Dogs Gripping

I have it in my notes to write something up about dogs gripping (aka, biting) because the whole point of this blog is not just to talk about what I’m doing but help leave a trail of notes for someone trying to learn to work with their dog on livestock, too.

The PC term for “biting” in stockdog land is “gripping.” Ideally, the grip is measured depending on the stock and what it needs. The dog will use its bite to get the livestock’s respect. Ideal reasons for a bite are to get them moving (like biting a hock of a cow, or heel (hence it being called heeling)) or to make them stop fighting (like biting the poll, or forehead, of a cow).

Odds are, however, your dog is going to bite a lot more than that (or not at all), in different locations, and I wanted to address this.

There are some “nevers” that apply to trialing, but in real life, they don’t apply. A dog should “never” bite poultry in a trial, and very rarely should it bite a sheep (only if it’s fighting, and that’s really depending on your judge). But, at home, you can bet your sweet bippy that when Rippa got headbutted by a ram she was working I let her correct him for it.

But what’s appropriate correction? Let’s start with NOT MAULING. A strong, simple, non-vindictive correction that ends when the animal gets the message and goes back to calm movement.

Does that come naturally? Sure. But odds are, if you’ve got a dog with enough fight in her to go against a huge cow, she’s going to have to learn to control that fight with practice.

Let’s talk about your dog with no fight. Some dogs just don’t come with it – they will work as long as they’re not challenged and when challenged, it’s over. This seems to be a confidence thing that is partly inherently in the dog’s personality and can’t be fixed, and partly it’s just  lack of confidence from lack of experience. The latter you can work with. It’s key, however, not to force a dog into a grip situation when they are getting started, because it’s just as easy to shut them down with the pressure there.

Okay, so back to bites. A dog’s ideal target areas are the poll (spot where the horns are) on the head and the bottom of the hock (or heel). Some dogs will instinctually go for these spots right away. If so, hooray for you!

If not – your dog may never hit the ideal location – but most times they will learn through experience.

Most dogs grip for reason other than what the ideal is. It is almost always a function of confidence. If the dog feels like she has no other choice or option, out comes the bite. It may be because the dog is inexperienced and doesn’t know she has other options. It may be because she is inexperienced and it seems like the best option at the moment (not thinking of the consequences that a bite will have – such as losing or overly stressing the stock). A lot of times the bite comes out when the handler makes a mistake – feeds the dog the sheep, loses control the sheep herself or stresses the dog from yelling, fighting, etc.

I know these things because I did all these things. I know that things are bad when my dog starts biting sheep and it’s time to take it easy and reevaluate why.

1. My dog is just an alligator that wants to kill sheep

2. My handling is feeding my inexperienced dog sheep

3. My handling is frustrating my inexperienced dog and she feels like that’s all she can do

4. The sheep are not handling well and my inexperienced dog feels like that is all she can do.

5. The sheep are being bad and my dog needs to correct them.

6. The sheep aren’t moving and nothing but a bite will stop them.

7.  My dog just really likes gripping.

1 & 7 : nothing you can do here, that’s instinct, except maybe yell at them or let them get run over by cattle until they calm down. At which point, they might calm down because they are dead.

2-4: take a deep breath and get better at handling. If you can’t, it might be time to try heavier sheep, a more experienced dog, and definitely get a second set of eyes on your work

5-6: Do not correct your dog. This is okay. It’s easy to get upset when a dog grips at any point, but take a step back. Appreciate that your dog has enough power and judgment to make the call.

Now on to bite placement – as I said, not all dogs will start out with that ideal placement, and not all will end up with it. But . . . if you put your dog on cattle, they will eventually figure out that bites anywhere else are pretty dangerous. Newbie dogs tend to hang on to tails, bite higher up the thigh, bite the nose, and grab onto the sides of the livestock. Cattle will teach them quickly that this isn’t okay (but there is a risk of injury in letting this be the way they learn. If you’re just working sheep, experience can help there.

Anyway, just my observations at this point. Feedback welcome.