I am writing this document because most of the people that contact me for trackdogs have never had one before. They are not too sure what to do. Two of my sons showed lambs in junior high and high school so we ran lambs for 12 years. I’ve been training border collies for over 20 years. In partnership, I maintain from 50 to 250 nannies year round and manage them using dogs. Below is what I think you should know or consider in order to be successful with your running program.
An animal runs because it is afraid and it thinks it’s getting away. If the dog gets too close, most sheep or goats will turn and fight just like we as humans would do. If anyone will keep running it’ll be the sheep and not the goat. So your overall goal will be to make them afraid and let them get away. Some folks think the dog needs to be up close pounding on the animal all the way around the track. You end up with a chewed up animal and usually the animal will eventually say “that’s enough”. “I don’t care anymore, just kill me”. What do you do then? You may think that if you keep the dog that far back the animal will stop because they can’t see the dog. Put a bell on the dog’s collar. The animal will associated the sound of the bell with the fear of the dog that they have and as long as they can hear the bell, they will try to get away by running. It’s like footsteps in the dark.
When we run lambs or goats with dogs, we want to do so as effortless as possible. We need a dog that will chase the animal but be controllable enough so you can stop the dog, call it off, slow it down or encourage it to be aggressive if needed. We need a track that allows for continuous running by the animals without breaking stride anymore than is absolutely necessary. Let’s cover these one at a time and then discuss the different problems that could occur, what caused them and how to fix them.
Let’s start with the track. Most people want long straight-a-ways so the animals can really stretch out. That is good but the longer the straight-a-way, the more time the dog has to catch the animal so he/she can pass it or bite it, neither of which we need if the animal is already running. Also, we tend to make the turns too narrow and too shallow which causes them to break stride. This gives the dog another chance to do his thing. The more round a track is, the less the animal has to break stride. It does cut down on the straight-a-ways but it reduces the chances of the dog and lamb/goat getting too close together. When they get too close together you cross the fight or flight zone and they will generally stop, turn and fight. This turns into another problem that maybe could have been avoided with a change in design. You can still have your straight-a-ways but you’ll have to do a better job handling the dog. Maybe make the turns longer and bank the turns so the animal can keep running right through them.
Most dogs don’t understand the concept. All they know is that they get to chase. Some actually want to catch the animal so they can put a mouth on it and some don’t want to catch them. If the weaker dog gets too close then when the animal stops and turns to fight, the dog doesn’t want to fight. The animal figures this out and the running is over because they are no longer afraid of the dog. Now you probably have the lambs chasing the dog. The goats will just stand there. Most young dogs, when first challenged, will run backwards or away from the lamb because there is nowhere else to go. This also sends the wrong message to the animals. With time and maturity, they find out that the animal really can’t hurt them and they are more likely to stand their ground. You want to do your ground work and try not to let this happen to the young dog because it really hurts their confidence and now what the animal thinks of the dog is the exact opposite of what you need them to think. The stronger dog that does want to catch the animal will really chew it up when the fight starts. This happened because the track allowed the dog to catch them or lack of control on the dog and/or poor handling by the handler. A weak dog is less likely to cause a fight and therefore chew up your animals, if you helped train the animals to be afraid of the dog. If you do it right, they will never discover his weakness.
Lambs and kids don’t forget the things that they fear. If taught to fear a dog because there is pain associated with this dog and a sound to associate this pain and fear with, you could run your animals with a Chihuahua. All they have to do is carry the sound or noise that reminds the animal of the pain. The pain could be the bite of a hotshot or the actual bite of a dog. Then why don’t people use a Chihuahua? You have to have a breed of dog that has a desire to work stock. Other breeds would quit after a few laps or a few days. Do this when the lambs or kids are young and impressionable. Not when they are much bigger than the dog, full of high energy feed, overweight and not inclined to want to exercise, especially a lot of exercise. Train them to be afraid when they are young and small and they will never forget it.
To train your animals to associate the noise and the pain, you can do one of two things. Put them on a halter and the dog on a lead. Holding the animal’s head up(When a lamb or kid fights, he puts his head down. This way he is defenseless.), encourage the dog to be aggressive. As the dog makes a move towards the animal, ring the bell and hit the animal with a hotshot or let the dog take a nip at them. Immediately pull the dog back and stop the bell. Wait 20 or 30 seconds and then do it again. The animal should be ‘bug-eyed’. If so, put him up and repeat this tomorrow. About 2 days should be enough. The other thing you can do is put the animals in a small area. I’m talking about a double horse stall or 20 x 30 pen or the island inside the track may be the best. Put the bell on the dog’s collar and turn him loose. He’ll run through, grab, and scare them. You might want to make the dog drag a cord in case things get out of hand you can step on the cord and catch the dog. If you have a hotshot, be in there with them. That way if one wants to challenge the dog too much, hit it with the hotshot. It'll think the dog did it. The reason for working in a pen area first is so the dog can maneuver in case of a fight without running away from the animal. If you're using a dog that is not real strong, he's more likely to be aggressive in this larger area than he will be in a 4 foot track. If he can convince the animals to be afraid of him in this larger area, then he won't have to on the track. Whatever you do, don't try to dogbreak the animals on the track. Don't put both of them on the track until you know without a doubt that the lambs/goats are afraid of the dog.
