The Early Training of Young Hangin Tree Cowdog Pups

These young female Hangin Tree pups are out of Dagley’s Annie and Wilcox’s Slate, and are only a few months old here.

Socializing A Cowdog Pup

Socializing your pups is an important time of teaching pups their manners. Basic rules for how cowdog are suppose to behave around people are taught by being consistent when the pups are little.

Pups should learn to look forward to when ever people show up, knowing that their time with people is the most enjoyable time of the day.

And yet the pups need to be taught simple rules like:

1. Don’t bite
2. Don’t jump on people and
3. Don’t come through gates without permission

Clicker Training a Cowdog

Another fun way to train young Hangin Tree Cowdog pups and build a relationship with them is a method called “clicker training.”

This video shows David doing some clicker training with Stub, a three month old pup out of Dagley’s Annie and Wilcox’s Slate.

Introducing A Cowdog Pup To Stock

When introducing a young cowdog puppy to stock, it is important to do it in such a way that builds the pups confidence and teaches it that working stock is fun.

You will introduce your pup to stock at different ages depending on the personality of the pup, and whether your stock is ducks, sheep, goats, bottle calves, yearlings, etc…

Here’s a video of our three month old pup playing with weanling goats.

But it also needs to experience life, so the more you can take it with you the better!

The Early Training of Young Hangin Tree Cowdog Pups

These young female Hangin Tree pups are out of Dagley’s Annie and Wilcox’s Slate, and are only a few months old here.

Socializing A Cowdog Pup

Socializing your pups is an important time of teaching pups their manners. Basic rules for how cowdog are suppose to behave around people are taught by being consistent when the pups are little.

Pups should learn to look forward to when ever people show up, knowing that their time with people is the most enjoyable time of the day.

And yet the pups need to be taught simple rules like:

1. Don’t bite
2. Don’t jump on people and
3. Don’t come through gates without permission

Here is a video of our kids playing with some of Annie’s pups when they were 4 weeks old.

Clicker Training a Cowdog

Another fun way to train young Hangin Tree Cowdog pups and build a relationship with them is a method called “clicker training.”

This video shows David doing some clicker training with Stub, a three month old pup out of Dagley’s Annie and Wilcox’s Slate.

Essentially “clicker training” is finding unique ways to get your puppy to do what you want, then immediately marking that action with the sound of the clicker followed by giving them a treat.

Before you can clicker train a cowdog you will need to condition them to a clicker by spending a few sessions clicking and giving them a treat repetitively until they know that the sound of the clicker means that they are going to get a treat.

Introducing A Cowdog Pup To Stock

When introducing a young cowdog puppy to stock, it is important to do it in such a way that builds the pups confidence and teaches it that working stock is fun.

You will introduce your pup to stock at different ages depending on the personality of the pup, and whether your stock is ducks, sheep, goats, bottle calves, yearlings, etc…

Here’s a video of our three month old pup playing with weanling goats.

You never want to yell at a puppy for chasing stock or punish it in any way for it, as you want the puppy to associate stock with pleasure.

This being said, the pup should never be allowed to chase stock while you are not around as this could either result in the pup being hurt by the stock and the pup loosing some confidence, or the pup hurting the stock.

Pups learn the most by their owners being consistent. And one of the easiest way to do this is to kennel your pup when you are not around it, so it doesn’t learn that it can break rules when you are not around.

But it also needs to experience life, so the more you can take it with you the better!