LAND, INDUSTRY AND MARKETS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 3 January 1940, Page 3

LAND, INDUSTRY AND MARKETS

SHEEP DOGS

POINTS IN TRAINING WORKING WITH NATURE. MOW TO AVOID DISASTER. We are dealing with nature as it is —not as we may think it ought to be —when we set about training a sheepdog. The highest possible attainment reached is by working with nature; to work against it and try to make a dog work our way is to court trouble and disaster. A trainer cannot afford to ignore natural tendencies, writes Mark Hayton, the well-known English sheepdog trainer, in the “Farmer and Stockbreeder.” If a dog wills not to work I doubt whether - any trainer can make him, although some have occasionally brought out the finest gem from others’ cast-offs. But the fact that he starts work proves beyond doubt his willingness to serve—then obey. I used to think that a youngster should regard me as Alpha and Omega and that he should not think differently from myself. Experience has taught a different lesson —that the youngster's thoughts were as important as mine. However poor, they could not profitably be ignored. There are dogs that make a splendid start, and some otherwise. Some of my best have made a deplorable beginning—more to laugh at than grieve about —when they seem to • get into their own way. like a man sowing corn wrong leg first, or a townsman forking hay. The time to start training varies considerably. It is rarely that two dogs in a litter will -start at the same time, nor have I ever known two dogs to work alike, but oft times seen the betrayal of their parents and grandparents in their work. Some are physically fit in size and strength but show no signs of work. Some are mentally fit before the development of physique; but do not start before six months old to train (say, from six months to a year). I like to start, as soon as they are equally fit. RIGHT TIME TO COMMENCE. If you can hit the right time you will hardly know you are training the dog Its interest and knowledge increase and go hand-in-hand, and it learns so rapidly that I prefer this time, rather than giving a four or five-month-old puppy his whistles in readiness ,as at this stage it will surprise you in its uptake. If a dog has not a natural run out do not deceive yourself with the idea that you will make one You certainly may improve him by leading him a few times round a field. He will then soon run it himself. The first dog that -I trained on mutual common sense, throwing to the wind all accustomed ideas and methods, was named Jock. I brought him up. He would know a bit about me and I of him. When he came to age and physique, knowing no whistles

> save a stop, he followed me for a : week or so. I commenced by walking towards the sheep, repeating: “Can you see them?” and when I got very near the sheep he ran round them. This was done until he started to go to his sheep—a hundred and more yards—commencing to give him left • and right hand whistles when wearing the sheep. In less than three weeks he knew the difference. INDIVIDUAL PECULIARITIES. One morning an emergency arose—- - he had to be put off over 600 yards, i and the lay of the ground was far • from favouring him. I had confidence in him, but it was above my expecta- ' tions, although his out-run left nothing to be desired. One day, running him out after wearing a single sheep he had a fit, and was never free from them as long ■ as he lived. He was sold to go into S. Wales, subject to his taking fits. Two days after his death at the age of nine years I opened a letter and read: “Jock dead. Please send me another just like him.” The non-grip starter may be afraid to go near. A dog of this class should never be urged to move standing sheep or he may become a nasty gripper on lift. His medicine is time and experience. Or he may have superior knowledge, a natural gift, one that uses common-sense to an uncommon degree—a masterpiece. I had one of this class given to me once because of its peculiarities. I had previously trained its litter sister for a farmer, which subsequently won prizes at trials, but this gift was a problem to solve. It was a bitch. She left me many times without the least provocation. She would not leave me to go for sheep, though I knew she wanted to go, but she lacked confidence. When she did go she got the sheep, whether they were half a mile or a mile away. I never knew what happened between her and her previous owner. She was not afraid of me, or of sheep or cattle. I found out it was her mighty self — she doubted her own greatness. THE GRIPPING STARTER. I let nature heal its own wound, and one day I ran her out on the moor over a mile and gave her three whistled commands, and was in the act of sending the fourth when she commenced to execute the first. I stood and Watched her carry them out just as they had left me. She was a prodigy. She ran several years at trials and was first oftener than any other place. She was well-known among the dog-runners of England. Her value Was pounds to her sister’s farthings—a late starter. There are several reasons why a dog starts work with a grip. It may be' that he is timid or thinks you desire him to grip. Or he may think it is the proper way, or the best way to do the job. One thing, you know he has a purpose in life and thus supplies you with volumes of thought. As he is doing the job—not you—it is a new job and some day you will want him to do it out of your sight. I allow a youngster to grip unchecked until I am completely satisfied that I have weighed him up correctly. Although I have been told that I have possessed one of the finest nongrip starters that nature ever produced, and I know I was the lucky one, yet my heart goes out for the youngster that starts with" a grip. I allow all youngsters to do many things which I consider wrong—for one reason. E hold that it is very debatable that man knows when a youngster should not grip. All know, or think they do, when an older dog should not grip, and here I hae me doots. For the older dog knows before the shepherd. The shepherd’s decision is made after he has seen the result of what is going on out of sight in the realm of thought between dog and sheep, from which he draws this hypothesis—the dog is in the know all the time. I A DEBATABLE POINT, I have just handled a litter of three dogs, now a year old. All started with ' a grip, two are sold and gone, one by the name of Rag is left—l doubt that there is a dog with more equanimity on this island. He is not so clever and educated as a good old dog, but he has got common, dog sense, and the sense how to use it. He is not one we read of in the days B.C. and A.D., and can be seen in action today. I have never had one youngster that did not . give up unnecessary gripping by very < little encouragement as experience ", was gained. 1 Some judges drop points for the ’ same error of grip, where another < would give extra points. The dog is , judged by lords, captains, gentlemen , and every tradesman that can be men- , honed and yet survives. Do not make t him think gripping is altogether , wrong. Do not rob him of his own < sound judgment and leave him with I an indecisive mind. Encourage him . to use his own discretion, by steadying I him until he has weighed up matters for himself. 1