Pups, Dogs, and Trials

Here's some cute video of the puppies, just starting to be good at playing --

I keep managing to be a little behind on sharing pics and such. This video is from Tuesday, at about 3.5 weeks old. They're 4 weeks today. I'm not making any progress on choosing one. If anything, i'm going the wrong way on it, as now i'm watching 3 instead of 2! I've pretty much decided to get a male, as i seem to get along better with the boys than the girls these days. I've also been trying to not look at Cap very much, since i know one of the puppy buyers has her eye on him. So that leaves Sweep, Taff and Hawk as my potentials. I'm going to try to go see them in a couple of days but planning to wait as long as i can to actually choose. I was happy to hear that my friend Mary Ann, who has Zac's sister Nan and also has my Gael now, is planning to get one as well. She lives close so i know i'll get to see her pup a lot, and i'm sure i can twist her arm into letting me work him some. It'll be nice to see how more than one of the litter does on sheep.

The dogs around here at doing fine. Zeke is still on restriction with a strain of some sort. I'm going to rest him for another 2 weeks, then get him back to light work. It's a good time for him to be having a mental break from training anyway, though i'm disappointed that i can't run him at the trial we're going to next week. As i mentioned above, Gael is now with Mary Ann and having a ball playing, toy chasing, boss everyone around, rollicking good time. I miss her but i know she's having a lot more fun with Mary Ann and Steve. Bill is back to some light work, coming back from a strained pectinius muscle. He and Zac are both just doing very light work and i'm running them off the ATV to get some conditioning started.

Moon is still here, though some days just barely. I swear i'm getting whiplash from the young dog roller coaster with her. One day she's great, next day i'm ready to boot her out the door, LOL! I know this is how it is with almost all young dogs, but the peaks and valleys are especially huge with her it seems. I have to remind myself she's only 18 months old and that i've only had her back here about 1.5 months too. I keep saying that she's a challenging one to train, but really i need to re-phrase that. It's a challenge to get my head in the right spot to train her. *She's* not the challenge, the *training* is. She's got talent, it's just up to me to to train her properly, and by properly i mean using the right mindset and method for the type of dog she is. It's not fair to get mad when she doesn't respond how i'd like to the usual ways of training. She can't be a different dog than she is and it's not fair of me to ask her to be. I just have to be flexible in my approach. Funny that i value flexibility in the dogs so much. This is a case where the dog will value some flexibility in me!

Our winter/spring trial schedule has changed again. I had planned to go to TX next week for the series of trials down there, but decided it was too many days away with gaps between the trials, and a bad time to be out of work with a big project in progress. Then i thought i'd go to FL for a long weekend at the Suwannee SDT but decided the long drive was again going to cost too many vacation days. So instead we're heading to a trial next weekend in GA that i'm looking forward to. I'll run Zac and Bill in the Open on saturday and sunday, and then Monday is a double lift competition with a full course including the international shed. Zac is invited and it sounds like Bill might get in as well. I think it'll be fun, if the weather cooperates. My dogs will be really, really rusty but we'll go have a good time anyway. I hope!

Moon Video

Here's some video of Moon from this weekend. I'm very pleased to see her thinking more all the time. I'd still like to see her thinking more on her flanks and feeling the sheep more, but she's making real progress. I like her little drives, especially considering i've done absolutely nothing to teach her to drive. No walking along with her, nothing. She's just picking it up from wanting to work so badly and being so willing to flank and go with the flow for me. Her head is up a bit when she drives but that's because i'm quietly saying her name to hold her back from going around to head the sheep. She's going to be very stylish at the end of the day. I'm liking what i'm seeing!

Full Moon

Catchy title, eh? There actually is a very full, gorgeous moon in the sky this week but i'm talking about Moon with a capital M. Zeke has managed to get hurt so it's going to be all Moon all the time for a little while around the farm. I'm hoping it's nothing serious with Zeke but he's on strict rest until we get it sorted out. I think it's a sprained or strained muscle so i've got him on rest and anti-inflammatories, and will be taking him for massage asap, and to the ortho if it's not improving quickly enough. Bill is exhibiting a nearly identical hitch on the opposite rear leg so i've got two on the injured reserve list right now. You'd think winter lay off time would be injury free, but it seems like maybe the slippery mud causes something about every year.

So on to Moon. I'm working on trying to bring out a little more eye and feel in her because she's really too rash and rushed in her approach to sheep. My dog broke flock only gets mildly annoyed with her current method, but i can guarantee most other sheep are going to be more than uncomfortable with it. I'd like to see her slow down and think more and i'd prefer she get the idea on her own rather than me having to handle her through it. I've tried the "wet blankets" approach with her - a term from horse training referring to working until the saddle blanket is wet, and beyond. Boy have i tried it. I'd hate to add up the amount of time little Moon has worked since the middle of December. I'll just leave it at hours and hours and hours. And hours. And more hours. Did i mention hours? If we could get on the wide open plains for full days of work for a few weeks, i think the method might work with Moon. It's certainly helped some but with my setup, it's not going to be enough. So i'm trying to come up with some different ways to get her brain engaged and see if her feet will join in. I'd like to have a bunch of fresh sheep that she'd really have to work hard to balance, but i'm not sure at this point that would help a whole lot. She doesn't always care just yet if she brings all the sheep to me (common young dog stuff). And while with most dogs it's easy enough to fuss a bit and get them caring, fussing at Moon and putting pressure on her to loop back for escapees brings out her bad side and she rushes in to the sheep in front of her (remember what i said in the last post about her getting hotter and faster when pressured on a correction?). So yesterday i decided to try her on one sheep. I've heard about this bringing out more eye so it seemed worth a shot. I wouldn't try this with many brash youngsters for fear of the sheep running headlong into a fence, but one of Moon's nicer qualities is that she doesn't get wound up and chase sheep when things aren't right (only does it when i put pressure on her, go figure). She's just not a chaser. I had out a cooperative Cheviot ewe who was more than happy to keep running off to some grain whenever the opportunity opened, and just sent Moon over and over to retrieve her. I've certainly worked singles before with my dogs, but it was very interesting watching one so loose eyed. I didn't see that Moon was finding the right balance point as she'd hit the top of her outrun, but i did see her leaning out on her flanks to cover and balance as she brought the ewe in to me. And i did see her start thinking about gearing down some as she fetched. I would be very happy if she'd put all that together in her mind and start allowing the sheep some room as she brings them in - she pushes well past the point of comfort for the sheep when she's behind them. I see her giving the sheep room in her flanks, so i know it's in there, she's just not making the connection when she's behind and coming straight on.

I'm going to keep trying some of the single sheep work with Moon and see how it goes. I also plan to "mechanicalize" her fetches more, to see if she doesn't start to realize it makes things go better if she eases up some. It's a funny game, this dog training stuff. I actually really like that she'll come forward without hesitation, that she's forward and game and wants things to get moving, and now. And yet at the same time i don't like it because she's not thinking enough for me. A few years ago, a friend pointed out to me how many sheepdog qualities are a double edged sword, where you get one thing you like but you have to realize there's that other edge to it too. So we'll see how this quality works out in little Moon with some time. I keep reminding myself that there are so many things about her that i admire - all that athleticism, another double edged sword?! - so i'm trying to stick it out and see where we go. It's been an interesting ride so far!

