First sheepdog

[Dave6170]

Don't walk forward until you have a slack lead.

When you start expect the first walk to be about 50metres in 30 mins!

Next time should be better, it won't take long for them to learn!

That’s the kind of things lve been trying, just going to take longer than I thought

 

[Hill Ground]

It feels like it's taking longer than it is.

You have to be so consistent its boring!

 

[czechmate]

Has anyone here used Indian Runner ducks to start a pup?

sheepdogs indian runner

in the first of those videos, considering it is an exhibition, he keeps telling it to lie down but it never does.
i was watching it as my wife is currently training our Ausy shepherd with runners.
he has given my wife a new hobby and he is coming along quite nicely… for her , I can’t get him to do anything

 

[Dry Rot]

in the first of those videos, considering it is an exhibition, he keeps telling it to lie down but it never does.

That is a very interesting observation of a situation that I was explaining to my 16 year old helper with horse training only yesterday!

Animals often get confused between commands. Horses are trained to walk forward on the command "Walk on". There is no such command in "horse speak". To communicate that command, we say the words and encourage the horse to move forward with a stick or whip (that is merely used as a pointer). Repeating "walk on" to a horse that is already walking forward does form an association in the animal's brain between the word and the action even though it appears to be nonsense in human terms. Similar, if you like, to the sound of a sweet being unwrapped and the anticipation by the child of eating that sweet! The word and action become linked.

Same thing with "Sit" to a dog. A dog trained to Sit on command reacts to the sound of the word. That reaction will depend on HOW it is said. I can say "SIT!!!" (loud, sharp, and commanding) to my dog to put it into the flat down position, or I can give a soft "sss...." (a barely audible hiss) to slow it down in walk or even cause is to halt and freeze the action. So, Sit doesn't necessarily mean Sit but a whole range of actions within a range.

Fortunately, animals communicate with very slight and subtle changes in body language so we humans can use this ability to instruct them in their work. (As an example, I can call my dogs to me by slightly raising one finger! I can change the dog's direction by changing the angle at which I stand -- with the dog on the opposite mountain! Assuming, of course, that the dog has already been trained to understand these signals).

Glad to hear the ducks are useful!

So Sit does not necessarily mean Sit in dog handling. Is the wife the alpha in your house? Perhaps The Gecko is right and I need to write that book!

 

[czechmate]

That is a very interesting observation of a situation that I was explaining to my 16 year old helper with horse training only yesterday!

Animals often get confused between commands. Horses are trained to walk forward on the command "Walk on". There is no such command in "horse speak". To communicate that command, we say the words and encourage the horse to move forward with a stick or whip (that is merely used as a pointer). Repeating "walk on" to a horse that is already walking forward does form an association in the animal's brain between the word and the action even though it appears to be nonsense in human terms. Similar, if you like, to the sound of a sweet being unwrapped and the anticipation by the child of eating that sweet! The word and action become linked.

Same thing with "Sit" to a dog. A dog trained to Sit on command reacts to the sound of the word. That reaction will depend on HOW it is said. I can say "SIT!!!" (loud, sharp, and commanding) to my dog to put it into the flat down position, or I can give a soft "sss...." (a barely audible hiss) to slow it down in walk or even cause is to halt and freeze the action. So, Sit doesn't necessarily mean Sit but a whole range of actions within a range.

Fortunately, animals communicate with very slight and subtle changes in body language so we humans can use this ability to instruct them in their work. (As an example, I can call my dogs to me by slightly raising one finger! I can change the dog's direction by changing the angle at which I stand -- with the dog on the opposite mountain! Assuming, of course, that the dog has already been trained to understand these signals).

Glad to hear the ducks are useful!

