“So why don’t you train like me?”

Strangely, I’ve had two separate off-the-blog conversations with people from different areas and different experiences who are asking me some poignant questions about my training style (which, as stated before, is purely the Kathy Warren method at this point).

Mostly this has to do with why the heck I am letting Rippa run back and forth at full speed instead of turning her back and forcing her to move straight or using a line to teach her to walk.

So, here’s my stab at an answer to this:

It seems like, in my limited experience of “other methods,” that there are a number of good short cuts to the end product,  including things like forcing a dog back and using a line. I actually tried a couple of others’ advice when I was working with Fury by myself on super light sheep. But these methods are ‘training the dog.’

And I think what Kathy’s trying to do is “train the handler.” The dog will, if using these methods, slow down and balance up (yes, by God, she WILL walk) because she will finally figure out that it’s better than running back and forth. What we’re doing with all this back and forth with sticks business is working with the dog’s instinct to circle and letting her essentially teach herself what works.

How?

We start out by not asking much except for the dog to not eat the sheep. Then we ask for them to stay out from the sheep. Then we ask for wearing by using the stick to block the circling, and, if the dog has good instincts for this, when we ask for it, that will seem natural. Once the novelty of this back and forth wears out, the dog usually starts to think more and use less instinct, and you’ll see it in some of these videos I post – the dog will settle down and start just reading the sheep and doing the minimal work to keep them going how they should be. You can do this all with out “training the dog” and without commands if you are good. You don’t even need the stick (but that is a LOT of running around). Essentially, you’re not telling the dog what to do, you’re just telling the dog what not to do.

You can actually see this really easily in the first video I have of Rippa working:

She gets faster as time goes by because she’s more and more confident and she’s working lighter sheep. You put Rippa on some heavy woolies right now and I promise you she will slow plenty down and pretty much check out. We need her to keep learning and stay interested, so we don’t let that happen.

It is then, when the dog understands how to balance herself and read her sheep, that we start to teach what to do. That way, when you mess up whether you’re trialling or working your cattle on the ranch, the dog will think for herself and be a good stockman without you telling her how.

Having worked Fury with very little commands on a large head of sheep, I find this “working with instinct” very valuable. My favorite story is of having to move sheep from one pasture to another with this road and wide open space to go between. Once, the sheep banked left and got out and it became a full afternoon’s operation to get them back in. After that, Fury always banked left to protect the hole and the sheep went from pasture to pasture without incident. That’s thinking without me telling her to.

As I know from training extensively in other venues, a dog that’s taught to look for you for direction will default to that and I’d simply rather not be the driver of my dog but let my dog make the decision. A good ranch dog knows the drill once you’ve shown them what you want, and so does a trial dog. It’s not like a seasoned dog is going to go, “My God, you want me to put them THROUGH THOSE PANELS? GASP.” They know what they’re for. And my favorite dogs, which may not always win, are the ones that show it with minimal help from the handler.

As Kathy says, the ideal fully trained dog is one that will bring in the sheep and pen them, and all you have to do is sit in your lawn chair sipping your Mai Tai (with umbrella, this is key). Same with an ideal ranch hand. And that’s why we do it this way.

Rocking the Stockdog GoPro Camera: also–squaring those flanks

So I got a new little toy for my work, a GoPro camera. They’re HD camcorders in bullet proof mounts that stabilize so action stuff becomes actually watchable. Since I am an outdoor competitive event planner, we needed video footage of rides and such so I got one for marketing.

But it has an obvious use in that I can take really interesting perspectives with it. I’m still working out the kinks, though, so the quality’s kind of bad this first go round. Sorry. Kathy was pretty amused at my idea, and that made me pretty happy, too. I actually think it may help me see my mistakes.

She whipped out her own little pocket camera and got a couple shots of me:

What, I am totally normal with my bike helmet while handling in a giant stick. What about it?

Any how, here is a little of the footage from the first day of lessons:

I saved this clip specifically because I told you last time that we were working on pulling her off the top on a go-by both to prepare her for driving and also to fix her tendency to overflank on the way-to and shorten the go-by. Here is me doing that.

I came to lessons the next day and she was like, “NO WONDER RIPPA SNARLS AT THE STICK! LOOK AT YOU WHACKING IT AT HER! NO MORE WHACKING!” Oops. I think I learned that form moving the stick up and down in front of the sheep to build my flight zone.

Anyway, it does provide a neat perspective because you’re really only seeing one thing – how the sheep are reacting to things. You REALLY see them bank off me and the dog. Also, you can see Rippa does actually GET OUT even though I think she’s right up their butts.

So today we went back to work on that “get out” and also her total lack of stopping when I ask. Since we saw this particular perspective, I was easily reminded that I need to really push through the sheep and reinforce the get out with my body. Which totally worked.

I tried a different setting on the camera and obviously I need to go back to the first one because you mostly see sheep. Sorry.

I’ll let you watch the next video. If you don’t find yourself craning to see past the screen, I’d be surprised. Sorry. In this you’ll see how I’m working on getting Rippa to frickin’ reliably take her stop command, how I pull her off the top,how I get her get OUT really nicely, and how I read and react to her.