Young Dogs, Working Styles

So on to working styles of the youngsters. I'll start with Zeke. He's a more quiet sort of dog with sheep for the most part. He has a bit of eye and quite a lot of feel for sheep. His flanks have a nice, naturally good shape to them, not too wide and not too tight. I'm still assessing his power and courage, but so far haven't seen signs of anything lacking in either area. He tends toward a more methodical style of work and i do spend time speeding him up occasionally, just trying to get him to be a little more brash and a little more trusting that things aren't going to get too out of whack if he isn't quite so careful. His brother Bill was like this as a youngster too and i found he grew out of it with time. It's a nice attitude towards work, that wanting to be right all the time and to not let things get messy, and one i quite enjoy. His outruns still need work as he tends to wind in at the top and while he ends up nicely on balance, he can be a little lazy about completely covering before he begins toward the sheep. Lifts are nice but the first part of the fetch can be a bit hard. It was a little difficult to get him started with driving but he's really getting it now and seems to enjoy settling in behind and just stroking along. I introduce shedding to many of my dogs early, and Zeke has loved it almost from the start. All in all, he's just a nice young dog, and enjoyable to train. He's not without his problems but he's a real team player. Not that he's especially soft natured, but I have to watch correcting him as it really crushes him to be wrong or to displease me. Fortunately, there's not much need for it with him.

Moon is a very different flavor of working dog. She's extremely keen to work with tons and tons of drive. No worries about hurting the feelings on this one! Correcting her is quite the challenge as she gets hotter and faster with any pressure put on her. It tends to stretch me as a trainer to figure out how best to communicate to her that i don't like something she's doing. She can really push my buttons, this one! She's very fast and as athletic of a dog as i've ever seen, with loads of stamina. I quite admire the athlete she is. She's not had as much time and training as Zeke, but is very quickly catching up to him. She's wicked smart, as quick a learner as i've had when it comes to commands and whistles. At this point she's not showing much in the way of eye and little feel for the "bubble" on sheep, but i'm hoping to bring some out. She pushes in too hard and sheep don't enjoy this, but she wants things to get moving, and moving quickly. She doesn't have a naturally square flank, preferring to come forward a bit then flare around, though we're working on that and it's improving. Neither her father or grandmother have naturally square flanks, but sheep were always pretty forgiving of it with them. I think it'll end up the same way with Moon, but i'd like her to release and flank when asked, so am working on it early. Interestingly, she does have a nice, natural bend on her outruns, giving nice room both on the sides and at the back, even at longer distances. She's a very good listener and very biddable, and is developing some pace on her fetch. Because she has so little eye and is so biddable, you can put her just about anywhere on a flank, on and off balance, and even on inside flanks. I've barely introduced driving to her and yet she'll drive sheep off a pretty good distance just because she'll go anywhere you tell her, plus she just *loves* to get in behind and make things move. I think she may pick up driving without ever really being taught exactly what driving is! I'm still assessing power and courage, hard to do right now as she tends to bully the sheep a bit with her speed, so that remains to be tested. She's more than happy to come right through sheep to me, so i expect she'll shed well.

So begins the tale of two youngsters. It's interesting to me that one is tight and fast yet has a nice bend to her gathers, while the other has nice feel and attitude yet is too tight on his gathers. Quite the opposite of what you would predict! I really don't think they could be much different in terms of overall working styles and strengths and weaknesses. I can't say for certain that i'll stick with both of them for the long haul but it's certainly giving me a lot to think and ponder and plot on during these dreary winter days.

The Young Dogs

So "blah season" has settled in around here. Cold and icy, or rainy and muddy seem to be the themes this time of year. I get little snatches of dog training in when i can fit it, but also spend a lot of time plotting future adventures and pondering on the youngsters. My two youngsters this year, Moon and Zeke, couldn't be any different from each other. Both are right at 18 months old. It's a very good age, both will be eligible for the Nurseries for 2011 and 2012.

I picked Zeke up this past August from Joni Swanke. He's a half brother to Bill, by way of their father Lew. Zeke is a real sweetie pie, goofy and friendly and engaging. He decided he wanted to be my dog practically at first sight. I worked him a bit when i was out in ND and he immediately attached himself to me, to the point of chasing off my own dogs when they'd try to come near me! I really was trying to find a bitch to add to my pack, not another dog, but finally gave in to Zeke's charms and bought him. He's been such a nice addition. He's calm and respectful around the house and yard, and just generally a good guy to have around. He wants nothing more than to be a good boy and for me to be happy with him. One approving glance from me and his chest practically explodes with joy that he's made me smile.


Then there's Moon. Moon is a daughter of Zac and was my puppy from the litter. Unfortunately for Moon, i'd gotten all silly over Tug and never really bonded with her like i did him. When two puppies growing up together became too wild for my taste, i sent her off with a friend for raising. She came home after a while and it was still too much chaos for me, so i placed her with the friend. Over the last couple of months, it's become obvious that Moon is too intense as a starting sheepdog for a home without easy, consistent access to work, so she's come back to me. And what a different creature she is from Zeke. She does everything as fast as she can and is busy, busy, busy. She's a very sweet dog but is more independent, at least at this point. I'm starting to see flashes of her looking for approval from me, but only the tiniest snips before she's on to something else in her mind. She's kind of a pain in the behind to live with, being the "border collie your mother always warned you about". She makes her own entertainment in the yard, from chasing squirrels to digging holes. She's not too bad in the house. Though she'd like to bounce around and play rougher than i allow, she is able to settle down. I'd hate to see how she'd have been if she were a pet living with a first time BC owner in an apartment somewhere! I'm pretty sure she'll settle down and get with the program in my pack with a little time. I keep my dogs pretty quiet and calm, without too much foolishness going on. She's only been home about 3 weeks and is already chilling out a bit. Her father Zac is over the top keen for sheep work, but he's a lovely dog around the house and yard, and i expect Moon will be as well when she gets settled and grows up a bit.

So that's a quick introduction to my current projects, the Nursery dogs for this year. They are very different, for sure, and will be interesting to get trained up. I don't know how much of the difference is based on gender and how much on breeding, but i expect they'll keep me on my toes and force me to be flexible in my approach. Next up, i'll talk about how they are when it comes to sheep work, where they continue their "couldn't be any less alike" ways.

Packed Pen

I've referred to the packed pen method of training in the past here on the blog. Yesterday some friends and i got together with 3 fifteen month old dogs and did a lot of packed pen work. We got a bit of video and i thought i'd share it on here.

This first video is Zeke and it's his first time ever in the pen. Normally i'd start a dog on a 6 foot leash but Zeke is pretty calm and has a good idea what the flank commands mean, so i just left him loose. I want him going calmly around the sheep and not flipping his direction. You'll see he figures this whole thing out pretty quickly and his confidence grows a lot in a few short minutes.



This next video is of Moon, one of the Zac puppies. She's done just a little packed pen work before this video. It's been a terrific training method for her as she's been quite the determined little gripper. With her confidence growing, she finds she doesn't need to be biting, and even when she does, it's mostly nice and workmanlike. She really reminds me of her grandmother Spottie in this video.

