Farm Dog Smarts

I have this dog. Jute.

She's different than any dog I have ever had.

Smart in ways that make me wonder.....

An example:
The horses gather at the gate to wait for whatever is going to happen; could be food, could be trimming, could be a cool rinse off. They stand there and sometimes get anxious because I'm taking too long or they don't like that it's not their turn yet. Occasionally, Ziggy and/or Berlin will bang on the gate or put a foot on it. To which I do not respond. Any attention I give to something I don't want will cause a horse to do it more. Ignoring behavior I don't want will cause a horse to stop that behavior, or at least stop them from associating what they are doing with something I might do.

When I go to the gate where the horses are all gathered about, I expect them to move away, so I can open it. Sometimes they would rather reach for me to be rubbed, than back up and allow me to swing the gate in. Sometimes I rub those overhanging heads, but not often. A rub at the gate, teaches them not to move when I arrive. If they don't move, then I have to back them up, and because they're all bunched up there, the ones closest to the gate have no place to go, so they have to back into the ones in the next row, who then must back into the ones in the third row. Looks a lot like a train wreck, all piled up.

Back to the dog.

Jute is always with me and she watches stuff. A few months ago, I noticed that when I go out to the barn and the horses start gathering at the gate, she lays down on the outside about five feet from the gate. She lays facing the horses. She doesn't do anything, she just lolls her tongue out and pants. If the horses hang their heads over the gate, she maintains her position. If they start shuffling around, she will stand at attention - no movement, no sound. If they settle, she lays down. If one of them reaches a hoof toward the gate, she's right there, but she waits. If they put their foot on the gate, silent and quick, Jute nips the pastern. When they put their foot down, she lays down again. If one of them presses their chest against the gate, Jute turns on her rabid-dog bark to back them off. When they stop pressing, she lays down.

Here we go with the smarts. Now she watches them and she watches me. If I head toward the paddock with a halter, or the feed cart, or the buckets and they are all gathered against the gate, she goes in and backs them off, one at a time until they are all standing about 10 feet away. She grins over her shoulder at me and then bobbles and wags her pleasure in her newfound horse trainer abilities.

It gets better. When I enter with a halter, she observes me and figures out which horse I intend to catch. Now most of you understand the difficulty of bringing the low horse in the herd through the ranks of the upper echelon, without the low horse becoming somewhat concerned about their safety. Walking through the gauntlet like that can be unnerving for the poor horse who always makes it their business to stay far away from the leaders. If Jute sees that I'm heading for Danny Boy, she dances and flitters about - getting herself all worked up. This is her big chance! I halter him and start walking toward "the big boys". Danny Boy is on high alert, wondering how he's going to make it through such a tight spot without some teeth or feet or body slamming. Danny Boy knows that he should not be going close to another herd member without their express permission. Danny Boy also knows that he must follow me. Jute dog to the rescue!

She gets busy clearing a broad path. She's figured out how wide that path needs to be for Danny Boy to feel comfortable. Several of my horses will challenge her about moving them, but she insists, sometimes causing quite the ruckus before the way is paved to her liking. Once the job is complete, she invites us through by leading the way with her tail-in-the-air happy trot.

Smart dog!

Danny Boy - Part 7 - Changed My Mind....

He's packing away the groceries and I see good, solid, positive changes. He's mentally and emotionally raising the bar each day, so I have to rise to the challenge.

Gladly!

Last week during the ground work, Danny Boy was looking for more. So I changed my mind about riding him and I've been doing that ever since.

Here's an example:

After a ground work session mainly focused on teaching Danny Boy to move away from pressure, I climbed the panel to have him come pick me up. Once aboard, he moved us over to the round pen gate.

Perfect! He wanted out and so did I. But to do that, Danny Boy needed to help me open the gate. That required moving away from pressure. Ah! Mounted work on the very thing I just presented in the ground work session!

Total confusion. Here's why:

From Danny Boy's perspective, moving away from pressure is not a good thing. In fact, his propensity to lean into pressure probably saved his life. When those kids were pushing and prodding and climbing all over him, Danny Boy did not respond. (See earlier posts about the family of kids...) He kept his feet planted firmly when they leaned against his legs, he never went too fast when that long line of kids was sitting on his back, kicking and flailing about. He knew not to respond to all that pressure based activity.