Though the sheep look like knee-knockers, they’re actually a mix of light and heavy. Kathy says at one point that Rippa must be doing something to them and I say “sending evil thoughts” – not entirely wrong. She’s feisty, but it’s good.

My main thought watching this is how much time we poor Aussie handlers spend going, “Out, out, out.” But remember, they’re not meant to work four sheep in a pen – they’re meant to work many thousands. A little push is a good thing in that case.

Hey looka me–I made a meme.

So, Rippa’s sire’s owner posted an agility “what people think” graphic and said she wished there was a stockdog one. Of course, I work from home and lately my drive to really get stuff done is a little dead so why not?

So, I hereby bequeath to you:

Enjoy.  I have to say, it’s fun participating in viral things like this  - I am curious to see how many “shares” on Facebook it gets and where it ends up.

Starting the Drive

Well, I went for three lessons in the past two days and didn’t bring a camera because I didn’t anything but a tune-up would happen as we haven’t been to lessons in a few months due to wedding, honeymoon, and lack of funds. Should have brought a camera. The cool think about Rippa, and my current stage in stockdog handling, is that we still keep learning even though we have a lot of time off.

I am resolved that I really need to get on stock more regularly and it looks like my only option’s going to be cows. Should be an interesting experience when that pans out, as I am used to training on sheep primarily (for good reason – they’re not as dangerous and hard to manage).

Anyway, so, I was handling really good first day and fell apart today. I’m not sure why. Maybe because I had things to worry about today. Rippa dove into the sheep when I handled her poorly and nearly killed one, running it into the fence. Horrifying. I hear stories and I am sure it happens more than people admit, but I like animals and hurting and scaring the sheep bummed me out. So, I think my nerves ruined my handling the first work of the day today.

The first work, of the three lessons this weekend, was on light sheep in the duck pen. We're staying in the duck pen to get the kind of control and consistency we want. When I first started, I was SO eager to get into the arena because it "meant something." But the reality is, the arena is good for trial practice, but it's also great for losing good habits. So we stay inside the littler pen for now. Kathy has us on light sheep because Rippa gets bored and stops working on heavier sheep - she needs something to do. She told me "be careful, you're essentially dog breaking these sheep" and I have to say, that felt night. I don't know that I've ever done that with hot-and-heavy Fury, and it's good to know that when/if I get access to sheep off the ranch, I'll be able to handle them.

But, as I said, my first work the second day was kind of weak. Rippa wasn't covering her "go by" side and was overreaching her "way to" side, so Kathy put me back on heavy sheep, but we began the drive exercises that she does to prime you for this.

First, I do want to note that Rippa's down is a lot better. She doesn't slam on the brakes, but she is downing when I ask so that's good. That's step one in being ready to teach the drive the Kathy Warren way.

So what about the drive?

Well, first, the drive is pretty key for when you need a dog to push animals away from you, and the way that Kathy teaches it, it's key to teaching the dog to handle its stock without your directions. You kind of wait until your dog is fetching with good balance and control and taking commands. Then you start throwing flank commands whenever you can ("go by" and "way to"). And, of course, you need a solid stop on your dog.

So I don't think Rippa knows her flanks yet, but I'm working on it. We have the rest, and this first step should help Rippa stop coming up short on one side.

What Kathy does to teach the drive is teaches the dog to "pull off the top" - that is, stop fetching and circle the stock and the handler on command - keeping out of the flight zone. This is what we practiced.

Once a dog can do that with finesse, you lay the dog down next to you as it comes around and then you hit the dog with a "there." "There" means to walk up directly into the stock and keep them going that direction.

Oh. My. God. This totally blows the dog's mind. They are so used to you being up front to control that they only want to get around and when the animals start leaning or bending a certain direction, the dog wants to run around the outside and bring them back. Nope. The dog has to learn to watch the inside flank - the side they normally don't watch - where you would normally be. Their little brains explode here.

Kathy usually starts dogs on the drive in a big open field with no fences so the sheep can just keep going straight and the dog has time to just watch the sheep without other interference. This only works because she has seasoned chore dogs that fetch lost sheep when the baby dogs' brains fry and they lose them in the hills.

Anyway, so we're going along with our heavy sheep and I carefully position myself out of the flight zone, get my stick to a place where it will push Rippa past where she wants to flip back, and give her a "go by."

And darn it if she doesn't totally get around like she's supposed to, except she does it with her ears pinned back and a snarl on her face. Rippa is so weird. When she doesn't get something or is frustrated, she is definitely angry. I have to watch her and keep her going so she doesn't take it out on a sheep, but once she gets stuff, she mellows out. She's like that with everything. We're taking agility lessons, and you'd swear I was bringing Eeyore into the class, but once she figures out what I'm trying to teach her, she's perky and waggy. Same thing here. I miss Fury's spunky can-do attitude, but Rippa definitely gets it done.

I have to admit, though, it still makes me grin to see this snarling little dog taking her flank and going all the way around me. I like quirks. I got quirks.