Herding Dog Questions and Answers
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"A righteous man regards the life of his animals." Proverbs 12:10

Feel free to use this information in any way that is helpful to you or to your dog training or sheep operation. And if you have further questions, please feel free to email me -- Ann Garner

A. What Should I Expect at a Herding Instinct Test?

First of all, the spectators expect to see orderly and humane treatment of the livestock and the dogs, or herding for sport gets a bad name. So be prepared as an entrant to follow the tester’s instructions exactly while your dog is being tested. The first "leg" of the test can be conducted entirely by the tester if the tester is willing, so you may choose to have a great deal of assistance from the tester. Take advantage of this opportunity to learn about livestock and their reactions to dogs.

But what do you actually do as an entrant? When your name or number is called, you meet the tester at the gate or just inside the gate to a good-sized stock pen. Your dog is on leash and should be calm at your side. You tell the tester your dog’s call name and you frankly tell the tester exactly how much exposure your dog has had to livestock and what the dog’s reaction has been.

The tester may tell you to keep the dog on a long line or a short line to see how the dog reacts to the stock. If the tester approves of the dog’s attitude and behavior, the tester will ask you to either drop the line and let the dog drag it for a while or the tester may ask you to remove the line altogether.

1. The Ideal Picture

Most herding instinct testers carry a mental picture of what the ideal herding dog’s introduction to livestock would be like. For most of them it would be as follows:

a) the handler -- with dog on leash -- approaches the flock until one of the sheep raises its head and looks very alert. The handler and dog stop, the handler lays the dog down and removes the leash.

b) on being released, the dog leaves the handler’s side going wide around the flock and gets to the opposite side of the flock; the sheep -- being well-schooled in this routine for most test situations -- come immediately to the handler’s knees and the handler begins to walk in a serpentine pattern while the dog wears (changes direction of movement) to keep every member of the flock with the handler until the tester says he has seen enough of the dog's work.

c) the handler walks into a corner of the pen; the sheep stop, the dog lies down, the handler walks toward the dog, takes it by the collar and reports to the tester, thanks him and usually receives high praise and maybe even an offer to buy the dog. I have seen it happen.

That is the ideal that does occasionally take place. Certainly with slight variations due to clumsiness on the part of the handler or excitement in the novice dog, we often see such an introduction to livestock. And handlers are of course supposed to assist the dog to accomplish the task at this introductory level. So stopping the dog if it gets too excited, or touching the dog occasionally, or giving "out" or "get back" commands are all very helpful to an excited dog who is working with the right attitude and behavior, but just coming too close or getting that "glazed-over" look in the eyes.

2. Less Than Ideal, but Still Trainable

In a group of dogs you will usually find the most common reaction to sheep to be something like this:

a) the dog is led into the arena very excited, but under control. The handler cannot take the dog very close to the sheep, because the dog’s excitement is affecting them.

b) The tester tells the handler to drop the leash, allowing the dog to drag it. The dog flies directly toward the sheep, not circling the flock, but the sheep, since they are schooled in this routine, run directly to the knees of the handler.

c) Now it becomes a game of chase-the-sheep-around-the-handler while the handler whirls in place as the dog windmills the 3 or 5 sheep round and round the handler. If the handler can manage to walk a few yards and keep the dog from damaging the sheep in the excitement, the dog is deemed to be showing working drive and enough trainability that it can be made into a useful stockdog. This dog, too, will probably earn a leg toward the Herding Capability certification.

Many introductory sessions on the livestock by working dogs -- those involved in the sport of Schutzhund -- fall into those two categories above. Herding dog pedigrees in Germany -- especially the pedigrees of the national herding trial participants -- almost all include the same great working dogs that Schutzhund sportler are accustomed to seeing on their own dogs' pedigrees. So the reactions to livestock might be intense, but most of them will be controlled. After all, 80% of the protection routine probably relies on good basic obedience training. This will serve the dog well in its introduction to livestock, too.

