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Puppy Training Essentials

Important points to remember when bringing up a puppy to work stock

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Tempting though it may be to try your puppy with stock at a very early age, you should beware. Unless you can be absolutely certain you’re in a position to protect the youngster from attack or even the threat of it, there’s a very real danger that sheep or cattle will will frighten the young dog and damage its confidence – possibly permanently.

On the other hand, if you frequently walk a pup or young dog around stock (on a lead) to familiarise it with them, unless you allow the youngster to chase the stock from time-to-time, there’s a strong chance the young dog will learn that it’s not allowed to run after the animals.

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Andy

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18 responses to “Puppy Training Essentials”

  1. Fi avatar
    Fi

    Can your tutorials help with a Kelpie in training or does this training help more working collies. Thanks

    Reply
    1. Andy avatar
      Andy

      They definitely work very well with Kelpies, Fi. The only difference I’m aware of is the Kelpies can be a little slower to train, but definitely worth it!

      Reply
  2. Hope avatar
    Hope

    Hello Andy,

    Would you share your knowledge on raising siblings from the same litter ? Why it’s not a good idea or what a person needs to do to make it successful?

    Thanks

    Reply
    1. Andy avatar
      Andy

      It’s not a good idea to take-on litter-mates because it can be much harder to get them to ‘Bond’ with you – and thus they’re harder to train. Litter-mates are already strongly bonded with each other, so when they go to a new home, they don’t NEED to bond with anyone else.
      To overcome this, it’s necessary to exercise and train them separately – in other words, it takes twice as long. Even this is no guarantee of success though, because a vital part of bonding is for the dog to spend as much one-on-one time with the owner as possible. Obviously this will be halved if there are two to deal with.
      The term ‘bond’ (above) doesn’t mean the dog wags its tail when you pat it on the head, it means that the dog fully respects you as its leader. A good recall (even if the dog is in full play mode) and walking on a lead with the lead slack (not pulling at all) are good tests of how bonded the dog is with its owner.
      If you want two puppies, we recommend you buy one – and then when that dog walks well on the lead and will come back to you even if it’s having great fun somewhere else at the time – then you might consider getting a second pup.

      Reply
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