Lies and Nikon (Alta-Tollhaus Bono). Nikon is starting to come into his own. He favors his mother’s (Kira) slow maturing herding-working-lines in development.
The helper in this video is Jason Lin, who is the super talented trainer in this video: https://24kgsd.com/blog/2012/03/20/wow-3/
Very nice! You’re right, Julie—the boy is maturing. When I watched the video Kayla came over to bark with her baby brother to help him get that bad guy.
I should add that what we are doing here is *totally* different from how Nikon is used to being worked, hence the funny handler and helper mistakes and overall lack of “flow” to this session. Nikon is the only one that gets everything right! He looks a little slow at times because some of this is new to him. It’s hard to explain and doesn’t come across very well without knowing the full context.
Nikon is a good sport being used to train helpers. He’s kind of a hard nut to crack in protection work because he is very much a thinking dog and is not “preyed out” meaning (unlike my young working line dog) he isn’t going to just go nuts for the sake of it. The work has to really MEAN something to him. It is difficult to provoke a powerful reaction from him if you (meaning the helper) are not presenting the drive and intensity you expect to get from the dog. Thus under the guidance of some very experienced trainers/helpers we are using Nikon to help Jason and our other two helpers learn how to work a dog on the fly, how to “read” the dog and respond accordingly. You can see in this video that Jason is trying to plan out the session, he instructs me to do two misses and then an escape type bite. You’ll notice that after doing this one time, Nikon has already figured out the pattern and is not responding at all to the misses. This example illustrates why he is a good dog to train training helpers. The DOG is the one controlling the session, not the handler and the helper. Many dogs these days have such low thresholds for drive that they come out onto the field screaming and the helper can actually be quite lazy and still get all the pieces of the SchH/IPO routine. With Nikon that is not the case. If a helper just stands there with a sleeve, Nikon will just stand their rolling his eyes.
The other reason why this session is different is that most of Nikon’s work in the past several months has been in defense drive (including the previous sessions he’s worked with Jason, mostly on a bite suit) and we are now shifting towards more prey oriented work so that we get more purposeful, proactive work from Nikon. Nikon is not a “prey dog” and will never become “preyed out” so there’s really no risk doing these types of sessions.
Kira’s bloodlines are really old…Kira is 8 and Kira’s mother was 10 years old when she whelped Kira. Those bloodlines are the old herding lines mixed in with old working lines. They are thinking dogs and they are problem solvers.
He also possesses the right amount of nerve. Not nerve as in fear or reactive or inappropriate aggression, but just enough nerve just close enough to the surface for a true self-preservation instinct. He has super ball drive but isn’t a dog that would chase his ball off a cliff. He is protective but won’t make a dumb mistake like running off with a sleeve in his mouth while the decoy re-attacks his handler. He figures out pretty quick what is a game and what is not. This is why he runs around off-leash at flyball training while Jason is there and is not suspicious or distracted by him.
Absolutely perfect!
The “barn” video would be an example of how Nikon is used to working, much more pressure, defense, “real life” kind of threat. It’s good to have a dog that can work through this, but doing it all the time is (IMO) too stressful for the dog. The prey work is just as necessary because that is what makes the dog WANT to be there, not just reacting to threats. The nice thing about Nikon is he won’t ever be equipment-oriented (just barking for a tug toy known as a sleeve). Some helpers will say he’s just not good enough but really he is perfectly good at protection he just requires a skilled helper to bring the fight. 🙂
He’s developed a really strong way of fighting, I know this because he does the same thing when tugging with me. You can see in the video he will push Jason down, fight with them, and then sort of torque the sleeve down into the ground. He’s really strong and fights very hard once he’s in the right frame of mind. It’s not just about tugging backward and pulling the sleeve off but he’s using his whole body to overpower the helper.
That is exactly what the US military looks for in their dogs.
Nikon looks great. Roman (Kira son) just turned 3 and is finally starting to really mature. His obedience and herding is getting better, I think he kind of “gets” it now.
Especially for the boys and Kira pups it takes until age three for them. When are we going to see some herding pictures or video?
Hopefully, soon! It’s just Kelly and myself at herding lessons and the sheep don’t know how to work a camera 🙂
Strap a camera on your forehead! Or on a sheep, or on Roman. 🙂
I swear the day Nikon turned three he changed. He became more independent (as in, he will now nap on the couch when I’m in another room out of sight or even *gasp* on another floor) and more cuddly at the same time (he wants to sit on my lap or sleep with his head on me on the bed where before he preferred to stay on the ground).
Julie told me before I got Batman that 3 is the magic age when all your work really pays off. Right now, I’m just grateful that Batman has stopped opening the bathroom door on me (he learned how to open doors during his first week here).
Jennie, I thought you knew that you are not allowed by yourself in the bathroom when you have a GSD. Julie will have to add that into her puppy handout. LOL I have not been in the bathroom by myself in 30 years-It is easier to let them in unless you like to listen to all the whining from the other side of the door.
Roman just go and lay down on his own??? He’s not that mature, yet…let alone in another room where he can’t see me.
I love Nikon and always have. You are doing a wonderful job with him, Lies.