Consistency urged when disciplining dogs

01-12-2006 | Contributor

Some of you may disagree with certain aspects of the following article but please don’t hassle the editor as these aren’t necessarily his views.

You are more than welcome to ‘pick a bone’ with me personally.

If you don’t have a relatively obedient working dog you may as well leave him behind in his kennel when you work stock. And because it is such an important issue we will continue with the subject again this month.

In last months article I described my methods of reprimanding young dogs, but often it doesn’t work as well as it should.

Why? Well it may be because the dog has a very defiant, strong nature, or he never had basic lessons early enough, he may even be a dog that you acquired later in life and he has had his own way too long. Trying to dominate him has little or no effect.

You have to have control of a working dog and if gentle, kind means don’t work then stronger action is needed.

I always try ‘the gentle approach’ first and I would like to hope that others will follow my lead.

At the moment I have three young pups aged five months – what I recommend you not to do.

One pup is easy; you will have very little trouble but unless you have great facilities and lots of time, anymore will have you ripping your hair out.

Up until now it has been a breeze but they are at the ‘young adolescent’ stage and one in particular has a rebellious streak. Last month’s lessons have little effect and because I couldn’t allow him to defy me, drastic action was needed.

He is the sort of dog that if he was in a pack situation he would be a ring leader in no time, but because he is domesticated and humans dictate the order of the day and how it is to be done, he has to toe the line.

Because I am not about to sink my teeth into him and draw blood in a vicious canine battle he needs to feel pain and defeat by other means.

Some of you use hobnail boots, battens, brute strength, teams of dogs and any other dangerous means you can think of, to put a dog in its place.

They are ‘dangerous’ because the dog may not survive - literally.

Something that is very flexible and thin will inflict pain but not damage. Some of you will recall the days of the cane. I can only imagine.

Nowadays we tend to reason with children but we cannot reason with a dog. A farm dog is a different kettle of fish to a town dog that has been bred to be a pet for generations and that tit bits will aid teaching it the basic commands of sit, stay etc.

Our farm dogs work a great distance from us, have been bred for decades to be tough and hard working, and have a huge responsibility working with large numbers of valuable stock.

We must have control, and at times it isn’t easy. And just as we need to praise a dog for work well done we need to discipline it when necessary.

Back to Ted jnr. Because he had been held in the dominant position and growled at, he knew reprimand and could associate it with wrongdoing, but his defiant nature proved too strong and he would bark on the chain seconds later or not come when called.

My horsewhip is perfect for the job. Thin, flexible, strong, two foot long and apart from stinging it won’t damage a dog providing you only strike the body.

Ted wore it. I had to repeat the performance the next day but I haven’t since, thank God, because it isn’t something I enjoy.

Now if he doesn’t obey first time, I just say ‘listen to me’ and he does – I said ‘listen to me’ as he was being punished so therefore he associates the words with the hurt and from now on, hopefully, the words will be all that is needed.

If he is particularly rebellious he may need a repeat performance.

Horrible as it may sound it is better to give one good hiding that he will remember, than a couple of limp wacks on a regular basis.

I cannot stress enough that it is vital that you are consistent – you are wasting your time if you reprimand him one minute for something and then let him get away with it for the next week or two until you can’t take it anymore and then reprimand him again.

He will be totally confused and have no idea what is going on and therefore will not learn the lesson. It will be quicker in the long run to stop what you are doing and insist that he obeys – now - than to have the same problem in six months time because you didn’t train with consistency.

I might add here that I don’t keep strong willed dogs; I prefer a soft natured, easy dog but there are lots of people that like a dog with ‘balls’.

It is really important to only keep dogs that have the sort of nature you prefer otherwise the two of you will always be in conflict.

In a litter of pups I pick one that sits back and watches rather than bounds forward being everyone’s friend, and it is seldom that we don’t get on. Sitting back isn’t timid – there is a difference.

Soft is somewhat standoffish with strangers but gentle and relaxed when stroked.

Timid is terrified of everything, hiding, running away and bullet material. If reared correctly there are very few, truly, timid dogs.

Firm is bold, friendly, not fazed by anything and bossy with the other pups.

If the pups have been bred and handled by a knowledgeable person, that person should have a good insight to their natures, and be able to advise you if you are unsure.

In my mind there are more, bolder harder dogs being bred than people to handle them and the average farmer would be happier with a kind, easy to work dog, and I think that is where a lot of problems stem from.

I have found that the gentler-natured dog responds well to a growl and will seldom, if ever, need any more than a gruff voice or placing in the submissive position.

It doesn’t matter how well trained a dog is – if it has a hard defiant nature and is sold to a gentle person, that dog will soon cause stress.

If breeders and trainers were more responsible in their sales there would be less unruly dogs causing havoc because dog and handler would be better suited.

It goes back to not selling pups to people who don’t know how to train, don’t wish to learn, can’t be bothered or who have a bad track record with young dogs; to selling a dog to an opposite natured person.

Mind you, the seller needs to be honest about the dog - many aren’t; so buyers beware as well.

Next month I’m going to cover electric dog collars. They are on the market, readily available and recommended for all sorts of dog problems. I think you will find this a very interesting and informative article.

• Anna Holland can be contacted on (06) 372 5722.

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