Introduction to Sheepdog Training
A glorious June day ( not many of those seen recently) and six DASH members plus two helpers and a variety of dogs of mixed ages and abilities met under a pole barn in a fairly exposed field. The only person without a dog was me!
The dogs were predominantly of working 'collie' type, although Hilary was prepared to work with any breed. The mixed bag of dogs and handlers she had to deal with included a couple of untested dogs that had never really been loose around sheep, one young dog who had only been with its owners for two weeks but obviously adored them, another who was anxious when sheep came towards it, and one that had no 'eye' for sheep and showed interest in everything and anything else except sheep! Hilary also had her own dogs nearby and her helpers each had an experienced sheep dog.
Following introductions the morning was spent discussing the 'basics'. Meanwhile the dogs were safely tethered to fencing a short distance away which gave them plenty of time to get used to each other, the environment, the strangers looking at them, and even the most ardent woofer was perfectly calm and stretched out in the shade by lunchtime. I think this is testimony to Hilary's experience with dogs that she did not attempt to ask anything of them while they were still excited and unfamiliar with their new surroundings... the same applies of course to somewhat nervous owners!
The afternoon was the practical session. Each dog and handler pair spent time in the field with about five sheep just seeing how the dog approached the sheep, and then some simple command work was done on a long lead in a smaller paddock. I had not taken our dog on the training day through the misplaced fear that weeks spent teaching her not to chase sheep would some-how be undone if she saw other dogs merrily running around sheep. As the day went on I was more and more envious that I had not had the courage to test her out under Hilary's kindly, watchful, eye.
Hilary obviously has a wealth of knowledge and experience with working dogs, and each owner went away with some nugget of information to improve communication with their dog. Hilary was very reassuring that it depends on what you want your dog to do, and whilst not every dog is cut out to be a first class working dog, a dog that can hold a flock in a field, or lie down and block a gateway can be just as useful to the smallholder.
Finally, the dogs were fantastic. It was a delight to watch the dog with no interest in sheep have a 'eureka' moment when its handler was asked to approach the sheep more enthusiastically and see if the dog would follow his lead, which it did very beautifully. None of us had a proper 'call-off' command and this is something we needed to work on. The dog of two weeks was a star, and the dog anxious when sheep approached, Hilary suggested was probably because it came from a farm with a tame flock that would rush en mass towards the feed bucket / trough and the dog hadn't got the idea of its ability as a dog to move the flock away. This little chap improved with lead work.
PS: A domestic note... This training day is on an exposed field above the moor. If hot take plenty of sun protection and if wet or cold dress appropriately.
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