a little human in pups clothing.

1. The most important thing to keep in mind at this time is; THIS IS A PUP, LET IT BE A PUP. Pups are playful so let the pup play. This is how pups learn and it should help you later on when you start your training program.

2. The pups have been started on puppy chow and gradually changed over to a good quality dry dog food around 8 weeks of age. It would not hurt, if you are so inclined, to add a little raw meat to the diet. I feed the pups twice a day and usually as much as they will eat in a 15 to 20 minute time limit. I then remove the dish. If the pup is fed away from other dogs and in a quite location, the pup should eat slowly and chew its food completely. This aids in digestion. Water is very important to the pup but too much water can kill (see earlier post on this topic).

3. The only training in the early stages should be a recall and a sit stay command. This is not formal training but rather fun training and taking advantage of the situation ie if the pup sits you give the command. The commands I use are: For recall - “here”. Sit is sit. I do not teach any of my dogs or pups at any time, a down command.

4. The most important thing you can do is to have the pup with you as much as possible. This facilitates the bond that is so important in future training and ultimately will make training easier and faster. In the earlier stages of ownership I like to have a crate beside the bed and that is where the pup goes at night. As they grow older I move them to an outdoor kennel and run.

5. As early as possible the pup should wear a collar and you should start leash training as well. The collar should never be on the pup when the pup is by its self. It does not hurt to gradually start tying up the pup for short periods of time. This can be started around 3 months age.

These few hints will help you get started with your new partner but remember this IS A PUP LET IT BE A PUP.

Puppy testing

With each litter I conduct a series of test, nine in all, for each pup. I am often asked why and it must be time consuming. In reality it only takes about 1 hour to do the whole litter and I feel much more comfortable in suggesting which pup should be the best fit for the owner and the future job of the pup. It also helps in monitoring my breeding program.

The puppy test is an adaptation of a common test which can be found on the web and is given with herding instincts being considered and reflected in the interpretation of the results. The test looks at the following:

1. The dominance of the pup

2. How readily does the pup accept human leadership

3. How the pup should react to and adjust to different situations

4. How easy can the pup be controlled

5. How submissive is the pup

6. How independent is the pup

Now all of this does not indicate if the pup will herd or work for you but rather the instincts and character of the pup. The success of the pup is still dependent on the quality of the training it will receive from the new owner. The New Zealand Heading dog, my breed, does work some what different then other common herding breeds and the success of the dog is totally dependent on the understanding of the owner to these differences.

The NZHD breed is being used more, through out North America and else where, in cross breeding programs mainly to calm down the other breeds and make training less traumatic and quicker. Also the VERY strong herding instinct, the stand up style and the ability to thinking and react to stock is also being sought after.

ALL PUPS WITH IN A LITTER ARE NOT CREATED THE SAME

Be who you are and say what you feel....
Because those that matter...
don't mind...
And those that mind... don't
matter."

New Litter

Well we now have a new and LAST litter on the ground. 1 male & 6 females. They are almost 4 weeks old and growing like weeds. I say last litter and I mean it this time ... just getting to old for all this. I will keep the male pup and possibly train up a couple of the females.

My rearing protocol is to introduce raw meat to the pups at 2 weeks. This is just a small little ball of hamburger for each pup. This helps to get the gut going sooner and allows me to introduce other foods earlier. At 3 weeks we start with the milk replacer in a puppy bowel which gets the lapping mechanism going. As the pups are growing so fast it helps mum out also. She continues to feed until she has had enough of them usually around 5 to 6 weeks. I keep her in with them after that until she tells me that that's it and turns them over to me.

Shortly after we introduce the milk replacer, I begin to add pablem and raw meat to the mix. At 4 weeks I start to add puppy dog food, a little at a time and then gradually replace the milk replacer with water. Usually around 6 weeks they are on puppy food soaked in water. At 7 weeks they start on the dry stuff.

I'm hopeful that the snow will be going so that I can move them to an out door rearing pen. With spring whelping this is where they would have started there lives but in the cold winter I like to start them in a semi enclosure (indoors with a little warmth).

Over the years I have developed this procedure for raising pups with what I consider a high degree of success. The pups are physically and menally tough and usually go on to be an excellent working partner.

