Natalya Zahn Webboard User Reg: 12-22-2006
Posts: 1824
Loc: Cambridge, MA
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Thanks Alyssa, that sounds like good technique. The woman I watched on tv was in England, perhaps they use a more "hardcore" style in the homeland of sheep herding. I noticed the white "staff" in the hands of your teacher in the images, just couldn't tell exactly what it was...
I suppose unshorn sheep are easy to test novice dogs on because of all that extra padding - with the exception of face and legs, a dog would have to bite pretty deep to actually connect with hide.
I was just looking through an old dog book the other day and saw a great image of a border collie literally walking over the backs of a tight bunch of sheep - guess it was the quickest way to the other side in his mind!
Yep, that white staff is super-thin, flimsy PVC pipe.
Effective, and safe.
Sheep are pretty hardy. Joe (the teacher/judge) actually brought out a puppy he just rescued. The pup has a lot of aptitude, but no concept of his size in relation to the sheep.
He leaps right up there and bites the sheep on the backs of their necks. A 10 week old pup.
The pup eventually managed to grab ahold of the sheep's ear and there was a fair bit of blood. Not that the sheep cared.
I'm doing all motivational and Opporant training with Thunder in his herding. Same as I did with his AKC and Schutzhund titles.
One big reason for this is he has no respect for the shepherd's crook. I wont use it on him and it would be nothing but a threat from a stranger. Not good for the stranger!
Tracy Collins Webboard User Reg: 10-09-2008
Posts: 1917
Loc: St. Louis, Missouri
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Quote:
My GDS is almost 5 months old. When can she start doing this type of activity or does it matter?
I'm no expert (my two herding dogs have only dabbled at herding lessons--but it was fun!) but my two cents is that you could begin the sport at any age, as long as you have age-appropriate expectations. A 5-month-old puppy isn't going to have much attention span, so sessions would need to be short. The pup would probably work on a long line.
First step is a herding instinct evaluation to see if your puppy has any interest or aptitude for working livestock. It's pretty amazing--herding dogs that have never seen a sheep before in their lives can get in a pen of sheep and have a vague sense of knowing what they are supposed to do. If they have the instinct, the lessons are all about channeling that appropriately. For me, herding lessons were much more about teaching ME what to do than teaching the dogs!
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