Every now and then I get a phone call from someone that is at their wits end with their dog. Today it was a real nice woman that lives just south of us. She had met us at last year Farm Progress Show, I remember her asking some training questions in regards to stock work. Her dilemma today was with a young male Mini Aussie that she just could not teach anything to. She jumped at the opportunity to come out today to get help with her dog.
Most of these well intending people have the same problem; they just don’t know how to communicate with their dogs. In many cases it takes me just a few minutes of clearly showing their dogs something that I want, the dog changes instantly from a nervous wreck into a happy ready to please little sweetheart and we are on our way. Nine times out of ten the owner shakes their head and says “I used to do it that way, but then I went to obedience class (or agility class, etc) and they said to do it this other way”. I just chuckle and say, “boy did you ever run amuck”. Today’s lesson was extra special, within hours I had a follow up call on the answering machine rattling off all the successes she has had with her little dog from the moment she pulled out of the driveway (he had a habit of barking like an idiot in the crate, fixed that right away) to the time she made the call. Let’s see, she was able to walk him on a leash without him running circles around her and tying her up, he went to his kennel and with one correction decided that barking in protest was not worth it and went to sleep, those are the ones that come to mind. Not bad for a dog that was deemed untrainable.
On to my own little charges that were worked today:
Jake: I used Jake to set stock into all the different work areas, with Jake it’s now more about using him and making sure that I’m not settling for less then he is capable of.
Weasel: Not a single blow up today!!! She thought about it, I growled, she about turned inside out to release pressure and get into a flanking position…Good Girl!!! With this new mindset I was able to start holding her to her verbal commands, she actually took it in stride and showed me how quick of a learner she is, even going as far as driving sheep right past me, holding them on line and taking them off across the pen. She might just make a nice little working dog yet.
Jay: Short-term training dog, actually he belongs to Sharon who is on vacation in South Dakota for a week. This is the longest visit that he has had here with us and I am taking advantage of it. The first few days I did not take him to livestock, he had to just go out with me and was not allowed to fixate on stock or look for work to do, he’s the overachieving type. He worked well, the toughest deal with Jay is not letting him run over you, he has it in his head that his job is to fetch at all costs and will go over, through and under sheep to get that accomplished if allowed. The key is to keep your thumb on him and working for you, as soon as he goes into work for himself mode there is no hope in him learning anything, he’s too busy fighting to get the sheep to your feet.
Bea: This was her first work since the day she overheated. I took her out briefly; she is Jay’s half sister and has the same stubborn fetch machine attitude…maybe something to do with the same person influencing their initial stock introduction…. Bea really has a hard time driving; she thinks she is going to get in trouble. This is a residual issue from her previous training, fetch and wear, fetch and wear, get to close, grip the sheep, get chased out, fly in grip again, get chase out, fly in harder take a ewe down, get chased out again this time by really ticked off trainer, go hide in the barn, this sheep thing is no fun. Slowly over time I have gotten a really nice flank on her, a great stop and the start of a walk up, then she freezes. I’ve been helping her along trying to show her that she can do it, it’s slow tedious work, and I don’t know if it will pay off. But heck, what else do I have to do?
No comments:
Post a Comment