Many years ago I had the privilege of owning a border collie. Smartest dog I ever saw and with a wacky sense of humor. His life with me did not do him justice and I found a rancher who was thrilled to get him. I still think about him and that big grin on his face when he had a job to do.
Beautifully executed and great dogs!!👌 There’s no stare quit like the Border Collie’s stare lol It’s seriously one of my favorite things to see a dog doing what it was breed to do, every dog needs and deserves a job. A good worked (physically and mentally) and tired dog is a good dog!!
My Aussie is my mobility service dog. He stares at ME like that if he doesn't want me to walk where I might get hurt! He even taught himself to read stop lights. Kind of a hassle when the street was closed for auto traffic and no one had adjusted the street lights. He got in front of me, planted those giant feet and glared until I turned the other way. Never mind that other foot traffic was crossing!
Reminds me of the border collie I grew up with. They know how to stare you down from the moment they are born. A lot of herding breeds are very loud and move quickly, a border can get a flock of sheep from point a to point b without stressing them out, just putting a little bit of pressure on them and taking it away as soon as the animals move in the right direction. And they're independent thinkers. They get the job done without you if need be.
Excellent job. Been reading recently that because of wolf predation on range cattle, some ranchers have had to stop using dogs because the cows go crazy when they see the dogs and will attack the dogs instead of allowing themselves to be herded up. That's a shame.
Cows know were there to go...the trick is to keep them moving and dont over push them ..and keep the one stuborn one facing the right way and not give it a chance..and the way to do that is to not over push. But keep them moving ..the stuborn one really doesnt want to be left behind ..actually i would use that be egnoring and lelt it exspirance isolation ..and thats enough to make it go to the others ..
takingu2skoo stubborn what? Your talking about the scared stressed cow that just wants to be in a field without being aggravated by humans and dogs ? Being forced into a trailer to be taken away to entertain humans ?
Problem with this set up is that the front loaded well enough but then stalled out inside the trailer, giving the last ones no place to go, and therefore fight that ensued. Got the job done eventually, probably because the front ones drifted forward inside the trailer. Wasn't low stress for those last ones, especially with three dogs putting pressure on them constantly!
I honestly don’t know why most people want collies as pets. They truely thrive with work, both mental and physical. They make themselves a true nuisance when their energy is left without an outlet. Obviously not the case for every collie and every owner.
I have a border collie, Aussie mix. He doesn't have a job. We live in the city, don't even have a proper fenced yard and he is not a nuisance in the least. Never chews anything, doesn't heard the cat, he gets one long walk a day off leash, plenty of toys and he goes with me anywhere where dogs are allowed. People constantly tell me he's the smartest, most well behaved dog they've ever met. With proper, consistent training, plenty of love and some thought anybody can own a herding dog. He is not the exception either, as I dog sit plenty of herding dogs that are also well behaved and trained.
@@isabelpereira9397 if you read my full comment I already mentioned that this isn't always the case. I have worked in multiple grooming salons, a day care, a pet shop and visit multiple dog parks regularly. I find that either the herding dog's owner understands the breed, has trained them and they are well behaved, or they are the biggest nuisance around. I just think, considering the relative high maintenance of this working breed they are too popular, and a good portion end up with behavioral issues / in shelters.
How much of this is the dogs and how much of it is the cattle? Meaning, if you took these dogs out to a pasture of cattle who have never been herded this way, would they obey the dogs in the same way, or are these cattle acclimated to the dogs and they all work as a team?
Shephard dogs, healers and curr dogs will naturally herd cattle. My Mom has a Blue Healer on her farm for 10 years. She never trained him on herding. He does it naturally. He'll have a hard time listening to commands though, and it'll confuse him as he's working. So people can't shout to her dog or he'll lose concentration. One incident was he was getting the cows in for the night and an orphan calf got separated from the surrogate Mom as she had her own calf as well. Mama cow left her calf in the field closer to the barn to get her other calf. Got her calf and back with the other. And the Healer who had been waited for Mama to get her calf continued on with leading them when they were reunited. That's why these breed of dogs are best left outside, or given *extreme* daily exercise.