Finals strategies

I promised to do a Finals wrap up blog, so here it is. I'll do it in two sections, one a more personal one and a second detailing some of the strategies i picked up and used since i do try to keep this blog at least somewhat educational (for myself and my poor memory as well as for others!).

First off, it was the most amazing week of dog trialing. I almost felt as if i should just stop right there, it'll never be topped. But you know that ain't happening, right?! My good friend Lauren was right there for most of the week and called it "fantasy week at the Finals" and it surely was. It was an amazing high. My dogs worked so well, i could not possibly have been more proud of the job they both did. They performed like the champs i've always known them to be, each winning their day in the qualifying rounds and not missing a single sheep through a single panel over 6 runs. I'm still awestruck by the job young Bill did and the trust he showed on the final day when i was asking him to perform so far above his training level. It's truly humbling what these sheepdogs are capable of.

The people at the Finals were absolutely amazing. I felt like i was riding a wave of good wishes and congratulations the whole time. I was just blown away by it. So many smiling happy faces who were genuinely happy to cheer us on and hanging in there on every whistle. Wow, it still gives me goosebumps. The level of competition was amazing and i have to say i learned an awful lot just being in amongst it and watching and studying. I try to remember that especially in this particular endeavor, "you don't know what you don't know until you know it". I think i know more now, or at least i'm aware of the more that's out there. All in all, it's been a surreal experience. The addition of the webcast and the Twitter feed added to the experience in ways i doubt anyone really expected. I've heard from people all over the country (and some overseas), both in and out of the sheepdog trial world, offering congratulations and telling me how much they enjoyed seeing both dogs run. Pretty mind blowing really.
Okay, so on to the trial strategies part. I have to give credit again to the competitors at the Finals. I was fortunate enough to draw up late enough in the Open that i could watch a lot of really good handling in both rounds, and formulate my own strategy based on what i was seeing work. Bill and i didn't have a real chance to do more than try to conquer the bad ewe he had in the Nursery, but i sure used things i picked up once we got to the Open.

Carla King ran very early in the first round of Open and went out and laid down a gorgeous, calm run to post a high score. The sheep responded extremely well to her quiet, gentle handling, especially at the shed, where she just calmly folded off her shed sheep. I hardly think they even noticed they'd been split! I tried very hard to emulate Carla's handling and quiet manner, easing the sheep around as gently as they would allow.

I noticed that one dog seemed to really settle his sheep and take a bit of the fight out of them by pushing them off a little hard to the right after lifting. It was almost as if he said "no breaking to the left, got it?" and they just bent to his will from that point. I decided to try that, giving up a point or so in hopes of keeping some others on the fetch. We had gorgeous online fetches the entire week, as well as very good drive lines, from the Nursery right up to the double lift and i think this was part of it.

I picked up my strategy for the very tricky turn at the post from watching a good friend compete. It seemed he was pushing the sheep offline to the right at bit so he could do a series of small turns/flanks rather than one large sweeping move around the post that would give the sheep a head of steam that the dog would have to try to stop. My dogs were happy to use this method and it seemed to help break the sheep from bolting. Once i had the sheep turned, i decided to have my dogs settle them a bit before letting them continue down the driveaway line. I'd stop the sheep and let my dogs eye them up a bit, trying to build some rapport and trust between them all, and also show the sheep that they weren't getting away from my guys. It didn't always work, i know Zac had some runners that hit that panel at a dead run, but it mostly did, and i think it also helped the dogs master the sheep when it was time to turn onto the crossdrive. They'd already explained to the sheep that they were in charge and there was no need to test them.

Another strategy i picked up watching a top competitor was to go through the panels a little deep rather than going for the tight turns we normally aim for. It's not worth risking the miss when you're trying to get to the next round. Another thing i picked up, and this was from my own mistake in Bill's nursery run, is to keep my fingers up so i can keep whistling when i need it. I'd dropped my hands to shout "lie down" before a panel with Bill, and when i needed a fast flank, he couldn't hear my voice command. Something to remember at trials with spectators, where there is applause on making panels.

The final strategy i picked up goes back to Carla's run, where she folded off her shed sheep so calmly. The sheep were bad for clumping up and not separating if they were pressured, so gentle handling was needed. I didn't manage to do it every time, but when i could, it did work very well.

I think that about covers the big stuff on strategies. It was quite the week, both as an experience to treasure and also for the education. Can't wait until next year in CO!

Snow and Hill Training

The winter weather here provided us with a nice training challenge that i thought i'd share. Last week we got several inches of snow and i grabbed the dogs and went out and worked in it. It's cold and miserable, but the weather provides a challenge that can be hard to find on a small farm with a well dogged flock of sheep. That challenge is the opportunity to make sheep go somewhere they really don't want to go, and allows the dogs to dig down and really push into some heavy, stubborn sheep.

My farm has a fairly steep hill. It's not huge but rises somewhat steeply. I love that hill, it's wonderful for training dogs. It's an excellent place to tap into natural sheep behavior and use it to my advantage, and to train dogs naturally. Sheep don't care for going straight up a hill, they prefer to amble on a diagonal up a hill face. Look at the sheep paths in a field - they're never straight up and down. If your feet were split in two right down the middle, you wouldn't like going straight uphill either! This is especially true with big wool sheep. Hair sheep have smaller, more trim feet so it's not as big of a deal to them, but they still don't love it. I use this natural tendency in sheep a lot in training. For example, when teaching a youngster to drive, i do a lot of driving back and forth across the face of the hill. The sheep tend to be happy and calm, not too heavy (as going uphill) and not too light (as going downhill, with gravity and pull to the barn at work). This is just one way i use that hill, there are many.

Back to the snow days. At the bottom of my hill, there's a runoff stream cutting through the pasture. It's dry or only slightly wet 90% of the time. It'll run after a big rain if we're not too dry out. But in winter it runs pretty frequently, especially in a wet winter such as we're having this year. And with a wet winter and a big snow melting, it's running pretty good. So, add a wet area with running stream and a snow covered hill to go up, and 40 sheep, about half of which are wool, and it's a very good opportunity for the dogs to get in there and really have to push and figure out how to *make* sheep move from the bottom area to the top. Other times, the dogs are mostly guiding the movement of the sheep, controlling the leaders, with an occasional push at the rear to keep the stragglers up. With this winter situation, the dogs have to figure out how to push sheep from the side and the rear, and it takes a good bit more oomph.

It's interesting to me to go out and do this with the dogs, and to see how their methods work or don't, and how the different dogs will adapt to it. If a dog is having trouble moving the sheep, i'll try to make it a little easier by asking them to take a more diagonal path. I'll also let the stronger dogs have the first shot at it, as it does get easier to move the sheep uphill once they've done it and broken up the snow some. Sometimes i'll do this as a drive, and sometime as a fetch. It's always easier to fetch than drive, so i'll add that variable to my training plan. It's a fun and interesting thing to do on a snow day.

