Prepare them for THEIR future..

When breaking young dogs, everything you do, should prep them,  for things in the future..that are still yet to come.

I spend countless days on fence lines allowing young dogs to catch breakers, do they grab ? Well hell yea they grab, I’d be lying if I said they don’t. What’s this prep for? Heading.. heading a single heading a shed.. catching a runner..does the grab go away? Yes it does, if you take the proper time.

It’s easy to train dogs to gather and drive in a triangle, if that’s your goal .. well then you win, but you don’t win the dog trial.

There are so many facets of work, trials, and of winning. Holding a shed, holding a single.. that will get you a trial win under the right judge.

Redirecting on an outrun, that’ll save your ass when you least expect it.  This can be taught at hand.. people don’t teach it, they just move on as the circle looks good. Pace means pace, teach gears in your dog, pace doesn’t mean take away forward motion, it means slow down when I ask you to.

“I don’t want my dog to lose the natural way”, well in reality the natural way is usually chasing sheep. If you slow your dog down you will notice it still has balance (and probably better balance) even when walking.  It’s hard for a dog to read a sheep when it’s running full speed, it’s sort of like you trying to figure how where a driveway is at 70 mph.. it’s only when one slows down can you see a clearer picture.

STOP .. well it’s not negotiable, and for those that think it is, need not apply.. cause frankly you don’t apply it. You don’t have to over use the stop but if you need it, it should be there. A dog without a stop; well that in itself is an autricity.  Dogs are not hard to teach to lay down, if you refuse to enforce it, that’s on you. If this is the case you should pick up a new hobby that doesn’t require it and frankly it’s just being lazy.

Enthusiasm is good in young dogs, but it’s no longer enthusiasm in 4 years when the dog won’t stop. Training dogs to obey some simple rules does not need to be opressing. It’s simple communication, and expectation.

I often see dogs are really good trainers of humans. They will run the show given half a chance. You don’t have to be a natural sheepherder human, to get the basics taught; you have to be a dedicated hard working human, with more determination than the natural sheepherder dog.

Train your dog today with next year in mind, if I mold this and do that, next year it will be perfect. Set the foundation for all the steps.. don’t skip the steps that are hard. Seek higher help, be a better partner, afterall your dog can only do what you teach it.