This is a letter that Grahame Rees forwarded to us.  Grahame teaches Low Stress Stock Handling in Australia

Subject: A message from Jed, Slim and Lachie at Coonamble

G’day Grahame,
                       We too want to join the queue of thankful canines regarding the recent LSS course our owner/trainer attended at Gunnedah. Since Jane’s return we seem to have done every procedure known to man on our mobs of ewes and lambs and have been in and out of the sheep yards for weeks
                     . She seems to have finally got it! All those plans to modify the shape of the sheep yards seem to have gone out the window….Jane has finally worked out (and it’s taken all these years!) that we need to send the mob down the opposite fence line to get stock from the big pen into the lead up yards. And also that she needs to stand up the front and leave us lads to work the back of the mob to get them in. We’re not even allowed to bark anymore and she mostly uses us just one at a time in the yards….now that’s a bit boring cause we were pretty competitive and used to race each other and get those sheep really moving!

Then there’s this T thing happening out in the paddock. It’s weird cause she keeps dropping back when she sends us round the side…recently she mustered a mob of 1,700 ewes and lambs just with Jed and would have got them beautifully through the gate had Lachie not arrived at that moment and chased them all back! Don’t worry, we sorted him out after that.
                      All that zig zag stuff and pressure/release and working on the lead that we’ve always done, Jane’s now taking the credit for it! Unbelievable!
                      Now there’s talk of altering the cattle yards to make the lead up pen square and the next batch of calves to be weaned are going to be run just over the fence from their mums. Honestly we’ve never seen so many changes around here, we’re on our best behaviour now in case we become redundant and get the axe.
. . . . .
                                        
                     Cheers and thanks for the heads up
                      The lads

I had a phone call this morning from the man who asked the January 22 question about his dog over-working.  He said that by following Bud’s answer, in a very short time  the dog (and cattle) was doing what she was supposed to.  He said he went back and re-read the material from the webpage and realized that he had misread it.

Question:  I’m working with a 17 mo old dog .She pays close attention to my position and balances well. I try to say as little as possible or nothing at all.  She has a lot of push to the point of nipping heels after she has gathered and has them coming. ( she is a border collie) I’ve started to let her know I’m not happy with nipping and she catches on quick but I want her to learn to pace on her own. I’ve been letting her push them ( 10 yearling heifers) past me and then make her bring them back but the heifers seem to ware out before the dog so I’ve been doing this a little more through gates so she doesn’t get the continual thrill of just getting to blast on past every time.  So two questions.  Pacing and nipping.

Answer:     You want to be careful about making the dog quit nipping because if you make her quit she may not nip when it is necessary. What you want to do is let the dog learn when to nip and when not to.

You wrote “I’ve been letting her push them past me and then make her bring them back.” When trying to get the dog to slow down and start thinking, don’t let the dog push the animals past and then make the dog go get them. This will wear out the cattle and not slow the dog down as this keeps the dog excited to keep working fast.

When the dog is bringing the animals walk toward the back and this will push the dog to the front.  As soon as the dog gets the animals turned and coming walk to the back again and this will push the dog to the front again. If you do it this way the animals will not get tired and the dog can learn to slow down and start thinking.

Don’t let the dog get the thrill of blasting on past you, that’s why the advice on working a dog is to “push” the dog not to work in such a way that you are actually encouraging it to blast on by you.

When you read what is written try to do close to what is written, otherwise the result may not be even close to what you want. Remember “push” the dog to get some things not just “send” them for everything.

Question: . . . . I was giving a print out of your Introduction to my Stockdog Methods a while ago and after reading it, I’m thinking I went about my training the wrong way.  I have a 9 month old boarder collie pup and he’s got lots of heart to work however I’m having trouble getting him to circle the stock.  He will bunch a group up, but once bunched he is wanting to drive them away rather than bring them to me.  I realize this is me that caused him to do this.  My question for you is how can I get him to bring the stock to me.  I’ve taken your advice as to trying to keep the cattle between me and him, but he’ll split the herd trying to get to my side of the cattle.  I’m thinking at this age he should still be very impressionable and it shouldn’t be that hard of a fix, but I’m stumped.  Not sure if you have any suggestions and if so I’d appreciate your input. (more…)

Question: . . . . I’ve tried to make the dog work as simple as possible by never asking the dog to do anything but bring cattle to me. If I do what I think is pushing him, it is only to send him back around or toward another group, animal, etc. which he then brings to me.
The more I experiment with pushing, the more I’m not certain I understand the concept, or maybe the actual workings. I think I get it for a while, and then I hit a snag and have to reconsider. For me, the easiest dogs are ones that don’t really want to be caught or quit working. (more…)

Question: . . . . I’ve got a dog that suddenly won’t push away very easily. He wants to come in to me, instead of go around the corner. I’ve tried escalating my discouragement some, but it doesn’t seem to work. If I’m close to a dense bunch of cattle, I’ve had some luck just walking into the herd to lose him. Any thoughts? I’ve thought about giving him a month off.

You talked on your website about getting your cattle master type dogs to pick up  animals that stand still, (more…)

Question: . . . . . Reading your articles on dogs and talking to you has helped things get way better and both my dogs do fantastic with stockers. However some of the same old problems with cow/calf pairs surface when we go to the mountains to move them. That is cows turning and fighting the dogs. Not all but always a few. When we are in the open which is seldom, I can go back and push them around to a new spot but most of our moves are on a narrow road or trail. Now I have watched close and I feel my dogs are very fair with cattle, trying to ask them to move without a fight. Or are they tentative? Does a cow ever just need to be taught a lesson? Lately I have just been letting them push as hard as they want and staying out of it , cause they always let her go when she turns but it still seems like certain cows won’t learn. I also realize I have messed these dogs up with my previous training and probably regulated some of the push out of them. I’m sure the cows know this. Where to from here? . . . . .

Question:     It sounds like you are doing fine.  On a narrow trail it’s sometimes better for you to drive the cattle.
The best way to correct the “fighting cows” is to work them regularly when they are dry until they work well for the dogs.  Then take the dogs with you a lot when they are calving etc.  In other words, don’t just take the dogs around them when you are moving them.  This way they will realize that the dogs are just like you, not a threat to them or their calf, but they are “in charge.”  Also, it doesn’t hurt if the cows fight the dogs some, they have to keep the coyotes away and maybe even wolves in your part of the country.

Question: . . . . . how do you stop the dogs from working so you can settle the cows where you want to? I can settle cattle without the dogs by going parallel or working in front of them until they spread out grazing in all directions. I don’t have much control on the dogs  because I have always “let them work”. So what do I do to (more…)

Question:     I received an e-mail from a person wanting to know if it was possible to work dogs on cows that have  had wolves killing their calves?

Answer:     We worked dogs on reindeer that wolves had been chasing and killing some of them for food or fun.  It did take a while but the deer soon learned the dogs were not wolves. We also worked dogs on cows that had coyotes killing their calves.
It might be difficult to work dogs on the cows while they still have their calves with them. If the cows were worked with the right kind of dog before the cow has her next calf, then it should be quite easy to continue to work a dog on them after they have their calves. We found was that when the cows or reindeer were worked properly with dogs, when the wolves or coyotes did come the animals stayed calmer and bunched up and could protect themselves better than if they ran.

Yes, you have our permission to reprint any of the articles we have on our website.

Sorry, I don’t know of any scientific material that has documented the stress on livestock that are being worked with a dog. Our personal experience has been that at GOOD dog calms livestock down and makes them more gentle.  A BAD dog does just the opposite. The problem is, that the difference between a good dog and a bad dog is in the eye of the beholder.

I would have to disagree with your statement (more…)