Dog training

[cross_7]

I copied this from another site and I'm sure he wouldn't mind. He has said things that I didn't grasp at first then as I began to understand it was like a light come on in a dark room

Tony McCallum
teach the job , not just commands. l think todays approach involves way too much lie down, come bye, way, etc without any purpose but control. Piddling around with training in a pen until the dog obeys and then home they go leaving the cattle in the same spot as they started. That will sour a dog and take away independent thought. l watch people ordering their dog this way that way , drive fetch left and right to a point if they stop speaking the dog has no idea what he was really doing there. So my suggestion is start small, help the dog learn the job, successfully complete some part of a job each time you take it out

A few years ago I had been using a dog to move cattle and I was having trouble with getting the job done and the dog taking commands
I had asked a question and I'm paraphrasing what Tony said and I may be off a little but he said

Let the dog handle the job. Let the dog learn from his mistakes and learn to handle cattle on his own without you hollering "away to me" "come bye" "down" and so on
Who would want a dog that couldn't handle cattle without being told how to ?

The light came on at that point
I'd take the dog to the cattle and tell him to "bring'em" and I'd head to where I wanted them.
It was up to him to get them there, I never said a word. It turned out he did a better job without me giving him orders on how to do it.

 

[Howdyjabo]

Think of commands as ways to change things the dog is already doing. After each command the dog should be going back to auto control until it hears a new command. Sometimes that means that there are no commands all the way to the other extreme of constant commands. But the dog should always have a default that it goes to on its own in the absence of a command. I have two defaults- one is to bring stock to me, the other is to take cattle to the pens. The dogs can figure out pretty quick which one I am after- then I leave them alone unless needed.

 

[cow pollinater]

My first and arguably only well trained dog was given to me by my cousin and his wife. They raise and train border collies. She had a list of commands half a page long and was putting him through the paces for me and I remember thinking that that dog was smarter than I am for remembering it all. After I left my cousin called me and told me "just tell him to get'em up and let him work. If he's doing something you don't like just tell him to quit and he'll do something different." :lol: That's how I do it now.

About a month later she called me and asked how he was doing. She started asking questions about which direction he goes when I tell him to come by or away and things like that. The way they work, she trains the dogs and then when they have all the commands down he takes them to work with him. As it turns out they had their commands all mixed up. He had come by and away backwards from what she taught the dogs and had a few commands that they didn't know because she used different words for the same thing. It took them a looong time to figure it out because the dogs would just adjust to what they thought they should be doing. When she'd tell them to do something they would do it her way and when he did, they did it his way.

 

[Anonymous]

Good info and well timed for me. I'm picking up a new dog Sunday. Son of a eukenuba grand champion. Blue heeler 4 year old male. Hasn't worked cows but I've been told he has all the instincts and should train well. If not they will take him back.
I'll keep this in mind as we work with him

 

[highgrit]

Hope he makes a good dog Hook. My best cow dog was a German Shepard of all things.

 

[Anonymous]

Hope he makes a good dog Hook. My best cow dog was a German Shepard of all things.

Thanks. Little snickers ( Aussie x lab) is doing well but I think she could benefit from another more instinctive dog showing her the ropes. She does real well keeping them from getting too close but hasn't figured out catching them up yet

 

[cross_7]

When I was kid my Dad had a dog that was one of the best I've ever seen
He lived with us just like family, slept in the house, rode in the front seat and ate when we did.
He just seems to know what we were trying to get done. He didn't give him commands, he'd say things push that one right there or get up there and turn them back. He always understood what he told him.
It was funny someone would tell him what to do or call him to come to them and he'd just ignore them or look at my dad as to ask "is that what you want me to do ?"

I like mind to know left and right, push'em and get back(don't pressure them)
I haven't had to use mine since the last places have been small places and just had cows, but with bigger places or stocker calves they make things lots easier

I don't see how on big places with brush how you gather cattle, you can't hardly gather them out of the brush without a dog.
The cattle learn not to cause trouble or try break and run off cause they learn a nose bite is coming if they do.

 

[Anonymous]

The sound of a bag of cubes shaking gets em moving pretty good. That then becomes the sound of the quad or truck that brings the 2 leg walkers that bring the cubes. Then that becomes the hollering of the 2 leg walkers yelling "c'mon girls"

 

[cross_7]

The sound of a bag of cubes shaking gets em moving pretty good. That then becomes the sound of the quad or truck that brings the 2 leg walkers that bring the cubes. Then that becomes the hollering of the 2 leg walkers yelling "c'mon girls"

That's what I've done on the last 2 places I had, but that doesn't work in big pastures with cows that don't know what a feed sack is.

 

[branguscowgirl]

The sound of a bag of cubes shaking gets em moving pretty good. That then becomes the sound of the quad or truck that brings the 2 leg walkers that bring the cubes. Then that becomes the hollering of the 2 leg walkers yelling "c'mon girls"

That's what I've done on the last 2 places I had, but that doesn't work in big pastures with cows that don't know what a feed sack is.

Gotta chum um cross! Teach them what it is before you turn them out! They'll come! :nod: