Ah, the best laid plans of mice and men… and sheepdogs. That first year was spent with me going slow and learning about sheepdog training and spending time with Gibson on obedience training. I always wanted a dog you could take for a walk and who wouldn’t yank your arm off.
As I was careful to be organized in my thinking before we would train he started learning by leaps and bounds.
We did not get around any sheep that first year but a friend of my son invited us over to his place to practice on his sheep the following spring. The day that we showed up Jeremiah wasn’t home quite yet so I talked with his grandma for awhile. She took us into the barn by some rams. It was pretty obvious Gibson wasn’t going to turn into a sheep dog. When we started into the barn the rams were far off. Once we were in the barn the largest of the rams came forward and growled at us. I never heard that sound before and he was huge.
Gibson calmly turned his back to the ram, sat down and totally ignored those sheep.
When Jeremiah got home we brought Gibson into the pasture and I worked him around a herd of ewes, lambs and two Dexter mini cows. Nothin’! We would try a couple more times with similar results. Gibson never really showed any interest and once he hit that electric fence (that I thought was off) well, that was that.
The birds remained an option though. Every time we went to the farm I would have to pull him away and keep him from chasing the ducks in the yard.
He would chase the farm ducks to a point where I was worried for the ducks.
So that second year I decided to make him a bird dog for grouse and pheasants and get back into bird hunting more seriously. Everybody said I was wasting my time and to get a real bird dog if I was getting back into bird hunting. But after reading one of the books that I had gotten and read that Australian Shepherds could be used for hunting it was full steam ahead.
Here is what I have learned, so far, about training a dog.
- Memorize the quote from Robert Rourke. There is truth there.
- Pay attention to the dog, careful attention. They are your training mirror.
- Be organized in your thinking first, know what it is you want your dog to do. Draw it out on a piece of paper if you have to but know how your going to train it before you begin.
- Understand the more intelligent the dog, the more he may compartmentalize specific commands and break them down himself into smaller steps. (this can be good or bad, depending on your focus of attention)
- You have to understand what positive training is. Dogs operate out of a positive/forward thinking/action oriented mind set. Do not say “No” or “Stop that” instead give a command. “Sit”, “Come”, “Down”, etc.
- Patience, patience, patience win’s the day. “Mans anger does not bring about the righteousness that God desire’s.” James 1:20
- Understand the prey drive sequence. “The canine prey drive is a sequence of events best seen in full in the wild wolf of today. It takes the form of the The Search (see, hear, smell), The Stalk, The Chase, The bite hold, The bite kill, Dissecting, Consuming.” www.dogways.info
- Understand your dog and where it’s prey drive is most prevalent. Pointers point, flushers flush, some herd and some don’t. Pay attention.
- Develop consistent persistence in your routine, yes your routine, and then include the dog into it and teach specifics as you go. Remember dogs are followers.
- You are always teaching your dog something, make it positive, if you fail to consciously train your dog he will train himself. Every opportunity is an opportunity to train. Training is not a chore you maybe carve out ten or fifteen minutes for. Every time the puppy chews on a shoe is an opportunity to teach him to ‘leave it’. The command that means ‘stop it, drop it, don’t go near it’, ‘leave it!’. It’s a good one to know when your pup discovers bear poop in the woods for the first time and decides he likes to roll in it. But you have to catch him just as he is starting to drop his shoulder or it’s to late.
- The number one critical piece of information is this… you are THE PROVIDER for your dog. There is no reason for you to have a power struggle with your dog in regards to dominance. YOU ARE in charge! You have to be, nothing happens without you. You are responsible and you are ‘response – able’.
- Always operate from ‘The Provider’ mindset. You feed him, You wash him, You play with him etc etc. Don’t fail to do right by your best friend.
- And remember “All good thing’s come from pockets!” (that one is mine.. I think) Things like treats, tennis balls, grouse wings and most importantly the hands that scratch him behind the ear!
When someone tells you it can’t be done refer to these…
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