Put Your Teeth Away

That pesky grip, when Jax insists on problem solving with his teeth. His breeding is intended for cow herding, when you don't necessarily want to remove it completely. But there's time and a place, so we are working on getting him to not push to hard when he's close to the flock and use his teeth selectively. As a farm dog, it's less of a huge deal. But I'm working on him being a trial dog, so I'd rather not get disqualified every time. 

We worked with Jax in the small holding pen. You'd think that would be the best thing-most-fun-ever for Jax, close to sheep... perfect, who's ready to party, right? Actually it's really stressful for him and an intense experience that fries his poor little noodle. We started out with him on the leash to manage the situation. I was expecting sheep to be flying out of that pen like popcorn kernels in a frying pan. 

The goal was to squeeze Jax along the outside of the pen and to get him to move them off the fence without using teeth when he gets close.

"Can I leave now?"

He wanted to bail out in the beginning, it was a bit hard for him to take it slow. We then decided to let him off leash to give him a little more confidence and less pressure from the leash tension.

"Are you kidding? Dog with teeth, small pen?? Get us out!"

"Get me outta here!"

Off leash he was able to work both sides by himself. The best part about this pen "training tool" is that when he did go in for a grip, his trainer was right there to be able to tell him "no" and reprimand him for it. In the field it's hard to get the "punishment" at the right moment, so essentially he gets away with it every time and doesn't learn that he's not supposed to bite. 

 

Just as he's getting too close he can be told what not to do before it happens, reinforcing the "no grip
 policy we are putting in place. 

I was very proud of the progress he made. It's ok to nip if the sheep aren't moving. There is no need to hang on and grab fleece like he has been moving. Nip when they aren't moving, not when they are. After the trial where we DQ'd for the bite and hold, it was on the to-do list to get that habit taken care of. Making steps in the right direction!

Jax the Gripper and our First Trial!

The weekend of Jax's second birthday was also the weekend of our first sheep dog trial. I was definitely nervous, the kind of nerves you feel before a horse show and your riding a 5 year old who hasn't been in a ring before. Jax wasn't nervous, the only thing that does that is small children and women over the age of 80. No, Jax was deliriously excited about two full days around sheep. And "cranked up" from having to wait all day around said sheep without getting to herd much.

Day one, Saturday. Overcast and windy (frankly miserably cold), but we were all ready and excited. Here's how it goes, everyone gets 5 sheep for their run. Let's just say we got some really shitty sheep. That gang of sheep that didn't want to play nice and who wanted to run as fast and far from my dog and not just make it easy.

Here we are at the start. Let this be said, Jax doesnt normally drag me into the field. He was off his rocker at this point from sitting in his crate all day. The sheep running willy nilly before we even started. 

"Wait......" 

See that leg, he gripped it shortly after this photo. DQ. 

So the entire run I was trying to get my dog to slow down and stop being such a predator. I've said this before, set your dog up for success. Seeing as he's such a young dog and still in serious training, sitting in the car all day, working with sheep that wanted to run away rather than play nice.... not setting him up for success. He grips when he sees no other solution (we're working on that). All in all Saturday happens to all of us, a whole bunch of dogs got disqualified from his run group. He's a lot of dog and that's one of my favorite parts about him :)