Great dog work. Angus are always a PITA to work and every herd always has one or two individuals that refuse to drive easily. Love your dogs, but how do you coordinate signaling 4 at once? Do you use individual names then a whistle to do one dog at a time ? Or do you just whistle a signal to all and they sort it out for themselves. Beautiful video.
How is biting the cows legs low stress? I'd be stressed if a really agile squirrels keep biting my legs until I go in the right direction.overall these dogs are awesome .
Would have been lower stress to use the dogs to herd the cattle down a Y-chute and hold them at the large end as they loaded. (Yes, it's good to see dogs get the job done, but chasing them in circles defeats the "low-stress" point.)
Hate to say it, but looks like dogs of war, rounding up the sheeple. But really, magnificent ly trained animals, really know how to handle a dissenter in the crowd.
Curious why sheepdogs are adapted for work with cattle when there are cattle dogs . Obviously they are capable but what is it that inclines the human involved chooses a collie over a heeler ?
Always amazing to see herding dogs at work, such a genius way to utilize that pack hunting instinct. Why does it always seem to be the black ones that get the most stubbborn!?
It's a lot less stress than cattle prods or a mounted cowboy and a horse whip. Sheepdogs on the range mostly keep the herd together so they can't be picked off by predators. They also keep sheep and cattle moving so they don't overgraze any one place. That's critically important in dry pasteurs.
All 3 really. If you have ever seen a high stress situation with cattle, you wouldn't even blink at this. Nothing got broken, no people or animals were injured, and the cattle never once started to panick. They got a little exited I'll grant, and it could have been done better. However it could have gone SO much worse. Without spending hours settling up a Temple Grandin based gate system to load them perfectly, this is about the best you can hope for, unless its cattle you work with daily that really like and trust you.
@@drock5597 Thanks for getting back to me. I'm new to this Border Collie thing. Recently 'inherited' a young dog and watching RU-vid to get some idea of what this pup is all about. I know you can't speak for all the ranchers I see with Border Collies, but can you give me a guess of how many of these working dogs double as family pets?
@@a.s.7386 to be honest I'm not a rancher. I'm a farmer. However I have been on the fringes of ranching and the like all my life. I would say the the majority of these work dogs also double as family pets. 90% or so of the well trained herd dogs are also family pets and usually good with children.
@A. S. Exercise, mental stimulation, exercise, jobs, exercise, and some more exercise, maybe agility. You can train directions and heel in to a young dog, teach it to walk without a lead and so on. A litter will have a variety of personalities in it, some good herders, some soppy ones, couple of mad ones. Always remember how smart they are, often they'll think they know better, or act on automatic - so be in control!
@@a.s.7386 BORDER COLLIES are GREAT with children, especially in herds...um groups! They instinctually try to keep everyone together. It's best to let them stay with their mother and litter mates until 12 weeks to learn socialization skills, like bite inhibition. 4 week olds can start training. The younger the pup, the higher the ratio of curiosity/fear, so try to introduce your pup to 100 different people, dogs, places, and objects a week. (Not hard if you are walking your dog.) Just as you would raise a child, you teach in very short increments, a little at a time, and keep it fun. The hard part is training the other trainers in the family (even preschoolers) so they don't confuse the dog. Everyone should use the same commands and gestures. The dog should always heel to your right or left, no matter who's walking it!!
The young cattle learn much faster, each time they meet so small dogs, like the Border Collies, how the dogs can be tricked by the cattle. Did you see on the video how the last cattle tricked all 4 dogs.
Low stress is still stress. Yeah let’s just force other beings to do as we want. Cowboys are so cool. The dude laughed when the cow chased the dog towards the end. The cow was obviously scared and stressed. Roping babies by the horns and jerking their neck back violently while forcefully strapping a bulls belly so it bucks just so you can ride it for a few seconds. Here’s an idea! How about we just let animals live a happy peaceful life?
