A dog working too fast and close, disrupts and stresses both sheep and their shepherd. Find out how to slow your sheepdog down when it’s working.
Calm dogs learn more quickly
During training, a dog which is calm, is likely to learn much quicker than a dog which is excitedly racing around. It’s essential that the dog learns to work stock steadily.
If sheep or other stock panic as a result of the dog working too fast and close to them, not only will it be far more difficult to get the stock where we want them to go. The stress will also cause them to be less productive.
Unfortunately, teaching the dog to work steadily isn’t something we can achieve overnight. However, there are quite a number of things we can do to slow a sheepdog down.
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Our “How Can I Slow the Dog Down?” tutorial video will give our members lots of guidance for training the dog to work steadily and building the dog’s confidence.
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To work efficiently with minimum stress to the sheep, the herding dog should work with a calm authority. It should keep a good distance between itself and the sheep, but not so far off that it loses control of them.
Not long ago, we received an email from a sheepdog handler in New Zealand who had bought our ‘First Steps’ sheepdog training DVD (no longer available). The handler had managed to get her headstrong farm dog to outrun and fetch the sheep. However, the dog was working at breakneck speed and she wanted some advice on how to slow it down.
Correct working distance helps to slow a sheepdog down
My first reaction to a problem like this is that the handler is allowing the dog to work too far away from them too soon. One of the vital rules of sheepdog training is that the further away from you the dog is working, the less control you have over the dog. Remember, the dog is using an ancient hunting instinct. When you train your dog, you’re channelling that instinct into controlled work from the dog.
A trainee dog will usually only respect your control if you’re very close. Dogs hunt quite close together in packs. So a dog that finds itself working a good distance from the rest of the pack (that’s you) feels it’s getting no backup. It will often revert to its hunting instinct, rather than listen to a pack member who’s shouting orders from afar.
The dog needs leadership. Particularly in the early stages of its training, it wants its leader to be working alongside it – or at least close by. While on the subject of leadership, often when the dog’s not doing what we want or expect, we revert to excitedly shouting at the dog. This happens just at the moment when we should be calm and authoritative. It’s hardly surprising the sheepdog doesn’t slow down if its leader is shouting excitedly.
The dog working too fast is caused by two main factors.
- The novelty of chasing, particularly something which moves quickly or runs away.
- The fear of being attacked by the “prey”. Often when hunting, the predator finds itself being attacked by the prey. Sometimes fatally.
The cure for both of these problems is regular training with (initially) an absolute minimum of pressure on the dog. Try to avoid situations where the dog will be closely confined with the sheep. Calm sheep which are regularly used for training sheepdogs, are best for starting dogs off.
Slow the dog with controlled training
The novelty aspect will reduce as the dog becomes more familiar with being close to sheep (or other livestock). Regular, controlled training will help to slow a sheepdog down a great deal.
The more quickly and unpredictably the dog moves, the more frightened the sheep will be. They’ll react by making sudden, very fast movements. These result in the dog being still more excited. It’s important to break this chain reaction.
If the dog works sensibly close-bye, then the solution is to calmly work the dog close to you. Praise it with a gentle voice when it’s working steadily, but stop it the moment it gets excited. The dog will soon learn that it gets a lot more fun (work) if it remains calm. Gradually increase the working distance as the dog improves, but reduce it if the dog’s work deteriorates.
Make the dog stop and wait
Stopping the dog and keeping it in place for a few moments, or even up to about half a minute, can also help. It teaches the dog that the fun will still be there, even if it pauses for a while.
Of course, if the dog won’t stop, even close-bye, you need to concentrate on this issue first. Repeatedly flanking the dog a little way around the sheep and stopping it by blocking it is the way to drum it into the dog that it must stop on command.
Once you can stop the dog fairly reliably on the far side of the sheep (point of balance), the best all-round exercise we know of to improve the dog’s pace, stop, and overall control over the sheep is to walk backwards.
SAFETY: Walking backwards increases the risk of falling over. Only do this if you’re fully prepared to fall over in the field.
Keep the dog in place as the sheep follow you (to get away from the dog). When you have a few yards between the dog and the sheep, call the dog up quietly. The instant it begins to rush, stop the dog with a sharp command. Then repeat the procedure until the dog follows the sheep at a steady pace. Sometimes the dog will learn this quickly, but other dogs take longer to oblige.
Make the dog work farther back
The next step is to increase the distance between the dog and the sheep, before you call the dog up. This teaches the dog to control itself and you’ll find that most dogs will learn to moderate their speed and work more slowly.
If at any time the dog reverts to tearing around, go back to the very close work again. Walk backwards as the dog brings the sheep up to you calmly. The comprehensive “Walking Backwards” training technique is explained in the sheepdog training video: “Backwards is the Way Forward,” in the “Making Progress” category.
Are you sending the dog too far?
If the dog has a good stop close-bye but won’t stop at the end of its outrun, the outrun was too long. Walk closer to the sheep next time and make sure the dog stops properly when commanded (not twenty paces later). Only then should you begin to increase the outrun distance again (gradually). Comprehensive guidance on improving the dog’s stopping ability is provided in several tutorial videos in the “Stopping” category.
If you watch “How Can I Slow the Dog Down?” you’ll get a better idea of how to get your dog working steadily.
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