Pippin's person Posted April 2, 2009 Report Share Posted April 2, 2009 Two of our dogs work well for just about any handler and two of them are disinclined to work for anyone but us. This has made me wonder how many people have dogs who will work for a different handler (not in the context of moving to a new house and the new handler becoming the dog's handler--more in a "one-off" type context). Do you think not working for other handlers is more common? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sue R Posted April 2, 2009 Report Share Posted April 2, 2009 I don't know - Celt will work for anyone (who isn't too hard on him) and Bute won't work for anyone but Ed or myself. But, Bute has a rather "suspicious and skeptical" personality, and feeling secure about certain things seems more important than work. Celt, on the other hand, is a workaholic who tends to get more frazzled and anxious if handled "strongly" but will still keep working unless he is exhausted mentally or physically ready to drop. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Debbie Meier Posted April 2, 2009 Report Share Posted April 2, 2009 Jake will work for other handlers if he understands them. I know this seems strange to say, but if a handler tries to direct him and he is uncertain one of two things happen. If the handler takes a moment and shows him one little thing, even it just a step to the sheep Jake will be off and do what ever asked at distance or up close. If the handler fails to show him anything or tries to correct him for not taking the first command Jake will just show them a paw. At that point he may go out and do what he sees fit with the sheep or he may leave. I take it as a I work for myself or I work with you, but I don't work for you if I'm not sure that you know what you want. Deb Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laura L Posted April 2, 2009 Report Share Posted April 2, 2009 I have one who works in the setout pen for anyone at the trials at our house. He doesn't care who it is. Then I have 3 that will work for anyone in my "family" and the other one is a one person dog. Laura Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rebecca, Irena Farm Posted April 2, 2009 Report Share Posted April 2, 2009 Ted tends to need a really dramatic adjustment period, to work for someone who is Not The Mama - the exception would be for people he's known his whole life, like most likely Laura C, though she's never actually worked him to my knowlege, could work him pretty easily. That was true of Julie I know and it's always been true of Robin. If I'm around, even with people he's used to he won't perform nearly as well. Apparently being a mama's boy is something he comes by honestly so it doesn't bother me too much. Cord doesn't work for women, we've finally figured out. Period. End of story. He works beautifully for Patrick and I've had him at Jack Knox clinics and it took me until we moved here to figure it out. Patrick's enjoying working with him though so it's okay. Gus's hearing loss has gotten worse recently to the point where he simply doesn't seem to hear Patrick's voice at all. He does seem to hear mine and he definitely hears whistles, so I'm now the sheep goddess, as is anyone with a high voice or whistles and sheep. Ben used to work for anyone. All the fuss I made about his being my heart dog made it a bit embarrassing when he'd go off and actually win prizes at trials with friends, which he never was able to do with me. But it made things much easier - if anything needed to do anything on the farm, minimally I knew I could tell them - "Let Ben out and he'll know what to do." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bcnewe2 Posted April 2, 2009 Report Share Posted April 2, 2009 Mick and Dew will work for just about anyone. The more you know about working, the more you get. As Mick gets older and smarter I see him taking sideways glances over at me, as if to say..."do I have to do it their way?" He does but not always happy. Unless is someone like JK, then he's in seventh heaven. Dew....LOVES to work, so if your asking, she's working. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdarling Posted April 2, 2009 Report Share Posted April 2, 2009 Echo is a hussy. She will happily work for anyone without so much as a glance in my direction. J Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Journey Posted April 2, 2009 Report Share Posted April 2, 2009 ^^^^ Ditto - my girl is what we jokingly call a working S*** w/o a glance at me anyone who knows what they are doing (or not) and so much as nods at her she's off and running. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KathyF Posted April 2, 2009 Report Share Posted April 2, 2009 My Jag will work for anyone as he just wants to work. Corbie will work for me and my husband and that is it. She likes other people but doesn't trust them enough to work for them. Stryker will only work for my husband. Cash pretty much only works for me. I remember going to a clinic last spring and the clinician was showing me something with him. He worked for her for about 2 - 3 minutes and then it was like he looked at her and said, you're not my mom. Kathy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smokjbc Posted April 2, 2009 Report Share Posted April 2, 2009 Hi, My Rhett I left on a cattle ranch for three months with a very soft spoken, good friend of mine- he was never able to get her to work well for him. Nellie will work for Mike or other people if I'm not close by. If I am close by she gives me alot of "oh please get in here!" looks. Jane I am willing to bet would work very well for someone else, but that person would have to be quiet and not too hard on her. Heck, I can't be too hard on her either... Jet, on the other hand, will work just as well for anyone else as me. That probably has to do with her idea (which we are working on ) that they are her sheep, not ours anyways. When I took her to our trainer, she didn't even look at me, although I was standing right there, when she was being worked or corrected. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1sheepdoggal Posted April 2, 2009 Report Share Posted April 2, 2009 My Chris will work for anyone, anytime. As long as there are sheep, she will work with you to stay on them. Lex doesnt care to work for other people, but she semi will if she feels you know what your doing and are asking her to do what she feels needs to be done. Hank is learning to work, and so far has worked with me and another person. He trusts me more, so I think he is more relaxed working with me, but is learning to work with other people. Hank is only 11 months old, so its all new to him, but I think its a good idea to let others (that are good handlers/trainers) to work with him to, to keep him flexable. Bear is another that will work with anyone for sheep time, I dont really think it matters to him much who it is, he doesnt see anyone anyway, he listens but his eyes are on the sheep. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PennyT Posted April 2, 2009 Report Share Posted April 2, 2009 A friend of mine found an odd little book, bound pamphlet style, on sale in a Cracker Barrel and called something like "Four Weeks to a Fully Trained Stockdog." Yeah right, she thought and snapped up the volume. We both read the book with great interest because of the claim and because neither of us had heard of the author. One thing he said struck me as sensible. If you are going to want the dog to work for several people in the future, start that early or you can't be certain the dog will work readily for others. For all I know, the writer had more good tips. That's all I remember, and his name escapes me. He had written books, all listed on the back. Two of the titles were on the order of "Dating for Christians" and "Computers for Beginners." There were others, none in the least related to each other, a puzzling and broad subject array for what looked close to self-publishing. I have a couple of dogs that will work for anyone so long as new person doesn't start off yelling. At that point, both will say to the new temporary boss, "Take this job and shove it." Penny Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carson Crazies Posted April 2, 2009 Report Share Posted April 2, 2009 As far as I can tell Nick will work for just about anyone (so far). June will work for most people, but then take THAT for what it's worth (which isn't much, ). Linc, on the other hand, thus far isn't much inclined to work for anyone else. That may change, but so far he seems to have very strong feelings about it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
airbear Posted April 2, 2009 Report Share Posted April 2, 2009 Lou will work anything, for anyone, anywhere, any time, for any reason. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PSmitty Posted April 2, 2009 Report Share Posted April 2, 2009 My dogs aren't the caliber of dogs that you guys are talking about, but just for fun, I'll answer. (Who me, wannabe? ) I've only had me and my trainer try to work my dogs, so it's not a big sample, but Jack will willingly work for our trainer. And to be truthful, he works better for her, because she knows what she's really doing out there. Alex, so far, will only work with me (and I use "work" VERY loosely). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liz P Posted April 2, 2009 Report Share Posted April 2, 2009 All of my dogs will work for anyone. If there are multiple people standing on the field they work for the person giving the most clear, sensible and firm commands. I have no doubt that Freya would abandon me for another owner if they offered her full time sheep work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CleverColliesDeb. Posted April 3, 2009 Report Share Posted April 3, 2009 My elder two (Tegwen and her son Cody) will work for anybody with a sheep needing moving......the younger of Tegwen`s sons (Metheny) just looks hopelessly-spurned and constantly looks back for me if asked to work for another handler. Both temperament and breeding play a part in this issue; I observe that only certain working-bloodlines here in Wales carry the 'happily work-away' trait whilst many others do not. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wendy V Posted April 3, 2009 Report Share Posted April 3, 2009 In my work, my dogs have to be willing to work for multiple handlers. All will do so, especially when I am not around. It is an ability I train for and a tempermental quality that I select for. The handlers, OTOH, have their own preferences. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bo Peep Posted April 3, 2009 Report Share Posted April 3, 2009 Usher will work for anyone. He will go home with the first person that has their door open- no loyalty. Whoever has the sheep and is in the field is his new best friend. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doggietrio Posted April 3, 2009 Report Share Posted April 3, 2009 Fuze would happily work for Godzilla if he could open a gate and whistle/give commands for her! If there are multiple people standing on the field they work for the person giving the most clear, sensible and firm commands. This has happened, too. I was on the field with an instructor, and she would NOT get to work - just sat there and looked at me to the instructor (she has never quit before and she is used to working with both of us on the field, but I was having a bad day). I walked over to her to get her and she ran right past me and went to work - for him. She even looked back at me as if to say "STAY!" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pippin's person Posted April 3, 2009 Author Report Share Posted April 3, 2009 This turned out even more interesting that I was expecting. Just eyeballing it, it looks like it's more likely ( for the dogs referenced in this thread) for the dog to work for another handler and matters of nature/nurture come in too--though probably anyone's guess as to how much for each. I had a surprising experience yesterday--my younger dog, Kyzer, is being trained by someone else to run in agility and handled by me on sheep. He has traditionally not liked working for someone other than me on sheep and has been fine working for his agility handler. We had a nasty fight between two of our dogs about a month ago and since then, Kyzer will not work for the agility trainer if the slightest thing goes wrong (a dropped bar and he leaves the ring). This is also the kind of thing he's typically done when someone else tried to work him on sheep. However, yesterday when we were with the sheep, he worked really well for the person we train with (who was showing me something and so she took the wheel, so to speak)--I feel fairly certain it was because she made sense to him as compared to what I was doing--which no doubt came across to him as white noise dunked in molasses. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoloRiver Posted April 3, 2009 Report Share Posted April 3, 2009 Hey Becca, isn't Cord related to Solo? Solo will work for anyone, which is striking since he trusts pretty much no one in civilian life, and is definitely My Dog, but he's way better for men than he is for women (which includes me). He's very hard-headed and needs to be a little intimidated by the handler to be kept in check, and he's generally afraid of men, or at least that's my story. However, once a man has worked Solo, that guy is on Solo's OK list. Becca's worked Solo though, and he was good for her, and she's definitely not a dude, so... Fly will work for anyone although she'll spend some time looking back at me at first. Fly is a mama's girl. She tends to work with more gusto for people who are better handlers than I am. Off sheep however she acts like I am the only human who exists on the planet, which made trying to do flyball with her kinda interesting. Jett looks like she's going to be a "work for anyone" kinda dog. She's also very affectionate to new people once she has about 10-15 minutes to warm up to them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Angie H Posted April 3, 2009 Report Share Posted April 3, 2009 Two of our dogs work well for just about any handler and two of them are disinclined to work for anyone but us. This has made me wonder how many people have dogs who will work for a different handler (not in the context of moving to a new house and the new handler becoming the dog's handler--more in a "one-off" type context). Do you think not working for other handlers is more common? Binx is a total sheep s#@t and will work for anyone that leads him to sheep....that is quite fortunate for me since I am so green. This allows me to have people that know what they're doing help my dog! I do have a couple of friends with a "one person dog"; those dogs will only work for their person/handler....I'd be in big trouble! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
somewhereinusa Posted April 3, 2009 Report Share Posted April 3, 2009 Mac, my first Border Collie would only work for me, with one exception. He would work for one other person if I wasn't there. My wife tried to work him once. He went the opposite direction for flank commands.Usually, when someone else tried, he would just walk to the fence, jump it and go lay down to watch. Jim would work for anybody, even people out of the audience. I would give them signs that said away and come by and told them when he got to the other side to cross their hands. He would do open trial work for an open handler. Most of the others would work for most anyone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hsnrs Posted April 4, 2009 Report Share Posted April 4, 2009 Since I'm a real newbie at handling my own dogs, they were all started by a experienced Border Collie trainer. Sue was great with them and they loved working for her. We have taken them to the club's practice days and our Sam absolutely loved the man who worked him several months ago in his round pen. Keesha was a bit nervous of the big stick but came back to work sheep with him. My Alfie was trialed by Sue and did very well with her. She is a soft Aussie and the others are somewhere in between (Sam is a very head strong guy with me but great with Ken). I have to learn to be more firm with them and let them know I'm in the picture. Is it good for the dogs to work with others? I personally think so but being a real newbie not sure if that is the correct answer (if there is such a thing). Thanks. Narita Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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