Release Me

Nell and Tam being started together

Working Tam yesterday, I noticed that he was bothered by the long line I had him on. The drag on his collar caused him to turn his body at odd times, slow down and even lie down when he shouldn't have. It occurred to me that we put our pups on a long line at first to gain control of some sort, then are slow to remove it, because we're afraid to give it up.

I didn't like what that long line was doing to him. I'll take messy, and confident over tidy and cautious every time. Even the slightest trepedation at 9 months is no good in my book. So, off it came, and you should have seen him free up. It was a beautiful thing. His speed increased, his flanks opened up and he was more keen to change directions. Good call!

I introduced the fetch today. It took a bit of running on my part, because my sheep are trotty. So I worked them back and forth across the narrower width of my rectangular field asking Tam to find his way directly behind them instead of flanking around. He started lik a pendulum swinging in wide arcs from side to side only changing directions when the pressure of my body caused it. Then, as he tired, and I become more insistent that he line out behind them, he settled in. Once Tam understood the drill and gave me a fairly steady walk up directly behind the sheep without upsetting them, I let him come to a standing stop, said the word "stand," and finished up with flank drills.

I used flank commands today, interspersed with "there," which brings him to a stop and will eventually tell Tam where to stop the flank, to walk up, and where the line is. We didn't do much of this. I could tell Tam was tiring, because he began to lay down on his own. I called him to me, said "that'll do" and he happily walked away with me.

I've seen dogs that wouldn't call off their sheep, and it's sometimes because they've been pressured so much in a training session, and not allowed enough freedom. When a dog is having fun, and doing what comes naturally to them, I've found they're a lot happier to comply with my requests and are far more obedient. It's when commands and obedience don't make sense to them, and counter their natural instincts that the trouble begins.  I see way too many people in training, and on the trial field using a chain saw when only the finest sand paper is needed to teach a dog. I'm remvoing Tam's rough edges as gently as I can, and he likes it.

A Good Day

Star and Tam

I don't have the ideal sheep for starting pups. More would be my first choice. I only have 6 at the moment, and 2 of them are in with the ram. But, if I had to wait until conditions were right, I'd still be training Price, so I make do with what I have. I compensate in the training, and I look for better opportunities all the time.

Tam made real progress today. We're finished with the round pen, but that means more running for me. In 3 acres my sheep can find lots of ways to evade the puppies, and they do. With Tam on a line, I start him towards his sheep saying "look" and "where's your sheep?" then turn him loose. He has some balance and feel, and will make an attempt to flank around, but once the sheep break and run, it's a foot race with the sheep winning.

If he dives through, (slices) and grips, I give a growl without much intention. It's a fine line between letting him feel my disapproval, and scaring him. He's one that is sensitive to pressure so I'm mindful of how much and when I use it. His first go was a bit of a rodeo, with the sheep escaping, but Tam became very willing to flank away from the pressure of my body, and I used it to help him hold sheep to one end of the field. A couple times they got past him, and I encouraged him to go get them, which meant, in most cases, that he would slice through the middle and stop only 2 or 3. Better that than being afraid to try. When things go hooki-lau Tam's tendency is to lie down, and I don't want that. Better to let him try something, even if it's messy.

After a bit of that, he began to understand that my growls upon his slice meant to widen and bring them all. Once he demonstrated that understanding, I tied him to the fence and worked Nell, another youngster I am starting for a client. Things got pretty when I brought him back out. I firmly believe our dogs will mull over their training and come back better. The smart ones will any way, and Tam is quite smart.

The sheep were in the middle of the field against the fence. I walked him up with me then gave him a shush. He was quite happy to flank around between the sheep and the fence and hold them to me. This time I moved more quickly and used my body to make him flank from side to side and hold the sheep from escaping. A bit of that, and he had them. I could just see the light come one. I moved to the middle of the field, and began for the first time, to put words to the flanks. I also added a "there" where I moved my body to change his direction. That will lead to my being able to remain stationary while I flank the dog and change his direction. I'm laying ground work at this point.

Tam likes to lie down, so I'm careful about asking for it. At this point, I only use it when we're finished. It took 2 attempts, but on the 2nd try, he stayed on his belly, then came to me when I said "that'll do."  I gently led him by the collar until I was sure he'd come unhooked, and we called it a very good day.

Ah-Hah!

Ah-Hah! Clong! I got it! Those phrases all describe Tam's day today. As you can see from the picture, he's worn out from all the activity, but today a teeny little light bulb flashed on over his head. All I ask is improvement from day to day, and that is just what my bright youngster gave me today. He was better than yesterday.

