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you need to practice hard yourself.
Name each of the actions or behaviors your dog
has been offering in this manner. Give the command “tut-tut;” name the resulting action. The following are actions your dog has been taking and the common commands used for them:
• Walk-up or walk-on—means to walk straight into the stock, making it move
• Stand, sit, or down—the dog should stop moving • Go by—circle the stock clockwise
• Away to me—circle the stock counter-clockwise.
This is important: Communicate with your dog in a quiet conversational-volume voice. Even if your dog is 100 feet away from you, he can hear your voice when you talk to him. As an interesting test, you might enjoy whispering to him. You will be pleasantly surprised at how keen his hearing is when you allow him to use it— rather than assume he can’t hear, yelling commands. Dogs that must have their commands yelled at them have been trained that way. Today we are at the begin- ning. Today we will train our dog to be a fun partner we can talk to, not yell at.
Let’s explore the value of talking to your dog rather than yelling. The first point is the impact that yelling has on the livestock. It puts them on edge and begins to add unnecessary stress. The more stress you add, the
Block the side you don’t want the dog to travel. From the “down’ to the “away to me.”
‘”Away to me” the training tool being flipped to encouraging the dog to move further off the stock.
more likely they will become difficult to handle. Try this, without your dog: go to stock and talk quietly to them. Now start yelling. Your voice had an immediate effect on the stock, didn’t it? Yelling also adds pressure on the dog. It is difficult to teach a dog to work in a quiet relaxed manner when you are providing a hyped- up atmosphere by yelling and screaming. The environ- ment created by yelling is detrimental to the stock’s and the dog’s stress level.
Once you feel certain your dog knows the word com- mands for the action, it is time to introduce the com- mands on demand. From a stop, have the dog do a square “away to me.” While he is circling the livestock away to me, begin the new lesson. Stop him at different places on the perimeter of the flight zone. Sometimes have him go 180 degrees around the stock, while other times only allow him to travel 10, 20, or 30 degrees, before being stopped, and then send him again. Vary it. When flanking him, mix the action and directions so at times his circle will carry him toward you (behind you), while other times it will take him in the direction away from you.
You will be teaching your dog to stop in various loca- tions in relationship to the sheep. Guaranteed, there will be positions more difficult for your dog than oth- ers. You will need more patience and practice on the difficult than the easy. Use the action that is easiest as a treat or reward for your dog, spending more time and working him harder on the more difficult.
This exercise we are discussing gives many repetitions on both square-flank and stop training and goes far to extend the learning pattern.
During this training, we are fairly close to the sheep and the dog. This can mislead you into thinking of the flanks as directions around you. Flanks are not around you, although you may be within the circle. Flanks have nothing to do with you or your position. They have to do with the dog going around the stock. Think of the face of a clock. The livestock is at its center, and everything happens in relationship to them. During this stage of training, you are the hour hand and are keeping your positions as close to the edge of the flight
54 The Australian Shepherd Journal May/June 2005