The little seven week old puppies had their first encounter with sheep today. One by one they were taken out and introduced to three sheep in the small pen. Mary Lou walked along with the bucket of corn to keep the sheep moving away from the pup. Angie was "pup wrangler". All of the pups showed promise, watching the sheep, smelling the sheep, following along behind, and running after them. Jasmine even tried two square flanks and stayed back off the stock while still showing continued interest. She looks the most promising right now, but it is very early to tell much. Or so the experts tell me. I was just thrilled to watch such little puppies show instinct in doing what they were bred to do.
We used no clickers today. No training. No rewarding. No marking of behavior. Just observing. Watching. Learning.
I hope to have access to the clicker herding group soon. After several days, I am still on the pending list. I have so many questions.
My herding instructor does not use clicker training, although she understands what it is. She doesn't believe it can be used in the constantly changing, fluid process of herding. She may be right.
I know how to work for the fundamentals: sit, wait, leave it, etc. that Poppy will need to know before she can really learn to herd. We can use clicker training to get those behaviors practiced in a variety of situations before she is required to do them in the exciting world of sheep. But is it possible to click and reward while she is in there working sheep? I don't know.
