Starting a herding group

[romeosangiovese]

So after much discussion with other sheltie owners and aussie shepherd owners here, we've decided we want to try and set up a sort of herding group, fly in an instructor or have a judge who's coming here (and who also judges herding and has experience) extend her stay and have her give us an intensive course. We plan on doing this fairly regularly (bring in people) - perhaps start with a smaller group which can become more proficient and which can impart basics to a larger group. We are of course also looking for land (we've singled out some small "farms") and livestock (geese or ducks - can we herd chickens incidentally?). Costs will be recouped through fees from "members".

I know now (having gone through this forum!) there's a herding instinct test which we should put all the dogs through. Do we need to ..er.. socialise the livestock to dogs? Or is it ok to use livestock that have never before laid eyes on a dog? Vice versa too - would we need the dogs to hang around livestock alot? I'm guessing not and that the herding instinct test would be the first time the dog meets his "charges.

Is there anything else we should consider? If you have any input or comments on this we'd be so grateful!

 

[sailor_titan]

So, I've thought of getting chickens myself and herding them someday (if zoning permits) and this was a great excuse to do a little googling.

I found two references to herding chickens:

http://www.bordercollie.org/boards/...+basics++stockwork++certainly++herd++chickens From the border collie forums, reprinted here since I don'tk now if the link will work:

The dog Brenda is referring to is my Lark. Chickens are much harder to work than geese or ducks as Linda says because they don't flock quite so readily, which sounds rather odd, given that we refer to flocks of chickens. It's just that chickens tend to be a bit more independent and go their own way (in many different directions) when pressured by a dog. Slower, heavier birds would probably be easier to work than smaller, lighter birds. Lark can more easily work my Rhode Island Reds, for example, whereas trying to work the Old English Game bantams is nigh unto impossible. I certainly wouldn't start a dog out on chickens--perhaps use ducks if sheep can't be in the picture since the appropriate ducks will stick together better and allow the dog to learn its job. Once the dog has the basics of stockwork down, it can certainly try to herd chickens, though success may be mixed.

Another thing to consider is that many working dogs don't consider poultry something to work. Of the eight current and former working dogs I have here, only two ever really showed a very great interest in working poultry.

And this:

http://www.petconnection.com/blog/2009/03/26/the-suburban-farm-update-drew-herds-chickens-sort-of/

which is a hilarious link, btw, with a sheltie no less. (The writer says her sheltie doesn't have herding instinct, but I don't buy that for a second. I've seen Moko, a little sheltie puppy, try to herd people like crazy. He'll circle around us and bark, it's hilarious.)

Edit: found another link that mentions shelties being good with chickens: http://sheltiehomepage.mcf.com/herdingwithshelties.html#A__do Apparently Shelties are a particularly good choice where chickens are concerned, because of their good focus and small size.

 

[davemize]

Thinking back on my farm upbringing, I agree that ducks flock much better than chickens, and geese flock best of all. Chickens seem to scatter when startled.

I would guess that livestock, such as cattle or sheep, need to get used to the dogs before you try any serious herding work. I've dealt with many terrified, exhausted and injured cattle that were chased by barking stray dogs. In general, I've found cattle to be pretty wary of dogs, especially big barkers. I've walked the fields with a quiet beagle by my side, with no problems from the cattle there. I imagine that calves and lambs that are born on a herding-dog farm acclimate quickly to being herded by dogs.

Sounds like a great project. I'll be interested to see how it works out for you. Good luck-

 

[romeosangiovese]

My experience with chickens has been that they can be quite fierce! Nearly took the nose off my old sheltie when he tried to "protect" us from the cock. Hah! Maybe starting with larger birds might be better since we're all newbies and we'd get quickly demoralised in the chickens just went wherever they wished! The stories from the links are great tho! We'll perhaps bring in chickens once we get the hang of it (and once we see how it's actually meant to be done!!).

Doubt we'd get cattle or larger livestock tho'. There's just no space for them here. Sigh!