Sheep Reading Clinic Notes

I did a small clinic at my farm a couple of years ago for a group of beginning handlers on "sheep psychology" or reading sheep. I'm hardly the expert i'd like to be on it, but i wanted to try to give these folks some things to think about. It was actually quite a good day in the end, i thought. After a morning session of talking about some things, i set up a maltese cross and the handlers tried putting sheep through it in pairs - no dogs, just 2 handlers working together. In the afternoon, after more discussion, handlers tried the maltese cross with their own dogs if they had one advanced enough. Those without dogs capable of it used my dogs. I mentioned this clinic just the other day to a person brand spanking new to the world of sheepdogs (hi Barbara! ;-) and decided to track down the outline from the clinic for her. After looking it over, i thought it might be good to post here, even if it might be a little cryptic. Food for thought anyway!

Clinic Notes, August 11, 2007

What makes a good handler? What makes a GREAT one?
Why is it so important to read your sheep?

Good handlers react quickly to keep lines straight, almost don’t know the line was off. Great ones are proactive, lines don’t get off.

Must think ahead, know what sheep are thinking. Thinking ahead about what sheep WILL do, not what have done and trying to fix mistakes – have already lost points. More important than point loss, the sheep are learning from the dog and handler to try to “disobey”.

Dog handling is about cutting off avenues of escape, or draws, and leaving only one option/direction to go. The best runs are ones where the sheep calmly DECIDE to go in nice straight lines. You make them make those decisions by taking the option of other paths away with your dog. Take the “escape thoughts” out of the sheep’s minds.

Reading Sheep: What motivates sheep?

Prey animal: Survival first and foremost – the only thing a sheep thinks about, at the root of ALL sheep thought is survival – is possible to backchain any sheep thought/behavior back to survival

Defense mechanisms = NONE.
Flight vs fight No real fight mechanisms, other than a bluff mostly (stomping, charging).
Teeth are made for eating grass – don’t have any pointed teeth, and no upper teeth.

270 degree field of vision (not clear, but wide), eyes on side of head
Excellent hearing, not so great vision

Flocking instinct/survival of the fittest/”sacrificial lamb”

Deal with threat to survival in order:
Safety
Food
Comfort (uphill, sun, shadows, etc)

Draws and Pressure:

All that leads to “draws” and “pressure”, affect on flight zone
Flight zone – changes all the time, even in an 8 minute trial run
Other sheep – flocking instinct
Barn – safe space
Feed – to eat, usual feeding areas
Dogs – diff colors, tied out
Sun/shade - comfort
Uphill – sheep paths, gravity
Sleeping area
Dips in field where it’s cooler
Shadows – vision thing, spooky sheep can balk

Different kinds of sheep act differently:

High headed sheep
Lead sheep
Lambs vs adults
Lagging sheep - Why do sheep lay down on a run?
Dog broke vs unbroken vs range sheep
Wool vs hair, wool blindness, etc.

Dog and sheep interaction:

Aggressive sheep – what will make a sheep turn on your dog?
Fight or flight – won’t relax and turn tail on a threat – dark stranger syndrome
Why do some dogs make sheep comfortable “sheep like them”
So why isn’t a really mild dog always the best choice?
Eye – breaking off eye, putting it on
Tension
Square flanks – round flanks – “off” flanks, what and why?

Bringing it all together:

Dogs teaching sheep and sheep teaching dogs through positive and negative reinforcement, comfort vs discomfort, threat vs relaxed

Penning / Panels / Maltese Cross:

Mechanics – how to
What things are going to cost points, the ideal
What goes through the mind of the sheep and dog?
The balancing act of pressure on/pressure off, flanks

Training Meg/Raising Puppies

A couple of weeks ago i went out to dinner with friends and during the course of the evening, joked several times about my puppy raising philosophy - "ya just toss them out in the backyard until they're 6 months old, then you bring them in and they're pretty much house trained, etc". You had to be there i guess but it was a pretty funny joke. And actually, it's not really that far off from the puppy raising method that has developed at my house, in raising i don't know how many puppies over time. My baby puppies aren't "house dogs" in the strict sense of the phrase, with me hovering over them trying to housetrain and entertain them so they stay out of trouble. I really seem to stay too busy any more for that kind of puppy raising though my first dogs were raised that way.

I'll describe a typical day for Meg to illustrate what puppy life is like for a Shoofly dog. She sleeps in a crate in the kitchen, near the back door. First thing in the morning, i let her out of her crate and straight outdoors with the rest of the dogs. After a few minutes, most of the older dogs come in, while Meg and Bill (the designated puppy raiser dog) stay outside to run around and play while i get ready for work, usually for about 1.5 hours or so. While i'm at work, the dogs all stay in individual 10x10 runs in a shaded area. As soon as i get home in the afternoon, we all pile in the van and go to the farm. Some days some of the dogs get worked while we're there, others they just have to hang out while i'm doing other stuff (lessons, sheep care, whatever). I try to give them all a good walk/run every evening before we head home, spending some time together meandering around. Then back home where Meg and Bill get more free time to run around and play in the back yard after dinner. Until recently, Meg would come in at bedtime and go straight in her crate. Now, at 7 months old, she's getting a little free "floor time" to hang out with everyone in the living room and chew on bones or play quietly with toys before being put away for the night. So far, my housetraining "method" seems to have worked and she's not had any accidents in the house.

About the only things i make a real effort to teach puppies are to respond to my voice appropriately (give me attention when i ask, take a voice correction when it's offered), recall (i'm adamant about this from day 1 - dog should come and load in the truck when i ask) and usually i'll teach them a sit and sometimes a down, just for the sake of having it done. I try to make sure they're not pestering the other dogs too badly (for example, Meg keeps hanging off Zac's neck, to the point of making scabby areas) and that they don't act like crazy fools with other people and dogs. But really, i leave some of my puppy raising to my designated puppy raiser dog (a.k.a. Bill right now) in the backyard.

I suppose i could just be rationalizing about all of this, since time constraints have a lot to do with why i raise puppies this way, but i actually feel this method works well for the future stockdog. When the puppy is a few months old, and mentally and physically ready to take a little training pressure, i start to ask a bit more from him or her around the house. I also start putting the puppy on sheep about this time as well, and for many it's like a huge lightbulb goes off over their heads, as they decide i am WAY COOL since i control the access to sheep. This is happening with Meg right now. She's been a pretty independent little puppy (okay, a little snothead!), always having to think twice about whether she wants to come when she's called or even hear that i've said something. After just a couple of times on sheep, she's looking at me in a whole new light.

You'll notice that i don't spend a great deal of time "teaching" my puppies a lot of things. It's more about showing the pup what isn't allowed or appreciated as he or she tries out new things, and trying to create a well-behaved canine citizen of the pack and world. This fits extremely well with future stockdog training, where i'll spend lots of time letting the dog try things out and offering behaviors, only telling the dog what's the wrong thing, rather than trying to coax out the right thing through "teaching". It's that old saw about "make the right thing easy and the wrong thing difficult" - i tend to just let my puppies be puppies as long as they're not doing something that needs correcting, and let them find their way. I may be wrong but i think this results in a dog that has a little more initiative as an adult, a little more self-confidence, and one that looks to me for instruction less. This to me is the ideal attitude to foster in a stockdog. When the grown dog is a mile away with stock, i want him or her to be able to reach down inside and do what he knows is right rather than wait on me to tell him what i want him to do. A good stockdog should have lots of initiative.

Have Fun Spottie!

It was an eventful weekend, as usual. Somehow that doesn't sound right. If they're mostly eventful weekends, does that make the occasional boring one the one to note? Hmm. Anyway, it was a busy one for sure.

