Some random Jock photo's

After looking through all of the photo's that I've taken the last couple of days, I thought I'd add a few more to the blog. These are just random shots of Jock being, well, Jock!

The sun may be shining, but it was freezing cold when this photo was taken this morning. This is his smiley face after chasing the wood ducks out of the paddock.

Not exactly the best way of carrying, although it does the job!

This watering can is just so much fun!

Tearing around the paddock with the tennis ball in his mouth. This is when he is playing 'keepings off' me!

Jocks first real go at sheep

At just 9 weeks old, Jock was allowed to have a go at working some lambs. The lambs I had chosen for this were only about 4 months old, and as they were bottle fed lambs (only recently weaned), they were very quiet and didn't mind being close to me. This proved to be a huge hinderence later on as they constantly tripped me up, and they wouldn't react the way paddock raised lambs did. There was effectively no leader, I was their leader, which caused a huge amount of problems.
A wise trainer once told me that the worst possible sheep to use were orphaned lambs, but that's all I had to use, and now I can fully understand why.
This  photo is one of the bottle fed babies that Jock was first allowed to 'play' with.

This little ewe lamb is called Perky. She's one of three that were bottle reared, and used as a 'first introduction' sheep.

This training session was done in a round pen. The pen was made up of mesh panels (6 metres long by 1.1 metres tall) and was approximately 19 feet across. More than big enough for the pup and lambs to move, but not too big that the pup could get out of reach.

To begin with I just wanted to see if Jock wanted to work the sheep. He was all for going up and saying hello, but that wasn't exactly what I was after. I wanted him to show an interest in getting around them and moving them, and he didn't disappoint.

It was at this stage that I introduced the plastic garden rake. I NEVER used it to hit him, or punish him. I would simply use it to block him from getting too close to the sheep and to encourage him to go in the other direction. With the sheep standing in one spot, and me between him and the sheep I was able to encourage him to go back and forth around me to each end of the sheep. This training session only last for about 5 minutes, but at the end of it, we were both happy, and a little tired.

Some basic training first

One thing I have always done is obedience train my dogs. Each and every one of them goes through the same training, adjusted slightly to suit different personalities.
Below is a list of things that each dog, including Jock, learns.
Come - All of my dogs are taught to come when called. Some learn this better than others, and some are faster to return than others. However, although with every other dog I have used the 'come' command to recall the dog, with Jock I changed it to "Here to me", which sort of comes out as "heretame" in one word. The reason behind this is because I wanted to use the command 'come-bye' when working sheep and didn't want him returning to me when I gave this command.
Stay - The dog is required to stay where I put it. Again, I changed this to 'stand' for Jock, for no other reason than it is what I heard a sheepdog trainer use. It works well and can't be confused with other commands.
Lead - The word lead is used every time I want to put the dog on the lead, or take the lead off. This is purely as a form of control. Each dog learns to wait calmly whilst the lead is clipped up and unclipped.
Pen - To go into their pen when told to, without first taking a wander around to check out the surroundings.
Wait - Especially good for getting dogs to sit and wait whilst you prepare their food. They are not allowed to eat until given a 'release' command, which is usually just a quick 'OK'.
Drop - Just as it sounds, drop down on to their belly with their elbows on the ground.

On top of all this, there's lead training. I will not have a dog tugging on the lead. It's not only bad manners and not good for their necks and throats, but it's not good on your hands either!

One thing that I hadn't taught a dog until Jock is 'stay close'. This is when the dog stays by your leg whilst you walk when off lead. It's proven a very handy tool for training around the sheep simply because I can keep him with me (most of the time) rather than have him take off and try to 'play' with the sheep by himself.

So, by the time Jock made it to three months old, not only had he started on sheep, but he had learned a whole host of obedience that would do him well in years to come.

How it all began, and why

For weeks leading up to bringing Jock home I had been scouring the internet looking for information on how to get Jock started on sheep. Youtube proved quite valuable for two reasons. One was a series of videos showing an older gentleman by the name of Ted Jones beginning training with one or two young dogs. These were only pups, and the training was very basic, but it gave me a starting point. The other was a short clip about a DVD that had been produced, which I will mention by name if I gain approval by the owner.

When Jock finally made it home, one of the first things I did was take him down to my sheep (on lead) for formal introductions. Almost all of my sheep come when I call them (usually expecting a feed) and were happy to stand on the other side of the gate and check out this little pup. At nine weeks of age, he didn't even reach their belly height, and knowing my sheep aren't that kind to dogs, I kept them on opposite sides of the fence.

The introduction went well, and Jock was very enthusiastic about it all. He desperately wanted to get in and 'play' with the sheep, but I needed him to grow up a bit first.

I might add, many people have advised me not to take my pup to sheep. He shouldn't be allowed to 'work' them, or even begin training until he is capable of outrunning them. I can understand the merit of this, however, I wanted to do things differently.

