Jason, some of the knowledge comes from books, more so from very old books from the late 1800's to the very early 1900's and beyond but mostly the old antiques.
I got a lot also from my original shall we say large order of Vids for Kids (Joke Ed)
This kid did learn from them like you will not believe. I have mentioned before here how I entered Ringsport as a result of the leerburg tapes.
Those vids did work for this Kid.
I have attended every type of seminar you can think of and go with the attitude that if I only get one thing from it then the trip was worth it.
Trips, around the world to learn and absorb how others do what we might do different.
Mostly, I learned how to listen to what a dog was telling us and responded in a way that the dog could understand.
Today, right now I am learning right here, now.
A lot just came au naturel. I am obsessed with dogs and applying them to work and have been since I was a child of six. I am just shy of 50 now. I am almost 30 years as a pro feeding the family training dogs.
My first dog that I ever worked on a very regular basis was a real deal Border Collie, I was six. It was my first job to herd 25 -30 head of cattle from between a couple of pastures onto a back road that was travelled by a few cars each trip three times a day and about a mile in each direction. Total each day 6 miles Barn to pasture etc.
It was a real farm with a real outhouse and real folks for support.
Ed, will know where I got this start. A very small area called Uptergrove which is just south of Orillia, Ontario, Canada.
The family still farms there to this day.
I would keep those cows single file with the greatest dog ever. His name was Mickey.
Never ever lost or had a cow hurt except for the odd hock that I would send Mickey in to whack and send the message to a stubborn cow to get back in line and keep moving.
I could keep the file going and the dog running even with traffic coming and going both ways.
Sort of the same as how kids pick up computer skills today.
No one taught me other than an older member of the family to tell me what I was doing wrong and mostly from an old Border Collie that never saw the inside of a house in it's long dedicated life.
That older member of the family just passed away and I have never forgot the lessons how to herd with a dog and the method of practice before I was allowed to work real cattle was a group of 15 or so chickens.
Funny, I now write about dogs for part of my living and have never told that story ever before.
Thanks you for the memory jog, it's very refreshing.
Best animal education one can get. Work dogs and other animals so that you yourself can eat and the members of your family.
Jerry