3. Alternate Reactions to Introduction to Livestock

There is a variation to number (1) above, which often happens when the dog has a pedigree heavy in HGH titles:

a) the dog would be able to go into the pen off-lead, but is not allowed to, of course. The dog approaches this all in a rather matter-of-fact way, recognizes immediately that the sheep are its natural responsibility. But the leash can be removed after meeting the tester.

b) the dog will regard the stock intently, will approach it quietly and may be able to approach quite close.

c) when the dog approaches the standing stock, the handler starts moving away from dog and sheep. The dog will set the sheep in motion and they will come to the handler. At that point, the dog will run up and down alongside the flock. In this case, the handler should move to the fence line and let the dog patrol the open side of the flock while the handler moves up and down along the fence line.

There is another variation that is recognized as herding behavior. It will often happen when the flock is not very cooperative in coming to the handler.

a) the dog will approach the stock in its preferred manner, either directly toward the flock or by circling around the flock. But the flock will "double back" on the dog and go into a corner or just stand along the fence line. An inexperienced dog may simply patrol back and forth, holding the stock in position, awaiting help from the handler.

b) the handler should go to the dog, try to calm the dog’s frustration and if the sheep will not come out to the handler, allow the dog to continue to patrol along the open side of the flock while the handler stays between the dog and the flock, moving slowly along the fence line.

c) the sheep will move along with the handler, huddled on the fence line for safety as the dog either arcs or patrols in a straight line from front to rear of the flock in order to keep them in motion but not allow them to get away.

The two variations outlined above in this section (3) may or may not earn Herding Capability recognition. It depends very much upon the background of the tester. I have personally worked two different dogs that exhibited each of those alternate behaviors respectively, and they both became very fine sheep tending dogs.

B. After the Instinct Test: How do I Start Training a High-Drive Herding Dog?

I have had a lot of inquiries from three different web links. The question is always, "how do you start a dog in sheep tending?" Either for practical purposes or for certain of the tending trials.

Well, I know why I am getting the question, because I asked the same question of everyone who was involved in herding when I had on my hands two absolutely wired GSD males, whose main joy in life was contact with sheep.

It is very difficult in those circumstances to remember that the basis of all the work for our real working dogs is OBEDIENCE to the master (handler, shepherd, whatever). That is, once this kind of drive is revealed in the dog.

Okay, you have this animal -- in my case animals -- that each time you pulled boots on, or picked up a leash or collar, or put on your “barn coat,” all He** broke loose. Jumping, squalling, begging, fighting with the other dogs to be “it” for the day, to be the one who got to walk on his hind legs, panting furiously, with all flesh a-quiver, to get to help with the sheep.

I knew somehow that I had to get things under control, or I would simply overwork the sheep in the process of getting the day’s work done.

So this is what I did:

We began with OBEDIENCE at the back door. Collar on, leash snapped. Down, quiet, praise. Door opens. Dog stays down or is put back down. Dog walks through when permitted. “Walk through” is our command at doors and gates. Dog gets through the back door. Down. Then okay, walk with me. We walk to back yard gate. Down. Wait for command to walk through. Then we walk “with me” to the night lot gate. Down. Open the gate, wait for command to walk through. Walk through. Down. Watch sheep eat morning hay. Stand up, walk perimeter of pen, quietly. Do not disturb sheep.

After sheep will eat with dog nearby shivering in the excitement of being so close to sheep, but being very subdued and focused (mesmerized), then we do the same thing out in the open but with very strict parameters. Dog does not come inside the flock’s safety zone. ......etc.

More lessons later. But you can see that high-drive herding dogs do not need motivational sessions to inspire them to work. They resemble much more the dogs that love to do protection work, but have to spend all their time learning the obedience that will keep them calm and focused.

I know some of you are having the same problems that I experienced with my two guys, both of whom you can see working sheeep, smoothly and competently: Shobie and Azzie.

C. How Do I Train a Pushy Dog to Stay the Right Distance off the Flock? For a few dogs in this universe, it is possible to go out into the middle of a field on the day the dog is introduced to stock and allow the dog to simply circle, stop, walk up, etc. That dog does not have to be trained. It already knows more than its master . And I love and admire dogs like that no matter what the breed or working situation.

