From day one of training a young pup, I do not want to put panic into it. I want the pup to take control of the stock, and I want to become an invisible part of the picture. I will allow the pup his stock, if, and only if, he approaches the stock in a calm manner. If he tries to rush the stock, I block him, or down him. He only gets his stock when he is working quietly.

I will allow the pup to rolex replica walk up to the sheep if that is what he wants to do, as long as he does this calmly. I will then later let him go around if he tries to push the stock. Calm and quiet for my dog. Calm and quiet for me. I must keep myself from panic as well as my pup. It is amazing how we send that message to them through our voice.

Try to think about how you respond as someone is screaming at you, or yelling 3 or 4 things to do at one time, which one do rolex replica you do first? It is hard to focus and remain calm. The same principle applies to your dog. They are thinking about a lot of stuff when they are out there. Then, as we panic, and start yelling things at them, the panic in our voice transfers to our dog. The next thing we have going is a good wreck. The hardest lesson I had to learn was to keep calm. But that lesson has paid off ten times over.

I have dogs that have been trained under pressure and stress, and I have dogs that have been trained calmly and that trust me and they are confident in me. There is no comparison in the amount of pressure that the latter can stand.

I begin my young pups with some good leg hugging sheep, and I don࣡re what they do, as long as it is quiet. I will let them fetch, or I will let them drive if they are comfortable with it. I will do whatever I can to help build that pup࣯nfidence, not only in his talent but his confidence in me. I am there to rolex replica help him if he needs it. Later, that same pup will trust me, and trust my commands that I give to him. Simply because he knows I will allow him to control the sheep. I have not put panic into him by taking his control away from him.