Stock Dogs are Like Smart Phones

by Denice Rackley

Blu - Clearfield Stockdogs

Stock dogs working on livestock operations are used when producers need to gather stock or drive them. (Gather – bring the stock to you. Drive – move the stock away from you.) With a bit of training, both these tasks can be accomplished seamlessly.

A word to ask the dog to begin working, a stop, a word to move toward the stock, and another to call the dog to you is about all you need to being simple tasks with a dog born with generations of herding instincts passed to him from his working ancestors.

However, if you only ask a herding dog to gather or drive stock, you are just scratching the surface of a dog’s abilities. It’s like buying a smartphone then only using it to make calls. It may take you some time to learn how to operate the other features of a smartphone and available apps, but those added capabilities open a world of endless possibilities. If you spent the money on a smartphone, it only makes sense that you use the vast array of options to make your life easier.

The same is true for stock dogs.

Scott - Clearfield Stockdogs

Endless Capabilities

Stock dogs have endless capabilities. Once you learn to use a stock dog, you can’t imagine how you ever survived without one – just like your smartphone.

Working herding dogs require an investment of time and effort for training for both the dog and handler. Well-bred herding dogs can assist with any task involving livestock.

My dogs assist with:

• Move the flock or herd

• Gather escaped/loose stock

• Hold stock off feed bunks

• Watch gates to keep stock from coming out

• Hold stock in a corner or along a fence for treatment

• Move a selected animal or animals for treatment or to a working area or pen

• Move animals up a chute

• Separate and hold a ewe for you to assist with lambing

• Separate / hold a family to id, vaccinate, band

• Move rams/bulls/bucks into pasture for breeding

• Separate males from females while in a pasture at the end of the breeding season

• Sort / Wean

• Load a trailer

More Understanding Leads to Wider Use

When I began using a stock dog 21 years ago, I was lucky if my dog Luke gathered my flock of 60 ewes. His idea of a gather was running straight into a group of sheep. I knew nothing about stock dogs, much less training them. While I had years of experience with dogs and obedience training, I couldn’t figure out how to teach him to work the stock. If truth be told, I had no idea how it should even look, much less how to communicate to Luke what I needed from him.

I struggled for 5 years trying to figure it out. Luke helped every day with my sheep and occasionally with cattle. I kept him close to me when working sheep since I didn’t trust him.

Just his presence improved the stock’s attitude. Livestock became much more respectful and compliant. It was apparent that my dog could be an enormous help if I learned how to use and train him.

It required time, energy, and commitment to learn to work stock dogs but I can’t imagine going back to the days of sheep pushing and shoving, walking out to the pastures to encourage a few stragglers to join the flock, or trying to work stock through a chute needed to be in multiple places at the same time.

With years of working with stock dogs under my belt, raising pups, training them, and helping other producers with their dogs, when I head to the pasture, I am always accompanied by one of my dogs. There is nothing we encounter that we can’t figure out together.

Good Stock Dogs Require Commitment

It sure didn’t happen overnight. I couldn’t figure out how to break down the training into bite-sized pieces on my own, or by reading books or watching videotapes. The best advice I was given, “invest in a trained dog with experience to show you what a dog can do. That dog will teach you about stock and how what it takes to use a stock dog for livestock management.”

Sweep - Clearfield Stockdogs

Working with that dog daily taught me more than any person could. Lad truly became my mentor.

I studied the stock and dog daily while doing chores. I invested time and money working with clinicians I admired. I practiced and adjusted my techniques as I learned.

It was several years working with a trained dog before I put the pieces together. Eventually, I learned how the dog’s positioning and my positioning impacted the stock. I also learned the relationship I have with the dog is critical to us working livestock as a team.

Often, I made things more difficult than it needed to be for both the stock and my dog. With every Aahhh moment, I learned how best to adjust our position to get the job done. It was a good 10 years before I began to feel comfortable training a young dog, knowing I could help the dog mature into a useful partner.

