PET CONCERNS

Article Tools

Image Gallery

Print

E-mail

Comments

RSS

The training sessions were only 10 minutes at first and slowly got longer as her attention span grew. At the end of every training session, I said, "That'll do, Nell." Nowadays, when she's working stock, I can say that and she will stop working and come right to me.

Feb. 24:Nell knows heel well enough now. I will teach her to lie down next.

Feb. 26:I made Nell lie down only two or three times each session today because it was her first time and she gets nervous being forced to the ground.

To teach her to lie down, I put Nell on the leash (not the lead) and ran all but about 18 inches of it under the middle of my shoe. Then I gave the command and pulled up on the long end of the leash to force Nell's head down. I pushed the rest of her body down with my free hand. After she was down for a few seconds, I let her up, said, "Move up" and walked a few feet with her beside me.

When she knew this well, I put her on the lead, told her to lie down and, when she was down, said, "Stay." She tried to get up and I said "Stay" again and pushed her back down. At first I had to repeat the command a lot. Soon I could walk all around her, holding onto the lead, without her getting up. A few days later I was able to let go of the lead and walk all around the yard. If she got up at any time, I would shake her by the scruff, say "No" and push her back down to the ground. After a few days' training sessions, I started going out of sight for a few seconds. Soon I could leave and expect her to stay lying down.

My next challenge was to teach Nell to lie down at a distance and move up toward me. I said "Lie down, stay" and then walked to the end of the lead, said "Move up" and pulled her a few feet toward me and then downed her again with "Lie down, stay." I worked on this for about a week till Nell knew it well.

When Nell could do all these basic commands, it was time to take her to the duck pen. Ducks are much less aggressive and skittish than sheep, so most trainers start working young dogs on ducks.

The Duck Pen

Apr. 28:Today I reviewed all of the basics with Nell. I took her to the duck pen to see how she would do. She did well until the end of the training session, when I couldn't catch her because she wanted to keep the ducks lined up with me! After trying to get her to come to me for some time, I gave up and walked away. Sure enough, Nell came away, too — she had nobody to keep the ducks lined up with!

May 3:I am working with Nell on the basics again — she isn't quite ready for the duck pen yet.

RSS | Comments | E-mail | Print