I just though I’d post my experience and thoughts on herding. It’s an exciting and very demanding sport. It takes a special dog in what ever breed you choose. An$ it’s not cheap.
My experience with herding is limited. I investigated extensively however before going out so at least I had some idea of the expectations. The trainer took the first night to explain to us newbe just what our type of dog was bred to do be it herder, tender or drover. There is crossover among breeds so basic type is not locked in stone. I got to see rough Collie , smooth collie, Border Collie , Kelpie , MalINOIS, GSD , Corgy, Australian Shepherd, Travern, Bernese, Shelty, and surprisingly a Rottweiler. There were a couple others too.
She explained that the herding instinct is either there or it is not. That you can not train what’s not there. She also said that many dogs will have a very weak instinct that sometimes awakens but usually not. Most of the herding instinct in the herding breeds has been lost here in the U.S.A.
For the most part only the Border collies, Aussies and Kelpies have much left, then usually just the stock dog lines. Many are cross bred by the farm people to get working qualities. With that she said don’t expect much the first couple lessons. Maybe two or three 5 minute exercises to get acquainted with the sheep.
My own purpose with my Aussie was more to temper excessive prey drive than actual herding. And do it under controlled conditions. The trainer generally uses a long handled plastic paddle to direct and keep the dogs from attacking the sheep. A couple whacks with the paddle usually gets the dog’s attention and lets him know he is to bring dinner home not kill it first.LOL. It’s not as brutal as it sounds more often the paddle is used like a broom or just smacked on the ground. The dogs are off leash so it’s a bit chaotic at first. The second round she had each of us just enter the ring and stay out of the way. She told me not to get between the sheep and the fence. I made a mistake here and got blindsided by a 300 pound sheep into the fence. Were I still playing hockey I would have come up swinging but Samantha cut the sheep off and pulled her to the ground and pulled a couple pounds of wool out of her before the trainer got her with the paddle. By the way, sheep poop can be kinda slimy.
Anyway it was interesting. The poor GSD cowered away as the sheep chased him around. The Mal tried the tough guy bark but he didn’t follow up. These sheep are dog wise. They know when a dog knows what to do and when there is a greenhorn in the ring. The dogs have to learn to gather the sheep and cover the ornery ones. Sometimes there are a couple at each side of the flock that try to run so the dog must chase them back then rush to the other side to run the others back. The green dogs have a tough time with this. Especially if they get run over. This is where the instinct comes in. The dog picks up pretty quick on this and I think the prey drive drops off and the herding takes over. My dog is an extremely high drive dog so it took a little longer but eventually she calmed down and began the work. The end result was that her prey drive became controllable even in high drive. Overdrive I call it. We only continued for a couple months then my work schedule imploded.
In watching the experienced dogs work in the larger pastures with larger flocks you could see different styles in the dogs. Part of the training involves preparation for competitive events so each dog has to be trained or directed according to his instinctive actions to do the event. For me it was difficult to pick up. I know what was trying to be done and the goals but the process just didn’t click. I liken it a lot to my early days in the SCH sport. There was so much to learn in a dynamic situation. It was hard to pick a single thing to work on. I seems like it all had to be done at the same time. It’s amazing that the dog just knows what to do. The hard part is having him do what you want according to the event rules. The dog has no way of knowing this, only that a force within is directing him to herd the sheep using his innate tools. The best you can do is direct him. From what I saw the good dog’s obedience was good but not precise. They would come when called but more or less just hung around rather than a formal sit in position. They were pretty easy going middle of the road dogs. My dog nothing is slow, it’s full throttle be it run, sliding to a halt or machine gun barking. It was a challenge just to learn to enter the ring calmly while the sheep were running around. This transferred into real life nicely. We now go through doors very calm and precisely regardless of distraction. We go up and down steps very controlled step by step. The bottom line for us was that the herding experience taught the beginnings of working in high stress. As I noted overdrive.
Many of the dogs while beautiful examples of the breeds just simply had little or no interest in the sheep. Some would come into the ring and hike a leg on a post or just go and take a dump. Others didn’t even want to come into the ring at all and gave fear signs. Just as some dogs did in SCH. Back in my days if they showed this they were excused from the sport. My guess in herding this would be the case too. It’s so much easier to work with a dog that wants to do it. It’s not a fault I don’t think, just a disappointment to the owner/handler.
You would think there would be lots of herding clubs in our country in the west but there is not. I’m sure there are lot of farms and ranches that have herding dogs but I think they really depend on their dogs and just dont have time to offer training to outsiders. It costs a lot to maintain a flock of sheep or herd of cows just for dog training so economically its tough.
I’ve probably got more memories but I’ll have be jogged about them. I would like to go back but I just can’t run anymore. Sam is much calmer now but still can run all day and I just can’t keep,up with this. If we could just take a flock out in th3 pasture and walk around with them it would be ok. Competition, nope.
Byron
