Willie, Maggie and I spent the last three days in sheepdog heaven at a Patrick Shannahan clinic, reveling in fall colors, great dogs, good company and the always brilliant advice of Patrick. I love working with him for his benevolence, his clear explanations and his gentle insistence that our dogs do what’s right without us having to micro-manage them. Good advice for me, given that I often fall into “helper” mode and tell my dogs specifically what to do (“go right, walk up, go left”) rather than making it clear that their job is to find the “pressure” from the sheep and stay on it.
Best part of the weekend? When Maggie and I clicked and we drove the sheep straight across the field with Maggie in complete control of the flock, even when they wanted to run forward, and Maggie was behind them. Can you picture that?
Here’s a photo to illustrate. This is young Davy, the young dog of my good friend Donna (also at the clinic), who is in the early stages of learning to drive. In this case he is actually fetching the sheep to Donna, and doing it perfectly. But we can use this photos as an illustration. Imagine that you want the sheep to move to nine o’clock on a clock face. See how that white face ewe is looking a bit toward you? She’s telling us she wants to move toward 7 o’clock rather than nine. Once your dog learns to drive and to stay on the “pressure point,” he would move around to counter that desire of the sheep to move toward us, to exactly the right point to “hold” the sheep on the correct line. In our illustration below, Davy would swing around clockwise to about 4:30 or 5, depending on how strong the magnet was pulling the sheep in a particular direction. Young dogs want to run to 6 o’clock, to get everything stopped. But that doesn’t put the dog in control of the sheep, it’s more like a ‘stop gap’ measure.
Done right, your dog keeps the sheep from running straight forward by walking behind them exactly on the “pressure point”. When you do it wrong, the sheep take off in a dead run, your dog panics and circles around to bring them back to you (“I’ve got em! Not going to let them get away!!”) It takes tons of practice to control the sheep from behind, and most importantly, to teach your dog that his or her job is to find the pressure and ride it like a wave, rather than just obediently doing what you ask. Maggie and I worked at it all weekend, and went forward three steps, then back two, then forward again… But we both learned tons, and had a wonderful time. Willie even got to work quite a bit, moving sheep around for other handlers. Most importantly, he got to schmooze with dedicated dog lovers for hours on end, which is his favorite activity.
MEANWHILE, back on the farm: It’s hot (well, it’s in the 60’s, but it’s all relative) and humid. Not exactly typical fall weather. But it’s gorgeous too. The fall colors and the gracious hosting of Laura Wentz made for a wonderful three days at the clinic. Here’s a photo montage of the weekend. Miss Big Ears with the stunned expression on her face is Janet’s Cricket, and the photo of clinic photographers is a testament to Canon cameras… we all have one. The dog getting her head scratched is Ivy, Laura’s sweet Spanish Mastiff cross who works tirelessly to protect the sheep from coyotes.
There were lots of new calves on the farm, and ample opportunity to play with one’s camera. I loved the peeling paint on an old barn. That’s Tweed in the water tank and Moxie of the adorable face and pointy ears, and young Davy doing a great job all weekend.
Barbara says
So fascinating watching dogs learn to use their talents and work independently. My German Shepherd Dog Miley and I are learning to track. She has passed her Tracking Certification Test and we are waiting to get into a trial.
The test was nerve-wracking and confidence building. I’m out in a 70 acre field of foot tall grass walking 20 feet behind my dog. I try to keep even gentle tension on the leash. She has her nose down and is steadily marching along, leading me to what I hope will be the glove at the end of the track. I feel like I’m on the ocean. Nothing but grass in all directions. Suddenly she stops, lifts her head, turns left and right, maybe circles a bit, then heads off in a new direction with a confident lurch against the harness. “I’ve got this, Mom!” I lose track of how far we’ve gone, even how many changes of direction we’ve taken. I hope the judge following us will say something if we are totally lost. Then, Miley stops and makes a little circle around something. Yaay. She found the glove!
Trust my dog.
Gayla says
That’s the mantra in SAR too. “Trust your dog.” Sounds very similar to what Trisha is describing; the temptation to micro-manage.
Beth says
It’s the same riding a horse around a hunter course. Beginner riders just basically try to stay on and remember the course, and advanced riders look like they don’t do a thing but sit there. But intermediate riders want to micromanage every stride and can actually interfere with the horse’s ability to find her own spots. Many a trainer reminds the students to set the stage and then let the horse do her job.
Alice R. says
Love this!
Chris from Boise says
What a great explanation for us non-herders of what sounds like an impossible task. Thank you! And what a great workshop for you all!
suzi bluford says
Working with Patrick is so amazing! he gets the dog and the handler and helps both to grow! Hope you will share more on your blog about your clinic experience as River and I are working on driving and him learning (me not helping) to hold his line and understand his job- Thanks for sharing the thoughts and pictures!!
Trisha says
I love hearing from other working dog fields about levels of trust between you and your horse or dog. One thing that’s different between sheepdogs and scent/SAR dogs is that you really can’t “trust your dog” in the early and intermediate stages of training. It’s much easier for a dog to avoid the pressure, and Maggie is especially fond of playing defense rather than offense. My job is to be aware of that precise moment when she lets go of the pressure and begins to fade off of it–something she’d prefer to do because it’s hard work for her to to push against the “bubble.” She’d much rather avoid the pressure and sweep around to the back side and do her gorgeous, wide outrun and then fetch them to me. That’s the problem we’ve had with driving in trials–I’d ask her to take a tiny flank to the left (ie, go 3 steps to the left to stay on the pressure point and keep the sheep, and she’d keep going around all the way to the back and begin bringing them to me. I need to get better at seeing that precise point when she drops the pressure and remind her to get back to work. Once she begins to hold the line herself without a reminder from me, I’ll give her a nice, easy sweeping outrun to reward her for holding the line. Make sense?
Mireille says
I van assure you that in the early stages of SAR trust your dog finds you in unexpected placets. Spot showde me the victim was down a rabbit hole…
You have to learn how to read your dog, when they are still wording & trying, or when they have geven up and started doing something else. Another challenge is finding the richt balance between making searches more difficult but also setting the dog up for succes.
Last week we were looping for a ‘victim’ in an industrial area that is usually fairly quiet, but in onze of the Office blocks there apparantly was a late night meeting and all of a sudden 50 people came out rijgt across the track. Cars were leasing, iT was a mess. Shadow was througouly confused. He wantend to check all the humans passing boy, but the people did not want him to… we decided to wait till most had gone. He had difficulty in getting back on track – but he was trying hard, which made me very happy. In the end he succeeded but we made the second track a ‘quick succes’ to make sure he stays motivated.
Mireille says
Grrrr auto-correction from english to dutch makes the post hard to read – sorry!
Looping = looking
Geven= given
Wording= working
Richt = right
Rijgt = right
Leasing = leaving
Boy= by
Diane says
To Mireille, We got it the first round… no need to micro manage! ( said with a sense of humor, a wide smile, and an understanding and agreement regarding the Auto correct issue!)
All comments very interesting. I am reflecting how I would often get way too involved when my dog was working whether it would be on agility, nosework or every day dog/dog interactions. I imagine one needs to go through the stages to finally get to a, let’s say, “higher level” of accomplishment. It’s a learning process for the task and especially the relationship between you and your dog.
angi says
Love the joy that comes through in your blog post; but particularly love the photos!