Consistency needed to stop bad habits

If your dog is working too close to the sheep, walk towards him and threaten him with your stick.

01-03-2007 | Anna Holland

I was talking with a friend recently who has a young heading dog that is steady, kind and very suitable for what he requires but he can be a bit lazy and inclined to have a lie down for a breather from time to time.

Now I can hear a lot of you say “shoot it”, but he is young, still learning and ideal in every other way. He just needs to be taught that this is unacceptable behaviour.

What I would do is force him by insisting – chasing. There is no point in doing this if he doesn’t have any commands, but let’s say ‘away’ means run and he understands that. I would then get right up him, wave my stick and in a very insistent tone say ‘away’.

In most cases, that’s all that is needed, although you may have to repeat it a few times.

Don’t hit him – teach him.

But do consider other causes – is he literally exhausted? Possibly dehydrated? Or maybe there is a health problem.

Brooke was a super wee huntaway, tons of noise, hard working and honest, in fact one of the best I’ve had.

She can only have been about three or four when she started to be a bit reluctant to go up a steep hill.

Stupid me would chase her on the horse, forcing her on. I hate myself now - I should have realised she was acting totally out of character.

A few months later I took her to the vet for a check up as she was a little sunken in the flanks and slightly pot bellied.

He never bought her out of the anaesthetic - she had a huge cancer on her liver. I was devastated, a heartbreaking lesson.

Another common problem is for young dogs to cut in, not cast out wide enough, when working. It is caused by either enthusiasm to get to the stock as fast as possible or through being tired and taking a short cut.

If you allow it to happen it will soon become their working style and a hard habit to break, resulting in them ignoring stock away from the main mob, putting too much pressure on stock and cutting stock off. Training and timing are critical for this cure.

What do I mean? Don’t do this in the very early stages or you will probably sour the dog and it will be reluctant to run out at all.

He needs to be very keen to work the stock, but not so keen and for it to be going on for so long that it becomes a habit.

When you are in the small holding paddock and working the stock close at hand if he starts coming in too close, wave your stick as you move towards him saying gruffly ‘gurrrrrt’. You may need to throw it so it lands between him and the stock.

This should be enough for him give them more space, and you will need to repeat it each time he does it.

I find a plastic milk bottle with a few stones in it good as it makes a noise as it lands just in front of them. Say ‘gurrrt – c a r e f u l’.

You want your dog to give stock space, allowing them to move slowly and steadily – that is good stockmanship. It is not good stockmanship having stock run, arriving at their destination stressed, tonguing and afraid of you and your dogs.

But maybe he is cutting in when he runs out. Have him stand/sit and you quietly move the sheep away some distance, stay close to the sheep and then send your dog out.

As soon as he starts coming in, threaten him out as you move towards him. It should work – if it doesn’t you are doing it wrong.

Ok, we have fixed close at hand but inevitably once you get out into a paddock and in a work situation the young dog will start to cut in again. It usually happens in the first few metres of running out - he takes a line that is too direct.

Stop him – call him back – stand him quietly on the side you wish him to run out on and then send him out again. If he starts to do the same thing again, stop him, call him back, stand him again and then this time as you send him out move towards him – threatening him out.

When he is going in the right direction say nothing, keep quiet, if he constantly hears burble from you all the time he won’t hear something important. If you have done your previous training well and your dog has a reasonable understanding of his commands this should do the trick. A dog hates being stopped, called back and re-sent. Have patience, be consistent, and insist he does it right. It won’t be long before he realizes it is far better to do it right the first time.

Well-trained dogs, plus patience and common sense ensures good stockmanship and better profits.

• Anna Holland can be contacted on 027 28 44 639.

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