Saturday i loaded the dogs up and we drove over to Denise's for a little get-together and dog working. The sheep were feeling wild and i thought the dogs handled them pretty well. Zac and Jet did fine. I think Zac is needing more work than i've been giving him, he's feeling a little desperate to get more. I'll have to work on that. I had Denise holding sheep for Billy since he'll have to get used to that when i start running him in trials. He seemed to handle the "held sheep" part pretty well but i thought it was time to get him going just a little deeper at the top end. I just stopped him as he was going around and fussed at him a little to get him to lean more off the sheep. He was understanding it pretty quickly, started giving a bit more space on his own. I think he felt how it was working better for him to give a little more room on wilder sheep. I brought him out for a second session in the afternoon and he was definitely giving more room on his tighter left side, the one i'd worked on in the morning. It was kind of funny to see the look on his face when i was stopping him and fussing at him. He's been wrong so infrequently in his training that he seemed quite offended about it all, looking at me like "okay, i got it, don't get your panties in a twist". It was a fun day, with nice folks and good dog work. I especially enjoy when the young dogs come out for their little sessions. It's nice to get an early snapshot of dogs i may see for a long time.

Sunday was another lesson day at Julie's place. I didn't have quite as many dogs to get through this time around, so it was a bit more relaxed, which was nice. There were still plenty though. Laura brought out Linc and he made very significant progress from one session to the next in the round pen. He's going around the sheep in a calm and thoughtful manner now and looking more for a balance "point" rather than just racing around and around with adrenaline pumping in his ears. He's taking his down and feeling like it's a working command rather than a "stop working" command, so not fighting about it. I'm hoping she'll bring him out to my place in a couple of weeks so we can get him in a bigger space on a larger flock of calm sheep, and he should really leap forward in his training. I also worked with Pam's 1.5 year old bitch Fly in the round pen, and she made tremendous progress. I've worked her a few times since she was about 7 months old and she's been a busy little thing, racing around and not quite ready for the thinking stage. Yesterday i ended up giving her a bit of a correction that just kicked her into slowing down and thinking, and it was like a light went on for her. It felt good to her and she liked it. She's a smart one. Expect to hear more about Fly as i'll be taking her in for training shortly. There were several dogs working out on the pasture. Lauren came out with Mac and we ended up working on her seeing how to slow down running sheep by slipping Mac into the pressure enough to slow them without stopping them. She was seeing this really well and just needs Mac to be stopping a little more crisply. Mary came out with Ben and they're really getting to be a nice team. We worked some on keeping him up on his sheep, on his downs, and breaking one of his flanks into smaller pieces so it's a little more controlled. It's mostly polish work and they're going to do well on the trial field once they get those last little pieces worked out. Beth's Wisp had a really good day. She's a youngster getting started out and had some real "aha" moments yesterday. We worked on letting her catch running sheep so she'd learn to let go a bit and trust her instincts. In her second session, we moved to a part of the pasture where the sheep are hard to fetch (drawn back to their friends in another pen) and let her work out balancing them. It was fun to see her learning to trust herself. Where the 2 dogs in the round pen needed to learn to slow down and think a bit, Wisp is one that needs to speed up and not think so hard, and trust herself. Becca and Ted were also working out on the big pasture and we were doing some fine tuning and trying to let Ted know he can trust himself a bit more too. He's driving nicely but when the sheep lean to one side, Ted is a little unsure if he should fix the balance or not. I was trying to get Becca to see when this happens so she can give Ted a little encouragement so he'll go ahead and listen to himself - you can see that he's thinking he should fix it, is leaning that way, but not quite sure enough to just do it. He's really thinking and trying so hard to be a good dog. We also worked a tiny bit with Julie's Lark, on her shedding. It was a long day but full of really good dog work, and seeing them all making such good progress is fun and rewarding for me.

The other big event of the weekend was Spottie going to her new home. Assuming everyone gets along and it's a good fit, this will be her permanent retirement home, with Karen and Kenny Ancarrow (and the kids). She's still got some good working time left in her to show them the ropes on their sheep flock and the trial field. And she can help break them in while they get their dogs trained up. Karen has a really nice up-and-coming male named Joe (sire to Darci's Bear) as well as a youngster named Ru that i haven't seen but hear is pretty special. My hope is the twin 10 year old girls (Kathryn and Kailey) will be fighting over Spottie and have her spoiled rotten in no time. It sounds like they've made a good start on it in the first 24 hours she's been there.

Training Article: Give It Some Time

I was struck by a couple of learning experiences with my dogs in the last week. The common thread between two very different situations was how just giving things a little time to sink in can work to our advantage. Both Jet and Billy taught me a little about patience this last week and i didn't even know they were doing it.

For a while now, i've wanted to teach Jet to sit up and "beg". She's a long backed sort of dog and that particular trick is good exercise for her back and leg muscles, and it's something i'd like to do in her conditioning, especially as she's getting older. I've sort of halfheartedly tried to teach her in the past and she's been resistant to it. I'd get some treats and ask her to try it, over and over, in a session. She didn't do it well, didn't seem to want to do it, and certainly wasn't enjoying it. So i let it go. For the last week, for no particular reason, i've been giving the dogs a little treat when they come in from their last potty run, as i send them into their crates for the night. Jet isn't crated overnight, so i started asking her to "sit up" with one treat. That's it, one treat, no repetitions, no big deal. Each night she's done it just a little bit better than the night before. Last night, voila! She's sitting up like she's been doing it her whole life. I think it's interesting how easily she's picked it up doing it this way (and no, i didn't plan it, wish i could take credit for being that clever!). Before, when i'd set out to teach it, she'd seem slightly miserable about it. Asking her to just try it once a day was way more effective.

I also had an experience with Billy last week that brought home how taking your time and letting things sink in can be helpful in training youngsters on sheep. I was working on some short outruns on my field with him, the sheep set about 75 yards out. The lay of the land was such that when he was sent right, he'd be carried in towards the left, then pass a pond, where he needed to open out to the right and kick around the sheep. Picture an hourglass shape to the outrun. The first couple of times Bill ran out, he wanted to follow the contour and cross over, finishing his outrun to the left. I'd just stop him and redirect him back to the right, showing him that i expected him to stay on the side i'd sent him, even when the lay of the land might make him think about crossing over. I sent him a total of maybe 4 or 5 times, and could see he was making the connection mentally and doing it very well by the last outrun. At this point, i decided to put him up and let that be it for the day, to let it sink in with him. Now, if you know me, you'd know that was darned hard for me to do! But i did it. Fast forward to 3-4 days later. I arrive at the farm and find my flock peacefully grazing about 250 yards away, well out of sight for a dog, and decide to see what Billy will do. I sent him from about the same place i'd been training that bend in the previous session. He hit the edge of the pond and kicked out beautifully. Yay! Now the real test as he crests the first hill and starts downhill into a swale. This is where almost every dog new to the field gets drawn in, and many cross over, only catching sight of the sheep as they pass in front of them. I can't see Bill but then, there he is, reappearing well to the right and bending perfectly around his sheep, woohoo! It was a lovely outrun and seemed obvious to me that he'd not only learned something from the previous training session, he'd had time to generalize it to a more difficult situation as well.

