46. Winter training day

Sunday mornings are my usual training day during the winter. This Sunday, Feb 5, 2017 was a typical winter day with blowing snow and cold as ….. Training for only 1 dog today, Smoke, as Wage is in recovery mode. Todays training focused on holding the stock in one area and team driving (me and the dog).

Holding: The command I use is “watchem”. The idea is for the dog to contain the stock in one spot while I move amoung them or leave the area. This tends to be a difficult concept for the dog to grasp particularly when there is a strong bond between you and the dog. It is a necessary concept to master and I hope with more practice we will have that down pat by spring time.

The next task is team driving. Right now working with 1 dog the task is to continually switch from side to side. The dog must balance in order to keep the stock moving in a relatively straight line. With a hyper dog you have use the slow command a lot. Again this will be all worked out when the working season starts. Once I get Wage

back on stream I will be working with both dogs. The have done this before so it shouldn’t take much practice to get the choreography in tune.

Now this all brings up one of my training points I always give in any clinic I give. The dog needs to know what you want and the best approach to this is some training and practising in the off or slack season. It doesn’t take a lot of time and the dividends will be rewarded down the line.

Enjoy.

45. How much do you know?

It has been said that “ People know a lot about dog training, but how much do they really know about dogs?”

Many years ago I use to train tracking dogs. I used the “tracking by drive” methods. Now many people think

that all you had to do was hang onto the lead and the dog would do all the work. People in my classes soon

learned that is not the case.

There is so much going on when you are moving behind a dog. The dog is continually “talking” to you (body language). Different tensions on the lead. The dogs actual reactions to the track and then there

then there are environmental considerations that need to be taken into account. In just these few

comments there are many, many variables to be considered and learned.

Now you might ask, what has this got to do with herding? There can be just as many different situations, as mentioned above, in working a herding stock dog. The more you learn and understand about your dog the

better you as a team are going to succeed. But don’t forget that you also have to have stock sense. Now this becomes a triple task for you to master. You, your dog, and the stock.

No one said it was easy. There is another additional skill you will have to master and that is: Have fun and enjoy

If you have a comment or tips or just want to say something fell free to do so in the space below.