New Zealand farming Farm working dogs – Glossary of terms

Dr Clive Dalton

Approach: Action of a dog when it comes up to sheep.

Backing:  Action of a dog when it jumps up and walks along the back of sheep to encourage them to move.

Bark:  To bark on command to frighten stock and make them move.

Beardie:  Breed or type of Huntaway dog with long hairy coat. 

Beardie X Huntaway

Bitch:  Female dog.

Biter:  A dog that bites sheep after chasing them. A serious fault.

Bolt:  To  run away in fear and out of control from stock or handler. 

Brace:  A pair of dogs that are worked together.

Cast:  Action of dog when it leaves the handler to encircle or gather sheep.  The handler controls the direction (right or left cast).

Collie: General term for working dog breed of British descent.  Main  type is the Border Collie, but this breed and other collies (e.g long haired or Lassie collie and Sheltie) are now pet dogs and have lost the ability to work stock. 

Dingo:  Australian native wild dog. Genes believed to be incorporated into Australian Cattle Dog.

Dog dosing: Practice of treating dogs to purge them and see if they are infected with internal parasites, especially diseases like true Hydatids which can infect humans.  Dogs are now treated at regular intervals by veterinarians.

Eye: Ability of dog to stare with intense concentration at sheep to control their movement.  Dogs may be ‘strong-eyed’ or ‘plain-eyed’ depending on the level of concentration they show.

Heading dog showing plenty of eye approaching sheep

Eye dog:  Dog with plenty of ‘eye’ to work sheep.  Same as heading dog.

Facing up:  A desired trait needed in a Huntaway where it always looks and barks directly at stock, and not at the handler.

Gun shy: A dog which is very afraid of gun fire and will run away.

Handy dog:  General purpose dog for working both sheep, cattle, goats and deer.  It will head, hunt, and back sheep and be used to move sheep in yards and woolsheds. Usually is mixture of heading dog and Huntaway.

Handy dog used on dairy farm

 Heading dog:  Dog used for gathering sheep by going around the head of a mob.

New Zealand heading dog

Heel: To move in close to the ground and bite the heel of cattle to make them move.  Can also be a command to come to the side of the handler.

Heeler:  Australian working dog bred to handle cattle.  Also called the Queensland Blue Heeler or Australian Cattle dog.  A small tough hard biting dog that will bite both the heel and nose of cattle. 

Holding:  Where a dog will chase and catch a sheep (and especially a lamb) and hold it down with its open mouth, without biting and injuring the animal. 

Hunt: Ability of dog to drive or hunt stock away from the handler under direction of handler. In dog trials Huntaways have to drive stock in both a straight or zig-zag direction generally up a steep hill.

Huntaway:  Dog used mainly for driving stock under the direction of the handler, and working in yards and woolsheds. Many will also gather stock.  Huntaways vary greatly in physical type and are not recognised as a ‘breed’ by any organisation.

Typical huntaway dogs

Kelpie:  Australian dog for working both sheep and cattle.

Leader:  Dog used to go in front of a mob to control their progress and stop them breaking or stampeding.

Lift: Action of dog to move sheep from a stationary position.  In dog trials it’s the dog’s ability to move the sheep after they have been gathered and held after the dog’s cast.

Long head: Part of a dog trial where a heading dog has to gather sheep a long distance from the handler.

 

Night barker: Dog that barks or howls when chained up at nights.

Novice: Young dog that has only completed a limited number of trials.

Pull:  Action of dog to bring sheep up to the handler.

Pup:  Young dog of either sex up to weaning (6 weeks old).  Also used for dog up to 12months old.

Outrun: Where a heading dog goes away from the handler to gather sheep.

Point of balance: The position of a dog holding a group of sheep, where it stands directly opposite the handler, and as the handler moves right or left, the dog also moves to the point of balance – and then ready to move in any direction under command.

Ringing sheep: Fault in a dog which keeps doing complete circles around a mob of sheep and has not been taught commands to stop or mover right or left.

Shed: To cut off or separate one or more individual sheep from a group and hold them so they dont return to the main group.

Short head:  Part of a dog trial where a heading dog has to gather sheep only a short distance from the handler.

Heading dog helping to pen sheep after short head.

Speak:  To bark under the command speak up.

Sundowner: Dog that leaves its work, especially when hot and noisy. 

Australian cattle dog taking an afternoon nap in his kennel

Team:  A group of dogs each of which has a different job to do.  Normally made up heading dogs and huntaways, with maybe a handy dog in the team.

Trucking dog:  Dogs used by stock truck drivers to load sheep and empty them from the individual pens on truck, up and down the loading race.

Turning tail: A fault in a dog where it turns away from a group of sheep rather than facing up to them.  A dog that will back off from a confrontation with a sheep.

Weaning:  Removing pups from their mother, done at around six weeks of age.

Whelp: The act of giving birth to pups.

Whip shy: A dog which is very afraid of a cracking stock whip used on cattle and will run away.

Wing header:  A dog that works on the sides or wings of a mob to keep them together and moving forward.

Worrier:  A dog that chases, attacks and will kill sheep or goats.

Yarding: Working sheep in yards or woolshed aided by a huntaway or handy dog.

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7 dog tricks to teach your Dalmatian

Let’s face it: Not all dog breeds are as smart as Dalmatians. Because of this well-known fact, if you own a Dalmatian then you should take advantage of his or her cleverness and teach your dog a few tricks when you have some spare time.

