Dog Training at Gemstar Ranch

07/23/2024

Some great info about this specialized herding breed!

“Border Collies are known for their distinctive "hard stare," a behavior that is deeply rooted in their herding instincts. This stare is used to control livestock by intimidating them into moving in the desired direction. The breed has been selectively bred for this purpose, making the stare an inherent part of their behavior. However, this trait can lead to misunderstandings with other dogs, as many perceive direct eye contact as a threat or challenge.

Understanding the Border Collie Stare

1. **Purpose of the Stare**: The "hard eye" is a technique used by Border Collies to assert control over sheep. This intense gaze can be effective in herding but may cause issues in social interactions with other dogs, which often react negatively to being stared at.

2. **Behavioral Implications**: Other dogs may interpret the Border Collie's stare as aggressive or confrontational. This can lead to conflicts, as many dogs prefer to avoid eye contact to maintain a non-threatening demeanor. As a result, Border Collies may find themselves in situations where their natural behavior is misinterpreted.

3. **Training Strategies**: To mitigate issues stemming from the stare, owners can employ various training techniques. For instance, teaching commands like "look at me" can redirect the dog's focus away from staring at other dogs. Additionally, using treats to encourage eye contact with the owner rather than other dogs can help reinforce positive interactions.

4. **Visual Overstimulation**: Border Collies are also prone to visual overstimulation due to their exceptional eyesight, which is adapted for detecting movement over long distances. This sensitivity can lead to anxiety or hyperactivity in busy environments, necessitating breaks from visual stimuli to help them relax.

Understanding these aspects of the Border Collie's stare can help owners manage their dogs' behavior more effectively, ensuring safer and more enjoyable interactions with other dogs and people.

Border Collies are known for their distinctive "hard stare," a behavior that is deeply rooted in their herding instincts. This stare is used to control livestock by intimidating them into moving in the desired direction. The breed has been selectively bred for this purpose, making the stare an inherent part of their behavior. However, this trait can lead to misunderstandings with other dogs, as many perceive direct eye contact as a threat or challenge.

Understanding the Border Collie Stare

1. **Purpose of the Stare**: The "hard eye" is a technique used by Border Collies to assert control over sheep. This intense gaze can be effective in herding but may cause issues in social interactions with other dogs, which often react negatively to being stared at.

2. **Behavioral Implications**: Other dogs may interpret the Border Collie's stare as aggressive or confrontational. This can lead to conflicts, as many dogs prefer to avoid eye contact to maintain a non-threatening demeanor. As a result, Border Collies may find themselves in situations where their natural behavior is misinterpreted.

3. **Training Strategies**: To mitigate issues stemming from the stare, owners can employ various training techniques. For instance, teaching commands like "look at me" can redirect the dog's focus away from staring at other dogs. Additionally, using treats to encourage eye contact with the owner rather than other dogs can help reinforce positive interactions.

4. **Visual Overstimulation**: Border Collies are also prone to visual overstimulation due to their exceptional eyesight, which is adapted for detecting movement over long distances. This sensitivity can lead to anxiety or hyperactivity in busy environments, necessitating breaks from visual stimuli to help them relax.

Understanding these aspects of the Border Collie's stare can help owners manage their dogs' behavior more effectively, ensuring safer and more enjoyable interactions with other dogs and people.

07/13/2024

Teach your dog what TO DO, instead of saying no to everything. Dogs understand a positive action.
Contact me! I can help!
basic to advanced training, manners and behavior modification. Also sheepherding and classes forming for Parkor

07/13/2024

Overheating can KILL your dog. Here’s some good info!

07/09/2024

Calgary Stampede prestigious sheepdog trial!
Starts today at 9am live feed

Live feed running order and course for today’s Calgary Stampede! 10am mountain time. Now you know where I’ll be on this hot day! Watching the livestream!

Here is the Live Feed for the Calgary

https://www.tikilive.com/channel/feature-productions-2?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR0mNufp_u8sQV41m1Vpx5AH_gWl2Pi8p1Xwy8xhhVDO5O_zEi7R0RaR2B8_aem_G-9IqMg30i0kggycnCBiGw

Happy Watching!!!!

