The importance of a good trainer/mentor

[Flora & Molly]

About a year and a half ago I started Molly on sheep. At the time I posted here about it and it went really well.
After a while though, I felt we were stuck on the same level and I saw my dogs eyes change from eager to unhappy on the field. So we stopped training. 

Fast forward to now: I have found a wonderful knowledgeable trainer who has taught me more in the first session we had than I have learned in the couple of months I trained at the other place. We are at session 6 now and it is so much fun. Every time I feel like we have learned a lot.

I wanted to post about it here for everyone who might be in a similar situation or who is in the process of looking for a suitable place to train their dog.
 

For a while I thought I had difficulty getting Molly to understand what I wanted, because training a dog to work stock is hard. Then I thought it was me, and that I had trouble paying attention to everything at once: myself, the dog and the sheep. And I thought Molly was very sensitive to the way I was feeling and I thought she thought I was angry/grumpy because I was concentrating so hard.

I hadn't seen them work stock with their own dogs and when I did I was a bit puzzled. They were switching the sheep we were training with to give them a break and the way they moved them to another field just seemed so chaotic to me. 
Things started to slowly change for me then. I had some trouble with Molly, when we walked to the field she would be so excited that I didn't really exist for her anymore - and she would "yodel". I asked my trainer and they didn't have any clue how to help me with that. Which I thought was a bit odd. 
The final straw was when the ewes we trained with turned out to be pregnant. Somehow the ram got to them, probably through the fence. 

Such a difference with my new trainer. From the moment we walked on the field she started teaching me. Explaining what the dog training before was doing and what the owner was doing. Plus, we would do sessions with another duo, so we could alternate short working sessions and breaks to give the dog time to think and learn. She always has one of her own dogs in the field with us who makes sure the sheep don't stray too far away from us when something goes a bit wrong. Great working dogs who listen very well to very quiet commands and tend to know what to do before she asks for it.

Within three sessions Molly has slowed down and I don't have to run backwards as much. Something which we hadn't managed at the other place. We are working on distance which Molly finds very difficult and trying at the same time to keep her keen to work. My trainer explains every little step of the way and I start to understand the "delicate dance" of getting a dog to accept your guidance without it feeling like punishment and the dog losing interest in working. 

Molly ate a lot of sheep dung at the last place. I already knew then that it was to avoid pressure/have time to think/because she was tired. The trainer there joked about it "don't you feed her?". I didn't think it was something to laugh about.
She still will eat a bit of dung, but now I know it's time to call her back to work and if she does it a lot I know it is time to do something she likes and take a break. Or my trainer will call for a break.

I'm very proud of Molly and I'm so glad I didn't give up on stockwork, because I very nearly did. The best thing about it is that she is keen to work again, and she doesn't "yodel" anymore when we walk on the field. She has improved so much in such a short time that the girl I train with thought I must have taken extra lessons in secret and was jealous  (her dog is 9 months old and hitting puberty hard - Molly is 5 )

 

The value of a good trainer is not something to underestimate!

 

 

 

 

[GentleLake]

That's a very good point. My first working dog was overly keen but not as confident as it might have seemed at first, plus he had a "dirty bite" (i.e. if he bit he bit hard and did damage), a combination that could (and several times did) end up in disaster. There weren't many people training with others then but a few gave clinics so we traveled to get to the ones we could. I think we worked with a total of 3 trainers. 2 of them simply couldn't handle this dog and it amazes me to this day that the dog didn't shut down entirely from the abuse that they piled on him. The third trainer was magnificent, though, and not only did he know how to handle him without beating the shit out of him but actually liked how the dog worked once he settled down for him and was able to bring out the best in him. I ended up sending the dog to him twice for a month of training and ended up with a very competent working dog whose only drawback was the inexperience of his handler.

So my advice to anyone who's really not seeing much progress -- or the stress signals Molly was showing -- is to try another trainer or 2 or 3 till you find the one whom things clicks with. Fortunately there are a lot more very good ones available these days.

Thanks for sharing your very important experience.

 

[Flora & Molly]

It is amazing how resilient dogs can be. Also sad sometimes how much crap they will endure.
I'm glad you found a trainer in the end that worked for you and your dog. 

Even as an inexperienced handler it is so important to listen to your gut feeling.