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

And the training goes on

In this post I will talk about one of our new pups, which by the way is for sale. Her name is Kate and she is an interesting dog. It is amazing to watch the change from day to day as she gains confidence. It is also very interesting to see her when she goes to the cows. You would think that she was a different dog.

I first took her to cattle at 3-1/2 months to see if she had any interest. At first she was a little hesitant but started to warm up and gave me a good indication.

Now at 5-1/2 months she is definitely showing great potential. Now the question is should she be subjected to a structured training program. If you have followed any of my previous post you will likely know that I will let her learn on her own under supervision. I also like to have her exposed to actual work. What does that mean. If I am moving cows with my dogs, I like to have her along and right in there. The key here is moving ie all noses pointing in the same direction. There is less chance she will get hurt this way.




Having said that sometimes the pup just wants to do what is in it's "jeans". Here Kate is after a stray. She was successful and got the cow back with the rest of the herd going in the opposite direction.








In this picture, if you look closely, you will see a dog by the gate. This is my main dog, Jim. He and the pup moved the herd to the gate. Jim went around and stopped them and held them there while the pup stayed at the back to hold them together. This allowed my to go to the gate and open it. Now I don't think you can get a better training situation then this. This is what my training is all about: real life situations. When the pup learns lessons like this she becomes very useful at an early age. The pup benefits and I benefit ... win win. Incidentely I did not tell her to do what she is doing. Breeding and breed make life a joy.