Hacks, Tips and Tools For Training Farm Dogs

In the Training Farm Dogs series, we’ve talked about my pack and qualifications. We’ve talked about the universal truths for successfully training farm dogs. Today, we are going to talk about all of my hacks, tips and tools for training farm dogs. This is an affiliate link heavy post, especially when it comes to the tools section. If you would like to review our affiliate disclosure, you can do so here.

Do You Need Hacks, Tips and Tools For Training Farm Dogs?

Well, to be completely honest, you don’t. You could absolutely work your way through this with your dogs and probably do just fine. But since you clicked on my post, you are looking for pointers on how to get your dog to be the best version of themselves. Plus, who wouldn’t want to give their dog the freedom of being off leash and out of confinement?!

We moved out to the middle of nowhere to be able to live life the way we wanted. We homeschool our boys to give them the best chance of being well rounded adults that know how to THINK. We want the same for our dogs. So no, you don’t need my hacks, tips and tools for train farm dogs. But if it helps ONE person and their dog work together, I’m all about it.

Hacks And Tips For Training Farm Dogs

I wish there was a magic pill, potion or spell to be able to understand dogs and them to understand us. It would make training SO much easier. But at this point in my life, there is no such thing, so I will continue to use my instincts, reasoning, and knowledge to work with dogs. And I’m going to share all of that with you.

Hack #1: The fastest way to train your dog is with a reward that THEY want. If your dog is toy driven, use toys to train. If they don’t like treats, don’t give them treats! Blu responds best to praise. Kodi will only sit for treats. Bear just wants to be left alone so training has to be fast. Fenrir is a puppy who doesn’t have a clue what he wants.

Hack #2: No two dogs are alike, don’t train every dog the same. You will set them up for failure. You will learn how to train your dog by building a bond with them first… See Hack #3.

Hack #3: Build the bond/ relationship with your dog FIRST! Training comes after the bond is solid. The reason why the bond comes before the training is because if you start working a dog that you don’t know, you have NO idea what will work for them. Bear used to be treat driven, now he’s 11 and doesn’t care about treats, toys, or praise. He wants to hang out. But because our bond is solid, we both know that the training is going to be short, sweet and to the point…. and it’s not going to happen that often because he’s damn near perfect.

Hack #4: If you need total obedience from your dog, you are on the wrong blog…. Probably should have put that one first. Farm dogs need to be able to THINK and that comes from building your bond with the dog AND their training.

PS: if you have never watched a dog work through a problem on their own, I highly recommend watching videos on watching cattle dogs actually working or a LGD guarding. It is amazing.

Tip #1: Don’t be afraid to ask for help! I have been training dogs for a long time, but when Blu was giving us problems as a pup, I wasn’t afraid to reach out when I had exhausted every thing I knew.

Tip #2: Negative reinforcement is a tool that is 100% necessary when it comes to training and protecting your dog. Use it wisely. I talk about life and death training and negative reinforcement more here.

Tip #3: Learn your dogs boundaries (or crazy) and work within those boundaries. Learn WHEN to push those boundaries and when to let that boundary lie. Sometimes managing the crazy is better than breaking the bond.

Tip #4: Train your dogs separately. Do not think for one second that because all but one of your dogs know STAY, you will successfully get them to ALL do it while your training the last dog. Seriously, save yourself the frustration and train separately. Once everyone is trained, you can absolutely bring them together and work them. But don’t do it to start.

Tip #5: Overcoming the pack mentality is HARD. Just for clarification, when I say the pack mentality, I mean when all of your dogs are together. To give you an example of this, Kodi does not chase chickens. But Blu does. When Blu breaks her training and chases after a chicken, Kodi and Fenrir are right there with her. Bear is looking on like, “Y’all are a bunch of idiots” and goes back to sleep.

As of this writing, it’s the same with the goats. Kodi and Blu do not chase the goats, but Fenrir does. When Fenrir goes after the babies, Blu and Kodi will SOMETIMES get riled up. This is quickly squashed but it is something that we are working on with Fenrir. This is part of Fenrir’s training and he is doing VERY well with it.

Tip #5: Do not train the bark or growl from your dog. I don’t know why people do this but there are people out there that actively train their dogs not to bark or growl. When they do that, they are encouraging the dog to bite. Then they are going to wonder WHY their dog bit them or their kids.

