The Old Ram-Australia
Herd Master
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MEG and ME: Our journey begins.
Meg is a Kelpie mix, in spite of the fact she was bred from our “straight bred” kelpie dogs.
She shows a recessive gene from her past of Border Collie, but she is her mother’s daughter and would run through the “fires of hell” if i were to ask her too. She is now about 2 & 1/2 years old and is mentally and emotionally mature enough to take on the challenge of working sheep.
Now I have 4 Kelpies, 1 male and 3 females. I have found the key to this many dogs is that you have to make each one “feel special in your eyes”.
Now I know there are those of you out there who would say she should have started a couple of years ago and when starting males this can be the case and there are lots of studs that have the pups on sheep very young, but the problem with this is you can ruin the natural working instincts of a dog by “over controlling” it in the early days.
A young dog will always make “mistakes” in the early days, try not to scold it but simply call it back to the “heel” and let it observe what you are trying to get the sheep to do.
The first step was to bring her over to the house and kennel her there where she could see me first thing in the morning and get fed last thing in the afternoon. Prior to this she had learned all of the basics like she sat and waited till I told her she could eat her food .She would sit and wait till she was told it was OK to run once the clip on her lead was released .She would sit and wait at a gate until she was told to go through .She would come to “heel” immediately she was called.
Her training started with her staying beside me when it was time for the sheep to leave the house paddock in the afternoon. ”timing is of utmost importance”, the same time each day, it also means the sheep know in advance what is going on as well .After about 3 days I brought over Max to speed up the process and I let Meg run with Max as he went about the job .After 3 days Max stayed home and it was up to Meg .Now because I always work the sheep from behind taking up a position in the middle of the mob ,it is the dogs job to “work the wings” and to guide the sheep towards the objective .On the first day I would move toward the wing and point and call to Meg to “Go back”, at first she would move some way and stop and look back to me .I would then call her “to heel” and praise her for her effort (this is of utmost importance as it instills confidence in the dog).By the 4 th day she is working right to the edge of the wing and getting the sheep to “hurry along” without getting excited herself ,if she makes a little mistake with the path out I call on her to “STOP”, and “heel” and send her out again .As the handler you need to look and point accurately as she is watching my moves to determine her next move.
The story will continue as we move to open paddock work.
P.S. I forgot to take a new photo of the 4 dogs we will correct this next time.
Meg is a Kelpie mix, in spite of the fact she was bred from our “straight bred” kelpie dogs.
She shows a recessive gene from her past of Border Collie, but she is her mother’s daughter and would run through the “fires of hell” if i were to ask her too. She is now about 2 & 1/2 years old and is mentally and emotionally mature enough to take on the challenge of working sheep.
Now I have 4 Kelpies, 1 male and 3 females. I have found the key to this many dogs is that you have to make each one “feel special in your eyes”.
Now I know there are those of you out there who would say she should have started a couple of years ago and when starting males this can be the case and there are lots of studs that have the pups on sheep very young, but the problem with this is you can ruin the natural working instincts of a dog by “over controlling” it in the early days.
A young dog will always make “mistakes” in the early days, try not to scold it but simply call it back to the “heel” and let it observe what you are trying to get the sheep to do.
The first step was to bring her over to the house and kennel her there where she could see me first thing in the morning and get fed last thing in the afternoon. Prior to this she had learned all of the basics like she sat and waited till I told her she could eat her food .She would sit and wait till she was told it was OK to run once the clip on her lead was released .She would sit and wait at a gate until she was told to go through .She would come to “heel” immediately she was called.
Her training started with her staying beside me when it was time for the sheep to leave the house paddock in the afternoon. ”timing is of utmost importance”, the same time each day, it also means the sheep know in advance what is going on as well .After about 3 days I brought over Max to speed up the process and I let Meg run with Max as he went about the job .After 3 days Max stayed home and it was up to Meg .Now because I always work the sheep from behind taking up a position in the middle of the mob ,it is the dogs job to “work the wings” and to guide the sheep towards the objective .On the first day I would move toward the wing and point and call to Meg to “Go back”, at first she would move some way and stop and look back to me .I would then call her “to heel” and praise her for her effort (this is of utmost importance as it instills confidence in the dog).By the 4 th day she is working right to the edge of the wing and getting the sheep to “hurry along” without getting excited herself ,if she makes a little mistake with the path out I call on her to “STOP”, and “heel” and send her out again .As the handler you need to look and point accurately as she is watching my moves to determine her next move.
The story will continue as we move to open paddock work.
P.S. I forgot to take a new photo of the 4 dogs we will correct this next time.