Training requires reading the dog and stock. I learned to look for the places the dog was wrong and work on those pieces. Concentrating on the skills both the dog and I needed to improve, we made progress. Not being afraid of either of us making mistakes or asking for help assisted us in moving forward.

Tess - Clearfield Stockdogs

Right Tool for the Job

I now assist many livestock producers with their stock dogs. I realize how crucial it is to start with a dog that is suited to you, your family, and the tasks that the dog will be asked to accomplish. Beginning with a trained dog will be an initial monetary investment, but you can’t put a price on the lessons you’ll learn from a dog that has been there and done that.

You need the right tool for the job. You wouldn’t hammer in a nail with a screwdriver. Simply because a dog is a herding breed doesn’t mean it has the instincts and is capable of working livestock or that a particular dog is suited to you or your operation. Each breed has its place. They are all different and all handle livestock very differently.

Using a working dog is far more complicated than it seems. You need to understand what the dog is doing and why it’s moving a certain way. Understanding WHY the dog is positioning itself in a particular place, why the stock are reacting the way they are is essential. Gaining information and skills to know when working stock is going well but how to adjust the training when things going south in a hurry is a continual journey.

Before Working Stock

Before taking a young dog to stock, we need to realize everything depends on our relationship with the dog. Trust and respect must to be in place. The trick is to understand that obedience is not the same thing as respect.

Trust and respect are a two-way street. We must trust and respect the dog and dogs need to be raised to trust and respect us. Both are built with every interaction.

Training begins day one and success starts outside the pasture gate.

On Stock

The basic skills that come naturally to the dog depend on the dog’s instincts and breeding. These skills are molded through initial training. We can confuse the dog, making them question their instincts. We need to understand what we are getting into when we have a working bred dog around livestock all day every day. Bad habits are easily begun, but tough to break.

We need to raise dogs in a way that sets them and us up for success. Most working dogs can’t have access to livestock without us being present. Correcting unwanted behavior and rewarding the dog for trying will go a long way in building your partnership.

The dog’s feel, balance, and the contact on livestock dictate how well the dog will work stock. The foundational skills of calling a dog off stock, gathering, and holding stock to you, are needed before you can advance successfully.

Get the building blocks right, the rest will follow.

The same applies to us. We need a good foundation of knowledge. Learn the basics of how stock dogs think, act, and react and how livestock think. Understanding the interaction between the dog and stock and what is needed to control stock enables you to increase your knowledge and skills as you work each day together.

Training or Exposing

I no longer think of ‘training’ a pup. I think of exposing a pup to stock. Encouraging its natural instincts and correcting the mistakes. Mistakes have to do with attitude and intent, not just going the direction I ask.

Training a stock dog is not about obedience, it’s about building a partnership. This partnership can be a long difficult road. We need mentors along the way to help us – both in the 4-legged and 2-legged form.

Partnership

Meg and Scott - The A Team - Clearfield Stockdogs

If you select the right partner and put in the work, the journey is rewarding. Stock dogs will make you a better person - teaching you patience and perseverance along with a greater understanding and respect for livestock.

If you have gotten the impression that having an excellent stock dog isn’t all sunshine and rainbows, that’s good. Successfully building a seamless partnership is work, even when you communicate in the same language. The rewards of putting in the work however, are well worth it. Not only can a dog save you thousands of steps and several hours a day, but they will teach you things about livestock that you never imagined.

Hold onto your hat; you might need to leave your ego outside the pasture gate. Well-bred working dogs are often right, people are the ones that have a steep learning curve when it comes to livestock.

Beside us every step of the way, our dogs cheer us up on tough days and enjoy the good days with us.

Building a relationship with an eager partner that is available 24 hours a day is worth the missteps along the way. You will soon find your stock dog to be more indispensable than your smartphone. These dogs are capable of not only performing a vast array of useful tasks but give us their all.

Stock dogs are far better than smartphones!

**** If you are interested in learning to use a stock dog on your livestock operation or adding to the skills that you and your dog already have, feel free to reach out to me rackleydenice@gmail.com or www.clearfieldstockdogs.com