Brilliant to see dogs doing what they love doing

 

Awesome pictures, I'm sure you both had a great time! Keep us posted as you progress with this. It's something I've always wanted to do with my dog...just haven't had the opportunity...yet!

 

Great pictures! Looks like Buck had fun. I’ve been meaning to take Nadja to something like this as she’s shown great herding instincts but I just never have the time.

 

You should definitely try! It's fun to see your dog evolving so fast. Buck ran to the sheep and started circling straight away. Fast forward a few minutes and a really satisfying structure was already starting to show.
I was also surprised how much speed and coordination it requires for a beginner like me to guide the dog. You need to constantly jog backwards, while ping ponging your dog clockwise and counterclockwise with that stick, so they don't do complete circles and learn to move in that U shape. When the dog is motivated and fast... It's quite demanding! Good brain exercise and physical exercise 😂
I believe our common use of hand gestures also accelerated the process as Buck is used to follow hand gestures from a distance. We did other fun exercises where I had to stop my dog at "noon" (there's a crazy amount of jargon in herding I'd be unable to translate lol), then have him close up, stop, close up, etc.
The most amazing part of it all to le was to see all these a-ha moments in such a short amount of time. It's like the whole partition is already written and you just have to tweak it here and there.

 

At the beginning there are also little bursts of agressiveness (trying to charge or nip the sheep), and you have to swiftly stop them, then the next second start praising the dog again, and so on.
It's a subtle balance to find at the beginning and it's SO fast paced. Phew I slept very well that first night.
Also get good boots because the sheep won't care for your toes. Lol

 

We talked for hours with the instructor and I learned tons of things about herding styles, levels of agressiveness, how you can work different types of stock depending on the dog's temperament, etc. Quite fascinating.

It turns out that Buck's got some "eye" too. I've often been amazed at how visual GSDs seem to be, very prone to fixate/lock eyes. It comes handy in herding.

Some dogs are shy and you need to motivate them, others like Buck are more explosive and you need to moderate them so they don't put too much pressure/scare the sheep.

That lady purposedly uses very confident sheep to start pushy dogs.

Goats for instance are more retive, and less appropriate for that type of dog.
She used to have 3 different types of sheep to swap for herding. She sold the more fleety Wessan sheep though because sheep being gregarious prey animals, the most "fearful" ones tend to "win" and make the rest of the flock more timid/prone to flee.
Just one fearful individual can quickly turn a herding session into a mess. Some sheep if panicked will actually run through the metal fence blindly.

 

He looks great! Herding can be addictive and a lot of the beginners I started out with is 2007 now have their own properties with sheep.
Sheilah

 

He looks great! Herding can be addictive and a lot of the beginners I started out with is 2007 now have their own properties with sheep.
Sheilah

Did you do it with GSDs and/or other breeds? Do you still?
I've been wanting to get some goats for a very long time actually . I have done hand milking and cheese for a while when I was younger and absolutely loved it.
My "dilemma" is I am addicted to the ocean and the land on the coast is super expensive.
I have found a sheep dog network in my area, they apparently have events every month, I'm going to subscribe and see how it goes.

 

Someone is watching...

 

Be careful with goats. We had a bit of a petting zoo (sheep, calf, miniature horse, one goat) and ol' Billy could break some ribs when he was competing for food or pissed off. And he was always pissed off. He and my GSD bitch would have epic stare downs lol

 

My friend owns a small herd of goats. They had one goat that was a complete JERK. He was the up and coming leader of the herd. His favorite thing was to ram people as they turned their back on him. He tried to push my friend's dad off of a cliff.

Looks like you're seeing a lot of success! I was looking through some old threads and one person's dog did not do well at all. I think he broke the instructor's rake since they were trying to block him from biting the sheep lol!

 

Amazing. Really beautiful

 

@sitstay thank you, it makes sense.

 

Ooh I’ve been away and missed all this. How are you getting on now? Are you still attending any herding clubs or having lessons? Sounds like you had a brilliant introduction to herding and Buck has natural talent.
Where in France are you? I have a friend who shepherds in the Rhône-Alpes and has a wonderful GSD as well as collies and kelpies. The breeder here GSD came from does some herding with shepherds I think.

 

Hey @TayStrike I haven't been able to dive into it as much as my dog deserves, which is a shame. It's hard to make it a regular thing since people usually do it in the form of seminaries 3-4 times a year. The next session for us will be on December 16, I'll make sure to take pics and post here!
I'm in Finistère, so quite far from Rhône-Alpes. Who is your friend? (PM if you like)