The Mother: The mother's name is Kate and she is New Zealand Heading dog/Border Collie. She is 18 months old and works Cattle instinctively. This winter her main job was to keep cattle
away from the feeders while I put the hay in and then bring them in. Any seperating or just general moving the cattle also was one of her jobs


The dad: Bandit is a New Zealand Heading dog who works sheep (2000 head) along with other members of his family. He also works cattle on the ranch (80 head).

Both dogs are well rounded, love to work, and are as good a companion as you will find any where.

If anyone is interested in reserving one of these pups, remember this is my last breeding, or you would like additional information, email to crdogs@xplornet.com

Watering the dog

A recent post on FB commented on water and dogs drinking habits. I would like to tell a personal story about my main working dog, Jim, and water.

Early one morning during the summer (a few years ago – the dog was aged 3 years old) I was moving a flock of sheep, approximately 100, from a pasture to some grazing off property. When the job was done my dog and I returned to the barn to do some work. I notice that he was acting strange, sitting and staring off into a direction where there was no stock. He obviously was in distress and had swelling in the belly area which I took to be serious. I called the vet and then took him in where he was diagnosed as having “twisted gut”, a very serious situation which any horseman will recognize. I gave the go a head for immediate surgery which had 1/2 his stomach and his spleen removed. The stomach was then stitched to the wall cavity which would prevent this from happening again.

He recovered despite a 5% chance of survival by the vets and eventually, in 6 weeks, returned to light duties. He continued to gain strength and over the years has been my number 1 dog. He is now 13 years old and still working albeit at a slower pace. He is one tough dog.

Now what has this to do with water you ask? Well after this event I racked my brain on what could possibly have caused this when, I could find no reports or evidence of this happening to this breed. My dog is a New Zealand Heading dog so naturally I did some searching in Kiwi land including the Royal New Zealand Veterinarian College. No reports were found. I was somewhat stumped until about 2 months after the operation when I met an old timer rancher and as we talked over my dog he said that it was a common occurrence in Border Collies. These are the dogs that work all day every day year around. He told me that they have to keep a tight watch on the amount of water they ALLOW the dog to drink. If the dog drinks more water then the stomach can process it can slosh around eventually twisting the gut. The dog is tied up at the end of the day fed and given a bucket of water. In the morning the dog is found dead. More research into this and talking to many people the conclusion I have drawn is that water is the culprit. To date I have not been challenged on this assumption.

The moral of the story is that dogs do not need a continued unlimited supply of water. Teaching the dog to drink responsibly is what is needed. To date I have not had any more problems like this with any of my dogs. I ensure that they are hydrated and they know when to quit drinking. Know your dog and be aware of him like you would your partner/friend. Look out for them and they will look out for you.

Be who you are and say what you feel....
Because those that matter...
don't mind...
And those that mind... don't
matter."

Working the young dog

Well as our job continues my little Kate has her ups and downs. This could be attributed to the fact that she is pregnant.

As in all training, repetition is the key to success. I pick up a bale on the tractor and place it over the round bale feeder then get out of the tractor and with my main dog start to move the cattle away from the feeder. The young dog usually moves right in with my main dog and start to move the cattle away. This is when I start to introduce the command "walk up"

It is important that once you have the cattle away from the feeder that you stop the dog. I use the command "there".

Doing this procedure over a couple of weeks usually is all that is required before the dog start doing it on there own. This is the sign of a useful working companion.

To finish off each feeding session I like to
add a little more training in such as moving the
cattle together. Again I use the walk up command.
From this training I will start to move to the gathering
command,which incidentally, she has been doing it on her
own up to this time. This would be a good time to start putting commands to it. I want to do this slowly as she has it figured out what way to go around the cattle.

Onward and upward .. the training continues.

Feeding Cattle using dogs

Well it's that time of the year again. Each year at this time I, along with my dogs, head north to look after a ranch for 2 months while the owners get away for a holiday.... hmmmmm what's wrong with this picture ... I'm here and the owners are in Mexico??????

