Working dogs’ potential based on natural instinct

Ken Sykes has been working with dogs since he was 13, and believes their talent is based on natural instinct.

LOYAL COMPANION: Ken Sykes with working kelpie, Woonalea Tip. Picture: Cassandra Glover

A WORKING dog needs to have natural instinct, according to trainer Ken Sykes.

The Rural Weekly caught up with Mr Sykes at FarmFest, where he was holding working dog demonstrations.

“If it’s not up here, I can't teach it,” he said, pointing to the top of his dog’s head.

“There are about 30 different breeds used around the world for working with stock.

“But the only two I recommend for people here in Australia are the working border collie and the working kelpie.”

Mr Sykes has worked with dogs from age 13, when he started working blue cattle dogs on his family’s dairy farm.

Ken Sykes with working kelpie, Woonalea Tip. Picture: Cassandra Glover

“When I was in my late teens through to my early 30s, I was in the Queensland Police working with German shepherds,” he said.

“And later on took those same German shepherds out and worked them in the paddock with stock.”

Mr Sykes is retired now but, after his stint in the police force, he managed a number of extensive rural properties, worked as an agronomist and, until a few months ago, had a prime lamb operation at Clifton.

He said whether he was managing sheep or cattle, working dogs had been an integral part of managing the livestock.

“I am a great advocate of weaner training,” he said.

“That’s using quiet, controllable dogs to break in weaners.

“I find if that’s done properly, those animals are so much easier to muster for the rest of their lives.”

Between the ages of four and eight, a working dog will be in its prime but Mr Sykes said you could start working a dog from four months of age.

“The pup will tell you when it’s ready to start working. You just have to watch your dog and communicate with it,” he said.

“When your puppy is showing interest, usually it will be around four to nine months, they’ll really start to click.

“I don’t put them on stock out in the paddock before that age because I don’t want stock running away from them.

“I want them to be big enough and strong enough to be able to get to the head.”

According to Mr Sykes, running a young dog with an older, more experienced dog, is a popular method of teaching but he believes a young dog shouldn’t be run with another dog until it’s fully trained.

Working dog demonstrations at FarmFest.

Posted by Rural Weekly on Wednesday, 5 June 2019

“I don’t believe in running a pup with another dog until it’s totally controllable for two big reasons,” he said.

“One is that the pup might refer to the other dog as the alpha, rather than taking you as the alpha, and work the stock to them rather than to you.

“And a common problem is that if it’s always worked with an older, more dominant dog, if you go to work it by itself, it has no confidence and is always looking around for the other dog and isn’t prepared to work by itself.”

Mr Sykes said he only bred dogs for his own personal use, to keep his bloodlines going.

“I breed a litter about ever four years to keep my bloodline going,” he said.

“I’ve had the same bloodline now for well over 40 years for my own use.

“You can buy a good working dog much cheaper than a pet, much more readily available, from good responsible breeders.”

Mr Sykes has recently released a book, Think Like a Canine, to help people train their working dogs.

Ken Sykes’ new book, Think Like a Canine. Picture: Cassandra Glover

“I’ve been doing demonstrations for a few years now and people kept asking me where they could get a book for this type of training,” he said.

“We got it done just in time to launch here at FarmFest.”

The book can be purchased at Pursehouse Rural in Warwick or online from good book stores.