WICKED WORKING DOGS

 
One of my goals as a trainer is to always make sure the dog I am working with has confidence in himself and in me.

Look at the picture above. That dog has just backed down two sheep and is in the process of turning the third. All by just standing his ground and putting pressure on the ewe to get her to turn with her friends. This one just had more on her mind than following the others.

Many see what a good job this dog is doing. Standing up to the sheep and not backing down. What I see is yes, he's standing his ground, but he's very unconfident. Take a closer look. Some of you may not know that this dog normally carries prick ears. Both his ears are folded back. A sure sign of being unconfident. He's trusting in me to stay there, but he hasn't gotten enough confidence on his own to think he can do this. It's my job to get him to work in a much more confident attitude without destroying his desire to work or what confidence he does have.

Dogs can start off confident and slip into being unsure, then back to confidence, all in a single session. It fluctuates a lot. Some dogs never have confidence and unfortunately, end in unconfidence. While working with your dog, it is up to you to constantly monitor how the dog is mentally, as well as physically. Gaining and/or keeping your dog confident is a priority.

What I usually see as unconfidence in herding dogs is ... VERY FAST, won't stop or slow down. They usually do not know how to move stock that is standing still. They get extremely unsure about how to get stock moving, so they just try to keep them moving all the time. While working stock, the dog lives, breathes and works in unconfidence. NOW, you start to add pressure to MAKE the dog slow down, stop etc. BUT, what happens is this... the dog will show signs of stress, displacement behavior and may end up wanting to escape...or try harder to push on you or the stock, and not stop. So, now you've taken your unconfident dog and really made him super unconfident. What, you say?

Unconfidence or Dominance? A dominant dog can work Very Fast and won't want to stop or slow down either. Can you tell the difference.

All this time you haven't been reading the dog right. Fast & pushy can mean the dog is working confidently or unconfident. An unconfidednt dog can seem like he's working, yes, but the fastness creates a lot of commotion the dog doesn't have the confidence to do something different yet or knowledge on how to control it.

Fast & pushy doesn't mean the dog is working unconfidently at all either. He's working, but the fastness creates more movement in the sheep.. but in this scenario..the dog understands how to move livestock, and control it. The unconfident dog does not.

Can YOU tell the difference?

Each will handle the pressure you apply differently. What will work with the dominant one, will be the wrong thing to do with the unconfident dog. You have to know your dog, and read him correctly in order to apply the right pressure and gain confidence.

Now let's get back to our unconfident, Fast moving, not wanting to stop dog....if you let this go on for lesson after lesson, you do nothing to gain or improve your dog's confidence..other than exposing your dog to livestock a number of times. You also teach the dog that is the frame of mind to work stock in.

When a dog is used to working in a certain way, and the handler then decides that a change needs to be made, there will always be a threshold for the dog overcome. When a dog is led to believe that a certain situation is correct....i.e....working livestock in a very fast, pushy, not wanting to stop/slow down way. Your goal is to make it less traumatic for the dog. Be there to HELP the dog stay confident through the transition. The handler can, of course, MAKE the dog work in the new way, with no regard to what the dog is mentally going through. Dogs will do a lot of things, just because we asked. Making the dog do something new, starts deteriorating your relationship with the dog. They are unconfident and then there you are spitting out command after command, getting the dog to do something. To me, that is like telling the dog to jump off the cliff. The dog sees something and they are unsure, and there you are just shoving them off the cliff. Handler's expect the dog to do it. They don't see balking or unwillingness as a lack of confidence. Usually, they assume it is disobedience, and then they are on a mission to make the dog do it.

Unconfident dogs are not always easy to spot and observe. The dogs cannot tell you they are unsure, you have to read their body language. Their body language will display unconfidence....usually these dogs start off good, but then start slowing down and then are told all the steps it takes to complete a job. They lose their joy in the job, but have enough to keep working, regardless of what the handler does or doesn't do.

Some signs of being unconfident are : can't move or hesitant. Moving faster and faster. Dodging around stock, won't go somewhere. BUT all of these signs can be attributed to a dog that is dominant and doesn't want to obey a command, too. Which is it.

With either state of mind, the key is getting through to the dog, so he wants to do that...and with as little pressure as possible. You want to get an unconfident dog to do what you want, as well as, the dominant dog. Let the dog explore and be creative...allow him to see the picture..the correct one. Get the dog to want to do what you ask. You can make a dominant dog go right to unconfidence with the wrong pressure. With the right pressure, you can get an unconfident dog to move into a more confident state of mind.