If you’ve been hoping to teach your Dalmatian a few fun tricks, here are the top seven fun and unique tricks your Dalmatian can learn easily:

1. Roll over

Have your Dalmatian lie down on his stomach, and then stand over your dog and hold a treat by his nose, then move the treat around behind your dog so that he eventually lies on his side and rolls over.
 

2. Twirl

Grab your dog’s favourite treat and then have him stand on his hind legs and ask him to “twirl” by leading his nose around to the right with the treat so that he walks in a circle. When the treat comes back full circle promptly praise him and give him his treat.
 

3. Take a bow

Take a treat and hold it down towards the floor under your dog’s nose. As soon as he reaches down to get the treat put your hand under his belly to hold his rear end upwards, and then hold him in that position and say “take a bow.” Try to hold him there for a second before giving him the treat.
 

4. Sing

Make eye contact with your Dalmatian and say “sing,” then start howling in a high-pitched voice and keep doing it until your dog howls along with you.

5. Turn off the light

Hold a treat to the light switch and command him to “turn off light” (or even “light” if that’s easier), and then when your Dalmatian jumps up to get the treat make sure his paws hit the switch. As soon as the lights are turned off reward and praise him, and do this repeatedly until he gets it.
 

6. Play dead

Have your dog sit or stand, and then point your finger and him and pull your hand up while yelling “BANG!” Try to get your dog to lie down on his side with his head down and then praise him accordingly.
 

7. Hide your eyes

Make your dog sit down and then with a treat in your hand tell your dog to “hide your eyes.” First try physically lifting his paw over his muzzle and then reward him once he figures it out. 

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Guest Author: Maria Rainier is a freelance writer and blogger for First in Education where she’s recently written about onlinemathprograms along with a piece on electrical engineering degree programs. In her spare time, she enjoys yoga, traveling, and working with origami.

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How to Teach Your Puppy not to Bite Part 4

By Joan Orr

This is Part 4 of an ongoing series. We recommend that you read the previous articles since we are not going to repeat anything here. Here is a link to the other articles in the series and some related articles:  Puppy Biting series

Teaching your puppy to control his mouth and to keep his teeth to himself requires a multi-faceted approach which is a combination of management and training. In this article I will talk about the first of two very effective training approaches that you can take to help your puppy learn not to bite. These are as follows:

1. Teach the puppy to give kisses instead of biting.
2. Teach the puppy the meaning of a cue that means "take your mouth off" and subsequently "leave your mouth off".

How to Give Kisses

Most puppies are generous with kisses and you can encourage this by saying "kisses" and welcoming the kisses when the puppy offers them. Of course if you dont want the puppy slobbering all over you, then just ignore the kisses or move the attractive body part out of range. Your puppy will soon learn that if you say "kisses" you will welcome his licking you and otherwise you will not welcome this. Never scold or punish or take away your attention altogether from a kissing puppy.

A great way to encourage kisses instead of biting and to help a puppy learn to take treats gently is to put something like cheese spread or peanut butter  on your hand and fingers (dont use peanut butter if your puppy is going to be around children though in case of children with peanut allergies). Let the puppy lick this off, while you say the word "kisses" over and over. This helps him associate the action of licking with the word "kisses". If he is really frantic for the yummy stuff on your hand he may not be paying too much attention to what you are saying, so it could take a while for the association with the word to sink in. For some puppies this exercise is all that you will need to do teach him what "kisses" means, but others may not seem to catch on.


A better way to ensure that the puppy is thinking about what he is doing and not just madly licking is to set up the situation so that he offers a lick and is then reinforced for that so that he will repeat it with the conscious thought of doing it. To do this you need some kind of marker sound that tells the puppy he is doing the right thing. I use a clicker for this, but you can use a ball point pen or something else that makes a short sharp sound. You can also use a marker word such as "yes" or "yip", but this does not work as well as using a  clicker. Here is a video that shows how to do this. The puppy in this video was the nippiest puppy I have ever worked with and she rarely offered spontaneous kisses - she had much more fun nipping!



Offer a treat that leaves a tasty residue on your hand (put a dab of cream cheese under the treat if necessary to get things started). Click when the puppy licks and give another treat. Create the cycle: lick - click - treat - lick - click - treat. At first the puppy is just licking the treat residue of my fingers, but after a few tries she is offering a lick on purpose. Add the cue "kisses" when the puppy offers a lick when you hold out your hand. Use this cue from now on when offering treats. Gradually move from a more open hand presentation to holding the treat between thumb and forefinger. Click when the puppy licks and release the treat. Eventually the puppy will learn that the offering of a treat is the cue for "kisses" and he will lick to get the treat rather than snatching it. Practice with different people in different location.  If the puppy makes a mistake such as biting at your hand or putting his paw on you, just ignore this. You dont need to say "no" or "ah ah" or "oops" if the puppy makes a mistake. It is best just to be quiet and let the click be the only communication during this training session. The training session in this video was about a minute and a half - this is plenty long enough. After training, play for a few minutes and then do another short session. You will get much more out of five 1 minute sessions than out of one 5 minute session.

Next time I will talk about teaching your puppy the cue "off" so you can tell him you want him to stop biting or not to bite in the first place.

Read the rest of the articles in this series:

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6

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