So Sit does not necessarily mean Sit in dog handling. Is the wife the alpha in your house? Perhaps The Gecko is right and I need to write that book!

yes, m’y wife is training the dog far more with body language than verbal commands - although a mix of the two will help us (the non trainers) to have some control at least

 

[czechmate]

Showing great promise, he can even walk on water

 

[som farmer]

the first trained dog l bought, from up 'north', the trainer had trained a collie, that was deaf, worked to hand signals, a long time ago now, but he had been on BBC with the dog, it was meant to be a really good sheep dog.

Must be 35 yrs ago, l bought the dog, and the BBC were before that.

 

[Dry Rot]

yes, m’y wife is training the dog far more with body language than verbal commands - although a mix of the two will help us (the non trainers) to have some control at least

Mix the body language with verbal. They soon pick it up.

 

[ISCO]

the first trained dog l bought, from up 'north', the trainer had trained a collie, that was deaf, worked to hand signals, a long time ago now, but he had been on BBC with the dog, it was meant to be a really good sheep dog.

Must be 35 yrs ago, l bought the dog, and the BBC were before that.

I recall as a boy ( about 40 years ago) my dad taking a collie pup to be trained in County Durham, was yours from this far north? The trainer, an old boy by the name I think of Sewel Race had a deaf dog he had trained to hand signals. He ran the dog and asked us if we had spotted anything, I had not but my dad had guessed it was deaf.

 

[som farmer]

I recall as a boy ( about 40 years ago) my dad taking a collie pup to be trained in County Durham, was yours from this far north? The trainer, an old boy by the name I think of Sewel Race had a deaf dog he had trained to hand signals. He ran the dog and asked us if we had spotted anything, I had not but my dad had guessed it was deaf.

l reckon that was the chap, it was up in durham, l stayed overnight with relatives in Stockton, about 30 mins away.

Took an old farmer from down here, up there, they had grown up together, he organised it, and stayed with them, overnight. That name rings a distant bell as well.

fantastic dog though, taught me an awful lot about working dogs, and gave me the confidence to train the next one.

 

[ISCO]

l reckon that was the chap, it was up in durham, l stayed overnight with relatives in Stockton, about 30 mins away.

Took an old farmer from down here, up there, they had grown up together, he organised it, and stayed with them, overnight. That name rings a distant bell as well.

fantastic dog though, taught me an awful lot about working dogs, and gave me the confidence to train the next one.

The one he trained for us was the first dog I worked as a teenager and it remains the best dog I have had.

If I remember correctly he was from Cockfield.but not sure on that.

 

[unlacedgecko]

That is a very interesting observation of a situation that I was explaining to my 16 year old helper with horse training only yesterday!

Animals often get confused between commands. Horses are trained to walk forward on the command "Walk on". There is no such command in "horse speak". To communicate that command, we say the words and encourage the horse to move forward with a stick or whip (that is merely used as a pointer). Repeating "walk on" to a horse that is already walking forward does form an association in the animal's brain between the word and the action even though it appears to be nonsense in human terms. Similar, if you like, to the sound of a sweet being unwrapped and the anticipation by the child of eating that sweet! The word and action become linked.

Same thing with "Sit" to a dog. A dog trained to Sit on command reacts to the sound of the word. That reaction will depend on HOW it is said. I can say "SIT!!!" (loud, sharp, and commanding) to my dog to put it into the flat down position, or I can give a soft "sss...." (a barely audible hiss) to slow it down in walk or even cause is to halt and freeze the action. So, Sit doesn't necessarily mean Sit but a whole range of actions within a range.

Fortunately, animals communicate with very slight and subtle changes in body language so we humans can use this ability to instruct them in their work. (As an example, I can call my dogs to me by slightly raising one finger! I can change the dog's direction by changing the angle at which I stand -- with the dog on the opposite mountain! Assuming, of course, that the dog has already been trained to understand these signals).

Glad to hear the ducks are useful!

So Sit does not necessarily mean Sit in dog handling. Is the wife the alpha in your house? Perhaps The Gecko is right and I need to write that book!

Yes please!

 

[Dry Rot]

Yes please!

Show me the money!