Despite which method you use, next put the animals on the track and you get on the inside with the dog on a lead beside you. Have a hotshot in your hand. Approach the tail of the animals. If they don’t take off running, hit them with the hotshot. Make sure the bell rings when this happens. Follow them around until they start running continously. Remember, you’re on the inside of the track not in the track. That way you’ve got complete control of the dog. Now all the animal knows is that when he hears the bell he either gets bit or stung with the hotshot and they’ll want to run to get away from it. On day 3 take them to the track and put the dog in with them. You should be in the center(the island) of the track working the dog. A livestock paddle is very handy for this. If the dog is getting too close to the stock, step in front of him and hold the paddle over the track where the dog can see it. As he slows down, give him a command like "Easy" or "Slow" or whatever you want to use. As you see him slow down, pull the paddle back and step back releasing the dog to run again. You're just trying to make him break stride so the animals can open the gap by a step or two. Coming out of the turns is a good place to do this. If you want the dog to keep running, then stay behind the dog. As he goes from side to side, you go from side to side staying behind. You'll be walking a smaller circle in the center following the dog. If you’re not sure you can keep the dog far enough back, put one of his front feet in his collar(make him 3 legged). This will slow him down enough for you to get a feel of where the dog needs to be to keep them running. The other thing you can do, and this is my preferred way, is tire the dog down a little before the actual running starts. Put the lambs or goats in the island and the dog on the track by itself. Get the dog to start running and let it run a few laps both ways to get the edge off. Use this time to practice and enforce your lie down command but let the dog run a little before you give the first command. This reminds them who's in charge without it doing any harm to the lambs or goats. If they(the lambs or goats), run 2 laps, take them off. They think they got away. Don’t leave the bell on the dog’s collar or hanging in the barn where the wind could blow it and make it ring. If the animals hear it a lot it won’t have the effect it needs to have. The next day you run, quit after 3 laps and so on until you have worked up to your goal.
When you buy a dog and take it home, DON’T try to run him/her the first day. Make friends with the dog. Let them start to feel comfortable in the new surroundings. The dog is not a tool like a hammer. You can’t start using it rightaway and then just lay it down when you are through. A dog is like a new employee or a new member of the family. Give them a chance to get in a grove before you put them to work. Put the dog on a lead and go for some short walks. Tell the dog to “Lie Down” and step on the lead if necessary. This establishes the pecking order. Take the dog to the track without stock on the track and walk around the track with the dog. Give the dog time to smell all the smells. You don’t want anything scaring the dog when it’s time to run. Enforce your “Lie down” command there on the track and praise the dog for obeying. The dog has to enjoy what it is doing and for whom it is working. A few extra days go a long way in securing a long relationship.
Train your animals to be afraid of the dog and the noise. Put them on a track that they can run on without breaking stride so that they feel like they are getting away, escaping. Handle your dog so that he never crosses that fight or flight zone of the animal. In other words, don’t let him get too close. Do these things and your running will be effortless and over in just a few minutes.
Here are some problems that may occur, their cause and some suggestions for their correction:
P: You waited to start running the stock 60 days before the show and they are 15 lbs.
overweight. They will only run a couple of laps and then they want to fight.
C: You didn’t teach them to be afraid of the dog and the noise and they are
out of shape. It would have been better for them to be running a little all along instead of waiting until now.
C: Build up their stamina. Run 2 laps for a couple of days then increase it to 3. Do
that for a couple of days and then increase it to 4 and so on. With a small amount of exercise, you could run on consecutive days until you are up to the amount you want to run. Another thought is, let the stock rest a few minutes after a couple of laps, catch their breath. Then run a couple of more laps. The pause in between shouldn’t affect what you are trying to do. When people work out, they take breaks between sets. Also, you may have to retrain them to associate the sound of the bell with some sort of pain.
P: The dog passes the animals up and when they turn to go the other way he does it
again.
C: Several causes here. The track may not be allowing the stock to run hard. The
dog is just being turned loose and not being handled.
C: If this dog has a lot of herding instinct, then it’s natural for him to do this. He needs a slow down command. Something to make the dog break stride. This allows the
animals to gain a step or two. Also, the track design may be keeping the animals from stretching out. They may be breaking stride too many times. If you can’t reconstruct the track, try banking the turns to help them run through the turns.
Remember, the idea is for the stock to fear the sound of the bell because they associate it with pain. The dog carries the sound but he never gets so close that they feel like they have to turn and fight. They always feel like they are getting away and their stamina has been gradually increased so they can run a long time if need be.
GOOD LUCK!
P.S. Most of the dogs I sell are young dogs because there aren’t any old track dogs out there for sale. Most people’s kids show for 8 or 9 years and by that time the dog is too old to sell. So do your ground work to help build the young dog’s confidence so things will go good while you’re waiting on it to mature and become that old dog.