Should the dog lie down, or remain standing, when you tell it to stop?
We’re often asked whether a working sheepdog should lie on the ground, or remain standing when it receives a stop command. Logically, a dog that receives the “lie down” command will lie on the floor. One which is told to “stand” will remain on its feet.
If you leave it up to the sheepdog itself, whether to stand or lie down on the stop command, some will remain on their feet. Others will naturally prefer to lie down (whatever the command).
Is it better if the dog stays on its feet?
Personally, I much prefer a dog to remain on its feet – simply because a dog which is already standing up, can surely move more quickly. This is especially true than one which has to get up off the ground first. A young trainee dog that’s encouraged to remain upright, will appear, and feel, more confident. This is important if the sheep are aggressive. Confidence is paramount in a sheepdog.
It’s not a big deal though – one of my best bitches (Kay) nearly always lies down. She has no problem with aggressive sheep.
Some trainers insist on the dog actually lying down when they say lie down, and standing when they say stand. To me, this is unnecessarily strict. The dog will learn what’s required in a given situation from the urgency in your voice. A good dog will act accordingly. Beginners, on the other hand, often prefer the dog to lie down. A dog lying on the ground gives the impression it’s going to stay there for a while, and the trainer feels they can relax a little.
When to stand, or lie down
There are no hard and fast rules on it. It’s interesting to watch different reactions from different dogs (and trainers) under similar circumstances.
To further complicate matters, I prefer to use “lie down” as my stop command, even though I prefer the dog to remain on its feet. The dogs are perfectly happy with this because they know no different. However, some of those who attend our sheepdog training courses are a little puzzled by it. As I see it, “stand” begins with ‘s’ and as such, must begin with a hissing sound. Hissing and shushing sounds are used (by me and a great many other sheepdog trainers) to excite, motivate, or speed dogs on their way. This would seem to be in conflict with the result we’re looking for.
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A dog’s brain works many times faster than a human’s. Watching keen young dogs react to my telling them to “come here” when we’re close to sheep, has confirmed this for me time and again. Just the letter ‘c’ is enough to trigger the dog into a “come-bye” outrun. Within a fraction of a second, the dog will realise what I actually meant and will come back to me, often looking apologetic.
Keep things clear and simple in early training
Call it petty if you like, but I like to eliminate every confusing factor when I start training a young sheepdog. So, I use “Lie down” spoken as softly as the situation allows, to give trainee dogs a clear signal that I want them to stop.
We have several video tutorials dealing with the Stop command, and possible problems with teaching it.
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