But -- and this is the heavy "but" that most trainers have to deal with -- most dogs do not react that way. Most dogs have to learn the parameters of behavior around livestock. And traffic cones, tree lines, markings on the gound, ditches, irrigation pipes, crop rows, ponds, rivulets, or any other kind of indicators can aid in training the dog the "hold back"function that is fairly critical in herding of any kind and is absolutely essential in a grazing situation.

Cones marking the "outrun" shape to help the dog gather from a distance serve the same purpose, its difference being that it is associated with performing a different task. I have used ponds, bushes, cones, panels, etc. to train dogs to stay wide of the stock as they go out to remind the sheep that it is time to “go home.” My youngest dog was started in a 5-acre field, with no marked boundaries it is true. But she had the luxury of being introduced to 70 very secure and stolid sheep when she was only 9 weeks old. So she works very matter-of-factly. Not every dogwill have her blase attitude upon meeting the sheep, no matter how stolid the sheep may be.

And I prepare people who own dogs with a strong work ethic and a bit of age on them to help train their dogs by showing the dog the parameters with markings of some kind. But the task of working a boundary does not stop with staying back. The dog must cover the stock's exit at every point -- independently, preferably. And if the dog is not so intuitive, then it must work on command to cover the herd ENTIRELY and at all times.

D. What if I Still Have Problems Getting the Dog Calm Enough to Acknowledge a Border around the Flock?

The whole difference in HGH and in the other mindsets is that herdsmen in Germany train dogs for the benefit of the sheep, not for the dog. Dog trainers in the U. S. are training for the dog, not the sheep.

So we in America often need to back up and again set our priorities. If we want to progress g-r-a-d-u-a-l-l-y in the basic work of HGH, the dog must work absolutely and for hours at a time out on that border and out of the flock, not being rewarded by "walking in" on the sheep until the dog is "dulled down" and the trembling exitement has faded to a dutiful trotting along that border with only an occasional glance at the sheep.

I do not recommend open-field work for impatient people. Use a 15-20 foot rope (easy on the hands), and a heavy clasp, but a comfortable buckle collar. By the time the dog is dragging the rope and you are not holding it anymore, you have left off following along with the dog!!!! You should not be the inhibitor; the inhibition has to be internalized in the dog by the conditioning of working the border. So long as our body is protecting the sheep, the dog thinks it is a game of keep-away.

If you prefer the BC thing of "off-leash" pen work, it is nothing to be ashamed of...most American GSD owners are doing just exactly that kind of work. But the HGH style has to be done the way the Germans (or Ann Garner) does it or it simply does not work. You cannot have an excited dog out in the open with sheep with only "external controls" on the dog. The dog has to have internalized the concept of working at the edge of the flock, and not pushing on the sheep unless necessary. In fact, our breed in Germany does not even work on "remote control" such as directional commands, etc. Once we get them conditioned to stay out of the sheep, a good GSD will intuit the rest of the work.

Novice GSDs, open fields, sheep and Western-U. S. or British training methods simply do not work for our breed in the basic training stages.

But now to the most effective exercise ever created for calming an over-excited herding dog: the sheep not only have to be comfortable with you, they need to be settled to eat with a dog in a tiny pen with them. The dog needs to stand quietly while the sheep eat, not bothering them. This goes on for a few sessions, until you see they will eat for 5 minutes or so with the dog in the pen, just a few feet from them.

After a couple of such sessions, see if the dog has calmed down as it works the border of the graze. If not, repeat the small-pen exercises.

E. How Do I Prevent the Herding Dog from Chasing the Sheep?

The trick -- and it is not easy -- to preventing this chasing behavior is never to be in the driveaway position, a position which puts the dog between you and the stock, with the stock headed away from you and the dog. Until the dog has several hundred miles of work under its belt, that position tells the dog that it is panic time because the sheep are getting away.

Try to keep yourself either at the head of the flock or alongside the sheep with the dog moving up and down (wearing) alongside the flock. So when you move the sheep around, avoid going behind the sheep in a driveaway position. The dog knows they will get away.

