The Education of Ben

[Beekissed]

Ben is loving the deep snow and Jake is loving that Ben is out there keeping guard in the deep snow. I notice that Jake is taking the luxury of staying in his warm bed on these cold, snowy mornings and letting Ben stand guard for the food bringer and all things on the homestead. I so LOVE that. Jake's getting older and this was the perfect time to get him some help out there and God sent me the perfect breed/dog for the job.

They both played like pups in the snow all morning after a breakfast of deer liver and kibble. Ben is still belly deep in the snow, exploring and sniffing this new, white world and Jake is snuggled into the hay somewhere letting the next generation do the patrolling.

 

[Beekissed]

Snow dogs...

This polar bear kept stalking me...had blood on his muzzle from his most recent kill of deer liver. Everywhere I went, there he was! Spooky.

Here he is again, crouched for the kill...not very successful at hiding behind this brown dog.

Do you wanna build a snowmaaaaaan? It doesn't have to be a snowmaaaannnn. Ok, byyyyyyye.

 

[Beekissed]

As soon as the weather breaks I want to do some work with Ben on escorting my mother out to the mailbox, along with Jake, and obeying her commands. She is a very soft presence, so I'm going to be training her more than Ben but she also soon forgets the training, so Ben will have to remember her status like Jake does. I think she's afraid of Ben, afraid he won't mind her when she needs him to, afraid of his sheer size and puppy enthusiasm.

Also want to work with him on respecting Aliza, my 19 mo. granddaughter. He really violates her space and I've neglected training specifically for that, but it has to happen. I'll likely borrow the stroller and walk him with her in the stroller, then walk him with her holding my leash hand, then see if I can get her to carry the leash on her own and walk him beside us.

He really needs some brushing up on his manners as we enter the crucial age in his life, when he starts becoming more assertive and independent. I've neglected that training in the busy fall season but I really need to work on it now before busy spring hits...I'll have chicks on the ground then and he needs to respect smaller, weaker presence before then. He also needs to see Mom and Aliza as part of my pack and respect their position in that pack over him.

Should be interesting to see how Mom and Aliza respond to their training.

 

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Did Mom's first training this morning, letting her see the feeding ritual and showing her how to wait patiently for the dogs to settle down at first greeting before proceeding towards the coop to feed the chickens. That's Mom's hardest thing to overcome, that lack of patience with an animal.

I showed her how the chickens don't get fed until they stop leaping up onto the feeder and wait patiently for me to portion out the feed. If they persist, I gently knock them off the feeder and continue to wait. It doesn't even take a full minute until they are all standing still and watching me instead of jumping around acting like fools. If this flock were more lethal I'd make them wait to come to the feeder until I let them, but these are all gentle, docile birds.

I've had pens of numerous roosters before, penned for butchering and feeding up on FF, that I trained to get back and stay back until I allowed them to come to the feeder. Only took a few days of training before they all caught on and after that I didn't have to wait at all...they just knew to retreat to the far corner and stand still until I left the pen.

After that training there was much less infighting and no crowing except at daybreak. It was a pretty cool experiment. And I didn't have to worry about turning my back or bending over in that pen for fear one of the roosters would take a notion to flog me. These were not raised here but were picked up~all breeds and ages~for free out of the locals for the purpose of canning them.

Anyhoo...I digress. So, she got to see Ben take a follower position after we waiting patiently for them to settle down. Then she got to see Ben's behavior for the feeding ritual and I must say, he performed it even better than he ever has and even Jake did better just by watching Ben. I didn't have to say a word to either dog as they laid patiently with head down on paws until I dished out the food. And they stayed in that position until I said, "Okay." She was delighted to see that happen, as she had never gotten to see my feeding ritual with Ben yet. That gives her great comfort to know she won't be fighting lunging and leaping dogs while trying to dish out dog food if she should ever have to do the feeding.

Then I tucked her arm in mine as we walked down to the house and Ben followed us both. That was Mom's first training on Ben and it went very well. When the snow melts off we'll do a pack walk and I'll get Mom to take the lead on Ben and teach him to obey her commands as well as mine. It will be a process for them both, but very important if she is to work with Ben while I'm not present. She's 81 and a small lady, so big dogs can be pretty intimidating, especially when they have puppy exuberance.

She enjoyed her first session, so I'm feeling pretty good about it all. Now she knows how much to feed the chickens and how to feed them without getting the rush, how much to feed the dogs and how to feed them as well. All good things to know if something happens to me.

 

[Beekissed]

Something new to add to Ben's bank of knowledge. He's learned what gets him the most positive feedback and has started using it elsewhere. Instead of barking impatiently if I spend too long in the chicken coop, he now lays down with his head down on his front paws, waiting patiently for me to emerge. He gets much praise for that when I come out.

When I go out in the mornings and both dogs are waiting at the edge of their boundary for me to come and feed, he used to prance and bound around in excitement...but, if I pause on the back porch steps and just wait a few minutes, that good dog will drop down on the ground, lay down with head on paws. Good dog!!!!

I'm loving it that this dog is smart enough to anticipate what I may want...this bodes well for all aspects of his training, as he seems to be working to please me and doing it quicker than he ever did. He's also no longer pouncing around on the chickens to get them to scatter as we walk along...he's learned I know what he's up to with that little move and I do NOT like it. Good dog!

Today I did food training, wherein I put my hand in the food bowl while they eat and kind of mess around in the kibbles. Jake will try to block me out, which gets him a reprimand and then he reluctantly gives up the food. Ben tried that a few times, when he did I removed the food until he settled down. Now when I do it, he just steps politely away from the pan and waits until my hand is out of there. Desired result!

I do that one every now and again so they don't start feeling possessive about their food and that they know, I'm not going to take their food from them altogether, I just need to control it for a moment. This will come in handy when I do the same thing with Aliza and Mom doing it with me. The dogs need to be really, really okay with Aliza being around while they are eating and they need to be okay if Mom is feeding them too. Jake's an old hand at this, as this has been happening for him since he arrived as a pup, but Ben needs to learn this as well.

And he is learning it well....I'm so very proud of him!!!

 

[BlessedWithGoats]

Aww! Ben sounds like such a wonderful dog!!

 

[Beekissed]

He's getting there! I'm praying to God that this continues and that Ben will fulfill his purpose here on the homestead, as he is sorely needed to help Jake in his old age. Meanwhile, I'm thanking God for bringing us such a good and humble animal to help us. He's such a gift from God!

 

[Beekissed]

The "Can't you see how patiently I'm waiting on you?" pose...

 

[Ferguson K]

Loving the updates!!! He's growing like a weed!!! Way to go Ben!

 

[goatgurl]

love that he 'gets it' so fast. he is working his way into being an awesome dog. and you are such a patient mama.
my friends in the Buckhannon area of w.va. got just over 2 ft of snow the other day. how'd youall fair?: