Page 57 - Demo

Practice the “walk on” from various locations around the flock.
zone as is possible for your dog’s degree of training. Your dog is the minute hand, moving just outside the flight zone when flanking, and into it when commanded to “walk up.”
The walk up from various locations can be started when your dog is comfortable stopping at any point on the perimeter of the flight zone. From the stop, tell the dog to walk up. The walk up must be straight into the stock, not a sliding flank. If your dog does not walk straight into the stock, you will notice the first two or three steps are straight before he begins his slide. Take that much, stop the dog, and then ask him to walk up again. He will normally begin by walking straight for a few more steps. Now flank him, guiding him to move outside the flight zone on this flank. These walk ups should not be more than a few feet. You are teaching the dog to walk into his stock from any location on the circle. The distance he walks forward is not the point of this exercise. At this time, less distance while straight is better than long movements that arc rather than move in a straight line. Our goal is to teach the dog to walk straight into his stock from any location. This is the first step of driving. Have him walk up three steps into the stock, then flank him again, making sure he is letting pressure off the stock on his flanks, only applying pres- sure to move the stock on his walk ups.
It is time to introduce the steady. During early train- ing, it is best to do it in a smaller training area so the dog does not feel you are causing him to lose his stock because of the stops. Since we are working on walk up and we want straight lines, we would do this in a square or rectangular pen, not a round pen. In the beginning, we will use this while the dog is bringing (fetching) sheep to us. While your dog is walking into the stock, moving them, softly give the command “steady.” Make the word sound like the action you want to see. Say it gently and slowly, perhaps drawing it out a bit. Do not spit it out fast and hard. You will not get the action you want because your tone is telling him the opposite.
After saying “steady,” allow a second to pass, then down or stand your dog. Continue doing this. Give the command to move slowly: “Steady”...followed by a slight pause, then the Stop command. Soon the dog
will hear steady, anticipate a stop, and slow his pace. At first, even if he slows his pace, you will stop him. As you see he is consistently slowing, begin to skip the stop on occasion. The better your dog becomes at constantly slowing his pace, the less stops you give him. Once he is doing this well and consistently in a small area, move to a larger place to work. Make your walk up cover greater distances. Continually practice all the founda- tion moves in various locations, large and small.
Your goal is to teach your dog to keep the stock mov- ing at the same speed you are moving, not pushing the stock past you. He should be working on the outside edge of the flight zone, at a location that applies enough pressure to move the stock, while not so close that the stock feels it must run or group unnecessarily tightly or close together. Using your Stop and Steady, teach your dog to rate his stock. The stock should move at a con- trolled walk and with a minimum of stress. The dog will rate, move, and control the stock from the correct posi- tion along the alert/flight zone. This will require many hours of practice on a variety of stock and in different locations to perfect.
Every time you and your dog are working stock, keep in mind your ultimate goal: quiet partnership. You are the one in charge of showing your partner the correct way to move and control livestock in the least stressful manner possible. There are several things you can do to facilitate your understanding of herding which would enhance your ability to develop your dog to his full potential. First, study livestock and move livestock your- self. Learn to identify the zones; alert, flight, fight. Learn to identify leaders, followers, overstress animals, and livestock that have been pushed to the point of fight- ing. Learn what heads, ears and body posture tell you about your stock. Study until you truly understand what is being communicated to you. Read animal behavior books. Moving Em by Burt Smith is one of many books that supply a great amount of information concerning livestock and how to read and understand their actions, as well as move and control them. The more you know about livestock, the better able you will be to pass the correct information on to your dog.
In the March/April 2005 issue of the Journal we began instructions for starting your dog on livestock. It arrived while many areas had winter weather that may have interfered with training. If you haven’t been able to train, do not rush to keep up with this series. Take time with your dog. These articles should become a part of your training library, there to refer to as you progress. It is far better to develop your dog’s herding skills properly than to rush through them in an effort to keep up with this series or anything else, for that matter. Until next issue, happy herding.
May/June 2005 The Australian Shepherd Journal 55