W Lazy J Camp: Stuff I Thought About

Being in a totally different environment really made things I “knew” stand out to me while at cattle camp. Things I probably haven’t written about before because I took them for granted.

These are little notes I made to myself about my works and observations throughout camp:

• Keep your mouth to a minimum. When I (and many other people) get nervous, I tend to run my mouth a lot. I kept it shut when I was giving the cattle space, but once it was clear they were heavy and I wasn’t just letting Rippa try stuff out, I think I kept my mouth running way too much. (Also, I’m loud, so other people commented on it.)
• It seems like if you don’t have a dog with experience to introduce your pup with for help, it’s nice to start the cattle in smaller areas and work them off the fence as Betty had me do – just teaching them to stay back and get between the cattle and the fence to fetch. She starts them in small pens because most dogs lack confidence in a big arena.
• If a dog goes crazy wahoo, it’s okay to put a line on them and correct them physically until they calm down and stay back. No line training at Kathy’s (except to catch them if they don’t recall) but I saw it used quite effectively here. It’s key that you use the line to show them where you want them, that you read the cattle so you can keep your restrained dog safe, and that you praise the dog when its in the right spot so it learns from that and not just the line restraint.
• When starting cattle, the first goal is confidence, then you can work drive and/or fetch, THEN you can work on finite training.
• Rippa starts really hard so I have to remember to do our z-recalls at least at first to calm her down.
• She also wants to quit when she gets mad, so doing outruns perks her up.
• Dogs without any exposure to a ranch can take longer to turn on because the stimuli are just so strong.
• For dogs showing stress behaviors (like checking out, eating grass or poop), make it fun. Don’t push and don’t let anybody’s frustration grow to a point that the dog feels all wrong. If they check out, DO NO punish them by dragging them or yelling to them. Get them, make it a party, and have the dog do something so she can be good.
• Bring the many to the one. A lot of handlers didn’t seem to know about this particular rule, but it made my life a lot easier than trying to catch one freaked out cow.

Rippa and her first intro

So Rippa was exposed formally to sheep when she was about four months old, which is pretty young. The point was actually to get video of another puppy I was looking to place for someone, but we put her on the sheep there anyway. Here is the video:



Now, I have been working dogs on stock for about seven years on and off. Sometimes really consistently, others not. I can tell you this - I broke my first dog, Rippa's mother, who used to be really cute and natural, but I taught her to work against me instead of with me (more on this later), and we don't want to do that to Rippa. What you're looking at is the handling of someone who has no idea what to do to start a tiny puppy on sheep. I was just trying to get her to show some interest and see what else she would do.

With that said, at this point, even if my handling needs plenty of work, I can *see* things now, and I was pretty happy about Miss Rippa. Ecstatic. This video was shot on my birthday and it was one of the best presents I could have asked for, that feeling I had all day.

I like how she was looking at them, even if it wasn't "boing!" because she's a baby, and "boing!" is pretty dangerous at this stage. You can see her getting braver and braver and then . . . bam! I like how her first instinct with them is to go up to them to a point - a little natural caution there, but also awareness of sheepy space.

When I finally split the sheep to get her really going, she immediately picks a group and runs between them and the fence (a brave thing for a puppy to do - imagine you're that size doing that) and runs out wide around them to bring them back. Natural fetch, and nice space. I will explain terms later.

I like how she turns away from the sheep squarely, rather than into them, giving them space and her control. You can see her moving them and thinking about what happens when she does what - she splits two off and  then goes to fix them. She holds them on the fence - she thinks, she learns. And she's only four months old!

And when she gets them all split up and tries to fix it and can't, she chills.

Yup, I was really happy with this puppy. But then we "put her up" for a while to grow up and have fun non-livestock-type adventures.