The Rules and Territory

Boundary training

One of the first rules that a farmcollie pup must learn if the goal is for him to be a loose on the farm type of dog is that the farm has boundaries and he must stay home. As the pup follows you about your property he is learning that you claim this territory. Later on when he is loose on his own, you can expect him to go everywhere you have allowed him to follow you. Therefore it is extremely important that you never allow him to follow you where you do not wish him to go on his own.

As you follow the old timers’ advice and take your pup with you while you work on your farm, he will learn many things without any effort on your part. With a little more attention and effort you can make these lessons even more clear and relevant in the pups mind. As you are walking near the boundary line, if he should venture over the line, a well timed “AANGHKK” every time a foot falls outside the territory can work wonders to solidify this boundary in the pup’s mind! Praising him when he returns to follow you more closely helps as well.

As you move livestock about the farm the pup learns where each kind of livestock belongs. He may learn that when the chickens come into the flower beds that Mom chases them back up around the barn and although you are simultaneously teaching him not to chase chickens, he is developing a sense of order about how it should be done. When Sweetheart was a pup of around 8 months, we went to visit Erin and Dan and their large white rooster caught Sweetie’s eye. She found that it would run away from her if she ran at it! What fun! I chased her down and grabbed her and scruffed and rolled her and said “NO!” and that was all it took to get through to her that she was not supposed to chase chickens. A few hours later we watched out the window as she walked nonchalantly around a group of chickens in the upper drive near the barn. The chickens did not actually realize that they were being herded, but she had gathered them into a nice little flock, and was holding them back from entering the yard.

Q: Elaine, you mentioned that you don’t use collars… how did you train the dog to come when called?

A: weenees – Pavlov’s dog- I also use a method that is very much like Clicker training- I use some negative sounds for when the dog is going away from me and ignoring me, and positive sounds the minute the dog focuses his attention on me.
Consistency is the key, not force…

Q: My pups are really stubborn sometimes, and like to ignore me if they are out ‘having fun’.
How also do you boundary train without collar and leash?

A: (We need this online)- you get the video Never Cry Wolf and rethink the process.

I never walk off the property with my dogs. Here again if you have two pups- if one goes over the boundary line, the other will follow…I use the same negative tones and positive tones to tell my dogs when he steps over the boundary when we are walking the line. I would ESPECIALLY scold if the pup peed on the outside of the boundary…

Elaine

Q: Hey, all! How can I encourage Polly to attend to the
wandering free-range layers instead of hunting rats or
guarding the brooders and chick-filled tractors? She
is very clear about exactly where the boundary is for
dogs, but seems to have lost the notion that chickens
“belong” in a certain area. Last summer and fall she
was willing to keep them in the pasture with the
llamas, although it was not her favorite thing. Her
herding style was too fast and she got in their way,
preventing them from going where they were supposed to
go. I had been working on “easy” with lots of praise,
and I leashed her occasionally when she’d been hard on
them, but she seems to resent that as much as she
resents “no” and being called off.

Sue Hogan

A: You may have a point about her being scolded for “roaming” and her associating that with the chickens being off property.

I would just go myself and make sure she sees me getting the chickens back into the yard. If she helps, great, just let her decide to make the first move. When you are herding the chickens make lots of noise and exaggerated movements for her. She may see this as a sign that she needs to help you. She can then begin to understand you want her to do this and she won’t get in trouble for going to get the chickens.

Hope this helps!

Sheryl

Training the Pup in Social Situations

Q: Berger started being very protective of us to the point that he “held down” the guys who are building our strawbale house in front of my door. I was telling them to come in but they felt too scared that Berger may bite them. Same with my neighbor. Next day there were many suggestions about how to handle that on this list so I’ve been working on it with him and it seems to work. No more barking at the UPS guy, propane guy or the builders. Same with the neighbors. And when he goes back to bark I put him in the next room where he can see everybody but we ignore him while he barks
I think that’s it for now. Thanks in advance for your suggestions.

Cecile

A: This is a common problem with adolescent English Shepherd pups. As soon as they bond tightly to you and learn your general routine, they become adolescents and start in with typical adolescent delusions of grandeur!

The English Shepherd has been selected for centuries to keep order on the farm he watches the gates and keeps the appropriate livestock in its pen. Should one of his charges escape through a hole in the fence and the owners are not there to see, he drives them back in and sits in the hole and waits for his owners to come fix the fence. This is done not because of some ‘inhibited prey drive’ that the dog has, but because of a dominant pack instinct.

