Maybe she’s born with it…

Maybe it’s training.

Training sheepdogs is mostly about bringing out the natural style and abilities of the dog. In some cases the inherent style of the dog is not workable in some area. Perhaps the dog is tight flanking, does not cover well, etc. There are no perfect dogs. Generally if the dog’s method is effective in getting the job done without undue stress on the stock I try to work with that style. I do this because that which the dog does naturally is a much more durable behavior. When you train a dog to work in a style that is counter to a dog’s natural way of working the results are less reliable and maintaining those results is high maintenance.

My Belgian boy Dare has had a fair amount of training in protection work. Dare has what is called a ¾ bite. This means he puts his jaws well around the sleeve on the bite, but does not push his mouth on so that the item he is biting is pushed to the hinge of his jaw (deep or full bite). From a functional point of view a ¾ bite and a deep bite are equally effective. Shallow bites (just getting front teeth on) are not that effective and often indicate a tentative approach. In Schutzhund a full bite will usually get higher points than a ¾ bite. So folks breed and train for the deep bite if they are doing Schutzhund. I worked with an excellent trainer and we got a deep bite on Dare, but the trainer said that in a hard fight he would go back to his natural ¾ bite. Other aspects of his bite training were simply honing his natural style and thus would be durable under duress.

The same applies in stock work. Under pressure the default style comes out. When things are quiet and organized you can keep the dog performing the way you trained it to work. Default behaviors are not the early behaviors you see when training a pup, but rather the tendencies you see as they settle into the job. Virtually all pups are tight but by setting the situation correctly you allow them to mature into their natural style. Look at the choices a young dog makes as it faces new situations. In particular look at the choices it makes after the early attempts have not been very successful. Green dogs often try to solve things inappropriately. What tells you about the dog is what they come up with on successive attempts.

When you “train” dogs with good natural flanks to flank and outrun you are just molding what is coming from the dog. They have the priority to cover, the core initiative to control the stock. They are thinking about where they want the stock to move and how they need to be positioned to accomplish this. You provide them with opportunities to refine their skills and create situations so they can develop their instincts, learn how close or how far to be. You add commands so you can influence the work. My Levi had a great struggle to hold a single yesterday. Pretty rough work, but I know that Levi covers, has decent flanks, and is attentive to the job. Next time I expect he’ll be a little slower and/or give some more space on the flanks. Now I think of Fina. I’ve spent a lot of training time on her flanks (particularly the come by) and covering. It will always be a work in progress as her natural tendency to bear in on the flanks will always be there to erode my training. The come by flank is very high maintenance and still mediocre. Though I may get some nice come by flanks, I have not awakened Fina’s natural style, I’ve suppressed it. Thus keeping the quality of the flanks is high maintenance. On the other hand she has a lovely walk up, direct and attentive, plenty of push but aware of the stock. I spend very little training time on her coming straight onto the stock as it is a natural and durable behavior.

My Rhyme was a challenge to train but fun and rewarding as her moves were lovely and she was intensely engaged in managing her stock. This also meant that it was a battle to get Rhyme to give up the pressure. Rhyme’s current person Angie spent the entire month of March working on getting Rhyme give up the pressure side after Rhyme marched her sheep against the pressure on the drive almost to the set out at a trial. The training paid off as Rhyme took every command and placed both days her next time out. Keeping Rhyme flexible to take a flank off the pressure is a maintenance item. Another example of a strong natural behavior is my Cato shedding. At a shedding clinic with Bev Lambert the exercise was getting the dog to come through cleanly, not looking to either group until directed. With Cato’s very strong eye Bev and I agreed this was not a good use of training time for him. Yes, it could have been done, but would have taken many hours of training time and been extremely fragile. Better to look at what Cato’s natural style was (he was already starting to hold whatever sheep I was looking at) and use my training time to make his style work for me.

People keep saying that Fina is a different dog this spring. She is not. She is much improved but the nature of the dog does not change. She can do brilliant work, but the top of her outrun is naturally tight and fast and her come by flank naturally bears hard on the stock. Keeping moderation on her top and a better shape on her come by are maintenance items because I want them performed in a way that is not natural to the dog.

Add to this the brain on each dog. Some dogs thrive on trial pressure and work at their best. Others are more fragile, affected by the trial environment in a negative way. For dogs that do not relish the trial environment, that which they have learned must be very strong and well patterned for them to be able to pull it off outside their comfort zone. Those behaviors that came to the dog naturally will stand up to the pressure. Some trainers and handlers are brilliant at evaluating what their dogs can do, building on those strengths, creating clear patterns, then managing the runs so as to keep the dog where it is strong and comfortable.

How can you tell if a trained dog is naturally strong in an area or very well trained? You see the natural ability of the dog when there are challenges. Sheep that are leaning or bolting or breaking or fighting, difficult terrain, portions of trial fields where the stock and dog are out of sight all will put pressure on the dog, inviting the natural style of the dog to come out. These challenges will also point out whether the dog is a good thinker under pressure. Clouding the issue is the question of whether the dog has had any experience with things going wrong. There are some folks who train in such a controlled environment that the dogs (and handlers) have little chance to experience the adrenalin surge from things going awry.