I'll be trying to keep these lessons in mind for the future, as i puzzle out problems and training challenges. Thanks to Jet and Bill for a good reminder for me. Sometimes i wonder if the dogs think we're the ones that are the slow learners!

Training Article: Practicing Failure

"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." --Albert Einstein

"Practice does not make perfect. Only perfect practice makes perfect." --Vince Lombardi

"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit." -- Aristotle
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I want to talk a little bit about something that i think separates a good sheepdog trainer from a bad one, a quality that i think some people bring to this that makes them a "natural" at it. And that is the ability to try something, evaluate if it's working, and if it's not, to try something else. A sheepdog trainer has got to be flexible in his or her approach to training. If something isn't working, try something else! The handler is supposed to be the member of the team with the bigger brain. There's nothing that makes me cringe more than to watch a novice trainer making his dog do something wrong over and over and over, hoping that it'll get better. (See the Einstein quote above.) All you are doing is practicing failure, perfecting your failed attempts and firmly establishing a bad habit.

When my Jet dog was young and first in training, i was working with a trainer who really wanted me to get her bringing sheep out of tight corner properly. It made him crazy that she couldn't master it and he wanted me to keep drilling at it until she got it. She'd start into the corner but was uncomfortable with the tight space, and her eye would kick in making her want to cut back around the wrong way when the sheep would try to come out of the corner. So i went home and did some thinking about my young dog, who looked to be a talented girl with a little eye, was a little softer natured, and wanted so much to please me. And i decided i didn't want to bully this dog into doing something she clearly wasn't comfortable doing. I don't want that kind of relationship with my dogs, and especially didn't want to break the trust with this dog that was already trying so hard to be right. And i didn't want to keep hammering away on that corner work, having her doing it wrong repeatedly, and practicing failure. Being the (supposedly) bigger brained member of the team, i stopped to think about the skills she'd need to handle pulling stroppy sheep out of corners - a good flank with a nice shape and speed, confidence to pull up right in that corner to push the sheep out rather than flying through, etc - and i went and worked on the skills in an easier situation (open field), and practiced success. Next i took her into easier corner situations (easier sheep, a more open corner, etc.) and again practiced success. And when she had the skills to handle the tougher situation, we went back to it and she handled it beautifully, without a hitch, because the habit of doing it successfully was firmly set with her.

When you go out to train your dog, try to pay attention to what he's doing wrong, and try to figure out ways to help him be right, to set good habits. Unless you're intentionally allowing something to be wrong (see the article on Trading Problems), you should be trying to help your dog be right, and practicing perfection/success. I'm not saying your dog has to be 100% perfect all the time, but if your dog has a particular problem, you should be finding ways to help that dog be a little more correct all the time, and working your way towards perfection, rather than doing something wrong over and over and getting that wrong action firmly set in the dog's mind as "okay".

Some Thoughts on Training Dogs

It's a rainy nasty week here so i'm cleaning. Cleaning at home and cleaning at work. Today it's going through tons of old emails. I found this one very good and thought i'd share.

Here are some words from Thomas Capstick, written near the beginning of the last century and based on the ways of 'that little Scotch boy, Alex Millar' :

"Probably between four and eight months old, they will begin to round up poultry, sheep or cattle without instruction or encouragement. The instinct is there naturally, it cannot be helped, and without this true born quality we can never make them into good Sheep Dogs. Training is necessary to enable him to take them where we want them."

"You have to ensure first of all that there is a perfect understanding between the dog and yourself, and that means that you have to gain his affection and friendship. He must learn to trust you so that in all his relations with you there is perfect understanding."

"It would never do, for instance, to praise the dog for doing something one day, and to scold him for the same thing the next. There must be an undeviating standard of right and wrong. Each trainer has his own code of signals, by whistle, the shouted word, and also the gesture made by arm and stick. The dog has to be perfectly familiar with these and learn to act on them immediately."

"A dog can never be an absolute first-rater if it isn't genuinely attached to its master, and thus, eager to do the best in its power to please him, and similarly a sheep dog man will not get the best out of either the dog or himself if he is not very fond of his dog"

"Some people are always ready to blame the youngster; it never occurs to them the fault lies on their doorstep. Remember sympathy plays a great part; all dogs have different temperaments; all masters are not blameless. If we would only study things from a dog's point of view we should certainly make more headway."

"Experience is ever a wise teacher, and when you have a new dog try you understand his temperament, read his expressions, try to fathom which is the best system to adopt to give the best results, and when you feel satisfied that you understand him, apply the methods that you consider best in this particular case. If you have to chastise a dog do it at the right moment, be perfectly fair; this is the only way he can be taught the difference between right and wrong, but the punishment must be given at the right time or he will be bewildered."

"Endless patience is necessary. You cannot force matters, and you must never lose your temper. Sooner or later you will be rewarded for all the time spent, but if you are too hasty at the beginning, and do not show the right temperament yourself, you will never make a successful trainer."

Starting the pup on sheep: Basic obedience done first. Then, "I never like to see sheep unduly chased by a dog; this is unnecessary and can easily be avoided. It is so much better for them when you can make the dog walk steadily, and, what is more important, it shows a better class of training without frightening the sheep."

Trading Problems

Life is conspiring to keep me from training dogs this week, it seems. But today i did manage to get Billy out for a few minutes of good work. I'm trying to get him enthusiastic on his driving and waiting for him to enjoy digging in and pushing on the drive. He loves to boss the sheep on the fetch, so i know it's there and just has to be brought out and encouraged in driving. I worked him today on the whole flock, which numbers 44 right now, with 21 wool sheep and 23 hair sheep. As a group, they're pretty heavy but Bill has good enough power that they move off of him fairly well. I spend a lot of time walking along with him on the drive (and walking and walking!). He's still a little tentative about getting out in front of me and following the sheep and will sometimes stop and not want to move forward. What i've been doing when he does this is to just give him a little flank and a walk up, just to get him moving. This works pretty well but it's not really encouraging him to follow the sheep like i'd like. I've tried voice encouragement but feel like it's actually putting pressure on him, even though i use a positive, upbeat voice. Sometimes dogs take it that way. Even if he wasn't feeling it to be pressure, i really don't like putting positive voice (and therefore "praise") to something i don't want to reinforce (his just standing there rather than pushing forward). I prefer to train by getting the action i want and then putting a positive (reinforcing) voice to it. Tonight i was sending him around the flock to catch them as they moved hard away and a little lightbulb went off over my head. He was really enjoying catching them so i decided to let him make them start running off before he got sent around. In other words, i'd have him drive forward into the flock to make them move hard away from him, and then send him in a rush around them to catch them (rather than just waiting until they were moving away on their own and then sending him). This seemed to fire him up a bit on the driving as he was getting a reward (catching the sheep) for doing the action i was looking for (pushing into the sheep). I wouldn't do this with every dog, since many are very difficult to hold behind their sheep, always trying to flank around to the heads. But Bill is pretty willing to stay behind his sheep, only slightly slipping around, not real hard, and i can also mix in inside flanks to send him to catch the sheep since he's getting the hang of them. He's already used to small flanks so i think i can rein in that "rush" around pretty easily once he's moving forward with more enthusiasm by just using them and showing him how to keep control of the running sheep with small flanks. I'm going to play around with it some and see how it goes anyway, stretching out the distance he drives before getting sent around. This is a good example of "trading problems" in training a dog, creating one problem to solve another in hopes of trading to one easier to fix. We'll see how it works!

