How To Successfully Train Farm Dogs

First, I want to preface this entire series with the understanding that I am not a dog training expert. I didn’t go to school for it, it’s not my career, and I am not a professional. BUT I do have four dogs that I have successfully trained on my farm and I have trained dogs most of my life. So while I am not an expert, I feel like I’ve got a pretty good handle on training dogs and dispensing tips and tricks on how to successfully train farm dogs.

How To Successfully Train Farm Dogs

There are a ton of ways to train farm dogs but I think there are some universal truths to keep in mind. Not all farm dogs can be trusted with all animals. Patience will make or break you and/or your dog. Negative reinforcement is a good thing. Perfect recall is a MUST.

Personally, I think the most important of all is understanding your dog’s boundaries. As always, I’m going to explain more about boundaries below but the fast answer is you have to be able to manage that dog’s crazy. If you can’t, then you need to figure out what your next steps will be.

So let’s get into these universal truths so that I can give you some training tips.

Not All Dogs Can Handle Animals

Some dog’s prey drive is simply too high to handle being around small animals. This can include cats, chickens, goats, ferrets, etc. It doesn’t matter what you do, that dog is stuck on go. Now, you can train that dog and you can get that drive mostly under control. But at the end of the day, you are going to have to manage that boundary.

Blu is a fantastic example of this. 99.9% of the time, she is absolutely fine around the livestock. And she won’t chase every chicken, every time. But that .1%? She is going to chase a chicken. She can’t help herself. BUT we have worked with her and she will pull off the chicken when we tell her to leave it.

Fenrir can’t handle the goats. Well, he can handle the big goats because they will defend themselves. But the babies? He has absolutely no idea why they are screaming at him. He’s still a pup and he’s learning but I know that one misstep and he will hurt a baby. Not because he’s trying to hurt them, but because they sound like squeaky toys and they are freaking him out.

Have Some Patience

This applies not only to your dog, but also for you, your family and your farm. As they say, Rome wasn’t built in a day. Explaining to the child, and reminding yourself, that we don’t need to reprimand the dog for every infraction can be frustrating. Consistency when there are other people in the house who have contact with the dog is frustrating. When the dog is more interested in sniffing everything than training, you will want to pull your hair out.

But the biggest mistake that I see being made is that people who have never allowed their dog to dog are suddenly frustrated and angry because their dog is not dogging. To give you an example, your dog has been living in a fenced in yard his whole life. You’ve never really had to work on recall because he doesn’t escape his yard. But now, you don’t have a fenced in yard and you want to let him run on your property. Well, you can’t just let him run loose because he’s never done that before.

That means working with him on his recall and a long line. It also means that after graduating from a long line, he get’s an e-collar. I talk more about e-collars in my tips, tricks and hacks post here (coming soon) so don’t get up in arms about it yet. After a couple of weeks on a long line and e-collar, we start working off leash. But ONLY if his recall is on point. (I go over how to train recall at the end of this post)

Another thing I’ve noticed when it comes to dogs, specifically Blu, is that she gets extremely nervous and anxious when she is learning a new task and doesn’t understand what you are wanting. That sucks because I tend to get frustrated because she isn’t listening. The first few times it happened, I just couldn’t understand why the dog was being a dumbass…. But it was me. I was the problem and the dumbass. So I stepped back and figured out how to break down what I wanted her to do in more manageable pieces and BAM the dog figured out in one training session how to “Switch”. This is were she is walking on one side of me and I tell her to switch to the other side.

Remember the number one rule of horsemanship…. It’s never the horse’s fault. This holds true for 100% of animals. It is NOT THEIR FAULT! You have the bigger brain and higher reasoning, they don’t. They are just animals. So make sure that when you start a training session, you are in a good headspace.

And when you start to notice that you are getting frustrated, END THE SESSION! There will be no more good that comes out of that session because the dog knows you are upset. They will get anxious and stressed and it just becomes a vicious circle. So throw the ball with them instead.

Negative Reinforcement Can Be A Good Thing

I know, I know. You’ve been told that only positive reinforcement is acceptable. You’ve probably been told that hitting a dog is absolutely wrong. And it is! But let’s talk about what negative reinforcement is from a dog training angle. It is simply a tool and when it is used as a tool, it works extremely well. Negative reinforcement is just using something that a dog doesn’t like to get them to do the thing you want.

