Max v. Stephanitz on Our Breed as a Sheep Herding Dog

-- from The German Shepherd Dog in Word and Picture, by Max von Stephanitz, the founder of the breed,
rendered into “herding English jargon” and illustrated with photos of working shepherd dogs in California

On Breed Characteristics

The shepherd dog is a working dog; he was born so, and only as such can he remain a “shepherd dog;” the dog which we value and love. His abundance of joy in life must be used and he must be allowed to work even when kept by an amateur. There is no doubt that the genuine and noblest vocation for the shepherd dog is tending flocks...

Shobie, my present right-hand-man for the grazing work at home

The flock service of the dog has to accomodate itself to all weather conditions. The service varies; sometimes easy and sometimes hard; and his task is always arduous till harvest is over, especially in districts where valuable crops are grown, or where valuable sheep are being kept. Such is generally the cae in the good agricultural districts of Northern Germany and that is why we find sheep tending of the highest order there. As a rule, the sheep there are always accompanied by two at least, while to the South of the Main {River}, one dog is generally sufficient. In this part, flocks at 200 sheep are actually considered large, while in the North the average flock numbers 300 head and up to 600 head. The course of the River Main strikes further North in the West part of Germany -- this applies to sheeptending, too -- and forms a kind of boundary and the sheep tending differs somewhat on each side of this boundary in that the Northern dogs have higher demands on them.

Naturally each region has its own peculiar customs to which people cling, which is only to be expected in a calling so close to the soil as sheep-tending formerly was.

Thus in Southern Germany the shepherd always goes ahead of his flock when on the road; while in the Norht, the shepherd always walks about two-thirds of the way toward the back of the flock, so that he can oversee such a large number. This is very necessary, because the pilfering sheep are easily tempted to loiter, and the shepherd dog cannot be everywhere at the same time....

I mentioned before that, in most districts of Northern Germany, two dogs are employed for tending. the older and fully trained dog, who has a least two tending seasons to his credit, must guard and ward off, on his own responsibility, on the side opposite to the shepherd (herdsman); he “works” or “takes care of the other half,” (whence his name of halbenhund. He is also sometimes called the “send-out” dog or simply the “tending dog.” The Wurtemberg dog (working singly in the open meadows of that region) is the epitome of this kind of dog. The herdsman need pay only minimal attention to this halben hund while on the road or in the pasture.

On the other hand, the other dog -- the apprentice or “man dog” -- is tied to the herdsman and is usually only loosed when the flock is led onto the graze and the herdsman can let the Beihund or man dog work the furrow on the same side of the graze as the herdsman has stationed himself. This dog often drags a heavy chain and is directed with gestures and calls or whistles in order to bring him under command.

In addition to these two levels of ability in herding dogs, the herdsmen of Southern Germany have the Wiesenhund -- the pasture dog for easy work on the wide meadows, and the hammel hund or “mutton dog,” (what we might call today, a general purpose ranch dog.)

Training

The training of a raw young pup can begin when he is from four to six months old. He is then first taken into the sheep fold (a holding pen) and put onto gentle sheep. As soon as the dog discovers that the sheep will move away from him as its only defense, he will pressure it and thus learns how to gather sheep back into the flock. ...

Fee, at 11 months of age, learning to gather up 3 wayward sheep and put them back in the pen with the others

After these preliminary exercises, the pup can be put to work. Here he must first learn to patrol the border, that is, to run up and down along the border of the crop he has to keep the sheep away from . He is not allowed to move onto the crops himself and cause damage to them, and he must learn that his job is to keep the sheep on their grazing area and not allow them into the crops nearby. The herdsman attaches the pup to a long line and then the herdsman uses his crook to push the pup back into the furrow (or onto the border) if the pup tries to leave his boundary.

These exercises, which include the perfecting of the grip, are continued with the dog until it can go off-leash, at which time special care must be taken to avoid such habits as roaming about, following the tracks of game or rough, hasty work. The dog must always be attentive and willing to work, and must never be allowed to show any slackness. Calm, perseverence, attention and self-reliance, without any hesitation or weakness, will help the trainer to attain his object in the quickest way....

When the dog has become truly useful working the border on the same side of the flock as the herdsman, he must be trained to go ahead or to stand still at a definite place, to sit down, to jump (into the pen or over ditches or fences) and to “gib laut.”

Here Shobie makes a lot of room for the traffic, because another car is coming. See the sheep heads raise and watch the second car as it approaches? The dog is pressing them a bit to keep them out of the road.

This generally completes the first year’s training. The South German herdsman considers such a dog “finished” and uses him on the smaller flocks as a single dog, while the North German herdsman takes another full season to make a finished “halben hund.” The next year, the dog must learn how to control sheep in traffic and to work independently on the side opposite the herdsman. Here it must be strongly emphasized that the dog must always change sides in front of the flock and never at the rear, or by going through the flock on the road. On the meadow, the dog must also learn how to guard the side opposite the herdsman. He must take up a certain position on command, or go to the border to the right or left of the herdsman, and at last he must learn how to encircle the entire flock in order to keep the sheep together.

In addition to all this, there are other exercises which he must learn, e. g., how to drive the sheep in and out of the fold or barn, and finally, how to behave in the barn while sheep are feeding there.

This completes his training as a “halben hund” about the end of the second tending season....

Heading, Gathering, Warding-off and Patrolling

If the sheep move too fast and get too far ahead of the herdsman, the herdsman uses a command or signal to send his dog to the front of the flock to head them and hold them. If for any reason, the grazing flock must be quickly gathered together, the herdsman calls the sheep and signals or commands the dog to race around the flock and gather them up.

I have purposely let the sheep wander off a graze and back to the gate of the pasture. Azzie has gone on out 75 yards or so to gather them up and put them back on the graze. Azzie is a High-in-Trial winner at a ranch dog trial, winning the award over many different breeds and over "herding champions."

When warding the sheep off a crop, the dog must never exert himself unnecessarily; he should go up and down the border around the grazing flock when and where the occasion demands it. This is the act of patrolling. When the dog actively disciplines sheep for leaving their assigned space, he is said to be “warding them off.” He may simply gather the sheep off a forbidden crop, or he may run to the sheep, bark and frighten the sheep back to the assigned place or the dog may grip the sheep’s fleece, so long as he does not hold the sheep with his grip, so that the panicked sheep tears its flesh as it tries to escape.

Shepherd Dog to Schutzhund

When the SV began operations, an attempt was made to find a place for the shepherd dog in the two available branches of military service in existence. ...On account of the small number of service dogs required in these two branches, the SV advised amateur keepers of shepherd dogs... to secure for them regular training as protection dogs.###

Feel free to direct questions or suggestions to Ann Garner at Herdenhunde vom Weiher