For training sessions I usually clip the leash to my belt buckle or belt loop so I can have both of my hands free. I keep a treat pouch around my waist (actually a pouch for rock climbing chalk) and a clicker around my right wrist. Now I simply go where the cats, children, or goat kids are and walk around. I click my clicker and give Hera a treat for just standing there, or sitting, or laying down, or averting her gaze, or interacting appropriately. Technically I am not rewarding her for doing nothing, but that can be what it looks like. I am simply rewarding her for appropriate behaviors.
Sometimes she will get excited and try to chase or jump. Sometimes her tail starts to wag, her ears perk up, and her eyes get sharp (this is mostly around the cats). I do not punish her for any of these things. I want her to like the training and I want her to like being in the presence of the other animals so I do not do anything to make it negative or scary. Instead I change directions which requires her to follow me, or I make a noise, or step on the leash, or otherwise distract her so she forgets or does not follow through with the behavior. If she is over threshold and won't listen or follow then I am too close to the other animals or my leash is too long and I step back until she can listen.
Sometimes she isn't sure what she needs to do or what I want her to do. It's okay to give her a hint. My goal with Hera is to have her behave like a typical livestock guardian dog (LGD): to lay there in a lazy one-eyed sleep, aroused only to chase off a threat. Zeus is excellent at this so he literally gets treats like crazy for just laying around doing nothing. Hera can see that is a behavior that get's rewarded.
But Hera is a teenager, she needs a little help, so I say, "Down, Hera". She sits and looks at me for a minute, hoping that is good enough. But LGDs don't usually sit, they lay so as to be very non-threatening to the livestock. She doesn't get a treat for sitting so down she goes. As soon as she is down I click with my clicker and give her a treat. Sometimes she gets back up to get the treat but that's okay. If she stays down the first treat is followed by a second treat. A better one. And then a third. If she continues to stay down I give her a treat every few seconds.* I give her a treat if a goat steps near or over her and she stays down. I give her a treat if I walk around her and she stays down.
A behavior she offers for the nanny goat regularly is showing her belly. This may not be something you want, because it may only happen if your dog is afraid of the goat and you do not want your LGD to have a fear response that could someday escalate to aggression. But this was a behavior Hera offered from the very first day she came to me without ever having been threatened by my goats. For her it was very automatic, so it's something I watch for and reward in her particularly. She has never shown this behavior toward the kids though, only play behavior.
I call Hera over to me and have her follow me. The kids follow me too hoping for a bite of grain (I carry a treat bag for them too). As soon as Hera goes down, I start the treat dispenser again. Sometimes one of the goat kids tries to challenge her. The goat turns and lowers her head and prepares to butt. Hera butts back, or tries to jump on its back. I hold the leash tight preventing her. I do not want her to defend herself in this situation. I want her to back off or show submission like she does for the mother. She isn't getting it so I say, "Hera, down." Down she goes. Good girl! Lots of treats!
If I was able to do this several times a day this would go really fast. Neither the goats or dogs want to work in the heat of the day and I'm busy with my human kids in the morning so training sessions can only be in the evenings. But they are still working. It's slow progress but the "downs" and the "stays" and the calmness improve every time. Even with the cats.
Just this morning the kittens followed me out to the pasture. Hera perked up and prepared for the chase. The morning routine is to take Hera out of the large pasture and put her in a smaller paddock for the day so she can't chase the goat kids. She knows the routine well and runs to her paddock without a leash and without turning to the side. But with the kittens there I did not dare let her run off leash so I attached a leash before I approached the gate. With her on one side and two kittens on the other I said, "down". And down she went. I gave her a treat. Her perked ears and focused eyes relaxed. I gave her another treat. She looked away from the kittens. I gave her another treat. I opened the gate expecting to need to steer her away from the kittens. But she made a beeline for her paddock as usual and completely ignored the kittens. I let go of the leash and she kept going and waited patiently for me to set the bowl down, detach the leash, and lock the gate. Good girl! By next summer she will be a model LGD!*It is important to use small treats so you can give lots of them. The smallest treat the dog will work for. This is so they stay motivated longer and also so you do not over feed them. I use soft cat treats because they are small, easy, smelly, and tasty. Sometimes I break up small Milk Bones or other dog treats, but cat treats are so much easier. I also keep cut up duck or chicken jerky for higher reward, and a few large or extra yummy treats for exceptional behavior. I keep track of how much I give and give that much less food at dinner time.
Video training session July 24, 2017: This isn't the best example but it's hard to get video so I'm rolling with it. This was Hera's first time with an extended leash so the goats and her kept getting tangled up. (A friend suggested I just let the leash drag and pick it up if needed). My husband was also away so there were extra distractions of my children coming and going and shouting. Ideally you would not increase distractions and leash length at the same time.
In this video at first Hera was slow to respond to the "down" cue, and once she did it she was quick to get right back up. The first time she went down without a cue I gave her a click and a treat, and since she stayed down I gave her another treat so she would learn that staying down was more rewarding than getting back up. Next she tried to paw a goat and I got sidetracked by a goat. I made the mistake of rewarding her for just calm after I had given the cue "down". It happens, and when it does, just keep going. After a bit she went down again and was rewarded. Then she started to get up and instead just scooted and stayed down so I rewarded her for that.
At this point it's obvious that my goat needs a little training. (She is actually jumping up on me because a few days before I had trained her to get up and walk on two feet, but haven't proofed it yet--making sure she only offers the behavior with a cue. This is why her climbing on me is a bit excessive). Then we have a little distraction where everyone goes off camera and the goats try to pester my other dog who growls at them for interrupting his dinner (the camera is on top of his crate).
Hera follows with a very nice "down". Then Hera tries to run after the goats and my daughter who distracted them. I stepped on the leash in order to prevent her from being able to chase them, because the chase behavior is fun and self-rewarding. Next Hera goes down again and I stop to reward the goats for calm behavior. Hera stays with me as the goats run off. I probably should have rewarded her for this. (And then we have another interruption by Zeus growling the goats away from his crate. He is a resource guarder and had his dinner bowl so he didn't want them close).
Toward the end Hera is staying down very nicely despite many distractions so I reward her periodically. You can see the difference between the beginning and the end of the training session. She is doing great!
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