Final Exams

Yesterday, my July issue of The Shepherd arrived (if you’re raise sheep, and you’re not a subscriber, you should be!). Louise Liebenberg, a sheep producer from Alberta, writes an outstanding monthly article on livestock guardian dogs. This month’s installment is titled, “Corrections.” Louise discusses the importance of correcting inappropriate behavior in LGDs. She writes, “A well timed ‘no’ is probably the best form of correction, and in some cases the only correction needed!” She also says, “Some people like to believe that [a] mentor dog will stop in and correct the young dog, but this rarely happens and ultimately the onus lies on you to guide and at times, correct the dog....”

As someone who tries to be a student of “training” both LGDs and herding dogs, I found the article to be especially insightful. I would go a bit further in differentiating correction from punishment. To me, correction happens in the moment - the dog is able to associate my displeasure with an action that is currently occurring. The dog is chasing the sheep, I say “NO,” the dog changes his behavior. Punishment, according to my definition, happens after the fact. I find a sheep that’s been injured by the dog, I tell the dog, “NO,” and he has no idea what the hell I’m talking about. This applies to training herding dogs, in my experience, as well. Correcting a mistake in the moment helps the dog; punishing a mistake after it happens (even if it’s only seconds or minutes after it happens) just confuses the dog. A correction says, “that behavior is inappropriate - try something else.” A punishment says, “I’m mad at you for what you did before.”

I’m frequently asked about whether I use my older dogs to help train my younger dogs (both LGDs and herding dogs). With my herding dogs, I rarely if ever work a trainee with an older dog. In my experience, the trainee focuses on the other dog rather than on his partnership with me. Our early training, in my opinion, is largely about building trust and a system of communication. Working dogs together can disrupt this critical bonding process.

Similarly, I think putting a young LGD with an older dog can disrupt the pup’s bonding process with livestock. My most effective LGDs are those dogs who stay with their livestock no matter what. I’d much prefer a dog that stays with his sheep when the sheep break out of a paddock than one who goes roaming the neighborhood in search of other canine companionship. Furthermore, as a sheepman first (and a dog trainer second), I can’t afford to keep a dog who’s only role is to train a pup - our adult dogs are all out working. A “mentor” dog is simply not cost effective for us.

That said, over the last two lambing seasons, I’ve witnessed interactions between older, experienced dogs and novice dogs. Lambing time is our most critical period for predator protection - and the most difficult test for a dog. From a predation perspective, our lambing season comes at a time when the coyotes and mountain lions don’t have many dietary options. From a dog’s perspective, lambing season offers all sorts of gastronomic and maternal delights. Our dogs love to clean up afterbirth! We’ve had young female dogs that decided they should care for newborn lambs - their maternal instincts drive them to steal lambs from the ewes. Both predilections can create problems. Ideally, we need a dog that is attentive but respectful of lambing ewes. We need a dog that gives a ewe her space while lambing, but that keeps the predators at bay.

In February 2018, we put a young, inexperienced dog (Bodie) with an older dog (Reno) at the outset of lambing. I was fortunate to arrive at the pasture shortly after the first lamb of the year was born - and I captured the interaction between Bodie, Reno, and the ewe on video. Bodie was curious about the new lamb - it was his first experience with lambing, after all. As he approached the ewe and her lamb, Reno barked at him and chased him away. I witnessed this same interaction several days later. Bodie was a perfect lambing dog the rest of the season.

This past April, we hauled the flock back to our spring/summer irrigated pastures. We had one ewe left to lamb, and she gave birth to twins on the day we hauled the sheep. We also decided to put our youngest dog, Elko, with Bodie and the rest of the flock. Every time Elko approached the ewe and her lambs, Bodie chased him away. Elko was respectful of the ewes and lambs for the rest of the spring; this summer, he’s guarding the replacement ewe lambs and doing a great job.

In both cases, a skeptic might say, “the older dog only wanted the afterbirth!” That’s probably true, but the correction was important. These observations reinforce those that Louise shares in her article. In both cases, the older dog offered a correction in the moment - a correction that had a lasting impact. In both cases, my correction would have come too late (most likely) - becoming a punishment rather than a correction. And in both cases, the dogs passed their final exams!