Overcoming the confusion:

My job is to maintain Danny Boy's safety minded wisdom and add the concept that we want him to move away from pressure. His new owner can ride and she doesn't need him to take care of her like she is a child. She loves his kindness, but does not want to kick and then kick harder to cause him to believe that she is, in fact, asking for faster movement.

Back to the gate.

I spent 20 minutes teaching Danny Boy that it is okay to go when he feels me pressing slightly with both legs. I applied a small amount of rhythm from my mecate to assure him that I indeed wanted forward. He was so surprised! Repeatedly, I would press with my lower leg and Danny Boy would look back at me. I tapped my mecate against my leg and Danny Boy would swing his head to front and leap forward. The reins were looped loose so that he would not feel any pressure on his mouth, poll or neck when he went forward. Additionally, I didn't tell him how to go forward, I just asked for it. I accepted whatever he offered and at first his response was leaping.

It took another 20 minutes for Danny Boy to go briskly forward without leaping when I pressed gently. Then another 20 for Danny Boy to realize that I have two legs and when only one is pressing, he should move away from that leg going sideways and not forward.

Interesting concepts for Danny Boy to figure out. We indeed made it out of the round pen with Danny Boy assisting me with the gate. I was very happy with his progress and he was very happy with himself to learn this new concept....

Danny Boy - Part 6 - Laundry List

By the middle of last week, I'd worked up a long laundry list of things I want to accomplish with Danny Boy.

Laundry List:
Fear issues
Introducing things and stuff on my terms, not his
Expanding the envelope
Equipment is necessary to do the job (if you haven't seen it before, that doesn't mean I'll harm you with it)
Pick me up on the fence (sure I'll mount from the ground, but only if I absolutely have to...)
Open gates from both sides
Start, Steer and Stop lightly, softly
Lead up you lazy beast (I can't stand a horse that drags back and won't walk right along with me)
Get yer feet wet (Basically, when I want to go in the pond, GO!)
Separate your front end from your back end
Bend!
Go straight (yeah, that TOO!)

There's more, but I'll pick a few to talk about now...

Danny Boy wants to stay safely tucked inside his little envelope, all warm and cozy and familiar. His limited acceptance of gear needs some broader horizons. For instance, what if his owner's grandchild decides to fling a lead rope around and Danny Boy goes ballistic on the single tie because he doesn't like it when little-bitty two-leggers fling things about? That child wouldn't be safe. Lots of rope work this past weekend and now Danny Boy is much better about things flinging about.

Danny Boy will allow me to introduce new things, but he wants it introduced his way. On the first go round, I approach with matter of fact firmness, not too much, not too little. I don't push him over the fear edge, but it's my job and I get it done. Danny Boy prefers that I introduce new things as if I am afraid of them too. Not gonna happen that way. He's becoming less and less reactive to new introductions.

Danny Boy isn't used to me being above him. Seems kinda strange, doesn't it? I mean, when I ride him I'm above him; that isn't a problem, yet, when he sees me on top of the round pen panels, he gets pretty bent out of shape. It's a perspective issue. So I change his perspective. The first time I climbed up there he watched closely. I could tell this was new to him and when I got all the way up there and his eyes went all white around the edges, I knew he needed help in this department. He ran off, of course. He needed to get far enough away so he could focus better. I let the rope out as far as he needed, so he could size me up. He did that head bobbing thing horses do when they have difficulty focusing. Up, down, up, down. Then he just stared, all wide eyed and not blinking. I waited. When he seemed to get a hold of his thoughts, I gently asked him to come a step closer; which he did. I waited. Then I asked for another step and another. Soon, his head was next to my knees and I reached out to rub him. He sensed my hand coming at his head and flew back to the end of the rope again. No big deal. More time needed to focus. No rush. No hurry. More asking to come one step at a time. This time when he made it over to me and I reached to rub, he stood for it. He wasn't comfortable, but he tried. I rubbed, soft and smooth, just the way he likes it when I do it at ground level. He made the connection instantly and softened. He licked for many minutes and then leaned in for more.

By the end of the weekend, Danny Boy was rushing up to have his head, neck and back stroked. On Monday, he came right up to the fence for me to mount. He understood the exercise completely and really thought it was cool. The first time I got on from the top of the panel, I just sat and rubbed him all over. Then I climbed back on the panel and rubbed him from there. He sidled up closer and I returned to the saddle. More licking and a lot of yawning. I repeated this several times and then put him away. Made perfect sense to him!

Cool stuff, as Danny Boy learns about the items on my Laundry List. I'll be adding things daily....