Remember the post on the ember and the blazing fire?? (see the article on PRESSURE) How much effort will it be to snuff out a blazing fire with your little squirt gun?? After the dog has been fed for months & months that pushing is equal to more push?? You can' t really...this is when you need to bring out the 4 alarm fire companies and the high pressure water hoses. Your squirt gun equates to as little as necessary. More appropriate pressure and pressure that you want the dog to respond to. While the water hoses are a high, more forceful pressure, you don't want to have to constantly use that much for everything the dog does. BUT, the fire was left to burn too long and that kind of pressure, over the top, is needed to equate a change. Remember, you have to be EFFECTIVE in your use of your cane, voice and/or body language for the dog to UNDERSTAND what you are trying to tell it. That much pressure can send a dog into unconfidence. If you are aware of it, you can help the dog gain back what he lost.

The goal is to not have to use all that pressure for a change. If you had gotten the ember with your squirt gun, when it was appropriate, long before the blazing fire, the pressure would have been little to feeling no pressure, in the dog's mind. When you wait too long, that is when things start to get ugly. Then you get into an area where you have to do a lot to the dog to effect a change.

Things to see when you've put a lot of pressure on the dog. The dogs will usually need to release that pressure somehow. You add pressure, they need to release it. Usually the brunt of that release is on the livestock. They can do fly byes, run in the middle & split them, to more evil things like, gripping, grabbing, and flipping sheep.

Some other signs of too much pressure would be a dog running to the fence looking for a way out of there. Some will crawl under the gate, while others will jump it, some will sit by the gate, too. Some will eat sheep poop, yawn, fidget, tuck their tails between their legs, won't look at you or won't look at the stock, some stand still, others have to move. You have to be aware of your own dog and how he displays unconfident behavior.

I just want you to realize what goes on when you ALLOW behaviors to occur for months or for only a couple of lessons or two. Now realize the kind of pressure you will be applying to your dog before you decide you are really going to make that dog lie down, or make that dog walk behind his sheep.

Is that really fair to the dog? Now what are you going to do to help him.

Think about it, do you like to get yelled at for doing something you thought you've been performing correctly? How much confidence will you have to continue with your project, start a new one or have
confidence in the person that confronted you? Especially if they never let up. Think like a dog.

That is what happens when you allow your dog to push, not have to stop and go as fast as he wants....for session after session.

The key is to manipulate it early enough, keep the confidence growing and the dog learning.

It all stems from reading unconfidence and confidence. The first sign of unconfidence is usually FAST MOTION and/or NOT STOPPING. BUT it can also mean confidence to dominance. Which is your dog displaying? Can you read that?

Once you know your dog, you can apply the right pressure to work with. The pressure it takes to stop a confident/dominant dog will be the WRONG kind of pressure for the unconfident dog. The two
behaviors may look the same, but the minds are not.

Here are some more thoughts on the "they are only puppies, young dogs, beginners, etc"... with those types of dogs, you DO NOT want to add pressure....THE WRONG KIND. You have to work with pressure
to TEACH the dog. BUT teaching in and of itself is in an unconfident zone. Most people have no clue to what an unconfident dog behaves like or a confident dog. I mean the subtle clues. Not the obvious..tail tucked between legs, submissive rolls, etc. IF you get the obvious, you know you went way too far. The key is stopping it at the very first sign. Getting you to read that is the hardest part.

Adding the wrong kind of pressure is just like yelling at someone constantly. They didn't do it right, yell, yell, yell. That takes away all confidence, frustrates them and consequently, the dog blows up into the stock, or runs for the first hidey hole, safe place. Why is that? Because you went from confident dog, to unconfident to something lower. You need to stop just at the edge of unconfidence. Most people only see the dog running out of the ring. They don't usually see the beginnings of too much pressure 5 minutes before that. It's not the actual act of running out of the ring that is the problem. It started WAY before that.

Some dogs when you send them into a deep unconfident state..will dive in at the stock and usually it's not an appropriate grip, but slashing, grabbing a hold of and shaking. Dogs that don't have an inkling of gripping will do something akin to puppy zoomies...take off & just run rampant. Dogs that get frozen, will lie down, flip over on their backs and get a good back rub, eat poop, etc. They have the need to run & release but something is prohibiting them from doing any forward motion, so they do what motion they can.

With young dogs, puppies and dogs just starting..too much pressure will make them not want to work stock or will gain tendencies to take it out on the stock. They punish the stock mercifully. Usually from not being able to have confidence and to work with pressure.

If you watch their confidence, they usually will start to experiment with working the stock. This is the time where you can see them offer behaviors. Slow down, be confident, square those flanks. It isn't pressure of the wrong sort. It's a learning pressure. Confidence. They WANT to do it. You aren't making them do it..so you can use as little pressure as necessary. You are still getting the correct behavior.

It's when you don't know, that's when you can get into trouble of sending your dog deeper into unconfidence.

So, don't be afraid to apply pressure to your dog. It is a part of teaching the dog. LEARN to read your dog and understand how to apply when & where! Start reading what your dog is telling YOU.

Jean and the Wicked Gang