I didn't want to wait until my pup was 9 or 10 months old and already getting set in his way of doing things. I wanted him to retain his attitude, but to put it to use when I needed him to, rather than have to fight right from the word go to get my point across. It is something I saw for many years whilst working with, and breaking in horses.
If you get the chance to introduce a young horse (that is far from fully grown) to all of the gear (saddle, bridle, girths, rugs etc) when he is still small enough for you to be able to hold, you do not have anywhere near the hassles you have if you leave it until he is a very large, very strong (physically and mentally) 3 year old.

Imagine taking two Clydesdales at 8 months of age.
Clydie 1 is handled gently, and is allowed to taste, feel and wear all of the gear he will need to wear later on in his working career.
Clydie 2 is left to grow up in the paddock, with handling only when required, until his third birthday when he is asked to stand and have a bridle, saddle and girth put on.

If Clydie 1 reacts in an undesirable fashion, maybe by trying to run away, or shaking his body, or pulling back, you will be able to hold him and calm him. Although he is quite probably stronger than you, he is not aware of it at this age, and is unlikely to learn it as you hold firm on the rope.

If Clydie 2 reacts the same way, a Mack Truck wouldn't be able to hold him. You have effectively taught him that not only is this gear frightening, but if he pulls hard enough, he can get away from you. 2 lessons learnt that you will spend years trying to get him to unlearn.

Which would you prefer?

Although a dog may not be strong enough to pull out of your grip, he can still be strong enough to get away from you, or avoid doing what you ask, simply by ignoring you. Why wait for the fight to appear later when you can teach the dog as a young pup that you have ultimate control.

So, getting back on point, Jock had his first introduction to sheep. He knew what sheep were, but he'd never met my guys.

This was day one of his training.

At this risk of some people complaining about how I pen my dogs, I have put a photo of Jock's pen in here. As you can see, the pen is more than large enough for him, its in my lounge room (which is warm and out of the weather) and he absolutely loves it.
When this photo was taken, there was no bedding in his pen as it has been taken out to wash. He just loves playing in the mud and hasn't mastered the art of wiping his feet before going to bed! lol

Now, I do have a bigger pen (shown to the right of his trolley) which I built especially for Jock, but he is not interested. He likes his 'mobile home' and he isn't about to give it up easily. So, until I can convince him otherwise, he gets his way.

Jocks' first night home

Even though Jock was born and bred outside, I have a problem with putting my pups outside. Having been brought up with smooth coated dogs that didn't cope too well outside (along with the prospect of having the dogs stolen) meant that all of my dogs live inside, usually in their own pen.
Don't get me wrong, my dogs are only penned at night. They are usually free to wander the house, however most of the time they chose to sit in their pen and watch the goings on around them.

So, Jock was introduced to his new pen. It's an old dog show trolley, usually used for holding 4 or 5 small to medium sized dogs to get them from car to ringside. Given the size of Jock when I bought him home, and the size of the pen, I could have fitted him with all of his littermates in this pen and still have room for more.

Bedded down on some baby blankets and an old t-shirt that had my smell on it, he settled in for the night. I expected him to whine at least for a little while, but instead he just curled up and went to sleep. He did whine at about 4am, which saw me stagger out of bed to let him out to go to the toilet.
This was when I inadvertently started teaching him to pee on command. It is cold here at night, and here I was standing in my dressing gown in the middle of the paddock, pup on the lead and the torch waiting for this pup to stop sniffing and start peeing. After about 3 minutes of this, I was turning a brighter shade of blue than my dressing gown. Shivering, I said -"Jock, go pee" and he did just that, he squatted down and pee'd. Okay, so it was a fluke that I said it that moment before he found the perfect spot, but it worked. A quick 'good boy' whilst he was peeing and it started his training to pee on command.

Now, at 7 months of age, I can say to him "go pee" and he'll do just that, usually within 30 seconds of me giving the command. A very valuable lesson, especially if I know we have a long car trip ahead of us, and I don't want to have to stop 30 minutes up the road to let him out to pee.

Peeing now done with, I  popped him back in his pen, giving the command "pen" and he settled down to sleep until the household woke up about 4 hours later.

His first night home, although it would have been a bit lonely for him, proved uneventful, and set the scene for just about every night since then.

He really was being a well-behaved little pup.

The beginning of it all

Let me start by telling you a little about me, and then a little about my dog.

I'm a mum to 6 kids, (3 of which where inherited), am happily married, and live on a small farm with a handful of sheep (and my mum's old horse).

My earlier life consisted of dogs, dogs, and more dogs. Everything from breeding, showing, training, rehabilitating and rehousing unwanted dogs. My knowledge is extensive, and I've trained dogs to be nice and quiet lap dogs, to service dogs for disabled owners.
Although I have never trained a sheepdog from scratch before now, I have worked many dogs for other people whilst helping on their farms.

But this blog is not about me, it's about Jock..

Here is his story......

This photo was taken whilst still with his breeder at the age of 8 weeks. He's sulking in this picture because he has just had his first collar put on, and he realised that no amount of scratching would get it off his neck!
Gotta give him ten points for effort though!