A friend of mine is on the journey of starting a young border collie pup, which is so very fun for me by the way! We were talking about all that is going on, as this pup is starting to get very naughty. Naughty at home, naughty at the ranch......naughty on sheep. Personally, I love it and am glad to see that naughtiness! This friend was asking me to summarize my training ideas and here is what I told her. I believe that training a dog on sheep is a lot like baking a cake. Disclaimer...this analogy might be all because I have not had any cake or sugar for three weeks now so I am could possibly be looking for cake in other forms!
When I (used to) bake a cake......I always start with the greasing of the cake pan. This is a very important step...otherwise any cake I bake...no mater how tasty....won't be useful to serving others as the cake would stick to the pan. This would be the "teaching of respect" phase of working a dog. Some people don't know what respect looks like.....and some people just don't care....which works for them...or not...but it is their cake to bake. To me, thanks to my mentors that have molded me....respect is so very important and certainly a quality I want with my dog right from the beginning!
After I grease the pan...I need to flour the pan so the cake can raise proper. Again, if I omitted this step.....I would still have a cake.....just a short cake and not as good of a cake as I could have had! To me the flouring of the pan is the "teaching the dog to take a correction". Gosh, I have been watching run after run after run from the Lead Me On web site....and every handler gives their dog numerous corrections in each of those runs. From a "you had better get in there and push" correction to a "omg settle down correction"...top handlers use them. Here is the catch....their dogs understand and take those corrections. Red Top Kennel has a fabulous article about corrections that I refer back to time and again.
The rest of the cake is how each of us train...combined with what talents the dog brings to the sheep. Chocolate, yellow, carrot.....so many different flavors. Plain, iced, decorated....each cake is unique; baked and embellished to the specifications of its creator. And each working sheepdog is the same.....some are plain, some have bells and whistles....each is a unique design! I could go on and on with my analogy of ingredients and baking time, what each idividual likes best for their cake choice.....maybe another day.....but it certainly is something to think on as we start young dogs. What exactly do we want our cake to be at the end of the day.....and how best to get there.....any cake certainly won't be the cake it could have been if steps are skipped or rushed.
Enough already! And I have to stick in a second disclaimer....I am writing this to share my thoughts and hopefully inspire others to think.....I am on my own cake baking journey and am not a professional teacher of baking cakes! As my friend, Brian, would say....I quiet possibly am an over thinker...and I am okay with that.
As you know, my eye has been on the International Sheepdog Trial. So sad to see my Nell's dad Roy not make it this year! Aled Owen and Roy seemed to put down a respectable run today.....but the top 15 teams are taken from the two days combined. ISDS is doing a great job updating scores and giving a little commentary....check it out
ISDS International Updates
In more local news....the USBCHA National Finals start tomorrow with the quest of crowing the 2010 Nursery Champion. Looks like the kind folks running the finals will update their web site regularly
USBCHA NATIONAL FINALS 2010
Good luck to all those who are there for nursery and safe travels to the rest who are making their way to Virginia for Open! Me, I'm home......spreading grass seed and compost.....putting the ram in with the ewes.....working dogs...and dreaming of the day when I too will be a competitor at the USBCHA National Finals!
Seize the Day!
What do you mean by the dog respect you? In my mind, if the dog respects you it should take corrections fairly well. If I don't respect you I'm not going to give a lick about what you think. Am I getting the two confused?
ReplyDeleteHey sclmarm....thanks for reading me. I think maybe it is more the definition of correction that I might have a little diferent take on. Corrections can mean so many things....not always black and white. I have a dog that respects me a ton...but was not understanding my corrections...what my corrections really meant. So teaching her to take the correction and sort out what it meant was the second layer to my beginning training.....like the cake analogy....greasing the pan and flouring the pan go hand in hand....can't have on without the other.....so yes, I do think respect and corrections go hand in hand. As with my dog, I have seen a dog with great respect not understand the correction but I have never seen a dog without respect take a correction. Great discussion!
ReplyDeleteI see what you're saying. I tell my dogs no, and that means stop what you are doing. If they don't I put enough pressure on them until they stop. Not always getting physical, but moving in on them until they stop. Sometimes it means physically moving them until they get a clue:) Hey, I have some Jrt's and all bets are off with those evil white monsters:)
ReplyDeleteAs with training kids or dogs consistent and fair, when it comes to praise or corrections, is my mantra :)
sclmarm aka Bonnie- Meagan and Zach's mom:)
Bonnie....I'm so glad to chat! The issue with working dogs on stock is....when you give a correction you don't want them to stop working...you want them to change an aspect of that work. I aquired a new dog last year that when given a correction would just quit! So that is not taking a correction in the proper fashion either. It has been a journey of having her be obedient to the command...say a stop...and if I have to correct her...to have her actually stop...but them come back on working. I think working stock just adds a twist to the whole human/dog relationship that is different from say agility or home rules. I need my dog to read and feel the sheep....I can read the sheep but I need my dogs to cover my butt a little. But on the other hand I need them to obey....hence that dance we call working sheepdog! My end goal is to have them take a verbal or whistle correction at a distance without any physical input from me. I do believe that is where respect and taking a correction hold hands...because I want them to take the first correction and not have to "go there". I totally agree...consistent and fair! <3
ReplyDeleteI'm enjoying this chat too:)
ReplyDeleteDon't you sometimes have to go out and "help" your dog figure out what you want? That's putting physical pressure on them to do what you want. I think most of that foundation for the correction is laid in the round pen and smaller fields where you can have a bigger influence on them.
Also, when I tell my dogs no, I don't want them to slink off and quit working with me. An example would be Beep no(stop chasing that cat), Beep come. Working on stays... dog breaks, verbal correction, come back and try again. I don't want the dog to quit trying to do what I want.
Speaking of the herding dog dance... I fell in love with BC's when I helped our neighbor vaccinate and band lambs. Watching her BC's work was inspiring! My Max was a very nice dog to work on sheep and some of the things he learned in agility transferred over. His left and rights, outs, and our working relationship. He's 12 years old now and retired. I have two others that I'm playing around with. A Hanging Tree Cowdog, named Beep and a new little BC rescue named Poppet. We went to a clinic last weekend and had a blast. Beep was calmer and softer on the sheep and Poppet was awesome her first time on sheep. She had brief exposure to cattle before I got her and showed promise. We'll see how far we get with limited time on stock, but I love the dance with them whether it is on stock or in agility!
Nice analogy with the cakes. It makes a lot of sense. Also it makes sense too, that their are some ingredients that you can add to make it even yummier. Then there are ingredients that if you omit them, your cake fails.
ReplyDeleteNow I see 2 carrot cakes and a pineapple upside down cake sitting in my living room!