TRAINING
WITH TEMPERAMENT THEORY
Power Sticks
by
Val Maurer
Introduction and Acknowledgements
Training:
Training
Using Temperament Theory
Obedience and Temperament Theory
Agility and Temperament Theory
Herding and Temperament Theory: Action Dogs
The Temperament Theory and Rescue Work
Reference:
Bibliography
Glossary
Living
With Border Collies
Hug Therapy
United States
Border Collie Club
Border Collie Society of
America
Questions?
Comments?
Suggestions?
Tell us what you
think!
A few years ago I was reading Vergil Holland's book about teaching herding. He recommended wrapping a plastic garbage bag around the herding crook to add a flapping noise to the crook when teaching young dogs. I thought it was a terrific idea as all the dogs I started in herding didn't pay any attention to me at all during the first few lessons and I needed a way to get them to settle a bit. My problem with using Vergil Holland's method was some of the rescues I was getting from Pennsylvania----seems a lot of breeders over there were using plastic garbage bags to flap at puppies to keep them in their pens and by the time I got these dogs they were terrified of plastic garbage bags. I wanted to get a dog's attention during herding, not scare him/her into running off to the next county!
So my husband and I started experimenting around with ideas for a 'training herding crook' and ended up with using a 5' length of 3/4" diameter PVC pipe (capped) with 1/8th cup of BBs in it to make the noise. It doesn't make a sound like a shaker can, but more like the sound of a rain stick.
I really like it for herding. It's light-weight, so it's easy for me to carry around all the time. It's inexpensive, so it's not a big deal when it breaks (and it does break---especially when a sheep steps on it). And, it works! The dogs pay attention when I tap it to make the sound, it works just like a crook when I'm teaching a dog to 'go out', and the sheep listen to the sound of it when I need to get them to move.
Then I accidentally discovered that this training crook came in handy for other situations. I was working with a dog and we had several people around and all their dogs. I didn't know there was a bitch in heat in the crowd (none of the dogs around her were reacting to her). I was just finishing up with the dog I was working with (a trained adult intact male) and I wasn't paying too much attention to the people and dogs moving around, but someone had just come in the field with another trained adult intact male. I said "thatLdo" to the dog I was working with and WWIII broke out between him and the other male.
No way was I going to get between these two powerful males while they were fighting over a female! So I popped the training crook between them and since the first 'pop' startled them, I kept popping the crook on the ground between them and popped it on the ground at whichever dog moved to continue fighting. It stopped the fight and moved the two males away from each other enough that we could get leashes on them. The episode really got me to thinking about situations other than herding that this new training crook could be used.
It's become a necessary tool for me in all types of training situations. However, it can be used improperly if the person using it doesn't understand the how & why of its effectiveness.
First of all, it is lightweight. This is really important to me. It means that if I mess up and inadvertently touch the dog with it, I don't harm the dog. And, if two dogs are seriously fighting, I can swing this crook to make it tap their heads, which really startles them away from each other, but I'm not hurting the dogs, which could happen if I was using a real crook.
Second of all, it is about 5' long. This means that the place where the 'pop' occurs is at a distance from where I'm standing. From the dog's point of view, I am not attached to the training crook, which makes the correction an environmental correction instead of a personal correction. So instead of the dog learning not to do something because I am around, the dog learns not to do something---period.
Here's how the training crook got called the power stick
I was at a little get-together in New York. We were having a wonderful time! It was like a terrific family reunion picnic, except our family connection was our Border Collies. I had the training crook with me, just in case a squabble might break out, which can happen at any family reunion! One of the dogs just wouldn't stop herding the other dogs. She was obsessed about herding them and nipping at their shoulders and hips. Her owner tried to stop her, but wasn't having much success. I didn't think it was fair to the other dogs and I could see that they were getting so upset that a fight was imminent. The next time the dogs ran by me, I 'popped' the training crook on the ground in front of the dog's shoulder, between her and the dog she was going to nip.
She immediately stopped herding/nipping the other dogs, but none of the dogs were upset or shutting down because of the correction I gave her. The correction also startled all the people into being quiet. In that quiet, we all heard the dog's owner say in wonderment, "I wish I had that kind of power." And all of us at that event just started calling it the power stick.
I use the power stick predominantly in the following situations
Food-guarding. If the dog is really serious about food-guarding, I'll pop the stick ON the food the dog is guarding. What I prefer is to use a method of whatever the dog has, I have something better. Which means that if the dog is guarding a biscuit, I'll go and get a piece of cheese and toss it on the floor near the dog. After a few times of this, the dog usually brings the biscuit right to me and spits it out at my feet so the dog can get a piece of cheese. But sometimes I'm working with a new dog and I don't know the dog has guarding issues and I just need to make the situation safe until I can set things up different to start the "I have something better than what you're guarding" routine.
Dog fights. Which I've already discussed.
Herding/nipping other dogs. Which I've already discussed.
Lunging through doorways/gates/car doors. If a dog will not stop lunging through doorways by teaching a "wait" then I'll stand on the other side of the doorway and I'll say wait. When the dog ignores me and lunges through the doorway, I pop the stick in front of the dog and then pop it again in front of the dog to push the dog back through the doorway. I'll continue doing this until the dog starts listening. It usually only takes about three times of doing this for the dog to pay attention.
Barking in the crate. I'll pop the stick in front of the crate if the dog doesn't pay attention to a "quiet" or "enough".
There are a lot of variations of uses and also some variations of power stick design. Bob Gallagher in Connecticut came up with using a smaller diameter PVC, one-foot long power stick that we can toss in the air so it lands in front of a dog. This one works by when it hits the ground, it bounces a few times and makes the startlement noise a few times. It's great for when a dog doesn't want to stop a forward motion when asked. And I have a 2 1/2" version in my car for dogs who want to herd vehicles from inside the car or want to bark and carry on somehow.
Just keep in mind that the power stick is to startle a dog into paying attention to what you want. After the "pop" of startlement, be sure to tell the dog what it is you want the dog to do instead of the behavior that earned them the "pop" in the first place. When I first start using a power stick around a dog, I'll take some time to hunker down, lay the power stick on the ground next to me but on my side which is away from the dog, call the dog to me, and calm the dog with a matter-of-fact voice. I want a dog who respects when the power stick is used, not fearing it. I'll walk around with the power stick. I'll have it propped in corners so they get used to seeing it. Sometimes I use a small power stick with no BBs in it to relax a dog into becoming used to it being around (dogs who've been beaten with sticks, crooks, brooms, etc. do have an initial problem with my walking around with the power stick).
So, this is the story of my power stick and how I got addicted to always having one with me!
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