Barking at Critters

[RobbieBurns]

Hi,

My name is Denise and I am new here. From my avatar you can see we have multiple dogs. Actually the avatar is missing our fourth dog, a black lab (18 mos) who is littermate to the chocolate.

 

My BC, Robbie, is now filled out more and has a bit longer fur. He turned 2 in June. We got him through a rescue organization. We live in a rural area and most of the BCs/stock dogs do have a working heritage. When he was a pup I noticed all of the classic BC behaviors but I have to say he is a bit of a disappointment when it comes to livestock.

 

He BARKS at the livestock. (We live on a ranch with 4 horses and a small herd of angus.) He faces them, crouching, and gets kind of aggressive. Then he chases them away. Now the horses don't freak out, they just give the dog attitude or run him off. But the cattle, especially when they were young, were terrified and would run off. I'm afraid Robbie will drive the cattle into barbed wire or they will break a foot in our rough terrain.

 

Right now our herd is in a different field, a mile or so away from our house and barn. So Robbie can't bark and chase them. But we rotate them a few times a year. And time will come that we will have to drive them back to an area where they are in chasing reach of the dogs. BTW Robbie isn't the only one who barks and chases, 3 out of 4 of them do it.

 

To summarize, I need to understand:

1. How can you tell if it's worth it to train a dog to work with stock. We had a BC before who did none of these things, she just took to accompanying us on livestock drives or long horseback rides/mountain pack trips. I think she had received training as a pup. So, should we work with Robbie as a stock dog or not? He is shy and the lowest dog in the pack. However, he is the most obedient of all of them. I took him to obedience school and he was a star pupil.

 

2. I've searched this forum and found some good posts on car chasing and also an article on "crittering" from Lou Castle. Just as they bark at and chase stock, they do the same with cars coming onto our ranch. When I walk them a mile away, near a road, they do not react this way with cars so it seems a lot of this behavior is territorial. They take their job of guarding our ranch seriously! Has anyone else experienced this kind of selective chasing?

 

Thank you for any thoughts / suggestions.

 

PS -- Our dogs:

Robbie -- BC male, 2

Coco -- Choc. lab female, 18 mos.

Maggie -- Black lab female, 18 mos.

Bernie -- top dog. Entlebucher sennenhund, male, 7 years old. He is the master chaser and modeled some bad behavior.

[stockdogranch]

Don't know about the chasing thing, but to tell if a dog is "good enough" to train for stockwork, the only way is to give it a go. Take the dog to a reputable trainer, and go from there. Behaviors off of stock are no indication, really, unless you are sure of the breeding--if the breeding is from working parents, then you probably have something. Even if you take the dog and it looks good the first time out, there is never any guarantee, particularly with an unknown breeding, how far the dog will go with training. But if the dog looks good at that first lesson, you can probably get the dog trained up enough to be at least semi-functional.

 

A

[RobbieBurns]

Thank you very much for your reply, Stockdogranch. I am located in Tuolumne County, CA. A friend uses BCs to work goats. I will ask her for a trainer recommendation. Her goats clear the land for the San Francisco Water Dept. (Hetch Hetchy). The land clearing is a fire protection measure. She has wonderful working BCs, however I know hers are not pets until they are retired.

 

So my next question is: can a BC be trained to do some herding when asked, and still be a pet?

[RobbieBurns]

I forgot to mention the breeding. Robbie is the product of a child's 4-H project! She bred two border collies and Robbie was the last to be chosen because of his short coat. So I am not sure of Robbie's parents.

[Alaska]

I am located in Tuolumne County, CA. A friend uses BCs to work goats. I will ask her for a trainer recommendation.

Recommendations for good trainers near you are in this recent thread.

[stockdogranch]

can a BC be trained to do some herding when asked, and still be a pet?

 

While some people with working dogs keep them strictly kenneled, many of us have dogs who work quite a bit, and also consider them "pets." Mine all live in the house, a few choose to sleep on the bed, yet they all work cattle, goats, and sheep. The only real problem with that is that it makes for a really dirty house

 

A

 

ETA:

Robbie is the product of a child's 4-H project! She bred two border collies...

Sigh.

(Not meant as a slam to your dog, but to the questionable breeding practices of a child.)

[RobbieBurns]

While some people with working dogs keep them strictly kenneled, many of us have dogs who work quite a bit, and also consider them "pets." Mine all live in the house, a few choose to sleep on the bed, yet they all work cattle, goats, and sheep. The only real problem with that is that it makes for a really dirty house

 

A

 

ETA:

Sigh.

(Not meant as a slam to your dog, but to the questionable breeding practices of a child.)

 

No offense taken... my sister calls him our "lemon" dog. He's a goofy guy (one blue eye, crooked toe nail), but I love him.

 

He spent his first four months locked in the laundry room of the child's family mobile home. Definitely a rescue dog, with a shy nature.

 

Thanks, Alaska, for the link on trainers.

[stockdogranch]

He spent his first four months locked in the laundry room of the child's family mobile home.

 

Good for you for giving him a wonderful home!

 

A