English Shepherds and other old fashioned lines of farmcollies are also very valuable to anyone who lives the farm life because they protect your back and are very in tune to anything out of the ordinary. Rams, bulls or hogs can charge you. Protective mama cows and sows are very dangerous as well. It is great to have a reactive English Shepherd watching your back!

These are wonderful instincts and are very characteristic of the breed, but they can cause problems in situations where guests or delivery people arrive

A: It seems to be a pretty common thing for adolescent pups, especially males, to “offer” to protect their people and their territory from visitors or passers by, bicyclists, delivery people, etc. How the owner handles these initial offers to *repel all comers!* can make the difference between a discerning, confident dog and one that chronically overreacts.

Biggest thing, In my opinion, is leadership; When told by his owner to stand down the dog should defer, and a reasonably biddable dog will, provided that the dog trusts its owner and knows they have the situation under control and that the dog is not expected to protect the people or the territory. If this is not in question, the dog know he can relax and let his owner handle the situation. If the owner has not, as the pack alpha, formed a sufficient bond with the dog or earned the dog’s respect and confidence, no matter what he says or does the dog may be uneasy with deferring to the owner’s decisions/opinions of who/what is “ok” and who/what is *NOT* and may behave anxiously or aggressively when it is placed in the “uncomfortable) position of needing to control the situation himself. Some harder-headed dogs, even with strong leaders, need more convincing that everything’s under control and they may (had better!) safely stand down.

There is an adrenaline rush associated with high-energy or high-risk stock work that I believe is addictive-Dog gets so off on the thrill of the activity, positive response from the owner and the “winning” of the altercation that they will tend to seek out opportunities to do it again and again.

We see this when pups “get it” and begin to work in earnest just for the joy of it, it is clear how important the work is to them, because the harshest punishment for a dog that loves his job is to have it taken away (why giving over-enthusiastic or rough pups a “time out” of the action when they don’t listen to the farmer works so well). We also see it in dogs taken to herding lessons who then go out and chase the stock because they’ve “turned on” and want that thrill and gratification again.

Dominant, protective, territorial dogs get a similar thrill from running off an intruder, whether it is a possum, a cat burglar or the UPS guy 😉 This seems to me to be just as potentially addictive. The time to lay down the rules about how to react to visitors, strangers approaching in the park, the vet, joggers, etc, is THE DAY YOU BRING HOME THE PUPPY. This isn’t to say you should allow every idiot to let their kid charge your new puppy and grab at it. Make allowances for him as far as how much activity, travelling, jostling, etc, he has to endure that first day or three. But I usually welcome these opportunities to teach both the pup and the kid (and the idiot parent, lol) how these social situations should be handled. You can pick pup up or ask the kids to let him be if they are being too obnoxious, this will let the pup know you can be depended on to protect him. But never, EVER coddle or make allowances or excuses for the pup being rude.

How we handle an incident when the pup behaves rudely is important. Never say “It’s ok” or pet or soothe a pup that is being anal about barking at those kids at the park, your company or your elderly neighbor as they hobble out to their mailbox. Instead, treat it like any other rude, inappropriate act- Think about it- Would you tell him “Aww, it’s ok” for him to hike his leg on your sofa? I think not 😉 Use a stern voice and tell the pup *no*, no drama, no worries, and have him sit or lie beside or slightly behind you while you talk to the visitor or otherwise go about your business. Use sterner corrections or stronger messages (banishment is a good one, ideally to a place where he is out of the way but can observe your normal, matter-of-fact encounter with the “intruder”) and make it a point not to behave as though you are worried or concerned; This would send the message something really is amiss and may inspire him to increase his efforts to get rid of this worrisome “intruder.”

Never, ever allow a pup that is offering to protect you to position himself between you and the visitor unless you want things to escalate. Dogs are more responsive to body language than to words so, regardless of what you’re saying to him, if you have him positioned between you and the “intruder” you are ASKING HIM TO PROTECT YOU.

Whether he receives a positive response from you – crooning, petting, or allowing him to assume the protective position between you and the “intruder,” even negative attention from you in the form of an exciting drama reward – as well as whether the dog succeeds in “running off the intruder” or “protecting his charges” (poor UPS guy dives into his truck and drives off at high speed- mission accomplished!), will dictate how the dog behaves the next time.

-Tish

Blacksheep Homestead