Wayne's Custom
Leather & Leaning
Tree Cattle Dogs and
Quarter Horses
Leaning Tree Dottie
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515-854-2060
608-334-4203
Daily Diary (hopefully) of Bandit's stock dog evaluation. I am applying Marc Christopher's method of stock dog training during the evaluation period.
Click date and go immediately to that entry:
3-23-08 Day 1 3-24-08 Day 2 3-25-08 Day 3
4-9-08
Sorry it's been so long, this past week and a half has been a blur. Bandit is progressing well, right now he is curled up on the dining room floor behind me. It's not unusual for Bandit to disappear here in the house, you find him curled up and sleeping in his crate in the bedroom. Yesterday evening he helped with chores, I don't worry about him running off, he is too busy wanting to look for work, which I am working on. I do not allow him to hunt work, he is welcome to wonder around minding his own business, but running fences working on his own is illegal and he is beginning to figure that out. His big job last evening was to hold Molly, our fainting goat in the barn while I took hay into the others, Bandit tended to her nicely without creating any motion in her, her, the requirement was to keep her back from running (or rather stiff legging) out the door and that is what he did.
Over the last week I have focused on letting Bandit find his way around the farm and around livestock, as long as he is making good decisions he is left to discover, the beauty of starting with Marc's method is that if he makes a wrong decision I can easily step in and make the decision hard and giving him a less resistant path to the right decision.
3-29-08
Bandit went to the IHDA Fun Day down at Milo, Iowa. I was not able to take any pictures of him since my camera's battery went dead after neglecting to charge it while trying to get all my stuff gathered for the meeting we had later in the day. I took him out on the goats, this was his first goat experience, the goats were tough to handle wanting to challenge badly and saw no reason to move off any dog, even the more expirenced ones, but we had success, once I got Bandit to focus on the task at hand as opposed to all the people, the sheep in the other pens, the other dogs, etc....
Today was a day off for Bandit, we had a snow storm with about 3 inches of wet sloppy snow. But, he did get to go out and do the chores with Wayne. He happily followed Wayne around unleashed while he fed the horses and took hay to the sheep, Wayne mentioned that the horses really intrigued him but he just stood and watched not making any effort to cause trouble.
Bandit got to help me move the sheep a crossed the yard today to the working pens for practice. The first set we drove over to the oval, because the oval is away from the draw I could have Bandit on the cord and help keep him in a position of balance moving the sheep toward our destination while making adjustments to keep them together and going the right way.
We went back for our second set, but I decided to let Bandit work on them before we left the "L", this time I let him drag the rope, next thing you know he is off and driving them at a steady walk directly to the other end. Those of you that are familiar with the "L" pasture (where the ranch course was set), there is a heavy draw to the right at the dog leg, Bandit's sheep did not even get the chance to hook to the right, when they arrived at the far fence I suddenly realized that my feet were not moving and I was way up by the cherry tree a good 125' away. Bandit proceeded to hold the sheep there until I got there to get him redirected.
Unfortunately Wayne was not home yet so I was not able to get any pictures.
This evening Bandit worked out in the larger oval pen, I spent a few minutes making sure I could move him and stop him with pressure and then let him work around the sheep freely, allowing the sheep to teach him how to keep them together and move them. It was a quiet calm work session.
9:00 am....Twas' the night before Christmas and all through the house, not a creature was steering, not even a mouse.....
It was almost like Christmas, Bandit was quiet all through the night until 5 am when he barked once to go out. I took him out he did his duty, we came back in and on his own he went back in his crate, Merry Christmas Deb....
The little bugger still has to try though, I just came in from doing chores, while I was feeding I let Bandit enjoy the morning air out in one of the exercise pens. We came back in, he once again went into his crate with no argument, yippee. But, a few minutes later he tested me to see if I was going to allow him to bark. It's been 20 minutes since I firmly corrected him, the house has been quiet since.
We worked on little things today in the house and outside, he is crating much better, I am guessing by tomorrow we may get lucky and he may crate up just by giving him the command, although I may be holding the bar a little high. His barking and whining in the crate continued on and off through the day but corrections are having to be applied less often. While I was preparing the pictures for tonight Bandit decided to test me and not obey a "Here to me" when I was calling him from the front door. I spent about 10 minutes getting him to change his mind about not coming when called before I had a small break through with him. After his lesson I took him out for a walk, brought him in to his crate, he almost went right in and I have not heard a peep out of him, this is the quietest he has been for this long of time. Earlier this evening I took him to work out in the back pen, this pen is larger then the barn. Looking over the pictures from today I have to ask myself if I am working him more to the come-bye side or if Wayne just likes to take pictures when Bandit is going that direction.
I went ahead and used Bandit to move the sheep out of the holding pens and into the larger pen, this picture shows me working on getting him to the proper position to allow the sheep to exit, also being sure that I make sure his attitude is correct, I don't want him to get excited and playful, quiet and calm is what I want to encourage but still wary and alert.