Training Billy

Wow, i just realized i haven't done an actual update on where Billy is in his training since August 27th. I know i've sort of made offhand mention of him here and there but i sure haven't done a very good job of keeping up my "Training Bill" series, now have i?

We were pretty busy with trials most of the fall so Bill wasn't getting very regular work. I've also been trying to be patient with him and not push him along too fast. I suspect he's going to one day wake up with a lot more push and fire to him. I hope so anyway! He's a lovely young dog with a good bit of talent, but laid back to the extreme. It's not that he isn't keen because he surely is very keen to work, no problem there. He's just Mr Cool, okay maybe actually Mr Freezey Pop, and nothing rattles him. This is wonderful for day in, day out, get 'r done work but i'd like a bit of that extra something to come out, that extra spark that separates a great trial dog and a good farm dog. We'll see, he's still less than 16 months old and his sire is one of the most fiery dogs out there, so it could come.

I get him out and work him 2 or 3 times a week, just letting him progress at his own pace. He's quite a good outrunner to both sides, allowing nice distance behind his sheep and approaching with calm confidence on his lift. The fetch tends to be quite fast and Bill will run up the back of the sheep frequently. I don't really want to train away from this just yet. I'll explain why in a second. Bill seems to have a pretty good down and a fair understanding of the flank commands. He's following sheep pretty well on the drive and will push against a draw when doing it, but hasn't really committed to taking control of the drive yet. I do lots and lots of walking along with him, helping him drive and bully the sheep a bit. I expect we'll be doing this for awhile.

Okay, so the reason i don't want to correct Billy too harshly for diving into the sheep from the rear on a fetch -- when driving, Billy has a hard time penetrating the "bubble" around the sheep. He wants to be quite far back from them and can even be a little sticky about walking up on the drive. I don't want to reinforce this by insisting that he maintain that bubble on the fetch. I'm glad to see him penetrating the bubble there and hope it will reinforce the thought of doing it on the drive. What i do when i see him sticking on the drive is to try a walk up, and if it doesn't work, i give him a small flank with a "there, walk up" (this gets him moving forward) so i don't have to pick at him and make him hate hearing "walk up". Using this method, he's actually doing what i want (walking forward) when he hears the command, so should associate the movement with the words. I'd rather he was in motion and doing the action, so i can put the correct words to it, than be standing still hearing it and associating the words with no motion. I hope that's clear - i get the motion and put the command to it, rather than saying the command and hoping he'll do it (why should he, if he's not *learned the command* yet?). My hope is that over time he'll learn to enjoy getting up in there a little closer and bossing the sheep more. Maturity may very well take care of this on its own.

So, that's the latest Billy update, along with a bit of training advice as well. Maybe i can remember to update before another 2 or 3 months passes!

Command vs. Correction

Recently there was a question on one of the internet lists that got me thinking. Someone asked a pretty simple question - do you use different words as widening commands on each side? For example, would you use "out" on the come bye flank and "back" on the away flank (those are what i use, btw), or would you use the same word on both sides?

The responses weren't really what i expected. There were a couple of quick, polite responses saying the writer did use different words (what i was expecting to hear), but the more vocal response was along the lines of "if you train your dogs right, you don't need widening words for your flanks". There was also a small, quieter response along the lines of "if your dogs are bred right, you don't need to widen the flanks".

In considering these responses, it occurred to me that the answer really depends on the situation and the dog (doesn't it seem that's where we always begin?). Are we talking about a dog that is slicing his flanks and causing general havoc? Or are we talking about a dog that is flanking pretty much okay but you'd like to have the flexibility to ask for a wide flank when you feel the occasion calls for one? The difference in these situations is that in the former you need to correct the dog's action by widening his flanks, while in the latter you're looking to command his action so he gives you a wider flank, two vastly different things.

If you're trying to correct improper action, it doesn't matter what word you use, anything will do because you're simply trying to alter the behavior, to say "don't do that because it pisses me off, now try something else to see if it makes me happier". The appropriate response from the dog to correction is to not offer that behavior again, in order to avoid the correction or make the handler happy.

In our second scenario, with the dog that is flanking pretty much okay, we're trying to associate an action with a word so that you can ask for that action to be repeated on command. I think this is where the 2nd and 3rd answers to the original query fall short. I find it to be tremendously useful to be able to ask my dogs for various types of flanks, both around the farm and on the trial field. If you can't do this with a finished, seasoned dog, you're missing out on a useful tool to have in your arsenal.

As i noted above, i use "out" on the come bye flank and "back" on the away side. If i say "come bye", i expect a normal flank from my dog, whatever is a normal flank for that particular dog. Some flank more square, some tighter, but it should be a reasonable, normal flank. If i ask "come out", i expect a fairly normal start to the flank (the come part) and then a widening action (the out part). If i ask "out" or "OUT!" (no come), i expect a good widening from the first bit of motion. These tend to be tools i use when the sheep are between myself and the dog, say on the fetch, on an outside flank on a crossdrive, when setting up the shed or penning, gate sorting, that type of thing.

To complicate things a little bit, i don't find these widening commands to work very well on inside flanks. I think, because they're taught by putting a little pressure on a dog to give ground, that the dogs just don't like to move towards me on those widening commands. It may be that the context just doesn't feel right to the dogs, but regardless, if i give an inside flank with the widening part added, i find it confuses the dogs a bit, unless i'm asking the dog to actually flank around behind me, rather than between myself and the sheep. I have another variation to widen an inside flank. From very early on in training, i use a dog's name to pull him towards me in any situation, so it's a very comfortable thing to the dog. So if a dog is a good ways out in the field from me and i want a wide inside flank, i use the dog's name to "pull" on him. Some people use "here" the same way but i like using the dog's name. I may ask for a small lean towards me with just "Jet" or a bigger one with "come bye Jet" or any even bigger one with "Jet, Jet, here Jet, come bye!". And i'll use the name before or after the command depending on the angle the dog is in relation to my position - you have to imagine a rope between yourself and the dog to visualize which way he'll pull when you call his name. I also have tightening commands on my dogs that follow along on the same lines, though i find i don't use them all that much.

In the extremely competitive world sheepdog trialing has become, these extra tools can be a big advantage and i guess that's why the 2nd and 3rd responses to that original query caught me by surprise, though on reflection you can puzzle out where the person offering advice was coming from. So i guess the message to take away from this article is to stop and think about what you're trying to accomplish with those "words". Commands are not, and should not be, corrections, and if you're using them that way, you're cheating yourself of some great tools with which to communicate with your dog.

Bill report - corner work and heading

So we're sitting here waiting on the latest thunder storms to roll in. It's been an awfully stormy last week. That's great for the pasture but sure hard on the dogs that are afraid of thunder.

Bart's in his crate feeling very contrite. He just got in big bad trouble for eating my back steps. Little snot, it's not like he's teething any more. I have a feeling he'll stop now though, he doesn't like getting in trouble.

