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

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.

Around and Around

A friend of mine was telling me that he has a dog that keeps circling around the stock and he has a hard time stopping it. This dog came from a friend of his who trained it for him.

It was interesting when he showed me the problem. He brought some sheep into a paddock and the sheep immediately went to the high point and, the dog began to circle. I asked him how his friend had trained the dog. He said in a round pen.

My opinion on round pens is it is a good place to train out the natural instinct of a dog. It makes training a dog to specific commands relatively easy. Also, when training in a round pen so many people think that is a good place to train balance. What is balance to a herding dog, or should I say working dog? To a working dog it is not a 12 and 6 placing, it is balancing on the head of the sheep in relation to you. It could be a 9 and 12 position.

Again, it is my opinion, that if you are going to train a working dog do so where you are going to use it on conditions that you are going to use. GET RID OF ROUND PENS. This should be come a mantra.