Because I am specifically talking about training farm dogs, I am going to keep this advice related to the farm. That being said, your dog barking is telling you that there is a problem. This could be the mailman coming into the driveway or this could be a freaking BEAR! Do NOT tell your dog to stop barking without getting up to first check what they are barking at.

Also pay attention to HOW they are barking. Just like with babies, you can tell the difference between the barks. The happy bark means Jared or the mailman is here (our UPS guy gives the dogs treats). The snapping/snarling bark means predators. The chuffing bark means there’s something out there but I don’t know what.

I teach the Quiet command to my dogs. I look at what they are barking about, if I can’t see what they are barking about, I will say Quiet. If they are still going, I will LEASH them and go see what it is.

Tip #6: Teach your dog to NICELY take treats from you. This is a general dog tip not necessarily a farm dog thing but I can tell you that it has saved my fingers over the years. Even Diesel, my most food aggressive dog, would take food so sweetly.

To give you some context as to why this command is literally the FIRST thing I teach my dogs is because my dogs are huge and I have kids:

Dodger, my very first dog, was a Great Dane/ Lab mix who weighed a whooping 120#.

Next was Sammy, a Malinois/ Shepherd who weighed in at 80#.

Then Lexi, a Great Dane/ Lab at 110#.

Diesel was about 100#.

Shiloh was about 130# in the winter and 115# in the summer. Malamutes are no joke with that coat.

Blu is 110#

Kodi is 120#

Fenrir is 80#

Bear is 75#

Since my dogs have always been, and will probably always be huge dogs, I didn’t want them to snatch food from my kids as they walked by. I also didn’t want them to bite my kids hands off.

To teach this command, all you do is cover most of the treat with your hand or fingers. Yes, they are probably going to chomp on your fingers, but hold steady. Do NOT let them have the treat until they gently take it from you. Give the command, “Nice” as they are taking the treat. If they are too rough, you take the treat back and give them your no command. My “No” is some version of AH-AH.

I have been known to pry open the dog’s mouth and grab that treat back if they aren’t nice enough. Dogs usually catch on pretty quickly to the nice command and it’s a good safe guard if little ones are around.

Tools For Training Farm Dogs

First and foremost, I do not recommend things that I do not purchase, use, or like without telling you first. This goes for books, homesteading, gardening, companies, you name it. If for some reason I am recommend something that I have not purchased, used, or like, I am going to tell you that the recommendation came from X person and here are their credentials.

Let’s start with the second most controversial thing….

The E Collar

The reason that this is the second most controversial tool is because so many people have misused it. But I absolutely LOVE e collars. We rarely use the shock feature and only as a last resort. This is the one that we have used for the last two years and the one I will continue to purchase. I love the fact that this particular collar reports to have a range of about 3,300 feet. I can confirm 2,000 feet. The battery lasts weeks as long as you don’t stick it on a charger over night. Usually, it’s charged up in less than 30 minutes.

The trick with the e collar is have solid training done FIRST and then bring in the collar. When teaching recall, always start with the dog leashed. The very last thing you need is the dog panicking and taking off.

The Prong Collar

THIS is the most controversial tool on this list and, again, it’s because it has misused. Prong collars are not to be used as a dog’s every day collar. It is a training tool. This is the collar that I use when I am teaching leash manners or we are doing training.

Again, I have huge dogs. Dogs that can absolutely mangle you, me, or any animal if they so choose. I also have goats, ducks, and chickens. I need that dog to be perfect on leash to protect them, my family and my animals. This is life or death. So, while we are teaching them to walk on leash, we use a prong collar.

My dogs know that it is time for training when the collar is on. I have their undivided attention and that is key to successful training.

The trick with the prong collar is NOT to yank them around by the collar or leash. This will hurt them. We don’t want that. We use gentle pressure to get them to do what we want and we PRAISE them when they do it. I can hook any leash to any of my dogs with a prong and get them to do whatever I want without ever hurting them.

Leashes

While this may seem like a no brainer, you would be surprised how many people are clueless when it comes to what kind of leashes to use. Now, the goal is off leash while ON property. But there are going to be times when the dog has to be leashed. Things like a trip to Tractor Supply or the vet require leashes. Teaching off leash training requires leashes.

So what kind of leashes do you need? Well, to be honest, a few different kinds.

Normal, every day leash. I believe that every leash should be at least 1 inch wide. I don’t care the size of the dog, I want as much strength in that leash as possible. Depending on the size of the dog or the training that is happening, will determine the length that you need.