Since i was feeling all inspired after writing about Billy today, i thought i'd give him a spin tonight on a larger group of sheep to see how his session on the fresh lambs last night had stuck with him. Last night i was sending him on short gathers where the sheep would try to take off sideways on him, trying to get him to put on the speed to get around and cover, and really have to work to get to the heads. He did quite well with it and was working hard to catch one lamb that was very determined to split off towards some sheep that were penned up. He has a tendency to work the sheep at the 10-11 o'clock position and i'd like to make sure that doesn't get to be too much of a habit. I'd prefer he read the sheep in front of him rather than just fall into that spot. It's a very, very common tendency in dogs - i'd guess more dogs do have a preferred spot like this than don't. Zac definitely did, Moss did, Jet did. Anyway, i thought Billy handled this exercise on the fresh lambs really well. Tonight i worked him on about 35 sheep that were pretty heavy and he was doing a much better job of watching all of the sheep on short gathers. I tried making a nice big gap in the sheep and calling him through so i could play around with 2 groups with him. I find a lot of dogs really enjoy this but right now Billy isn't one of them. He's too concerned with "losing" part of the sheep. That's okay, it's one of those "good dog" problems and we'll try it again later on when he's more ready for it. Since he didn't want to play with that set up, i took the large group to a corner and had him smush them right up in it, then i'd send him around between them and the fence. That was a lot of fun for him since the sheep would try to squirt off as he went around, and he got to race out and head them. He was very cool squeezing himself around the sheep on the fence, using his teeth to hit heels and very committed to getting outside of all the sheep. I liked that. It was a pretty good night for Billy, he got to do some natural stuff that should help him with really getting to the heads and he had fun doing it. I'm hoping to do a lot of this kind of training with him as i don't feel he's mature enough for any kind of mechanical training at this age. It's an enjoyable way to train anyway, for myself and the dog.

The Training of Billy

I suppose at some point I'm going to have to start calling this dog Bill, a proper, grown up sheepdog name. But for now, he's still Billy to me. I got Billy last fall when he was about 7-8 weeks old, from Carol Campion. He was delivered to me at the National Sheepdog Finals in PA, which i hope will be a good omen for his future career. He was bred by Kate Broadbent, sired by Joni Swanke's Lew (Henderson's Spot x Joni's Bell), out of Kate's Gin (Haley Howard's Moss, litter brother to Henderson's Bill, x Kate's Scotia Rose). Full pedigree is here. Carol purchased Gin from Kate and whelped her out in CT and i was lucky enough to get a pup. I'd seen the litter advertised and managed to resist for good while as i really didn't need another puppy, but finally contacted Carol and through some fancy footwork, she managed to free up a male pup for me.

I fell in love with Bobby Henderson's Bill at the 2003 Finals in Sturgis, even to the point of putting my name in line for a pup out of a Nursery bitch i happened to see being bred at the trial by Bill. Too bad that didn't work out - the bitch was Dennis Gellings' Jan and what a tremendous bitch she's turned out to be! Dennis runs a pup out of that litter named Jake and he seems a good one as well (I haven't seen him much - Dennis is out west). Over the years i've tried several times to get pups out of that Henderson line but they've all been out west (Bobby spent a bit of time in the west and some of his dogs have ended up there) and have never been able to get the transport worked out - too hot, too cold, too much snow, not enough free time to get to the airport because of lambing, etc. So maybe it was fate to finally end up with Billy.

He showed up at the trial with 2 of his littermates, who were being delivered to Kate for herself and Joni. It seemed to me like Billy just decided he was "my dog" almost immediately, just gave me that sort of a look. When we got home, i was doing some rehab on Zac's pulled muscle that involved long slow walks around the pasture. I'd leave the wilder dogs in the truck and walk with Zac, old Belle and Billy, and he just followed me around at heel, happy to just be with me. I've certainly never had a puppy like that before! Over time he's gotten more into tearing around with the other dogs, and worked Moss constantly, but he's still my boy. He's an old soul kind of dog, calm, solid and very, very intense but just as sweet as you could ask for. At work, he's mostly seemed pretty unflappable as he's grown up. I started putting him on sheep now and again at about 4 months old and he's always been calm and easy, though as he grows older i see a bit of a stubborn streak in him. That's not such a bad thing, i like determination in a dog. You can see some video of him as he grew up on my Youtube site.

Now, as Billy nears 12 months old (on July 21st), i feel he's pretty much ready to start his training and i'm planning to keep a series on the "training of Billy" here on the blog and hope to have video as well. I've been taking him out about once a week or so lately, just letting him get the feel of sheep and move them around. He has a fairly natural outrun, with a nice pear shape to the right, a bit straighter and tighter to the left. Flanks are similar. Balance is decent and he tries really hard to keep his sheep together and not let anyone get away from him, though sometimes he does let them if they take off when he's on a come bye direction. He's confident at stopping running sheep. He likes to really push onto his sheep, really enjoys moving them. He's got a fair bit of eye so we'll be watching that. Power looks to be substantial, love that! That's pretty much where he is now and i'll update again soon. The current plan is to work him on some fresh wool lambs i've bought for him, so he can learn as much as possible from the sheep rather than from me.

Training: Looking for Sheep

I try very hard to have a consistent program when i train dogs, training in a manner from the start that makes later training a little easier for the dog to understand, based on early cues and body language. For example, if i step sideways away from my dog, that's his cue to leave my side and go around the sheep. If i walk forward towards sheep, i expect my dog to move forward and make contact with the sheep with me. I am very consistent in these cues right from the very first sessions.

By using this consistent system, I begin teaching that blind 600 yard outrun the first time a dog is on sheep! Actually, i even start this earlier with some of my own puppies. If i'm sitting at a trial with a little pup on my lap and he notices the sheep on the field, i'm making a little sss sss noise so he starts associating that noise with sheep. I've had puppies as young as 8 weeks watching sheep at the top of the Open course, and you can bet i'm trying to take advantage of that, as well as let the pup know i like that he's looking for sheep!

I use three signals to help my dog find sheep when they are out of sight, and i begin using them immediately upon starting a dog.

I always approach the sheep with my dog by walking straight forward towards them, making a little sss sss sound with my mouth, almost like a very, very quiet version of a walk up whistle. The dog learns two things - that i walk straight towards where sheep are, and if i make that sss sss noise, sheep are directly in front of me. The dogs love that sss sss noise, because it *always* means sheep are around, where i do occasionally walk around without going towards sheep. :-) When the dog is a little further along in his training, and being sent for sheep that are a little further away (but still in sight if the dog looks for them), i'll walk forward, make my sss sss, and when i see the dog lock in on the sheep, i'll add a "there". Then when the dog is even a little further along, and being sent for sheep that are out of sight, i'll again use all of my cues, and when the dog looks in the right direction, i'll use my "there" as a way of saying "yes, you're looking at the right spot, sheep are out there right where you're looking". Over time, i need to walk forward less and less, and the dog learns that i'm facing where the sheep are, but i have that walking forward to fall back on if my dog is confused. Eventually, i can stand still, facing sheep anywhere, give my dog a little sss sss under my breath, and see the dog start scanning the field with his eyes looking for sheep. And when he faces those unseen sheep 600 yards away, i can give him a quiet "there" and he knows exactly where he should be finding the sheep on his outrun.