2017 July August

pressure) while the cow leaves. The dog needs to learn that after
hitting the cow, he has to give the cow a chance to move.
Similar for the heel: I hold them in one spot and don’t allow
them to move. I get the dog interested and once they get excited
they will take a bite out of frustration. But I need to hold them in
that spot so they see the livestock from that viewpoint and realize
that they can move them by taking a heel.
You as a handler need to have the skill of holding the dog in
a spot and not letting them go around the stock. They must stand
where you ask them to. Keep them there by using both commands
and body support/pressure. You need a good stop and/or down on
your dog. I do down my dogs on cattle since I do want the cow to
come to the dog. Sometimes to hold the cow in position it helps to
have someone else in there with you to keep pressure on the stock
while you concentrate on the dog.
Answer from Mystery Trainer #2:
Teaching a Heeler to head, hummmm – tough question.
Heading or walk in strength comes from inside. It is the desire
to boss stock. A dog that cannot face the eyes can sometimes get
the job done with motion, never giving the stock a chance to size
him up, scaring them with movement and perhaps a heel nip or a
fly by face nip. We have all seen that in the trial arena with dogs
in constant motion on cattle. All that said, the best cattle dog I
have presently cannot face the eyes, but he can manage anything
if he has room to move. He gathers cattle, sheep, and goats out of
sight in the pasture with no problem, even heifers with cows on
the other side of the fence. All cattle obey him without question. I
bought bottled diary calves that were very gentle to get him going.
He learned to control them and that they weren’t dangerous so now
he is okay on most any stock. When trialing on strange stock I have
to let things get a bit wild in the beginning so he can establish his
dominance. Then the rest of the run usually goes like clockwork.
Another building up thing you can do is let the dog hold stock off
of a feeder. Back the pup up. He needs to win every encounter. Also
you can take your pup into a round pen and the two of you walk on
the fence into the heads of your stock. You may be moving them at
first, but when they turn away, stop and watch for a moment. Then
walk around them outside the bubble to their heads and walk into
the heads again. With each “win” your pup will get braver.
Finally, Finals!
the big picture as they are strung out grazing. A few inside flanks
with the larger group seems to be easier to train for this dog. He
is so much fun. He has been rating better; no need to help him
mechanically. I’m using him to sort my stock for different dogs
to work. He is offering stops and working the outside of the flight
zone. I’ve been hauling him to other places to work cattle. We are
working with large groups of 40 that we sort off into 5 or 10 head.
Soon – the trial arena – hopefully, this year.
Mystery Pup Nessa — Overcoming the Past
By the time you read this our first trial of the season will be
in the books and we’ll have either earned Nessa’s WTCH or not.
Either way it goes, we still have so much work to do in our quest.
One thing I’ve been very fortunate in of late has been more
regular exposure to cattle. You see, Nessa has always enjoyed cattle.
I won’t say she enjoyed working them, because too often she was
merely harassing them for her own entertainment. That’s how I
saw things, at least. I’m certain she would argue the point.
In any case, not being able to train on them with any consistency
wasn’t fair to any of the parties involved. The truth is, as much as
Nessa enjoys cattle, she really doesn’t have much of a clue as to
how to control them. Oh, she can make them move, but not in an
acceptable or safe manner. Learning that has been paramount.
Now that Nessa gets to work them at least once a week and
occasionally more than that, it has made a world of difference for
us both. I’m able to set up exercises and control the situation to
show Nessa what I want done and how to do it. We have a lot of
negative history to overcome on that score, and it’s a bit of a hurdle
for us both, but we’re making progress.
Not only have we been working on keeping her behind the
cattle, but also flanking wide when one breaks, to get out in front
and stop it instead of hazing it. We’ve also done quite a bit of work
in a 16x16 pen getting her more comfortable in pressure, keeping
her off the nose, and developing her heel. It’s in there, now I just
need to coax it out. The more she realizes she’s got power on the
heel as well as the head, the more we’re going to rock this.
I’ll be able to report next time on whether our hard work pays
off.
*****
Mystery Pup Reports
The mystery pups are all coming along nicely. You may
find it interesting to see how many of the challenges, training
approaches, and successes you can relate to if you have also trained
a stockdog pup. I want to thank each Mystery Pup trainer for their
contributions. It is very generous of you to share your experiences
with the ASCA community.
Mystery Pup Lessons to Learn
Winter has been great in the south! It has been very mild this
year. I’ve been working on large outruns in a 300x200 pen with
groups of about 50 head of sheep. The object is getting him to see
Mystery Pup Dude – Sometimes It’s a Long, Slow Haul
Dude… well… I admit it, he tries my patience. Not through
any fault of his own, however. It’s because he’s still so much puppy
even though he’s starting to physically mature and take on the airs
of a “real” dog.
I was working in him the pen one day, with a friend watching
on. We were focusing on having Dude walk in on the sheep and
hold the pressure until the sheep turned off to help him realize he
can move them without that dreaded puppy bounce. He was doing
well. Every now and again my friend would tell me to break him
off. I was busy watching my stock and didn’t have her vantage point
so couldn’t see the reason for it; his little stub starting to twitch
back and forth as though winding up for pounce.
I heaved a disgruntled sigh, after which she reminded me, “He’s
still a puppy.” It’s the same reminder I get from my husband. “He’s
young yet.” They’re both right, of course. I remind myself I vowed
80 AUSSIE TIMES May-June 2017