Sneak Peek

            Rear end awareness on the herding field

From Positive Herding 101

Jump sideways

Another behavior that spontaneously generalized to herding was rear foot awareness. Proprioception, awareness of body and limbs in space, is great for herding dogs since they will be working on difficult footing at times. I taught Sir to keep his front feet on a small platform and pivot his rear feet around in a circle in both directions. Great puppy training but not terribly useful for herding, or so I thought!

One day I was working Sir on several ewes along a fence. The ewes split and some ran along the fence so I sent Sir to bring them back. Once they were all gathered together I asked Sir in to put pressure on the ewes. I wanted Sir to take responsibility for preventing them from getting away again. As he moved closer the ewes became more nervous and eventually started to split. Sir jumped sideways with all four feet and landed about a foot to his right, exactly on balance to prevent the ewes from splitting.

As much trouble as it is to video every session, I guarantee that if you don’t you will miss something incredible! I regret that I don’t have a video of the amazing session when Hart learned to go between the sheep and the fence.

I was amazed! I had seen many dogs jump sideways with their front feet but I had never seen a dog jump sideways with all four feet. I then realized by jumping sideways Sir was now perfectly positioned to react in either direction. If he had only moved his front feet he would have been at a disadvantage to move the direction he had come from. Too cool!

 Unfortunately, I don’t have a picture of Sir jumping sideways with all 4 feet but I know for a fact that his training in proprioception was the foundation for that amazing sideways jump.

Later I called my friend who owns Sir’s mother and asked her if jumping sideways ran in the bitch’s line. She replied that she had never seen a dog jump completely sideways when working stock. So again Sir had generalized a behavior because it worked for him, it was self-reinforcing.

You will find other behaviors that your dog spontaneously generalizes as well as seemingly simple herding behaviors that your dog needs your help to accomplish. Don’t assume your dog knows everything there is to know about herding. Dogs may come with a lot of instinctive behaviors that are far beyond your capabilities but new situations may require you to shape new behaviors that are beyond your dog’s current capabilities. I guarantee your dog will amaze you with what they can do but will also amaze you with what they struggle to do.

Positive herding is a journey of learning for you, your dog, and your livestock. Have fun and enjoy the journey!

Let's look at the sideways jump with all four feet in a bit more detail.

The beginning setup is shown in this picture, with the thick brown line at the top representing the fence:

Dawg is holding the sheep but the lead sheep wants to get past Dawg to a gate on the left side of the picture.

The sheep has broken past Dawg and has now turned around since she cannot go out the closed gate. As she broke, Dawg jumped sideways with his front feet but left his back feet in place. This puts Dawg in a good position to move on the single sheep (the yellow portion of the half-circle) but leaves Dawg in a poor position to cover the rest of the flock (the blue portion of the half-circle).

Notice the black line at the right edge of the half-circle and compare its position in this picture with the black line in the next picture.

This time when Dawg jumped, he jumped sideways with all four feet. This puts Dawg in a good position to move on all of the sheep (the yellow half-circle).

Compare the position of the black line in the two pictures. In the lower picture, the line indicates that Dawg has moved his entire body to the left and is set to move in any direction necessary.

I wish I had video of Sir jumping sideways, but I got lazy and didn't set up my video camera that day. I have hundreds of videos of my training, but I have missed a few amazing sessions. You never know what your dog or your livestock is going to do when you go out to train. Maybe that is part of what makes herding so addictive.

If you are not a member of my private group, just ask to join and answer a few questions so I can get to know a bit about you and your dog(s). You may also ask questions about this training in that group.

If you found this blog helpful, please tell your friends and spread the herd!

Barb

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