WICKED WORKING DOGS

 

Knowing when to intervene and when not to. A great question!

You will find that, usually, in the beginning you will be intervening way TOO much. Usually by playing keep away with the dog and the stock or by being too focused on obedience commands. There are many more ways, but these are the most common.

To get more specific...usually, most beginners do NOT intervene enough when the dog pushes, when the dog doesn't give - say on a flank or when you need a steady. What I see most often is dogs that are lead to believe that they can push too much. To me that says, I'm not getting through to the student with enough emphasis on getting the dog to STOP that kind of pushing.
Most noticeably is allowing the dogs to push the start of a flank or when going for a walk. That is what I usually see. The handler's usually don't react until the sheep have bolted past them, and after they have walked around the ring a couple of times.

Beginners usually get into playing keep away, because they are not realizing what they haven't been focusing on. And that was 10 minutes ago when the dog first started to lean and push on you and the sheep. They only see the bigger movement. They are focusing on the dog just wanting to push right through them to get to the sheep. So they work at keeping the dog off the stock. Which will get a result, eventually. The result will be longer in coming. If you back up and start looking for that tiny push towards the sheep and deal with that, then it won't be a full blown blaze. With the dog coming in hard, and just whirling around trying to get past you, it is already out of control. See the tiny spark and extinguish that before it erupts into a wildfire.

Most beginners only see the full blown raging fire...then they use the only tools they have. Not much in their tool box. They only know a very little. Think of a tiny squirt gun. You aren't qualified to work the mega water blaster yet. When a dog is just searching to bolt past you to the sheep, it is like trying to use a small squirt gun to extinguish that blazing fire. Use your squirt gun when the action is a spark. When your squirt gun isn't working, that's when you see me dragging out the fire hose!! Time and again, I see handlers trying to control their dog with the wrong sort of pressure. They use their tiny squirt gun to extinguish that out of control blaze on the dog's part. They intervene way too late, with the wrong tool.
How do you fix that? Time, learning and watching. You have to pay the dues of getting in there and learning.

Let's play out a typical scenario. Your goal is to send your dog on a flank/outrun and gather the sheep to bring to you, so you can take them somewhere.

Here's what usually happens. You have this nice, cute little orange ember sitting on the ground in front of you. You are transfixed by it. The dog is asked to go on the flank. He steps towards the handler and then the dog just skims past the handler to the sheep, as his mission is to get to the sheep the quickest and fastest way possible. Before the dog has even left his spot, the ember has now sparked into a little flame, while the dog was just sitting there. Once the dog stepped at the handler, the small flame has now erupted into a small fire. Still controllable with your little squirt gun. Usually, everyone leaves it still in its holster.

Once the dog is at the back of the sheep, the handler is already running off with the sheep...thus putting more energy into the dog, because now the dog has to speed up to catch up with the handler, who is now running off with the sheep. Does "DON'T WALK BACKWARDS" sound familiar? That small fire is now building quickly into a blaze. And yet your little squirt gun remains holstered.

NOW, you start taking the sheep somewhere and the dog is all over the sheep's butts. Pushing as hard and moving as fast as he can. The sheep are velcro, so they just assume it is another out of control dog and the safest place is to be with the human. So, the sheep don't go running off, which if they did, the handler may wonder why that is, and start coming to the realization that their dog is pushing too hard. But we are working with velcro sheep, and a dog that is just in a pushing frenzy, the handler doesn't realize what the dog is really doing. Finally, when the dog has put enough pressure on the sheep, making them collide with you or jump out in front of you, the handler starts to become aware that this might mean that their dog is pushing too much. Do you realize the amount of pressure that needs to be applied to get these sheep to move at all?? It takes a hard driving pushing maniac to get these sheep to move past the handler. It is incredible to see sometimes. Then the handlers talk about the crazy sheep. Did you see those crazy sheep run past me...awwwww. If they only knew.
At this point, when the sheep pass the handler, is when they usually ask for a STEADY. This is usually the time when the handler first attempts to try using their little squirt gun, to snuff out the spark that has turned into a fire. But it hasn't been a spark since the dog first moved. It's now a bush fire. Instead of slowing down, the dog just keeps on pushing. Then the handler again asks for steady. The water from your squirt gun evaporates before it reaches it's target. The fire is starting to get hot, more steady commands and the dog still hasn't slowed down, the fire is a raging firestorm by now. And then you furiously try squirting out the firestorm with your little squirt gun. You get nowhere. You now really need a squad of firemen with water cannons to extinguish the blaze you let develop.

IF the handler stopped the spark from turning into a blazing fire, the dog would be exhibiting totally different behaviors. Once it was a blazing fire, less wasn't effective.

Here is the a more efficient way to intervene.....

The ember is glowing and is mesmerizing you. You ask the dog to flank - using your magical push - the dog steps at you. WHAT! WAIT A MINUTE! No magical push...because your dog isn't sensitive to your demands/pressure. Your realm of influence is really just physically having to maneuver the dog. Stepping away from the dog - well - you are not right there to physically make the dog 'give' or feel that magical push from you. So, don't be surprised when dogs step at you.

Do we let the dog continue to feed his spark? NO!!! STOP the dog and get that squirt gun out and dampen down the spark. You want that nice glowing ember that transfixed you in the first place. Get the dog to GIVE on his first step. MEANING, MOVE AWAY FROM YOU.

You do not let the dog continue until he can manage to keep his ember just glowing.

Now you have the dog moving away from you...usually the dog will be fine, until he makes his first contact with the sheep..then all that oxygen he inhaled starts to feed his ember. Whip out your squirt
gun. Use it to dampen the spark again. WALK towards the fire! Using your squirt gun to STOP the dog. Let the fire go to a glowing ember again. Now ask for a walk up. That rush of oxygen for movement, ignited something!~ Watch out or it'll be a big fire soon...TURN around and use your squirt gun! STEADY!! squirt, squirt, squirt... Make the dog return to a glowing ember. Steady is STEADY. NOT a trot, or a gallop or the biggest push the dog can muster up. STEADY means to walk and don't push! Now the sheep and the dog are calm and walking at a nice pace behind you. Sheep are not knocking into you, or are rushing past you. You've been successful at using your squirt gun. You intervened at the proper times and focused on that glowing ember. Your focus wasn't a wall of fire. You didn't give the dog a chance to become a raging firestorm. You can't use your squirt gun to extinguish something it wasn't designed to do.

Jean and the Wicked Gang