As keen to work as ever, Tam headed down to the round pen yesterday after a few days off and was all about the slash and burn. I mean the streak and grab. OK, well the dash and dine, if you will, and determinedly in just one direction, come-bye. His preference was also to stop and go. In other words, he would fly around the round pen, hang and rattle on a ewe, then lie down looking at me and refuse to move.

As happens, I lost patience with him in the beginning and unfairly insisted he travel both directions. He just refused to move, so I got him going happily come-bye, then slipped in front to turn him. With that he would beat me, slice to the inside and grip. Am I too old for this, I wondered? Have the pups gotten faster? That must be it, because I can still move, I'm sure.

After a few greased lightening away-to-me turns, we called it a day with Tam panting heavily. It was hot, he's out of shape. Would he be better tomorrow? Hope so.

You bet he was. As we entered the round pen, I stood on his rope while I tied the gate shut. I didn't want the sheep escaping as they did the first day. I may not be the sharpest knife in the drawer, but I can learn from mistakes.

This time I encouraged him to flank come-bye and he happily complied. It's easier to change directions when their feet are moving and they're a bit too excited to realize they're doing something uncomfortable.  And the dog can mortally fly. There was less wool pulling too, but Tam still managed a couple impressive hang and rattles. I tried to keep up, but it's been 2 years since I started a pup, and I seem to have lost a step or two along the way.

Pretty soon, Tam was traveling willingly in both directions and reversing from simple changes in my body position. At that point, I introduced verbal commands. Do I expect him to understand them? Of course not, but I always introduce them at the earliest opportunity.

Next I moved to flank him, then backed to the fence so Tam could fetch. Before he or the sheep came to a full stop, I moved to flank him the other way again backing to the fence for the fetch. We were flowing and it was a beautiful thing.

Never wanting to over do with pups, I quit while I was ahead. I asked Tam to walk up without flying in, which took two requests. On the 2nd try he accomplished a quiet walk up, and a nice stand, so I said "lie down" and he hit his belly grinning. He came towards me when called ignoring the sheep right in front of him, I grabbed his collar, said "that'll do," and walked out giving much praise on the way.

So all this made for an excellent day, and I would prefer to continue it daily for a while. Unfortunately, I'll be at a dog trial beginning tomorrow, and Tam will be on full rest. We'll see how he comes back after the time off.

Tam's Big Day

Photo credit, Jan Elliott

Tam got his first go on sheep today. I love to start the young ones. There's just something so innocent about their first efforts. It looked as though Tam couldn't believe his luck when we headed down to the practice pen. He took off toward the round pen as soon as I opened the gate, and I let him, because there's no substitute for the exuberance of youth.


Even though he was on a long line, he still got away from me inside the round pen. Chaos ensured, and the sheep clanged the gate open to escape. There was a break in the action while I retrieved Price to restore order and return my sheep to the pen. With a tighter grip on the long line, and the gate tied shut, Tam and I went for it again.

His preference was to pin sheep to the fence, then jump in and bite them when they made a break for it. No fear, no hesitation, no feel, no balance and no pace, but this wasn't my first pup to begin that way. Over the years I've learned to let them have their way. The good news is that he was very conscious of my presence even if he was perfectly happy to ignore it at first. I gave a growl for inappropriate behavior, which was pretty much constant, but there was no intention to it. I just wanted to introduce the concept of what makes me happy, and what doesn't.

That's when I found the lunge whip. Just about the time I was wishing I had one, I saw it lying against the fence. Now I had a way to keep speedy Tam off the sheep long enough to get between him and them to ease him around, instead of through. It worked, and just as most dogs do, he chose a side and it was left.

Running as fast as that small diameter allowed him, he circled the sheep, fearlessly squeezing between them and the fence. That just gave him an excuse to bite them, so instead of trepidation, I saw only elation. With my back to the fence to get him to fetch, Tam simply orbited between me and the sheep on a blindingly fast inside flank executing another wool-pull on the way by. OK, plan B.

He was determined to only travel come-bye despite my repeated efforts to change his direction. As I've done so often with dogs, I grabbed his collar, followed the sheep on the away-to-me side then sort of shoved him through in that direction. Tam realized immediately that between fence and sheep is between fence and sheep on both sides and you can bite them in both directions. After that, it was easy.

Now a test. Since I got him 3 months ago, we have been practicing a lie down, off sheep, in the yard. He's got it down pat out there. In fact for a while I had to quit practicing, because every time I looked at him, he laid down. But in here where things are so tremendously exciting, would he take it? And the answer is YES!

I got him slowed down and looking at me, then in my happiest voice said; "lie down." With this huge goofy grin on his face, tongue lolling and breathing hard, he said; "OK," and down he went. Well, of course, so did I. Right to his side to give him one of those huge, rubbing, patting, kissing, oh-so-happy-that-a-boy finishes that my dogs know and love. Good day. Good dog!