When you go into the graze to move the sheep around or to take them out of the graze, go to the opposite side of the sheep from the dog and stand quietly and then lead the sheep away from the dog. The dog will stay on the border or will only trespass the border slightly and will move toward the head of the sheep -- your position -- and then if the sheep turn around, the dog will go back toward the rear of the sheep so that they turn and follow you again, etc. This is exactly what you want to happen!

And you can prevent the dog coming in too close, because of heavy eye contact with the dog, signals, or inhibitions of any kind that you build into the dog. And if things get too exciting, you of course stop moving so that the sheep stay inside the border of the graze and the dog does not get into the chase position and then panic....

F. How Do I Train the Dog to Stop -- Stand Still or Lie Down?

Now we begin to put command on the dog. Up to this point, the dog's instinct should be guiding the "herding" part of the exercises. And the training on the border of the graze should have decreased the dog’s pushing instinct and should have increased the dog’s hold-back instinct. But at times, the dog will need to follow a specific signal or verbal command from the herdsman. One of the most important is the command to stop on the stock.

Do not try to train this too early in the dog’s learning curve.

While you are still working on the two-sided graze, leave the dog patrolling the border opposite one of the fence lines. Trainer must go to the opposite side of the flock, have the sheep standing still and heads down grazing -- or this will not work -- and as the dog patrols back and forth along the border, command the dog to stand. (It goes without saying that this must be taught as an obedience exercise away from sheep first, right?)

Before the dog breaks the stand, praise the dog quietly, meet it at the border and release the dog VERY quietly. Let him go back to patrolling the border. Repeat the exercise with the dog stopping in all possible locations along the border, and always go quietly to the dog and release after praising.

When you move to the four-sided graze out in the open field, use the same techniques to stop the dog at any point along the border of the graze. Later, when you need to stop the dog while the sheep and the dog are in motion, you will probably not have any problem doing so.

If you are having just such a problem, please email me and we can address your problem.

G. What if My Dog Gets Bored with the Graze Work?

Here is a hint on getting more activity in the flock while the dog is learning to "ward off." Move to a well-fenced paddock or pen. Things will be under control because of the high strong fences. Put some food inside a marked "graze." Put some well outside the graze. Make the dog stay on the border as before. You stand inside the border with the sheep.

Dog will drag a much lighter cord if one is necessary at all. When the sheep cross the border to get the hay, the dog is allowed to push them back. Dog and sheep learn "warding off." (See Section H below.) BUT NO CHASING to the handler.

This can quickly deteriorate into a "small pen" chasing-the-sheep-around-the-handler kind of training that will be harmful to the dog's attitude toward tending and warding off. So have in mind exactly what you want to see on this smaller, more confined and therefore more "pressure-filled" format. Make sure we continue to train the same attitude and style of work that we do in the open format.

Then when that is old hat, make a three sided graze out in the open. And then go for broke with the 4-sided graze with no fences within 20 feet of the working area. At least 7 sheep would be necessary to get any flavor of a tending flock.

H. What Does "Warding-off" Mean?

Today we took the sheep out as usual for a morning graze along the country road in front of our property. The grass is lush from the heavy rains and warm sun of the 98 storms and warmish weather. Our side of the road is not so lush as the neighbor's side, so sheep always want to leave our side and cross the road of course -- the grass looks greener.

It was Kili's morning to have her first real working session in her whole short life. As a pup, she had been exposed to the sheep regularly; you can read the story of her early development in another section of this web site.

Then later in life she had come along with one of the adult dogs; while they did the serious work, Kili ran up and down alongside the flock as they grazed; they allowed her to run along almost touching them, as she offered no aggressive moves into the flock.

But now she is 17 months old and has finished her first heat cycle. I was hoping to see if she had replaced any of the air in her head with actual gray cells.

So we took 38 sheep out to a strip along the road, with just Kili, who would now have to pay attention to staying on the edge of the road, not running up and down inside the grazing area. She let me know that was not nearly as much fun as when she could choose her own "furrow." But after about 15 or 20 minutes, she understood her duty.

It did not really get to be interesting work for her until she discovered the "warding off" task. She taught herself about it in the following manner: We were at the head of the strung out sheep, and back at the tail end of the group, a sheep decided to cross the road. Kili's too-tall ears pricked even taller, flicked forward, and off she trotted in a business-like manner. Well, the sheep saw her coming and grudingly went back into the flock on the correct side of the road.