For example, Kodi HATES the vibrate button on his e collar. That is negative reinforcement. It doesn’t involve us hitting him or yelling at him. It is a simple, but effective TOOL to get him to stop doing what he is doing and come to me.

Another example is Bear hates a stern voice. All I have to do is give him “the voice” and he realizes that I don’t like whatever it is that he did. Blu HATES being swatted, and I’m not talking about hitting her. I’m talking a gentle swat to the butt to get her to move out of the way will send her into a tizzy. Fenrir hates being ignored.

The key to negative reinforcement is to know when to use it. Remember, it is a tool. We don’t use a hammer when a screw driver is needed. We aren’t going to use negative reinforcement every time the dog is doing something “wrong”.

I don’t need to use Kodi’s hatred for the vibrate feature on his e collar to cow him. Nor do I want to. I want a relationship with my dogs because we are a team. They have a job to do, and I want them to trust me. I need them to raise the alarm to tell me when the predators come into the yard. I need them to round up the chickens (this is where we use Blu’s tendency to chase and redirect it into something better).

And I would normally agree that negative reinforcement is not necessary for “regular dogs”. When teaching Fido to sit, stay, down, sure, use only positive reinforcement. But when you are teaching Fido life or death lessons, things that could kill Fido if he doesn’t listen, yea, I’m going to use negative reinforcement.

Why Recall Is The Most Important Thing To Teach A Farm Dog

The reason I believe perfect, or near perfect recall is so important requires a story. When Blu was a puppy (about 9 months old) she was already 75 pounds, and not spayed since we try to wait as long as possible to allow their bones to grow. About every 6 days, the coyotes come through the property on their loop through the area. While we were outside putting up animals, the coyotes started to call to her.

You could tell her by her body language that she was getting ready to go after them. Whether to mate or attack is not important. The important thing is that she was getting ready to go to them and we were about to have a really big issue. If Blu’s recall had not been perfect, we would have had a HUGE mess on our hands. That is life or death to a farm dog.

Perfect recall ties into negative reinforcement and those life or death lessons. When you are on a farm, perimeter fencing gets really expensive, and honestly unnecessary. You need to know that your dog will come when they are called. When you tell them to “leave it”, they need to leave whatever it is alone.

Country and farm life can kill an animal. Tractors don’t care if the dog doesn’t know not to get under the tires. Cows don’t care if Fido isn’t trained to handle them. Coyotes, mountain lions, and bears don’t care if Blu is trying to protect her land. Neighbors don’t care if your dog is really friendly, they are going to protect their chickens, goats, and sheep.

Understanding Your Dog’s Boundaries

I left this one for last, even though it is the most important. To successfully train farm dogs, you must first have a bond/ relationship. Then you have to have patience as you work through their training. Teaching recall can be a nerve racking experience. But all of that will be for naught if you do not understand your dogs boundaries.

Now, I call it managing their crazy because it is much more accurate, but less fair to the dog. But there are some things that your dog just won’t be able to do successfully. Kodi will never want to stay close. Bear will never raise the alarm. Blu will never stop barking. And Fenrir? He will constantly be a management case because of his hips. I am very familiar with their boundaries. I know when I can push them, I know when I can’t.

Our old dogs Shiloh and Diesel are prime examples of knowing and respecting a dog’s boundaries. Shiloh had to be crated if we left because he would absolutely destroy the house. Diesel would guard his food to the point of showing teeth. We managed their crazy by making sure that we ALWAYS had a crate for Shiloh. We taught our boys from an early age (they were 3 and 1 when we got Diesel) NEVER touch the dogs food once it was in the bowl. In fact, the kid got “punished” for touching the dog’s food bowl before the dog ever got “punished”. Why? Because the end result could have been catastrophic for the dog AND the child.

If your dog is not ready to be off leash, DO NOT force it. That dog is telling you they have a boundary. Kodi can be off leash but only with someone watching him. That’s okay.

If your dog is food reactive? DO NOT TOUCH their food! You are giving them reason after reason not to trust you because you are taking their food from them.

If your dog is destroying the house? Crate them!

It is our job as their caretakers to make sure that they are given tools for success. It is our job to protect them, even from themselves.

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