Training

 

 

 

Training

 

There was light drizzle though not enough to stop me going for my morning walk, but it did seem to stop others; except for a few of the usual dog walkers. I had a brief talk to the guy I refer in my mind to as ‘Brown-dog-man’, and as usual his dog was pulling him along. We often talk, and as usual I referred to his dog as a horse, because of his size. As I’ve noticed with many dog owners, this fellow had justifications for his dog’s behaviour. I sympathised with him, but didn’t tell him what I thought… and that was that the dog was in control of him.

The dog in question is a Labrador, a chocolate Labrador, and the man had told me the reason for his size is the new-fangled nutrition with vitamin-rich, processed food… as against the old way of feeding pets on household scraps. A sheep breeder once told me that ninety percent of the breeding goes down the throat; meaning, the better the tucker (food), the better the animal, so that tallies with what Brown-dog-man said. The other justification the man had was that the young dog had needed some surgery for an injury, so he had been locked in a cage for a few months, thus missing out in formal training. I pondered on that as I continued my walk.

I’m not sure I agreed with Brown-dig-man. Having worked with a whole range of animals, there’s one fundamental to understand for animals to behave well, and that’s for them to know who is the boss. It’s also important for owners to understand that all animals have a level of intelligence, but different levels, and you have to give them time to understand what you want them to do. It’s also worth noting that animals are not humans, have no understanding of human emotions, nor do they don’t understand your language… but they will quickly cotton on to repeated learning, sounds, and recognise your habits, even your mood.  We’ve seen how giving titbits as a reward can be very effective, but I’ve never needed that ploy, nor do farmers that I’ve known.

The term ‘breaking’ is applied to horses and to heifers that are going to be milked, and sure enough there are those who use harsh treatment to achieve their goals of breaking the animal’s spirit. And yes, animals do respond to harsh treat yet aren’t inclined to carry a grudge… unless the harsh treatment is prolonged; but there’s no need to use harsh treatment. Breaking in a horse may well mean breaking its spirit, but it might also mean getting a horse familiar with wearing harness or carrying a rider. Being patient, calm and gentle is effective. Usually.

 I was logging with horses and the boss wanted me to train another horse from another forest. He was a big docile fella, and placidly allowed me to put all the logging harness on him, but when I put a load behind him, he just kicked all the harness off and had no interest in actually pulling. Time and again we went through the process with the same result, so finally I roped the big fella to Jimmy the most reliable of horses and Jimmy taught the big fella what to do in no time at all. I couldn’t take any kudos except for the idea. I have no idea how horses communicate, but something went on there.

The same went for my pig hunting dogs, I’d had plenty of time to train Wally from a pup, and he learned more when, each morning and evening as we walked through the sluicings of old gold workings. I liked him to walk at ‘heel’, so I could touch his head, but as a reward, I would allow him to run something most dogs like to do. But I taught him that he could only run on my say so. How did I do that? Simply by repeating the commands and giving him the ‘good boy’ in a soft voice. On command he would even stop panting when we were listening for game. When I introduced him to another dog, Fred, an adult dog I acquired from the pound, I knew they needed to sort out dominance sooner or later, so I tossed down a piece of possum, and sure enough they fought. But I quickly broke them up… and rather roughly, which showed I was the boss and that Fred was at the bottom of the pecking order. I didn’t train Fred any more than that. Wally did the training; they would both stay at heel so I could touch their heads unless I said otherwise. But Fred had three other traits that he brought of his own accord. If there was a creek, he would drown pigs by holding their head underwater. He would look at me for which direction he should run and he’d go off wherever my raised arm indicated – a trait from the collie in him. And if I left an item of my clothing and told him to stay… he would, for as long as it took.

My mate Andy was a sheepdog competitive trialer and his room full of trophies was testament to his skill, yet he risked his dogs buy using them for pig hunting… because the loved it. They could bail pigs, but were gentle with sheep as required in competitions. Books have been written about working farm dogs, they are bred for their inherent characteristics such as eye, huntaway and heading. My dog, Bess came from Andy as a pup and apart from a tweak of two, she instinctively knew what was required of her. The eye-dog in her would help me catch a ewe that was lambing… similar to the way a stoat hypnotising a rabbit. She was a heading dog and would bring the whole mob of sheep towards me. She was a yard dog, helping me to move sheep in the yards… she would bark when I said, ‘Speak up,’ which helped me fill the pen when I was crutching or shearing sheep.

Breaking in a heifer for hand milking as a house cow will upset a new mother because her calf is usually taken away… not always. Before she calves, it is helpful to yard her regularly and acclimatise her to the bail and having her udder touched. Curiously it is an urban myth that if you hit, or treat a house cow roughly, sooner or later she will get you back… and that is in the back of mind always. They get you back by kicking the bucket, or crapping on the bucket or you. I’m not sure if the bucket of bran at the head of the bail is an enticement; it adds to her diet and reduces spring-growth watery flatulence. But cows are usually easy to work with, probably through breeding, I saw the same thing in Africa.  With age, they can often be milked in the open without a bail. But slow actions, being patient and gentle works best.

If you think about it, the same techniques work with children and people, mind you I’ve known farmers who aren’t good with people… but they don’t seem to have much luck with their livestock either. I suppose it can be summed up by saying that every action generates a reaction in kind.