Clicker Training for Dogs

Herding Clinic Report

O.C. Herding Clinic by Helix Fairweather

Day #2 - Saturday

As to the clicker, she trains all the turns, all the commands, everything with a clicker. She no longer works Chloe with a clicker. Very similar to what I do in agility. When we are doing agility sequences, there isn't a need for a scalpel to mark something precise, and so I don't' use one. I keep the task as the reward; giving the cues early enough that BJ has all he needs to enjoy the game. I see the same thing in herding. But, because I am really into the foundation work in agility, which to me needs the precision of a clicker, I can truly appreciate Lana's clicker training of the foundation work in herding.

Following yesterday's white board work, we (the humans) got an opportunity to herd ducks. Ducks are considered to be the finesse of herding. Sheep are the basics, but with ducks it takes very fine, tiny movements.

A typical AKC course (I forgot if it is the HT or PT course) is to take the stock around the perimeter of a space, in this case an arena. The first duo to herd the ducks started off with the task of just taking the ducks around the outside. As in our white board work, one had to cue the dog to move to the balance point to keep the ducks moving. Also ducks need time to collect themselves, so the whole operation becomes walk-on, there; walk-on, there - that is, the dog takes a step, stops; takes a step, stops. The first duo did pretty well, one human being the dog and taking the cues.

It was quickly evident that the 'dog' knew what to do to balance the ducks. IF the human was late with the cues, we could all see the 'dog'doing the right thing anyway - which we learned is *exactly* what a herding dog will do. The two switched places; the former handler was now the 'dog'. However Lana made the task a mite harder - she placed a cone about 5 feet from the center of three of the walls. The team had to take the ducks between the cone and the wall. They did a good job of it.

We all worked in teams of two, with each person getting to be the 'dog'. For each pair, Lana made the task harder. She told us to volunteer early, as the job would get harder and harder. My partner was Sue Ailsby. No matter how hard we tried someone volunteered ahead of us - so we ended up with a really hard task.

The next increment up was to have the cones about 2 feet from the wall, still the ducks had to go between them. Then Lana sat on a chair against the wall near a cone. Oh boy! Those ducks didn't want to go there. The team had to work really hard to get a duck pressured enough to go for it. Once one goes, they'll all go. Then Lana sat in her chair next to the cone - this was actually better for the ducks. Then she had BJ and I sit near the fence end of the arena. This meant there was a dog right where the ducks needed to go through the space between the cone and the wall.

Sue A. and I had the task of taking the ducks through a chute made of a couple of big grain buckets and a cone with BJ and a person on the other side of the fence. Man! Those ducks did NOT want to go there. Sue went first as the handler and she was sooooo good with her walk-on, there. I took the cue from her and did equally well with it. And I've never moved livestock in my life! For the hardest task, Lana put the chair across between the cone and the fence. The ducks had to go UNDER the chair!!

This whole exercise was extremely enlightening! We all realized that we knew what to do to move the flock just a tad. We all realized that so do our dogs. We all realized the importance of good commands - go-bye, away to me, there, walk-on - ALL of which can be trained with a clicker away from livestock. AGain, Lana believes you can train all of this without sheep and be just fine at it. The 'traditionalists' would have you believe this ruins a dog. But, if you watch Chloe work livestock with little or no cues, you can see that she has not been ruined. <BG>

Lana uses a get-around command to tell the dog to circle the stock. She uses this (I got the impression that this is something that is not usually taught) to set the dog up to succeed. As the dog is circling the stock, she's in with the sheep, she moves just right so that the dog has to take 2 or 3 steps in towards the flock. At that point she can attach the 'walk-on' cue. She does this over and over. Dog circles, she moves the flock, dog walks-on, cue gets attached. This is part of what she calls setting up the logical path.

Lana also does a lot of fence work. By that I mean she stands against the wall or fence with the sheep and taps the staff to cue the dog to go the other way. When the dog is behind the sheep, she moves along wall (sheep go with her), again a set up to give dog success. This is how she translates the flanking commands to the sheep - attaching the cue while the dog is doing the behavior.

So these two things are what she has beginners start with on sheep: get-around the flock and fence work. The handler's task is to wait for the right moment, move the sheep, and let the dog succeed.

After the ducks, we then started the dogs one at a time on sheep. Some dogs worked on self-control - the no-pull loose-leash walking exercise. For a dog that exhibited self-control, the exercise became down and *immediately* walk-on. The walk-on was the R+ for the down. It was easy watching to see what Lana wanted - the *immediate* walk-on as the R+ but the handlers just didn't get it. They wanted the dog to down and stay there. When they did get it, and the dog got the immediate R+, the dog very soon started to down on his own when the handler stopped forward motion towards the sheep. Easy for us on the sidelines!

Each dog had different things to present. Lana's teaching at this point became a matter of questioning us: what do you think this handler should do? Where do the sheep want to go? etc. It was *fascinating* to see the sheep change their demeanor based on which dog came in. These sheep came from a practice place and are worked by a variety of breeds. Lana says the sheep know dog breeds and know what to expect from a particular breed. She says the sheep know instantly if a dog is insecure, soft, whatever. You could see this. Sheep that had moved responsively for one dog would just stand and stare for the next. The dog had to 'prove' himself to the sheep as worthy of respect. Some dogs started out low in the sheep's eyes and quickly took on the power needed to mean something.

I think it's because Lana works everything so quietly and so non-stressful that we all get a chance to see these things, literally in slow motion. Another thing I found wonderful to watch with Lana is her letting the students train their own dog. Once a handler had the hang of the self-control they were working on, she'd turn her back on them and let them work, and chat with us on the sidelines about what they had done, what would come next after this step. As a handler I would have considered that high praise indeed. And, Lana told us it's the same for the dogs. If your dog moves towards you and the sheep, once you've enabled the path, there is nothing more reinforcing than to turn your back on your dog. You are letting him know you have complete confidence in him and don't' need to needle the situation. Several handlers were able to do that.

With Lana's very systematic, well-thought-out presentation, *I* (of all people!) understand what the whole thing is about. I understand what the dog's job is, what the handler's job is, why the sheep move and what makes them move. All things I never understood before. I would highly recommend Lana's clinic for anyone (dog or human) who has been turned off or shut down by herding.