Herding test

[herdcentral]

Hi, when I was in my teens (nearly 30 years ago) I worked as a Jillaroo on a huge cattle station in Northern Australia. We used Australian cattle dogs back then to help muster wild cattle in very harsh conditions and they were amazing in this environment. Very smart and very tough. Thus began my love affair with ACDS and the start of a 17 year relationship with a little working bred bitch named Jess.

 

I now live in an agricultural area with mainly sheep and a more domesticated type of cattle and kelpies and BCS are the herding dog of choice among local farmers. I no longer live on the land and I mainly do agility with my ACDS. On the hunt for another ACD I somehow ended up with a young BC.

 

I have noticed that she is constantly rounding other dogs, seagulls and anything else up. She crouches along the ground and fixes them with her eye. Apparently there is a herding test you can do to see if a dog is a good candidate as a herding dog.

 

Being new to the whole BC experience can anyone explain what the herding test involves?

[kelpiegirl]

I think what most everyone will tell you - is to find a good sheepman, or woman, who uses dogs- perhaps even does some trialing, and bring your dog out to that person. They can work with you and your dog, and see if she has what it takes. Have you read the Rachel Treasure books? I would LOVE to get my hands on them!

[Rebecca, Irena Farm]

Being new to the whole BC experience can anyone explain what the herding test involves?

 

Bring a number two pencil and a composition book!

 

No, just kidding of course. Working trainers don't usually have an official "instinct test" of any kind. They know that the first time a dog sees sheep, it's rare for the dog's actual potential as a working dog to be demonstrated.

 

Since you have experience in the real world of working, you would probably have little patience with the folks who believe in "instinct tests" or "certificates."

 

A first experience on stock usually involves the trainer taking the young dog to very quiet sheep in a small pen or paddock, and then the main thing one looks for to begin with is, "Is the dog interested?" Generally all you really learn on top of that is, whether the dog will respond to guidance from the handler in the form of body language, verbal corrections, and possibly even requests to respond to commands the dog already knows ("Lie down" "Here/Come/That'll do").

 

During this time, the handler is simply helping the dog to learn that she is not allowing inside the "chase" zone, and eventually may even get the dog to realize her job is to balance the sheep to the handler. That would be frosting a first time out, however.

 

Good luck! And when you find a trainer, we will require piccies!

[herdcentral]

Thanks for your replies. I did find it puzzling that you could take your dog along for some test and come away with a bit of paper that allowed you to put HT after your dogs name.

 

Because of a severe drought most farmers in my area have completely destocked but the manager of the local agricultural research station has a small flock of very tame sheep, and one of the farmhands who is an ex farmer is an experienced working dog handler with kelpies and BCS so I think I will approach them for some help.

 

Just one other thing. This particular handler was telling me that he found that BCS were the best dogs by far out in the open paddocks and then he would use the kelpies in the yards.

[kelpiegirl]

That's because some misguided people out there have bred Kelpies for yards- only. They want push/bark, and no style. Don't need that sort of stuff when you are pushing through races etc. The real Kelpie-men/women out there know that the Kelpie should be BORN with a good cast, break out, and a modicum of eye (some have too much, like BC's). I, simply put, detest barking when dogs are working, so that particular trait would not work for me. I suspect if you spoke to folks like Kevin Howell, or Erin Caterson, you would get a true picture of what a Kelpie should be, and should not be

[herdcentral]

Thanks Kelpiegirl

 

Personally I love kelpies and have watched some really good ones working stock on farm in my area so was a bit surprised. Where I live kelpies are most common as working dogs. The farmers usually breed their own dogs within their community so they get what they want.

 

The handler I spoke to comes from the cooler areas further south where BCS are more common.

 

Interesting about the barking, there are a couple of southern kelpies at agility and they bark constantly, both in and out of the ring and at anything that moves. Drives us all nuts.

 

 

My only practical experience with working dogs are the working bred ACD on very wild scrub cattle and you dont see that amazing sight very often these days due to modern mustering methods.

 

The whole kelpie and BC experience is actually quite different and I am enjoying finding out more about these two dogs.