Today I substituted the rake with a short stock whip, it is used in the same way, but I can gain pressure at a further distance with it more easily, I began the session first showing Bandit that I wanted him to move off the pressure of the whip, it only took a minute and he was moving easily left and right just by me moving the whip to different positions, the same as I did with the rake. I prefer the whip to a stock stick because I can crack it vs. thumping the ground with it if I really need to get his attention, it is also a lot easier to control then the rake without making large body motions.
In this picture I am sending him out and just starting to apply pressure to move him over to the left a touch, he is sending out real nice today
Now he has moved over into the proper position
At this point I am letting him drag the cord
The beginning of a nice walk up with me beside the sheep
Opps, guess he is making some pretty good decisions, I didn't realize my back was turned to him until I saw the picture.
We continue what we worked on last night, left, right, stop & walk up, I began placing a label on Come Bye and Away To Me, a couple of times Bandit initiated his flanks upon me verbal giving him the command without any other support on my part. One of my jobs is to keep changing my position as it relates to Bandit and the stock so that I don't immediately make myself as his focus point. It's amazing how easily it is to form a habit to always be in the same spot relative to the dog and the stock.
Things didn't go perfect, we had a small melt down when he decided that leaving the pen to follow Wayne would be a better option, for a few minutes he stalled at the gate, each time I corrected him and after a short period he gave up and opted to work. Then at another point while Bandit had free rein he sliced his flank and split the flock in half, when the split he had a moment of panic before he flanked out nicely and gathered everyone back up.
This picture was taken right before the slice, I think we can blame it on the black and white lamb at the rear in mid dart, or maybe it was the goat kid cheering him on from the side pen.
The next matter of business, getting sheep
into the barn to see not only if he had any interest in sheep but also how he
handles the pressure of training. I begin by putting him on a long thin
cord, using the cord I ask him to give or lead, every time he gives to the
pressure I apply on the cord I release the pressure rewarding him. Soon
he is following the pull of the cord, I then apply pressure with an old lawn
rake asking him to move off, once again releasing the pressure of rake and
cord when he is correct, even if it is just a little correct. Once he is
both moving off the pressure of the rake and leading with the cord, the
combination of the cord and rake will allow me to position him where I want
him to be.
These pictures were taken during this initial
process:
Before and during this process he is
difficult to place in a particular place, once he begins yielding and looking
for the pressure release his entire body presence changes, once he reaches
that point we are ready to begin introducing him to stock. Notice in the
three previous pictures he is hunched up and uncertain, even though I am
working with him in close proximity of the sheep, in this next picture he is
solid and secure, ready to learn.
When Bandit begins to look for what I want I
show him that I want him to flank around the sheep in a certain manner, I mix
in stops and walk ups, just by applying pressure to the cord to stop his
forward motion for the stop, then leading him toward the sheep with the cord
for the walk up. I make each maneuver clear and separate from each
other, after a walk up I will flank him back out making extra care the he is
releasing the pressure on the sheep when we initiate the flank. In these
next pictures I am beginning the "Walk Up" process, I am making sure he
is behaving in an appropriate manner, when he is correct the cord is loose, to
our knowledge his is the first time that Bandit has seen sheep.
In these next two pictures I am raising the
bar, not only are we walking up but I am keeping him on the balance point of
the sheep, this affirms that I want him to keep the sheep under control and
moving strait off not arcing back to me turning the walk up into a fetch.
At this point I am also already
building distance moving back away from the dog as he is walking up.
Notice, I have pressure on the cord adjusting his position and he is confident
and willing to adjust, unlike in the first pictures when he did not understand
that the cord and rake were telling him where to go.
Bandit was making so many good decisions I
went ahead and changed my position this time and let him fetch the sheep to
me. Note he is just dragging the cord behind him concentrating hard at
keeping his sheep balanced and under control. At this point Bandit has
only been working for about 20 minutes, we are still on his first lesson, and
still his first day here with us.
I went ahead and took the cord off Bandit,
Wayne caught this shot as he was making an adjustment while controlling his
sheep.
I have been mixing up flanks and walk up's,
in the following picture I am just getting done telling him "there", at the
end of a flank and initiating a walk up. He really does not know what
the there command is but I used the wall an myself as a block, when he stopped
I told him "There".
Here is Bandit's first major opportunity to
prove that he has the ability to power down a ewe with his eye and presence,
this ewe is known for giving a dog a challenge, nothing severe but she will
back down a dog that lacks confidence, He stayed with her and she
opted to submit and move off with the group.
I felt that was a very good note for Bandit
to conclude his first lesson on sheep.
Bandit has only been with us a few hours and
he already is learning that he is better off to be lead by the collar rather
then try to slip it, evading his crate is not going to work, barking and
whining while being crated is unacceptable and "Here" means come, (he picked
that one up fast), oh yeah, and don't challenge Indy, our male red heeler,
submission gets you a lot further faster. I bet he's going to sleep good
tonight.
