Border collie

[mystang89]

I was recently given a 2 year old border collie and figured I would start training him to help me herd the 3 sheep.

I was reading a how to train and it said to bring the dog around the sheep in an enclosed space so as to acclimate them.

I did this in their pin and the ewes attacked the dog. What kinda sheep do I have?! My poor sheep dog is scared of the sheep lol. One ewe starred blankly at the dog as it sat next to me, stomping her hoof at him. The other ewe decided to put her head down and try to ram him.

The ram, which is in another pin, also decided to ram the dog.

Very difficult to have a dog herd the animals when the dog is too scared to want to be around them haha.

 

[Sheepshape]

Same problem here. My Border Collie is 10 and the sheep bully him.....lambs chase him, ewes and rams butt him. My sheep (and presumably yours, mystang89) have never been 'dogged' as my neighbour says i.e 'worked' by, had heels nipped by, etc a dog.

I've had my dog from 6 weeks old, but he was never trained, so my fault, really.

My older ewes glare at other folks' working dogs, stamp their feet, and head butt them, too....so it's likely to be your sheep.

It's best to train dogs early (and sheep, too?), or the 'usual order' may not prevail.



Good luck with the training.

 

[mystang89]

Lol thanks sheepshape. I just think it's funny how the normal way I've grown up (city boy) thinking about sheep has been totally thrown on its head. You know, sheep are supposed to be docile, meek little creatures who listen well, are needed easily and so your laundry...... I haven't tried the laundry thing yet but the other parts she haven't happened yet

 

[High Desert Cowboy]

When starting a new dog, it may be best to use dog broke “knee knocker” sheep. This means the animals have been used before so they have a healthy respect for dogs and have a strong desire to be by the handler, hence the “knee knocker”. This’ll build confidence in your dog that will allow it to move those tougher sheep later on. Ideally

 

[mystang89]

Thanks high desert cowboy! Do you think he'll begin to get his confidence back the more I move the sheep with him? Unbeknownst to him, he actually is helping to get them in the field. I am constantly praising him when he does correct while trying to give him commands like "left" and "right". I know he doesn't understand them yet but if he accidentally listens he gets paid for the action.

 

[High Desert Cowboy]

Praising him for doing the correct thing will definitely help with his confidence. How do you feel when you get an attaboy? The other thing that is really going to help him is setting him up to win. Work with dog broke sheep, put him in a position with a guaranteed win. If you ask too much from him that you know he might not be able to do now you will be doing him no favors as that will just further shake his confidence. I won’t guarantee that praise and setting up for the win will rebuild his confidence as there are always other variables besides a bad experience, but it’s the best way to go about it.
Someone to ask advise from would be @Mike CHS. He trains his BC on sheep and probably has a lot more to offer on the subject than I can.

 

[mystang89]

Thanks a lot! There is a guy who owns angel not far from me. I'll see if he uses dogs to herd his sheep. Even if he doesn't maybe he'll know of someone who does.

 

[mystang89]

Um, well, I think he's starting to come out of his shell around the sheep a little.

I wanted him to be in an enclosed area while I took care of the children and the front pasture (3 acres or so) is the only place that fits the description. It's also where the sheep stay. I figured the dog wouldn't bother the sheep because of the aforementioned reasons stated above and the sheep would leave him alone because they would want to..... well..... eat. So that's what I do. Put him in the front pasture.

One of the small children come in telling at me, saying Max is chasing the sheep.

Mmmk, I'll bite. I walk outside to see Max chasing the sheep one way, circling around them, stopping them, and then chasing the the opposite direction.

I stand and watch this for a minute or so, trying to soak in exactly what is going on. In that minutes time, Bruce the ram, who stays in the pasture with the girls, (a forced decision on my part) decides he's had enough! He rears back and charges! The next minute you see Max herding him back to the ewes where once again he proceeds to running them from one spot to another

I finally calmly walk over to him, call his name (it takes a few calls as his instincts were in full drive) and have him come to me. I told him to sit and then good boy. I figured that if I reprimanded him for the sheep that he would be confused when u was out there trying to train him to do exactly what I just reprimanded him for. I just won't put him worth the sheep unsupervised anymore.

Anyway, had a good laugh.

 

[mystang89]

He seems to act differently on a leach. Always looking around, but off the leach he runs them. Now if I could get commands listened to at the same time.

I'm still trying to get in touch with the sheep owner around here.

 

[Schatzl]

Hi all, I was just reading through the comments and thought I'd share a website I found. I was able to work for several years with a local trainer that got me started on sheep herding but she is travelling a lot now so I looked online and found this website from Andy Nickless in the UK. It doesn't cost all that much, about $6 a month for full access to all his videos and he's always adding more. One thing I really like about him is that he shows you when things go wrong and then how to respond to the situation. The videos are very professional, often using slow motion so you can really see what's going on, and the lessons are broken down so that you can watch just what you need to know. Let me know what you think if you try them out

https://www.workingsheepdog.co.uk