WHAT IS HERDING?

By Dorothy DeLisle

Herding is often defined as controlled movement of livestock. I find this definition inadequate as it excludes many herding dog tasks, including tending a graze, holding sheep to a shepherd for him to catch them, holding stock in a corner, preventing stock from escaping the flock, and preventing stock from going into a certain area. A slight rearrangement gives a much more inclusive definition of herding: controlling the movement of livestock.

What isn’t herding is chasing or harassing livestock. I’ve seen many a test level run where the whole time the handler was working to protect the livestock from attack by the dog. That is not herding! The handler may succeed in putting the stock through the course, but it was done without any demonstration of herding behavior on the part of the dog.

Another way to look at herding is as dogs teaching livestock a set of rules to abide by. These rules include: moving in the direction indicated by the dog, not leaving the flock, not crossing a boundary, and staying in a spot when the dog indicates a hold. The dog teaches these rules with a combination of blocking the stock (who learns its futile to try to outwit the dog because its always blocked when it tries) and gripping the stock as a disciplinary measure (the stock learn to obey or be punished for disobedience). If a dog does not have the power to force the rules upon the livestock, they will ignore him and do as they please. Thus, a dog without power is of limited use as a real ranch dog.

People often scoff at German style herding when they hear it involves trained sheep. But they don’t realize that it is the dogs that do the training of the sheep. And they also don’t seem to realize that “dog breaking” sheep is also the creation of trained sheep.

Dog breaking stock involves controlled work, teaching the stock that that they have nothing to fear from the dogs, (provided they follow the set of rules you lay down for them in the conditioning).  Experienced dogs with strong stock ethics and lots of control are best for dog breaking sheep.  Otherwise, the sheep will get frantic, not dog broke.  Some fresh sheep need gripping to train them to move off a dog, others don't.  Then again, a sticky strong eye-dog tends to make new stock do face offs (to put stock into their fight zone rather than their flight zone) which leads to the need for grips, but looser eyed dogs tend to not need to grip as much because they don't set up face offs as much. Also, the more presence a dog has, the less it will have to grip to get livestock to move. I have heard some people bragging about how their dog grips on command. While that is all well and good, the ideal dog should not have to be told when to grip. It should know when to grip, and it should do so immediately when the situation is set up. As with people training dogs, any delay in a correction causes weaker training. Additionally, if a dog reacts immediately, it can use much less force. But the longer the delay, the more the stock think the dog is a wimp, and the more forceful the dog must be to counter act this belief. Thus, if a dog reacts immediately, a single snap (i.e. no direct physical contact) may suffice, but if the dog delays action for an extended period of time, it may require griping every head to get them to move. Clearly, immediate reactions result in potentially less injury to livestock than delayed reactions. Also, some dogs will ONLY grip on command and have what is essentially an obedience grip. There is no power behind this grip, and it is not very effective in controlling livestock,

Dog-broke sheep understand the difference between a discipline grip and an inappropriate grip (a joy, frustration or predatory grip). A good handler understands the difference too and knows when to and not to discipline a dog for gripping. Good dogs will take preemptive grips that might look like cheap shots, but are actually the results of the dog reading what the sheep was about to do. A good GSD watches not only every head of his livestock, but every ear. Because the position of the ears will indicate what a sheep is about to do. He’ll see what the animal is about to do and hurry to it and change its mind before the event even occurs. If a dog seems to be constantly picking on a particular individual for no apparent reason, watch how that individual works when a different dog works it. You’ll find that individual suddenly standing out as a troublemaker when worked by a less talented dog who doesn’t preempt the problems.

If your dog is doing a lot of cutting in at the head when moving livestock, effectively stopping their forward motion, you may think it is just being a brat. After all, the stock weren’t making a break for it. Or so it seemed to your less observant eye. They may be wanting to take off and repeatedly try to do so, but the talented dog reads it at its first indication that it is about to happen and cuts in to prevent it before the signs have magnified to where your unobservant eye would see it. You must learn to trust your dog in such situations. Often if you reverse directions so that you are no longer heading towards the stock’s draw, the dog will stop cutting in. Then, you know for sure that the dog was being honest.

Good herding dogs have a stock ethic. They do not think of their livestock as prey. They think of them as their charges. They respect the well being of the livestock. They grip only as necessary to maintain control of them and do not chase or otherwise abuse livestock simply for the joy of it. They are there to WORK! A stock ethic is different from a work ethic which is the dog staying tuned to his work and not being easily distracted from the work by other things (squirrels, other dogs - including bitches in heat, neat smells, etc,). Clearly, a work ethic is also important when one needs to be able to get a job done.

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