taketimebordercollies.blogg.se

CONTROL CONFIDENCE BOND

What it is that the dog want to do with the sheep and what does it need to be able to do it.

There is three things that’s to my mind is absolutely essential for both the dog and the trainer. If the dog lacks ability in any of these three things, there will be situations in training and working with the dog that will cause problems.

Problems that can occur if the dog lacks in any of these three essentials

Chasing

Biting

Excitement

Not able to listen

Bad outruns

Bad flanks

Not cover the sheep

Can’t move sheep

Difficult to shed etc.   

Most sheepdogs lack ability in one or more of these three important factors to some degree and this is just normal and to me it is very important to work with this in a positive way from the beginning of the sheepdogs training.

Control

What the dog that is just starting and getting keen to work the sheep is trying to do is to control the sheep. This is by far the absolute most important thing for the dog in all its working life. The dog needs to and must be able to feel that is has control over the sheep on its own. If the dog does not feel in control the dogs brain will not function very well and it is in the head of the dog the working ability is stored. It is the movement of the sheep that gets the dog wanting to control them. It is also the movement in sheep that can get the dog to chase bite and not have time to listen. In the start of a sheepdogs training it is to me VERY important to help the dog so it can develop its sense to control the sheep. Some dogs just have it, but most of them need help from us to bring out the dogs natural ability to control sheep.

Confidence

Border collies and Kelpies are a type of sheepdog that is called heading dogs. If  a dog lacks confidence this usually shows up when the dog goes to the heads on the sheep. It is quite a paradox that the heading dogs that is breed to go to the heads of the sheep and stop the escape route lacks confidence when they do the thing that it is breed to do.

To help the dog develop or build confidence is VERY important. A dog with a good confidence towards the sheep is a trustworthy dog in all situations. There are so many situations that will affect the dogs work more or less negative if the dog lacks confidence.

Bond

To be able to get a good bond (relation) with your dog when you’re training/working with it, the dog must have a fairly good feel for control of the sheep and a fairly good confidence. Control and confidence does not have to be bombproof in the start but it needs to be fairly good before training can proceed.  If the dog feels it is going to lose control of the sheep it will not be able to listen. The dog will go into priority number one in its genetic make, and that is to control the sheep. Listen to the shepherd will be secondary. If a dog lacks confidence  when it goes to the heads of the sheep or when the sheep look at the dog the dog will not be able to listen to the shepherd either. The dog will get into a “freeze”. If the dog is in situations where it is comfortable then it will not able to listen to us. It will not then be possible to train the dog into a good trustworthy sheepdog.

The conclusion to me is that if a dog lack in control or confidence then it will not be possible to build a good bond with the dog.

All these three things, control confidence and bond are essential to train a border collie or kelpie into a sheepdog. It all starts with the dogs feel for the control then the confidence and last the bond. If the dog does not have the first two the third will not happen. You can of course have a dog that fear you and do as it’s told but will it bring out its best abilities for you when you need the dog the most in difficult situations?

To me the art of training dogs into sheepdogs is to bring out the dogs natural abilities so the dog do it’s very best for me. A dog needs to be obedient and under control but it is the dog’s ability that handles the sheep.