Amazingly, Kili simply turned and came back along the edge of the graze, watching the offending sheep to make sure it would stay where it should be. She did not burst into the flock in chase after the offending sheep. That was her first attempt at warding the sheep off forbidden areas such as the road, and she performed the task in a very skillful way, with no verbal help from the herdsman.

I am very happy to report that the air in her head is turning into gray cells.

I. What Kind of Practical Work Does a Tending Dog Do?

We took a group of about 35 adult sheep and a couple of very young lambs out to the country roadside to graze all the El Nino grass that is growing rampantly in these parts.

Shobie was my helper. It has been weeks since he has helped me with sheep, since he was getting to go tracking regularly. The twin lambs had never been off the place and boy, there is nothing like lively, romping lambs to grab the attention of a shepherd dog. But the lambs were very good about it all. They were not nervous at the presence of the dog who was trotting up and down along the edge of the roadway. Only a couple of cars passed while we were out there, and the sheep and dog stayed out of the way.

One thing about the edge of the road, though. You know the grass always is greener, taller and thicker there, possibly because of the warmth reflected from the gravel pavement and because of the minerals that leach from the gravel.

Anyway, at one point, there is a dozen sheep noses in a row along the edge of the road, and Shobie is trotting along with his muzzle directly above all the noses. Made quite a picture, but I did not have my camera.

The lambs learned about "warding off." They thought they could just eat along the edge of the graze with their butts sticking out into the roadway, dog or no dog. But Shobie got one of his great thrills: he suddenly stopped trotting and slunk ever so quietly along the edge of the road and stopped and looked at that lamb butt so looooonnnnng and intently. I said nothing because my voice shattering the utter silence could spook the lamb who would jump and might cause Shobie to grab it.

Shobie slowly extended his muzzle ever so carefully to just barely nudge the lamb's butt back into the graze! Good dog. Of course, then he watched for another opportunity to do that, but the lambs had grown tired of eating grass and they both had curled up in the sun. So Shobie patrolled the rest of the grazing session covering the flock from one end to the other, a distance of perhaps 75 yards. The sun got really warm by the time the sheep were full and so we stood by the gate and called the sheep back into the home field.

Nope, they were not coming. The dog moved back toward the rear of the flock a few steps. As soon as they started for the gate at a good clip, he turned to head them, but I stood him at the gate while they went through.

Good job. And sheep-tending is good for my soul .....

J. What would cause my dog to shut down or back off the sheep?

Ellen in New York answers this one very well:

In response to an observation concerning a dog "backing off"/"becoming disinterested"/shutting down when your boss loudly corrects his dog - I have experienced the same thing with my herding dog. He is a German shepherd from a currently active herding line in Germany. The man who developed this line selectively bred his dogs for high prey drive(intense interest in the sheep) and an equally strong willingness-to-please the master(I have seen the word "biddability" used in connection to BC characteristics and that might be the same as my term "willingness-to-please). In my experience this "willingness-to-please" makes the dog a joy to work with because it makes him so responsive to direction from the handler. However, this same characteristic also makes the dog highly sensitive to harsh verbal correction and tones of voice even when used on another dog in its presence. My dog(Nicky) shut down when I worked him at the same time I was beginning to work his son(Willy) on sheep (Willy needed alot of verbal corrections in the beginning).

At first I didn't know why Nicky was shutting down, but then I realized it was because he was sensitive to the louder and harsher tone of voice I was using on Willy. Since I couldn't stop using the more severe tones with the son in the beginning, I stopped working the two dogs together. Nicky is now back to his old confident self working sheep. I have learned to respect and value this sensitivity in Nicky and do not want to lose it. Therefore, I will not work him around people(including myself) who need to use loud, harsh corrections working other dogs at the same time if it has a negative effect on him. This sensitivity is something I value in my dogs and I do not want to lose it by trying to desensitize them. I am lucky tho' because I have my own sheep.

Normally, I would advise not to work a dog around a person who shouts since it has such a negative effect on some dogs...

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