No channel description

07/09/2024

07/08/2024

Under threshold-as important when training a dog as when training a horse!

If R+ trainers always aim to keep the horse under their fear/ stress threshold in training, how do R+ trained horses deal with scary and stressful situations?

It’s a commonly held belief that if a horse is never scared or stressed in training, they won’t learn how to cope with stressful stimuli that inevitably happen as part of life, and they’ll turn out to be spooky, “spoiled,” and unmanageable.

It’s true that scary and stressful things are going to happen, and it’s important for our and our horses safety and well-being that they are able to handle those situations calmly. We should not avoid working on these things with our horses. However, that does NOT mean we have to take a “get over it” approach, flood the horse until they stop reacting, or punish them for having a reaction. We can expose our horses to most things that worry them at low levels, teach them how to respond, and then increase the intensity of what we’re asking them to cope with. The best part is, they usually get pretty good at generalizing that training, so even when something different than what we trained for happens, they know how to respond calmly.

I’ll use my personal horse, Cake, as an example. You can see and hear the road from my arena, and Cake used to spin and run if a motorcycle or loud car whizzed by. So, I started taking her to the farthest end of the arena if I saw a motorcycle coming, and cueing and rewarding her for easy things that she knows well. At that distance, she was still nervous about passing motorcycles, but not to the point of trying to run away. As she got more comfortable focusing on what I was asking and not worrying about the motorcycles, I stopped taking her to the far end of the arena as they approached- I just cued and rewarded simple things wherever we happened to be.

Eventually, Cake stopped reacting to motorcycles altogether, and generalized this response to lots of other loud vehicles and machinery, too. A few weeks ago I rode her down a narrow lane on the farm right past someone w**d whacking no more than 4 feet away with no worries, even though we’ve never specifically trained for that situation and she’s never been made to “get over” it.

07/07/2024

Teach what TO DO! Need help? Send me a message! I can help! kw

"Dogs don't understand don't, because don't is a concept. Dogs understand DO. They understand behaviours.

Create a beahviour that you DO want, so that your dog can be right and you're setting him up for reinforcement.

This makes for a much better relationship for you and your dog, and for anybody else who comes in contact with your dog."

- Susan Garett

"Dogs don't understand don't, because don't is a concept. Dogs understand DO. They understand behaviours.

Create a beahviour that you DO want, so that your dog can be right and you're setting him up for reinforcement.

This makes for a much better relationship for you and your dog, and for anybody else who comes in contact with your dog."

- Susan Garett

07/06/2024

A good day to stay home, keep cool and have some quiet time with your dog! It's a quiet day weekend!

Another very hot Summer day is incoming to start the weekend 🥵

Be sure to stay hydrated 💧
Postpone or reschedule outdoor activities to cooler portions of the day if possible ⏰🌡
And check in on those more susceptible to heat impacts 👶👵🐶🐱

07/06/2024

Sheepherding and outdoor training cancelled this weekend due to the excessive heat. Indoor and private consults are still ok tho!
Stay safe in the heat!

07/05/2024

Some excellent training info!

07/05/2024

That would be me 🙂

I'm sitting here petting Reese and trying to soothe her.

06/24/2024

Please be careful in this heat!

A picture is worth a thousand words...image credit International Canine Behaviorists

06/22/2024

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=pfbid0frbs5y2LbGmjmxTVRWFiKCBHt2LRvNCAoRMTxKFhXjgw6YVaMZi4MttcSr8kLF5Yl&id=100001930098557&mibextid=CTbP7E

06/20/2024

Do you know what you should do if your dog gets heat stroke?