Long line training leash– Again, I want this to be as thick as possible because if that dog starts running, I want to be able to stop them. I have a couple different lengths depending on the type of training we are doing. I recommend 15ft for the start of off leash training. Side note: do not EVER use a prong collar when doing long line training. If that dog takes off running and that leash “catches” them, you will have a dead dog.

Leash for teaching walking– This is really going to depend on your height and your dogs height. I am 5’8 and all of my dogs come up to about mid thigh to mid hip on me. So these short leashes are perfect. I use these leashes with the prong collar when I am teaching them how to walk with me. Or if we are going out in public, I will use these with a prong to keep the dogs with me and not have to have 5 feet of leash to keep up with.

No No Leashes:

Do not, I repeat DO NOT! EVER put your dog on a retractable leash. Those things snap and your dog is gone. These leashes work by having a small, thin cord that retracts or releases….. Imagine this scenario with me; you have your dog on a retractable leash and they are relatively well behaved. You are walking Fido and have him extended about 20 feet. He gets a little too close to the neighbors cow and you can’t pull him back because the reel has jammed. The cow kicks him…. Fido is, best case stunned or a little injured. Worse case, Fido is mangled or dead.

Bungee Leashes…. I’m sorry, but why even bother with a leash? You have limited control over your dog with a bungee leash. Now, I have one and I HATE it. I bought it because a friend who runs with their dog recommended it….. Let me tell you, that was the most frustrating run me AND Shiloh ran. He would go just far enough that it would yank me or him back to the other. Or I had to pull the “slack” out of the bungee to get him to come back. Just don’t bother.

Collars

We’ve already talked about prong collars but I wanted to talk about the various types of collars that you could have for your dogs on farm.

First, and my favorite, is a handled collar. Again, all of my dogs are huge and come up about mid thigh to mid hip on me, that means that the collar is right at hand level for me. There have been a surprising amount of times that I have had to snag collars on my dogs over the years and having that handle has been GREAT!

When it comes to collars, I don’t necessarily have any other ones that I like or don’t like. Instead, I’m going to give you what I look for in collars and why to help you make your decisions.

Never, ever, ever a plastic closure. Sure, small dogs may not have to worry about the closure snapping, but I will NOT have a plastic closure for my dogs.

Again, nothing less than 1″ wide. I want to grab a collar and know it’s going to hold.

One more thought on closures, I don’t necessarily mind the belt buckle type closure like this one. But like most belts, the holes stretch out with use. So keep that in mind when you are picking up collars. Also, the seatbelt style (like the handle collar linked above) have worked great for me over the years. I really like them. But it’s not a make or break choice when it comes to the collar.

Lastly, metal leash hooks. Plastic breaks. Don’t get plastic ANYTHING when it comes to dogs.

Electric Fences, Halo Collar, And Other Similar Containment Systems

I would be remise if I did not mention containment systems and I am nothing if not thorough. Here are my thoughts on containment systems: I don’t have them and don’t use them… for my dogs. That being said, I am not opposed to them. My dogs are indoor dogs unless we are outside, where they are off leash. We have too many animals and too many predators to leave my dogs outside unattended. But that is my personal thing.

But if I were to choose a containment system for them, I would definitely look at the HALO system. Yes, it is incredibly expensive. BUT it doesn’t rely on power or mobile networks to work. So even up here, where cell service is spotty at best, it works. Even if the power goes out or the mobile network goes down, my dogs still have a fence.

Basically, it uses satellites to create a fence for your dog. So even if your power goes out, your fence is still up. You can read all about the Halo system here. It uses various alerts (voice, vibrate, chimes, beeps, etc) to let your dog know they are getting too close to the fence. If the dog goes over the boundary, it doesn’t punish them for coming back over (which is a major con to most electric fences). And it can sense the direction they are traveling, so if the dog starts to come back home, it “lessens” the commands for coming home. If the dog changes directions to go away from home, it changes the command to tell them to come back. If the dog REALLY takes off, it uses satellites to track them so you can find them.

But that price tag ($700+ subscription fees) is hard to justify. Especially with 4 mostly well trained dogs.

I hope this post helps you and your dog on the road to off leash and out of confinement life! Be sure to check out the other posts in the Training Farm Dogs Series!

Other Posts In The Farm Dog Series:

How I Trained My Farm Dogs

How To Successfully Train Farm Dogs

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