Kerby the herding dog: In which we meet some stock
By Stephanie Keesey-Phelan, Ph.D., BCBA
In my last blog post about herding, I wrote about the three steps to a herding dog. These steps included: learn everything I can about sheep and about herding, find mentors and colleagues, and do my best to teach and learn with Kerby. One of the first things I wanted to do, practically speaking, was set up a time for Kerby to meet some livestock. I live in central Massachusetts and am surrounded by farmland and forests, and, as I mentioned previously, I know a surprising number of people who have farms or at least a few farm animals. Despite this, finding the right spot for Kerby’s first exposure to stock was a little trickier than I thought it would be.
How would Kerby behave when in the presence of stock?
For our first outing, I wasn’t concerned with what kind of stock Kerby would meet. I just wanted to get a sense of how he would behave around farm animals in general. Would he bark his head off? Would he cower behind me? Kerby was born and spent his early weeks on a farm, but to my knowledge didn’t have any interaction with farm animals. I hadn’t seen any stress responses in the face of deer on hikes in the woods, but at the same time he also barked and hid when confronted by my friend’s small turtle. I didn’t have a good prediction for how he would respond to stock.
Because I wasn’t sure how it would go I wanted to be very thoughtful in how I set up Kerby’s first exposure. Ideally I was looking for a space that had:
Few other distractors (e.g., people, children, dogs, or lots of active farm machinery)
Enough space that I could move closer or farther from the stock if Kerby or the stock needed more space
Stock safely confined to paddocks or pens, that would be comfortable around unfamiliar dogs. I had no intention of Kerby interacting with (e.g., getting close enough to sniff or touch) the stock and I didn’t want our presence to cause any extra stress.
Initially I hoped that I could find some local farms that gave herding dog lessons because I assumed that such a place would meet all the requirements I listed above. I didn’t realize that there would not be any local trainers supportive of a positive reinforcement approach. Fortunately, in my area we do have a state park that has miles of walking trails in addition to a farm and ice cream stand. We had already been there many times to walk Kerby in the woods. The farm area has cows, sheep, goats, and pigs in paddocks near the ice cream stand in a space that dogs were allowed to frequent, so I was confident the stock there would be used to groups of unfamiliar people, children, and dogs.
The Plan
I chose a date and considered what time of day would best meet our needs. I opted to visit very early in the morning, well before the ice cream stand was open. This was a time when it was unlikely we would encounter other people or dogs.
My plan was that we would spend no more than 5-10 minutes around the stock. I would lean heavily on Control Unleashed (CU) pattern games both to approach, spend time near, and leave the stock. This is because CU games require a very low response effort on the part of the dog: often the criteria for reinforcement is looking at their person or moving a short distance. Additionally, the schedule of reinforcement is continuous, meaning that every correct response is followed by a reinforcer. CU games would provide an easy and predictable way for Kerby to contact a high rate of reinforcement and stay engaged with me as much as possible.
I gave Kerby his breakfast before we left the house because 1) we never skip breakfast in my house! and 2) I didn’t want him to be conflicted about hanging out with livestock. I wanted to avoid a scenario in which Kerby was hungry enough to stay near the stock to eat treats despite discomfort. I would still be providing highly-preferred treats around stock but would plan to increase Kerby’s distance from the stock if I observed him emit stress-related behaviors.
The last piece of my plan was to provide access to enrichment and exercise prior to meeting the stock. When we arrived, before venturing over to the farm area I took Kerby on a 20-minute sniffari on a nearby trail. Given he had been to this trail system before, I felt this activity would ensure his doggie needs for enrichment and exercise were met (but not exceeded so that he was overtired) prior to his first introduction to stock.
In which Kerby “meets” cows and goats
How did it go? Beautifully!
Kerby saw some adolescent cows in one paddock and a herd of goats in another. Each group of stock appeared interested in Kerby and approached the fenceline when we arrived in the space. Although they did not appear to be distressed, we stayed about 10-15 feet away for the entirety of our visit, occasionally moving even further away (20-25 feet) when I thought Kerby would benefit from additional space. Kerby was interested in the stock but didn’t appear to be worried - I didn’t notice stress responses that I have observed Kerby emit in past stressful situations like lip licking, panting, stiff body posture, or shake offs. Kerby took and consumed treats with no more intensity than usual, and engaged in several CU pattern games. He didn’t pull or lunge to move toward or away from the stock and responded to cues as I gave them. After the stock briefly examined us from the other side of the fence, they meandered off to do their cow and goat things and didn’t take any more notice of us until we left. We stayed in the area for about 6 minutes and afterwards we went on a 40 minute hike on one of the trails to decompress.
I didn’t take video or photos for two reasons: 1) I forgot my tripod and more importantly 2) I wanted to be fully present with Kerby to support him if he was struggling. If I had to make a quick exit, I didn’t want to be fumbling for my phone and other equipment. However, I do find video to be an invaluable training tool and so I will be recording in the future.
What’s next?
This outing produced just one data point in my quest to answer the question of how Kerby behaves around stock. This data point involved a very short, controlled exposure and although Kerby did great, one data point does not make a trend. Although I felt more confident (and relieved, and thrilled!) after our first visit to stock, it was important for me to proceed with caution knowing that Kerby’s behavior might be different next time. And my goal for next time was to meet the stock that I hope to have Kerby learn to herd: sheep!
Stay tuned! Our next herding post will be about Kerby’s first meeting with a flock of sheep.
The photos pictured below are from this week (8/27/23). After several training outings to this location, we were able to comfortably (for all of us: Kerby, the stock, and me!) move closer and I felt comfortable enough to snap a few photos.
