Pulling on lead

[Guest Wendy V]

Hi Amanda,

 

Stupid question, most likley, but I am open to your opinion. I have a 9 month old pup that I'm starting, very keen, who will pull like the dickens on the lead to get to his sheep. Outside of the fence, I can get him to walk on a slack lead, but once we passed through the gate, he is pulling like mad. I cannot even get him to lie down at my feet before I send him. At this age of his, I hate to get in an arguement over this, but the thought of cracking down on this behavior has crossed my mind. Also, the pup won't come off his sheep unless forced. Vision a lot of chasing around sheep until I get my hands on him and clip on the lead and drag him off the field. Quite amusing to outsiders, no doubt. Your thoughts, please?

 

Regards,

 

Wendy V

[Guest Amanda]

I too, am guilty. I have a terrible problem with that myself. Ethel naerly broke Scot Glen's arm when he was pulling her around, or she was pulling him around, more to the point. She has developed my biceps out of all proportion. I am sorry I didn't put a choke chain on them in the first place and stop that silliness. I too avoided cracking down on it, chalking it up to small stuff--not to be sweated, but you should do something about it. I will next time. At any age, they ought to walk on a leash properly.

A well timed choke chain would have ended it immediately.

yours

Amanda

[Guest Wendy V]

Well, whaddaya know, the little bugger can walk at my side after all. All it took was a little more convincing. Couldn't find the choke collar, discarded years ago after my undistinguished obedience career ended once I was introduced to herding. But a small tap on the nose with the plastic stick changed his mind, at least temporarily, about lunging on lead. Didn't break his spirit one bit. And it only took three attempts to catch him once on sheep, and not the usual ten. Progress! Thanks!

 

Wendy V

[Guest Amanda]

Wendy

I think I'll do as you did with my own dogs, tomorrow morning.

I did not see where I could post a new topic, so I am sending out this as an answer to a question that has not been asked but ought to be.

Yours

Amanda

 

I had a small group of students, one of whom was interested in buying a young dog. I have three on the go which is of course, too many for one with a day job she is not about to quit.

 

I said I would sell one of them and showed them the one I would sell. I also showed them the one I planned to keep. This seems to occur all the time, people want the one I want to keep, just because I want to keep it—to their mind, it must be the better of the three and therefore covetable.

 

The one I want would never have made a satisfactory dog for the one seeking a dog. She is a novice. I would have been irresponsible to sell it to her. The one I want to keep is a heavy hitter and more difficult to run, requiring sharp handling of which she is not capable. The other is a wider running, obedient type, maybe not with the gas of my own choice, but one with which she could manoeuver around a novice or pronovice course with out regular fiascos-- one who would have given that novice time to make choices about stopping, flanking and coming on.

 

I am raising this issue in this forum to point out that the motives of dog sales people need not always be suspect. Running a top dog takes some doing and may be beyond the ability of the hand, interested in its purchase. I see dogs running in trials, handled well by my colleagues, that I could not have got around a course. I admire their skill but do not want their dogs. Dogs suiting handler is a complicated formula. Just starting out, handlers should acquire dogs with whom they can cope, and achieve some work. They may not win the National finals this year, but they ought to be able to learn to gather, get driving hopefully and learn to pen. Sending dogs to handlers not capable of handling them, over and over again, is the finish of a dog sales career. We have all seen a salesman’s reliability become suspect over a few mismatches. Most of the pros I know want to send dogs to hands that will be successful with them because their reputation rides on it. That hope notwithstanding, lots of decent dogs are sent into hands that spoil them and the seller can get a bad rap.

 

The selling of a dog does not infer its inferiority. That is a hard concept of a pet owner to comprehend initially. “How could they possible sell that beloved dog? Wht’s wrong with it?” Hands frequently start a few youngsters with an eye to choosing one with whom they will stick. The others go somewhere, because everyone has a limit to the volume in their kennel as much as anything—sometimes to other hands, sometimes to goose, sometimes to pets. Their price reflects the time invested in the dog and the skills that it has acquired in that time.

 

Lots of you are thinking about buying working dogs. I hope that you help your handling skills by doing so. Coming from the pet world into that of working sheepdogs, can produce a few surprises. As you navigate around the sheepdog world, I hope this insight helps.