On a beautiful Indian Summer day, after two days of judging the 2nd
Annual
HGH Competition, Herr Manfred Voigt gave an excellent herding seminar,
thus
bringing our big herding weekend to an instructive and truly enjoyable
close. He sent us home with quite a lot to absorb and think about.
Judge Voigt is the ideal teacher. He is a very knowledgeable and
experienced professional shepherd, a successful competitor, and is
highly
respected by his peers. He is very modest (a rare bird in the dog world)
and does not talk about himself or his dogs, so most of the folks present
were not even aware that he had been selected as one of the judges
for the
German HGH Nationals this year.
It was quickly obvious to all, even to those who felt a bit intimidated
and
shy, about working pure beginner dogs, that Manfred Voigt is so encouraging
and 'newbie friendly', so eager to be helpful, that we could all relax
and
LEARN.
There were 13 participants (we all got approx. 1/2 hour +/-) who worked
their mostly beginner or green dogs. An interesting group of GSDs running
the gamut from rescues of unknown lineage to high-line West German
and
working DDR lines.
Several more experienced dogs, already HGH titled, were worked by handlers
who still want to improve their dog's work and their own
handling......among these were Vicki Brown with Reba, the first place
winning team at this year's HGH, Mike Perna and Willi, a nice combination
of diligent worker with a laid back handler. Also Sue Sternberg with
Vinnie and Susan Sopranzi with Ace. Both of these teams had earned
their
HGH titles in the 1997-First Annual HGH competition and had run again
this
year, substantially bettering their original scores. It must seem odd
to
this professional shepherd to see a group of (mostly) women
who come to herding as a hobby. Maybe that accounted for the twinkle
in his
eye.
He started by telling us (through Ulf as interpreter) how much it pleased
him to see the interest we had in trying to keep alive, through
participation, this traditional German herding style here in the USA.
There were quite a few handlers with dogs who had not yet gone beyond
a
single border or one cross border. He offered advice on how to increase
drive and/or confidence by using smaller grazes where the dog remains
closer to the stock.
Many of us, with green dogs, needed help in finding the balance between
building confidence through praise and support and using pressure through
tone of voice and body english to insist on immediate obedience to
commands. Herr Voigt reads a dog very well and was very adept at adjusting
the technique to the individual dog's temperament, especially in applying
pressure. The sign of a born teacher....no cookie-cutter philosophy
here!
In the case of high drive dogs who have not yet demonstrated a grip,
he
said that a dog with "a lot of temperament" should, and could, be taught
everything before being allowed or encouraged to grip. NO RUSH on that!
We discussed the use of "dry work" in teaching certain elements such
as the
placement before the flock, position at the bridge, exit from the pen
and
re-pen. He agreed that it was useful in teaching the dog position and
technique, but that without strong obedience these exercises would
be of
little use when high drive takes over.
Manfred Voigt constantly stresssed the importance of REAL obedience
to the
handler, (as opposed to teaching any element as an obedience exercise)
meaning immediate and consistent response to commands. As important
as
independence and diligence are in this work, nothing works without
the
foundation of obedience. How true! Obedience is where most of us lost
points in the trial! He demonstrated a simple example of how to insist
on,
and reinforce obedience. A dog's natural herding instinct urges him
to
move in the same direction as the flock. Insist that he must sometimes
go
AGAINST the flow in obedience to the handler. He said that in everyday
work, you may see a situation, before the dog does, which requires
him to
obey a command which at that moment makes no sense to him and may go
against his instinct. That's where true obedience really pays off.
In general, he cautioned against progressing too quickly to the more
difficult or more demanding elements. First, he said, be sure that
the
foundation work is solid and that the dog is confident and reliable
at each
level. He also told us how he starts a young dog. He will bring a
youngster to the flock at approx. 8 months. If the dog shows real interest
he will start bringing him along, maybe 2-3 days a week for the whole
day,
allowing him to work a border for about 4 hours, otherwise on lead
at his
side. If a dog shows little interest, he will put him up for about
2
months and then try him again. He usually keeps two dogs from each
breeding.
It was a good opportunity to see some of Ulf's students' dogs for the
first
time. There were quite a few very promising ones among them. One raw
beginner snapped his long line and had a merry time charging into the
flock, but Ulf caught him and no harm was done. No gangsters here!
Adding
to the enjoyment of the whole experience was that it was shared with
a
particularly congenial group of herding enthusiasts.
Hopefully Manfred Voigt will return one day and be pleased with what he sees.