Day 6 (?), an Evaluation of Keiko's Ability

I'd just like to discuss the way I believe Keiko works. This will give me a point of reference for where she's at right now, which I can reflect on as we move forward. It also gives me a place to explain some of the stockdog terms and try to build my ability to communicate using proper stockdog jargon. :) Disclaimer: I am a novice and may misuse terms, please correct me if I do! Also, I may leave some things out but that's OK because I will build on this later.

Keiko seems to have a natural sense of balance and rate. This means that she can find the proper place she needs to be in to move the stock, and controls her speed well - she doesn't move the stock too fast or too slow and can adjust her speed to keep them in line.

Keiko is a strong fetch dog. This means she has a strong desire to go get the stock, bring them to me, and balance them to me. She likes to stop movement and hold the stock to me. I think this is part of her natural working style and I think it was reinforced by working on fetching sheep to me in the round pen.

I'm not certain if this is related to Keiko's fetching strength or not, but she seems to be very willing to hit the heads. She is much more confident and willing to hit the heads than she is the heels on cattle. I think she's a little more hesitant to heel a calf because of getting kicked but her confidence builds as she learns to pay attention, get out of the way, and heel low on the foot of the calf. Hitting a heel or a head simply means giving the calf a nip only when necessary to get the animal back in line or to turn it around. (Note: Excessive gripping is undesirable and shouldn't be allowed.)

Keiko needs work on driving. Of course, this is something you teach to the dog but some dogs' natural working instinct is to drive. Driving is where the dog is pushing the stock from behind to a point where you want them to go.

While biddable, Keiko also needs some work obeying on stock. Two of the times she got kicked, it was because she broke a sit or down or wouldn't call off of the stock when I told her too. While you don't want to holler and crank on the dog for wanting to get back to work, you also have to teach them to mind you. So, we'll just continue working slowly but surely on listening while working on stock.

If interested, click here for a link to a list of stockdog terms as defined by the Working Aussie course.

Also, some photos of Keiko's first day working cattle.