Ace Posted November 19, 2009 Report Share Posted November 19, 2009 I know I havent posted in awhile but I am always lurking and reading post, you guys are my number 1 source for border collie information! I actually came across a video on youtube the other day (and as I dont want to really get myself in trouble with the breeder I wont post it here - though you can PM me and I will send it to whoever would like to see it). Basically it was young/older dogs starting round pen work. In one of the videos there were multiple young BCs allowed to go after the sheep after they were cornered. Biting them and really digging into them pushing them around stuff like that. It just didnt feel right, especially since there were multiple dogs and not just one. The person in the pen with the rake (or whatever the thing is called - can you tell I am a newb?) just stood there and let it happen, this implied to me that this is what they wanted to happen. In another video there was just one dog, same thing, sheep in one corner, dog running around the sides and just biting the sheep, handler doing nothing. My question is, is this how normal sheepdog are trained? or is this a bad method or a different method or what? Because I havent really seen it before and it just seemed wrong to me. Nothing about it looked like it should have (to me). Though like I said before I am really new at this and have no idea what I am talking about or looking for really D: just know what I see and how I feel? I guess. I am hoping to get into herding still! Thinking maybe over the spring . Diane Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Billadeau Posted November 19, 2009 Report Share Posted November 19, 2009 Without watching the video (or better still seeing it in person) it will be hard to know for certain if what was filmed was useful for the dogs. However, we never purposely train multiple inexperienced dogs at the same time with the same group of sheep; it's too easy for pack mentality to take over. Mark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
juliepoudrier Posted November 19, 2009 Report Share Posted November 19, 2009 I agree with Mark. Hard to say what was going on without seeing the video, but I do think it's unorthodox, to say the least, to put a bunch of inexperienced dogs together on sheep. My knee-jerk reaction (without seeing the video) is that this is a spectacularly stupid way to start a dog(s), especially if the sheep are in effect being abused. J. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PSmitty Posted November 19, 2009 Report Share Posted November 19, 2009 Yeah, what strikes me as odd is if there were multiple green dogs in there. Without seeing it (and I'm a big noob myself, so take it for what it's worth), I wouldn't venture a guess. I will say that sometimes it looks pretty wild with a first-timer dog in the round pen. I have pics and video of my foster dog's first time and people were like "wow, looks like your trainer had her hands full". But, I think it looked worse that it was. There was never a time the sheep were being pushed too far or abused. I agree that what Diane describes, though, doesn't *sound* right at all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amelia Posted November 20, 2009 Report Share Posted November 20, 2009 Hello all, Haven't seen the vid, but I have never found it necessary to abuse livestock to train a dog. When I train my dogs, I am equally attentive to dogs and sheep and have profound respect for both. Same when I trial. If my dogs were being too rough on sheep at a trial, I would simply retire and have done so. It's extremely poor form to do otherwise imo. Cheers all, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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