How Many animals for training?

[5Bordercollies]

How many animals are optimal for training a nine month old puppy? Goats, that is. Her sister is also in training, but she's a two year old, so she's can, mostly handle the herd, somewhere between 50 and 100 goats. And what kind of age range would be optimal for the puppy to learn on? I unfortunately don't have access to dogged animals, sheep or goats and no money to buy any, so I have to make do with what I've got.

[Chesney's Girl]

Depending on the size of the area (which I would pick to be fairly small) I would use 4-6, and if you want to have them tamed try working the same group together with an experienced dog that can handle them nicely, teaching them how to be worked by a dog.... Then you can make your own "baby dog group". I would start in an area where there are no corners for the goats to get balled up in, and I wouldn't use an area that is bigger than 50 meters in any direction... a 9 month old pup can cover some ground. You just need to make sure that the goats stay with you enough that the dog can learn to control and balance them to you without having to chase and recollect the group too much. You can also use an older dog to keep the goats in check by circling far off them while the young pup works close.

[red russel]

depends on pup. surprise!?! i'm putting my 9 month old on 4 - 6 and 40 - 50 head. depending on his mood. he seems to be much more calm and thinking on the larger group.

[stockdogranch]

Yes--definitely depends. I am starting some 6 month old pups. I had them on the 3 "School sheep" a few times, then last week got the urge to put them on my whole flock (150+ including mommas and very small lambs). The first time I did that, they were indeed more thoughtful. By the third time I tried it (later that week), they were a little more rash, but still pretty darn nicely behaved on them. But the next time I take them out, I think I'll go for 15-20 or so. I like to mix it up a lot so the pups get a lot of different experiences.

A