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SHEEP-fed-barely-sprouting-fodders, page : 62
A herding dog also helps you count your sheep by filtering them along a fence and making it easy for you. When feeding time comes around, your dog can be of great help keeping the sheep away from the feeders until you have had a chance to spread the feed.
Should sheep escape, a herding dog is extremely useful, it will gather them together with hardly any effort and bring them back. If you don't have a herding dog, then you have a big problem on your hands trying to recapture them! Herding dogs are as it were, a second pair of hands.
Some herding dogs may act to a certain extent to protect/guard their sheep, but they should not be expected to act as a guard dog. In fact a herding dog should not be left unsupervised with the sheep. This is because it has been bred and trained to move and control animals. If it is left without supervision, it is unlikely that the dog will allow the flock to graze freely in what to them is an "uncontrolled" manner. Young herding dogs need very close supervision during their early working days, but as they mature they learn when their intervention is required and when to leave alone.
Characteristics of Herding Dogs:
The character of a herding dog should be instinctive. It should have some idea what to do with the flock, and instinctively want to keep the sheep in a group and head off any sheep that try to escape from it. Of course, the relationship between shepherd and dog must be one of understanding. The dog should have a desire to work with the shepherd, accept his/her commands while herding the sheep and be willing to respond to the wishes of its handler rather than doing things "his way".
A well trained, well-bred dog allows one person to manage a very large flock with minimal physical effort and trouble. However, any dog that respects sheep can be of some use to the handler of the flock. Take for example, the untrained dog that barks and chases after sheep, this dog isn't a write off, he can be used to push the sheep into chutes or through gates, but you may need to keep him on a leash at other times.
Almost any dog can with some training have a desire to "go after sheep:. It can be taught how to assist you to move the sheep around, however, a non-herding dog must be carefully watched because originally he was motivated by a predatory instinct and this might be lying dormant in him, and he might become a threat to the sheep. Any kind of dog should be restrained or supervised when he is not working with the handler. When you decide to get a herding dog buy from a breed that is common to your area.
BREEDS OF SHEEP DOGS
There are three very general types of sheep dogs, the
Should sheep escape, a herding dog is extremely useful, it will gather them together with hardly any effort and bring them back. If you don't have a herding dog, then you have a big problem on your hands trying to recapture them! Herding dogs are as it were, a second pair of hands.
Some herding dogs may act to a certain extent to protect/guard their sheep, but they should not be expected to act as a guard dog. In fact a herding dog should not be left unsupervised with the sheep. This is because it has been bred and trained to move and control animals. If it is left without supervision, it is unlikely that the dog will allow the flock to graze freely in what to them is an "uncontrolled" manner. Young herding dogs need very close supervision during their early working days, but as they mature they learn when their intervention is required and when to leave alone.
Characteristics of Herding Dogs:
The character of a herding dog should be instinctive. It should have some idea what to do with the flock, and instinctively want to keep the sheep in a group and head off any sheep that try to escape from it. Of course, the relationship between shepherd and dog must be one of understanding. The dog should have a desire to work with the shepherd, accept his/her commands while herding the sheep and be willing to respond to the wishes of its handler rather than doing things "his way".
A well trained, well-bred dog allows one person to manage a very large flock with minimal physical effort and trouble. However, any dog that respects sheep can be of some use to the handler of the flock. Take for example, the untrained dog that barks and chases after sheep, this dog isn't a write off, he can be used to push the sheep into chutes or through gates, but you may need to keep him on a leash at other times.
Almost any dog can with some training have a desire to "go after sheep:. It can be taught how to assist you to move the sheep around, however, a non-herding dog must be carefully watched because originally he was motivated by a predatory instinct and this might be lying dormant in him, and he might become a threat to the sheep. Any kind of dog should be restrained or supervised when he is not working with the handler. When you decide to get a herding dog buy from a breed that is common to your area.
BREEDS OF SHEEP DOGS
There are three very general types of sheep dogs, the