The Learning and Development Committee asked handlers to consider 4 questions when preparing a young dog for trialing. These questions form the basis of a series on Trialing a Young Dog.
- What do you want to see in your young dog before entering him in a trial
- What trial characteristics are you looking for (length of outrun, type of sheep, etc...)
- What adjustments do you make in terms of handling to help your young dog
- Any other relevant information on the topic.
Trialing a Young Dog 1
By Fiona Robertson
(Photo credit also to Fiona)
Ideally, before entering a trial, I would like to see my youngster ready for the class above the class I am entering. This way, I am more certain I can both stop and steer my dog as the distance from me increases. In reality, this is HARD to do! I get eager to “give it a go” and have made the mistake of trialing before my dog was ready (sorry Bean!). If this is also you, don’t fret too much. Just be willing to retire BEFORE sheep are harassed, or the dog gets in over his head and begins to lose confidence. Also if this is you, you will need to ensure you have a very good stop and recall on your green dog (and also know that your 100% reliable stop and recall at home may only be 50% reliable in the excitement of the trial). Or you need to be a good runner!
My youngster's first exposure to livestock
One thing I will never take for granted again is a dog’s understanding and ability to deal with all that weird pressure at the set-out. My dog should be fluent lifting sheep in “unnatural” situations; that is where there is a dog and handler (and sometimes, a horse or two!) holding sheep and creating additional pressure for the approaching dog. Avoidance behaviors such as apparent “fear” of the set out person/dog/horse, overly rash or fast “eyes-closed-style” lifts, “backwards lifts” (where the confused dog comes underneath the sheep), slow creeping lifts then bust-in-and- grip-once-the-sheep-are-moving style lifts can all be a product of this strange pressure that is the top of the trial field. The time to work through all that is off the trial field, with the help of lots of volunteers. Sheep that are set on grain also have different reactions to dogs at the lift, so I will practice that too. A calm, relaxed, and confident lift in any situation will contribute to my youngster’s successful run.
Since we can’t make requests re lengths of outruns or types of sheep, I do take my youngster’s training on the road to gain experience on different types of sheep and different terrain. Ideally I want my dog’s first experience on the trial field to be positive, so I might not choose to enter a trial with a known tricky outrun if my dog’s own outrun performance was not yet reliable - there is nothing more demoralizing for a dog than not finding sheep! I also would not want to expose a less than confident youngster to trial sheep that may be overly confrontational.
Ideally, I would like to be able to relax and not be too fussy on perfect lines. I also need to be ready to retire if I see her confidence is about to go down the toilet.
There is no rush to get your youngster out, it’s not a race to see which littermate can get to Open first. It takes the time it takes!
I will be sure to write this line 100 x on the blackboard!
There is no rush to get your youngster out, it’s not a race to see which littermate can get to Open first. It takes the time it takes!
I will be sure to write this line 100 x on the blackboard!
Started way back with a puppy gifted to me by the late Alex McKinven and hope to never stop learning! Currently, I am running my 7-year-old open dog Bean and soon my youngster Kale will (hopefully) make her debut in Pronovice and Nursery.