One of my main jobs here is the daily feeding of the cattle. I feed using round bale feeders and when the cows are hungry it can be a real gong show around the feeders. Not only that it can be very dangerous; first to the cattle ... I'm lifting large round bales that can kill if they are dropped on the cattle, and secondly, when I am backing up or moving around with the forks down it is a potential mine field for the cattle. and Thirdly, when I am cutting the plastic and netting from the bale I'm in danger from hungry cows.

So what is a person to do? Well the obvious answer is to use dogs to keep the cattle back until the bale is placed and I'm out of the way. Of course that is exactly what I do and it not only make the job a lot easier, it gives the dogs the work that they so want to do and enjoy doing it.

Where do you start in training your dog to do this very valuable and useful job? I like to start away from the work area and do a little basic training. If you have been following my post you will know that I'm not really big on commands but there is one that I always teach my dogs before I let them do this type of work. The command is "behind". I want my dogs behind the tractor and hay wagon when we are moving to the work site. The second command is "get them or get out". I want the cattle away from the feeder and the dogs in the early stages need to learn this command. Eventually both of these commands will be used only rarely as the dog begins to understand and will get the job done.

In my next post I will give more detail in keeping the cattle away from the feeders using my partners.

Trialling

I mentioned in my last post that I would talk about trialling in relation to working stock dogs. My comments may be somewhat controversial and are general in nature.

To start with, a blanket statement: “Trialling dogs do not make good working stock dogs. Working stock dogs can become good trialling dogs”.

Now that the roar of the trialling fraternity has died down somewhat I will tell you why. When a trialler takes a pup for training, in most cases, they will start the dog in a round pen and eventually start putting commands to the pup to cover “every” move the pup makes. As training moves along the commands become more intense and increase in numbers. Then it's off to the pups first trial and what do you hear?If the pup has been trained to whistles, then all you hear is a constant stream of whistles. If the pup has not been trained to whistles then what you hear is constant commands, usually hollered at the poor pup. The poor pup does not get a chance to use it's God given instincts to get the job done. And if you think that this only happens to the young dog and inexperience handler, take a listen to the open handlers when they step up to the post.

Now take a non trial trained dog ie working stock dog, one that has been allowed to use it's instinct, and you will see a very different performance. Again, usually, the dog will work more on it's own, using its head with little input from the handler. I should qualify handler: I'm referring to a level headed calm handler. An experienced handler and mature experienced dog will seem to be working in sync even if the stock doesn't want to join in the show. Will the team get the job done? Yeesss. Will they be as successful as the accomplished trialler? Maybe. Chances are the trialler will win because they are use to working under the time constraints of a trial. But you take that trialler and there dog out in the real field and then see who gets the job done most efficiently and with out any significant loss of weight of the cattle/sheep with minimal stress.

I remember trialling at the Calgary Stampede, not very successfully I might add, and a number of participants and general audiance coming to me and saying how they liked the way my dog worked. Of course he is a working stock dog. I rest my case

Be who you are and say what you feel....
Because those that matter...
don't mind...
And those that mind... don't
matter."

Trialling

I recently attended a sheep dog trial, unfortunately I was not competing. I provided a demonstration before the trial to explain to the audience how sheep dogs are trained. Most of the audience were either town folks who new very little about stock dogs, or those farm folks that did not use dogs in there daily farm work.

I have found over the years when participating in trials that there was NEVER an explanation as to what was actually happening. Some times, very rarely, a diagram of the course was put up where folks could see it but for all intents and purposes it was for the competitors. The exception to this is the Calgary Stampede World stock dog competition. An other problem was that the competitors kept to themselves and away from the limited viewing area. It was almost as if the competitors did not want to talk to non-competitors. It's almost like this is a private club and spectators are only tolerated.

The trial I attended was a fall fair held at Burns Lake British Columbia, the announcer gave a running commentary of what was going on, explaining the whys and wherefores of each run as well a little about each competitor. Not only that, the announcer sat in stands so what he was explaining was what everyone was seeing. With really tough sheep it was amazing to see how long spectators stayed, yes even the open competitors were not doing well. There was a lot of good feed back and with the competitors making themselves available to anyone who had questions the overall interest was high and made for an enjoyable experience for all.

