Herders & Eye Contact

Yep...my herder opens up gates, cabinets and doors as well...the little bugger.  If she wants something, she just goes and gets it. 

And yep...she talks to me too...most of the time politely.  She'll start off that way, but if I'm doing something else and she feels ignored, her communique gets a wee bit louder.  Like, maybe I didn't hear her.   I love the way she checks in with me too when we are on walks.  About every five minutes or so, she'll turn around and give me eye contact; and slow down to a heel position.  I think that too is polite.

Yesterday, we were walking around the back 40 (ok, really back .25) and she left her ball about 100 feet away.  I asked her where her ball was...and she stopped, thought about it and ran back over to where she left it; and brought it over to me.  "Here it is Ma." 

If I have to put up a toy, I show it to her before I do so that she will realize I took it and put it up.  She always is satisfied as long as I show her and tell her enough.

I love having conversations with my dogs. 

you either have a really sharp dog or one that's totally inept. 

Livestock working dogs are bred to do two things above all:  problem solve, and work in close contact with people.  If you start getting away from breeding for their actual function, you can start getting an inconsistent mix of these, extremes one way or another, or dogs that entirely lack either of these traits.

And once you take these two things out of a herding type dog, honestly they tend to be less capable in "doggy" things than any other type of dog.  Consider how lost a dog would be that had the desire to do what you want but not the ability to figure it out, even if taught.  I've seen Border Collies like this.  Very sad.

Always try to resist locking eyes with any dog, even the herding breeds.  They really don't want to stare into your eyes, they are watching to see if you can give them clues on what to do.  The best thing to do is locate a place you do NOT want them to be and look there instead of at the dog. For instance, if you want the dog to lie down, glance at the ground in front of him before you give the command.

This does two things.  the dog will sense there's something temporarily "wrong" about the ground in front of his feet and if sensitive, will avoid it.  Two, you will see the exact moment that the dog is in the "zone" and can act - instead of staring at the dog and getting caught up in what it is doing at that moment, which can be distracting from troubleshooting a particular issue (like too slow of a down).

It also takes pressure off the dog.  When you lock eyes with the dog, they think what you want is to stare into YOUR eyes, no matter what the command is.   

Laurelin_429

I love a responsive, in tune dog that is thinking. My papillons actually stare a lot too, probably just as much as the herding breeds I've had, and people that meet them mention it. Summer in particular will lock eyes for long long periods of time. It freaked my roomies out.

 I have to say though intense constant staring doesn't always equal deep thoughts because Kirby is downright dense.  I've had an easy time teaching him a variety of tricks, but when he is on his own time and there are no treats involved, there are nothing but butterflies fluttering in between his ears.