So, lately I’ve been working on letting Rippa work the chickens, too, since she has successfully not-killed them so far. Today she did so great I went back out with a camera and back-up handler (the husband) and got some shots of it.
I am starting to realize that me doing this, and the chicken + dog combination is teaching me a lot more about stock and dog training and handling than I have gotten at Kathy’s from a realistic standpoint.
When your only real stock experiences is through lessons on other people’s sheep, at least for me, it becomes an intellectual exercise and it’s hard to see the full operations going on because it’s you vs the dog vs the sheep all learning. Having my own stock, which have become familiar with me and the dogs enough to know they aren’t going to die has shown me about real stock handling and reading. I feel like I can finally calm down about oopsies and the like, which means my voice calms down and I don’t feel like I have to be on top of the dog at all.
In fact, using what I learned at the last clinic about (1) cranking hard on Rippa to star and (2) maybe not announcing good times ahead but easing into it allowed me to get these shots. 1 – Angry voice downs in the beginning calmed her down and kept her from just joyfully running out to the chickens to scatter them squaking like live squeaky toys. 2 – I just had her walk up with me and then I stayed back and said “walk up.” Rippa has figured out that the goal is to get them back in the coop, so if I just stand there, Rippa does, too, thinking. She was actually standing behind the planter in the photo above for a good minute without moving, just watching . . .
And the chickens slowly got the hint and moved around it opposite her, and she just calmly watched what happened and then got to work. No ‘get around’ or ‘there’ from me, she didn’t have to worry about me at all – just the job.
In fact, she forgot about two of the chickens so . . . all that calm work kind of went to hell when one made a break for it:
But because they were my own stock and I’d had enough experience with oopsies to know that Rippa wasn’t going to maim or kill if it got out of control, I was able to see all the good work involved (see she’s actually trying to get around it from her earlier position?) and be calm about everything.
I’m also starting to really understand how hard it is to trial, and why these dogs would be fine without all the insane formal training I do – because they learn their chores and inherently “get” how to do it. It’s the finite work in a strange place that’s gotten me in such a tizzy.
So yeah, really amazing learning from my time off just playing with chickens. I am really tickled by the whole thing, too. I might just have to clean my yard up a little to provide less obstacles and try formal training now that it’s not a fearful clucking frenzy out there anymore to annoy the neighbors.
My husband has even suggested crating the chickens and just going to our climbing gym/warehouse to practice with them . . . it might be fun but I will wait until I get some commands on the dogs before that. Who needs ducks?
AWESOME! Isn't it amazing what we can learn from our dogs when we trust them and just let them work. If we are open to it, they can teach us alot. And, to think the important lessons you learned here didn't cost you a dime in gas money or lesson money. Way to go.
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