A lot of people are asking me  how I am training Fate to live on a farm with dogs, chickens, sheep, donkeys, a horse and barn cats. It’s a good and timely question, it involves, patience, trust, and a willingness to take some careful and moderate risks. It also depends on getting a good and grounded dog and knowing him or well.

We have decided that Fate, essentially Maria’s dog, will be  farm dog. She will not be a herding trial dog, but she will be able to gather sheep, move them from one place to another, control them and keep them in place appropriately and professionally. This means she will be around our free-range chickens, who pop up everywhere, ewes and lambs, including wethers, two guard donkeys and a 20-year-old pony. It also means she will be around two barn cats, who sleep in and around the porch and in the barns, hunt in the pastures, and come into the house in the bitter cold.

So I have begun training her to be around other animals. Some rules:

– Dogs need to understand who lives on the farm and who doesn’t. Over time, dogs like border collies will live easily with – even protect – animals who they know live her, so the first thing is to walk the puppies around the chickens on a leash every day. Chickens quickly grasp when dogs are on leashes, and will go about their business. If the dog barks and lunges at the chickens, I correct them softly – “lie down” or  a “leave it,” or “get away” command.

– We need to know our dogs. Pit Bulls respond one way to chickens, border collies another, Labs yet another and Chows and terriers another. Border collies have a lot of chase and herd drive, but they have had most of the final stages of prey drive – run and kill, bred out of them. This is why it makes me crazy when politically-correct kennels name all their dogs “American Kennel Breed” in order to make dogs like Pit Bulls more adoptable. It is fine to get a Pit Bull if you know the breed and take the necessary precautions. Border collies will rarely attack and kill a chicken. But they have to be familiarr with it, be around it, have their drive re-directed to sheep or agility or some other activity.

– So far, Fate supports my notion that dogs must be given the opportunity to succeed and then praised and reinforced for it, not yelled at leashed up, pulled and kept away from life on the farm. This week, I began letting Fate off-leash around the chickens. She ran after one or two – border collie puppies are movement addicts – and I corrected her quickly and sharply, and either threw the ball or took her to sheep. She has stopped looking at them, chasing after them, bothering them. If she goes into a crouch near the chickens, I correct her immediately and take her away. This is not happening any longer. But you have to be willing to take some risks. If the dog is never free near the chickens, they can never learn to leave them alone or ignore them. You just have to pick the time, close your eyes, and be close by. Fate has got it, she is safe around the chickens.

– Big animals. Next I’ve introduced her to the equines. For the first two weeks, the donkeys and pony and Fate got to know each other only on the other side of the fence. They could see one another, sniff one another, get used to each other. Grounded farm dogs do well with equines, but only if they are introduced gradually and intelligently. A horse or donkey can stomp a dog to death in a flash.  This week, I’ve been bringing Fate into the pasture off-leash for the first time, the donkeys and the pony have all come up to sniff her and now they accept one another and are easy together. She is figuring out how close to get to them.

Again, there is a point – after thorough acclimation – where you have to let them work it out. Savvy working dogs will figure out how to live together, but some breeds are not savvy farm dogs. This cannot be done with every dog, all dogs, like all people, are different. You have to be careful and thoughtful and not push a dog into situations that excite you but are not natural for the dog. Every dog is not a herding dog, every dog is not a farm dog.

– We are moving into a new phase with Fate, trusting her and allowing her to succeed. She is walking off-leash, from the house to car, on our walks in the woods, out to the pasture. She comes when called. I am  letting her eat poop in the pasture, it is natural and she will grow out of it if left alone.

– Perspective and discipline. I do not allow any of my dogs to chase anything but sheep. No chickens, cats, lambs, deer, turkeys, and even the sheep can only be approached calmly and on command. Chasing chickens is not herding, it is not farm work, it simply another kind of abuse – to the chickens, and to the dog, who needs to know better.

Fate needs the freedom to make decisions, develop her own instinct and judgement, I cannot protect her from every situation on a farm. Sometimes, she will get butted and run over, sometimes snorted at or chased by a donkey. It is part of the real life of real animals, especially the life of the farm dog. Trial dogs are different, they do different things. I have never had a farm animal injure one of my border collies, I have always allowed my dogs the opportunity to make decisions, develop their instincts, grow smarter and succeed. Hope that  helps. I’ll keep writing about it.

My idea is you get the dog you need and the dog you want. Choose it carefully, know it well, be patient and wait for the behavior you want and call it a lot of good names.