PRESSURE
Look at that dog on the ground, in the picture above. The Labrador bitch is exerting pressure on the Australian Shepherd. What you can't hear is her deep throated growling. You better believe he will have learned his lesson, once she releases him. That toy is hers. Do you think she gave him a cookie and told him to be a good little boy and run off now?
PRESSURE - What is it, how do you produce it and where does it come from?
Pressure MOTIVATES a dog to learn something, the release of that pressure TEACHES.
Too little pressure and the dog learns to ignore it, match it or add more!
Too much pressure and the dog will become frightened, scared, shut down, try to escape and won't feel comfortable in a learning environment. They'll be afraid to learn new things.
Too much pressure can take a confident dog & turn him into being a truly unconfident dog. What happens when too much pressure is applied to an unconfident dog ? They go within themselves or they blow up. Dominant dogs will blow up under too much pressure too....can you tell the difference?
For those that missed the first Mini Camp I did, we spent a whole day on just that. HOW DO YOU TELL IF A DOG IS UNCONFIDENT OR CONFIDENT? Then we went through and did demonstrations of different dogs to help handlers see unconfidence or what confidence looks like and formulate plans to better train their dogs.
The dog basically feels pressure by body language, your emotional level and your voice. Most importantly by PUSH. Be it either the human pushing on the dog, or by the dog PUSHING on the stock and/or human. The human can push on the dog in a number of ways...the first one that comes to mind is - **PHYSICAL CONTACT. But that isn't our goal. You have to get in the dog's head and not make it about physically pushing on the dog.
Other ways to push -
** we can add pressure by voice - getting louder in volume or in a lower growling voice.
**You can add pressure by NOT doing what a dog needs at that time.
**You can add pressure by constantly harassing the dog by voice, body language or use of the cane.
**by MAKING a dog do something they do not feel safe or comfortable with
These are just some of the ways humans can add pressure.
Now, the key is how to get people to recognize when the dogs apply pressure to them!
**Dogs can apply pressure by leaning on the human, physically and leaning in their direction.
**by dragging the human at the end of the leash
**by PUSHING on them, past them, or through them
**by making the human move
All these things and more, are pressure.
Now, how do we get the dog to deal with our pressure and how do we deal with the dog's pressure.
First off, you want to observe the dog. Does he come in to work stock confidently? or does he come in and immediately put his nose to the ground and starts eating all the sheep poop within reach? Do you think that the dog eating poop feels comfortable? To begin with, the optimal learning frame of mind, your dog should be confident. He should be confident with the stock, with the area he is in and most importantly with YOU, the handler. Take care of the dog's mental state before demanding anything from them.
A good checklist would be- when your dog feels frightened and not sure, where does he run to??? IDEALLY, You - the HUMAN should be his place of security. IF you are not your dog's idea of safety, then you must work on your relationship. A little red warning light should be flickering on, something isn't right here. Don't keep driving your dog away.
If a dog doesn't view you as his SAFE HAVEN - he may escape/run to other dogs, a specific dog playmate, maybe into his house, or a crate or the car he rides in. You should see these as a sign of some crack in your relationship.
Once the dog feels comfortable and confident, in the training pen with stock, with YOU, the HUMAN, then he will feel COMFORTABLE to work without stressing out or shutting down. Once the dog feels comfortable, he will start to go working the stock!~ Can also put in start using his working instincts.
Dogs not being confident or feeling unsure, is usually why many dogs that come to instinct tests and don't want to work the stock. They come in with emotional issues. It may take several lessons for them to start feeling comfortable to start exhibiting their herding instincts...once those dogs feel comfortable..they'll start to use their herding instincts. You'll start to see it unfold right before you.
IF you have a dog that eats poop, goes to the gate, escapes from the pen, is looking for a way out - all that means is your dog is not feeling confident. Try not to think that the dog is just blowing off his obedience or making you look foolish, because your dog is eating poop.
Figure out how to make him more confident, so he can be comfortable. This way, the dog can be confident enough to use his instincts.
~~ a side note~~~IF you use food during a time when the dog is not feeling confident or is unsure and may feel unsafe...what do you think the dog views as comfort and safety?? the answer isn't the HUMAN...it's the food.~~~
So, the next time you go out to work your dog, really OBSERVE what he's doing - think of the level you are working with in your dog and where you have to progress to. If your dog feels unconfident, work to bring him out of that. Work to bring about more confidence. If your dog has confidence, then figure out how to keep him confident.
IF your dog is feeling UNSURE..stop & work on that. He needs to know that you will be there to help him, not make him feel more unsafe. You want him to look at you for confidence, not think he's being thrown over the cliff.
Here are some things to think about...an unconfident dog , usually CANNOT slow down...they must keep moving. So can a confident dog. An unconfident dog CANNOT move fast or move at all. IF you make an unconfident, fast moving dog - stop or slow down..you add TOO much pressure. You actually can make them unconfident. The same with making an unconfident dog MOVE faster and keep going...you add too much pressure.
Now how about taking a FAST moving Confident dog and making it slow down...or a slow moving confident dog and speed it up? What happens when too much pressure is applied???
Either scenario will create unconfidence or send the dog deeper into even more unconfidence and lack of trust in you, the handler. The key is to get the dog to have enough confidence to want to work stock with you. THAT'S the big key and the hardest thing for people to see! Handler's can make their dog walk up into stock, it doesn't mean the dog wants to. You want to set up the situation so the dog wants to do it. You want the dog to not have to feel pressure to comply. Anyone can make a dog do something...getting them to want to do it is harder!
Jean and the Wicked Gang