I'm just thinking out loud wouldn't you rather have an older dog teach a younger dog you know get him in the mix and do it that way thinking out loud I don't know nothing.
And some stupid pet owners are now being trained by their working dogs. How stupid can some humans be? These working dogs are bred to obey and work. If you give them treats in order for them to listen to you, you will only spoil them. And eventually, they will bite your wife and kids.
Abria79 to be able to keep eye contact. First with your dog, but the livestock to. Eyecontact means a lot. Make eyecontact and you tell your dog something. Don’t make eyecontact and your telling him just as much. With dark glasses you loose this tool to train your dog. Once your dog is trained, you will be able to wear dark glasses, but you probably don’t want to anymore 😉
Delrae Dillon I am no expert but with 9 months he is just a youngster and still learning. Usually adult border collies don’t bark at all at lifestock. Barking at the livestock may be because he is exited: that will probably pass when he is more experienced. Or he can’t do what you want him to do and he is just trying everything he can to get things done: that’s when you may have asked to much to soon. What ever you do, don’t get annoyed with the dog barking, your reaction may get him confused. When exactly is the dog barking, what is happening at that time and what is the distance between the dog and the livestock? Is the lifestock moving away from the dog at all, barking or not barking?
I have a 3yr male border collie that was returned to me ( the breeder) they said he was herding their cattle and holding them even when they weren't home. They wanted him only for being a fluff dog, meaning looks not work. I reminded them he was bred to herd its his instincts. Anyway, my question is, they failed train him on cattle, yet he holds n pens cattle, can he still be taught proper commands for me? We have cattle and Id love to see what he can do. He's never gotten nippy with them, just stares them down,n,moves them slow to,where he wants them n holds them.
I should think a good trainer can train any dog with the right instincts, even if he has been not correctly trained or not at all for the work. It just takes a lot more time and effort and perhaps some faults will not totally disappear. But if it is turned in the right direction so it can do the job you need him to, and you know yourself how to ignore the bad things or to praise the good things, in time you can make a great combination. Just don’t let him be re-trained by one and sell him as a good working dog for anybody else. The dog will loose trust in people if to many tell him different things or he has been handled by to many people with less skills. Then he will just do it the way he likes it for himself (for getting the kick out of the game he made of it). If they just wanted him for the looks he will probably also need to learn some other basics anyway.
I have a blue heelerxstumpy tail cattle dog. He is amazing at listening he is glued to my hip listens to sit stay and lay down when he starts to wander which is very very rare he comes when i call. my only problem is he is completely uninterested in cattle which is upsetting considering we work for a ranch that has 600 head and as much help is the best. I did take him through a herd of heifers and he didn't even look at them his eyes are GLUED on me constantly. If i ride a four wheeler he runs and barks and nips at that. Im just starting to get disappointed and loosing hope do you think he is a dud or is there still a chance. (he is 8 months old we just got him about a month ago never been around cattle.)
he is still young I bought a dog over a year old from a person who said he would not work, or look at stock he's now my best dog, You do need to stop any bad habits though!
Update: best cattle dog my husband has EVER had he goes out even and brings at least 75 head back all on his own I worked with him just clicked one day it’s frikin amazing! I am so happy he has the best common sense he knows what we want that we don’t even know what we want. Downs in a dime keeps calves off our back when cutting bales for feeding even works bulls it’s insane.
Its always a real pleasure to watch great dogs work and even more to watch the owners having patience when teaching there dogs how to work I love working with dogs but theres some things im not sure id know how to teach a dog and this is one of them which is why i love watching how its done id say first hand youd have to teach the basics before introducing them to the livestock.
You have a point, maybe, but this is intended to show a step in straining as part of a series of videos. You are watching the real world my friend. Cattle can be handled many different ways, some right, some not so right. The idea is to handle cattle in a slow methodical manner so that they keep most of their weight between field and truck. Low stress cattle management saves weight loss which means more money. They are sold by the pound. This is a working cattle ranch.
this was very interesting.....never considered how one would teach a dog the difference between a horse and a herd of livestock...with love from a city girl in Canada
Great video. I admire your mannerisms and body language working with cowdogs. Hate to hear a handler yelling at a dog. If they don't know the command at a low voice, they won't listen to a constant yell. Thanks for sharing.
oldsagerat I used to have stubborn hard headed kelpies but I once got the softest bidder collie who would get offended if I worked in his direction to push him out. He was a fantastic dog who taught me a lot and I realised how much better the results are when you whistle instead of yell. Even for my Kelpies.
We say "Quiet" to stop a dog barking and "Speak up" to make them bark. "Drop" to lay down and "Wayleggo" is the same as "Thatldo" Interesting hearing the variation in commands but doesn't matter to the dog. He will do what he is taught. Sometimes have different commands for different dogs to work them together.
I didn't see a foxtrot gait, what I saw was a pace, which is a lateral gait,(same side) working together. A foxtrot is a diagonal 4 beat trot. diagonal legs working together slightly broken fore and opposite hind hitting at slightly different time. Put a curb bit on the horse and get her to collect and drive her forward it might help if she's not too set in the pace' I've trained and ridden foxtrotters for 25 years.
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