I believe that this approach to this “sport” promotes it, as well as interest in stock dogs in general. Who knows, this may even bring more people into the world of trialling.

Be who you are and say what you feel....
Because those that matter...
don't mind...
And those that mind... don't
matter."

No Sheep on the Range

In our part of the country, ranchers have the ability to turn there cattle out on Crown land (Government controlled land) often called "range" each summer. This is similar, but yet not, to community pastures found in most ranching communities in North America.

In BC I am not aware of any range that includes sheep. Apparently the ranching community, namely the Cattleman's Association will not allow it even though it is controlled by the Ministry of Forest (in name only). I wonder who is in charge. Now any arguments in support of not allowing sheep on range has no basis in common sense, science or logic. Regardless of the efforts of sheep people, they have not even been allowed to make a presentation in support of allowing sheep on the range.

There is a number of very good reasons to allow sheep with cattle on the range. Among some of these are:
1. Sheep usually will eat what cattle won't,
2. Predator control: Sheep will have a human and usually sheep dogs with them which naturally will control predators.
3. Range management. Despite what MoF people say, they are not managing the range. It is left up to ranchers to do it and if you have ever been out there you can see that the job is not being done very well. This is a general statement as there are some ranchers who do an excellent job and others who have no idea where there cattle are the whole summer. There are a number of good common sense arguments for including sheep on the range. Just take a look at the rest of the world.

We are all in this for a common purpose, to provide food to our population. Let's get our act together .... shake your head.

Mean while back to training.

Beginning Training

At a recent clinic most of the participants came saying that there dogs did some work but they wanted to know how to control the dog ie sides and stopping. The common comment when the dog did not do what was expected was that the dog does work at home, or the dog will only work for me. These are common comments and point more to the handler then the dog. At this particular clinic every dog demonstrated to me, at one level or another, the ability to work. In other words if the drive was not strong, it can in most cases be brought out with the proper approach to training.

An other interesting observation is when the newbe trainer stands in one spot and attempts to direct the dog with their voice. As anyone who has successfully trained a working herding dog will attest, training is hard work and fantastic exercise. When a dog has good instincts, it is up to the trainer to help the dog understand what it is YOU want it to do. The only way I know how to do this is if you are there with the dog.

As far as the participants are concerned, they deserve high praise for participating in a clinic. As in most training situations, if you do not put into affect some of what you have learned with in a couple of days you will very likely have forgotten most of what you learned with in 10 days. Good on you and practice practice practice.

Equipment Manners

Now what does this have to do with herding you say. Wellllll we train our dogs so they can help us with our chores. Much of what we do is with machinery. So if your dog is not familiar with the equipment then they will have no idea how to behave around it. They have no rules or boundaries. Sound familiar?

When traveling to the work place on a tractor, ATV, or even in a truck, the proper place for your dog should be behind you. If the dog is running around beside you or in front or playing with another dog running beside or in front of the tractor, his life is in extreme danger. So how do you train a dog to be and stay in the proper place?

In your basic training you like to teach sit, stay, down, and heal, obedience commands. The one command that we seem to miss is the “behind” command. This is a very easy command to teach your work partner. Try this: from the heal position while moving forward, using a training aid such as a sorting stick, give the “behind” command forcing the dog back with your stick. Of course it goes with out saying that repetition is what makes this command work as in all commands.

When working with equipment your concentration should be on the task at hand. You should not have to be worried where your dog is. PROTECT YOUR DOG teach the behind command.

Until next time

The results

All that training and what can you do with it?

Well when you are on a working farm or ranch, there's probably a need for a dog every day.

In the following picture you will see some dogs in a down position in front of a herd of cows. So whats the story: When I feed the cattle each day I'm greeted by a bunch of hungry so and so's. So not to run over cows or knock them over, I send the dogs in in advance and they move them out of the way and hold them until I release them.

When you are holding a 1500 lb hay bale on the front of the tractor, the last thing you want is cattle around you. You have to take the netting off of the bale and if you have been around hungry cattle then you will know it's no fun getting knocked around or stepped on by a big old fat cow.

Life is so much more comfortable when you have a trained dog working with you.

Until the next post