Und zur Abwechslung noch eine Veröffentlichung über die Behandlung von Hitzschlägen bei Hunden...🌞🌞🌞

In einer retrospektiven, britischen Analyse wird die fehlende Anwendung von empfohlenen Maßnahmen durch Tierarztpraxen kritisiert. Leider hat es sich trotz intensivem Bemühungen von Sportmedizinern noch immer nicht überall herumgesprochen, dass langsames Kühlen die Überlebensrate signifikant senkt und bereits für viele unnötige Todesfälle und Langzeitschäden gesorgt hat.

Es gilt:
- erst Kühlen, dann Transportieren
- Immersion in kaltem Wasser ist das Mittel der Wahl
- Bedecken mit feuchten Handtüchern ist kontraproduktiv

"The cooling methods used to manage dogs with HRI presenting to primary care veterinary practices during 2016–2018 demonstrated poor alignment with the Vet-COT best practice recommendations for prehospital management of canine patients with Heat Related Illness (HRI). Only 21.70% of the dogs treated for HRI had been recorded as cooled prior to arrival at the veterinary practice, highlighting the need for stronger communication of the message “cool first, transport second”. The most frequently used cooling method was the application of water-soaked towels (51.31%), despite strong evidence from both the human and equine literature that this method is less effective than cooling methods recommended in the Vet-COT guidelines (cold-water immersion or evaporative cooling). In conclusion, current messaging regarding the management of dogs with HRI requires urgent attention to dispel cooling myths; the message to “cool first, transport second” should be widely promoted, as delayed cooling will result in poorer clinical outcomes."
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10385239/

PS: Platz ist in der kleinsten Hütte... Der Hund im Bild weiß, was gut für ihn ist. Er nutzt sogar einen wassergefüllten Tränkeeimer zur Abkühlung.

06/15/2024

I get the same. Makes sense tho! Who wants to be stuck in a toddler daycare when they’re 40 yrs old+?

06/10/2024

Happy New Year everyone. Grab your dog, grab a friend, this is not an episode you want to miss.
(THERE ARE 2 PARTS TO THIS EPISODE)

Jared Epp goes in detail about the importance of leadership and being the teammate your dog has always wanted you to be.

You will be hard pressed to find someone who makes you laugh harder as well as makes you think deeper about the real purpose of our dogs.

Part 1: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/the-working-dog-podcast/id1553966078?i=1000546959321

Part 2: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/the-working-dog-podcast/id1553966078?i=1000546959595

06/08/2024

06/04/2024

Fourth of July is right around the corner, which means the dreaded sky booms are coming. 🎆 Fireworks season can be such a tough time for many dogs. As for puppies discovering new sounds for the first time, fear prevention from the get go is critical.

Check out my newly updated blog post about "bacon booms" and other tips for surviving fireworks season with your dog.

https://www.kindogbehavior.com/post/bacon-booms

Start preparing now!

06/03/2024

06/02/2024

Adding farm dog practice and training! Earn your AKC “FDC” title! Open to all breeds. No actual sheepherding required, dog has to show off his training and “ranch manners!” Come out to practice and train!

04/04/2021

so true. applies to dog training as well.
Warwick Schiller's Performance Horsemanship
April 3, 2019 ·
At clinics, rarely do I get to help people with advanced work (even if they think they are ready for it) because usually the basics are “ok”. When you try to build advanced movements out of “ok” basics you end up with trouble in that movement.
Basics are hard, mostly because they can seem ok, but it’s the details that matter.

At clinics, rarely do I get to help people with advanced work (even if they think they are ready for it) because usually the basics are “ok”. When you try to build advanced movements out of “ok” basics you end up with trouble in that movement.

Basics are hard, mostly because they can seem ok, but it’s the details that matter.

I was recently chatting with a friend who is an Olympic showjumping coach. He has competed at 3 Olympic Games and has coached his National team at 3 others.

I said to him “ you do lots of clinics around the world, do you ever run into people that can jump say, a metre, but want to jump higher, but in order to jump higher you have to take them back to the start, back to ground rails ?”

“All the time”, he said. “I rarely encounter anyone who wants to jump higher and is ready for it.”

Once you get the basics really good, the “hard” things are actually easy. It sounds completely backwards to most people, but once you get your head around it, the game changes completely.