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ForumsGerman Shepherd Dog > Do you use your GSD as a herding dog ? (28 replies)
Do you use your GSD as a herding dog ? by Escobar on 13 May 2010 - 01:26 |
| I don't think I've seen the GSD being used as a herding dog. So do you ? Please post pictures and stories if you do. Are there any pedigree's that people prefer if wanting a herder ? Now I'm just being curious because I've never heard about it. |
Escobar by ziegenfarm on 13 May 2010 - 02:59 |
| www.pedigreedatabase.com/gsd/pedigree/548486.html he's an old feller now....11 1/2. my hubby's dog. he did an excellent job of herding in his younger years. goats, not sheep. no easy task. i wish i had pics of him working, but when the goats are out in the neighbors beans, you don't fool around with cameras. bloat will get them quicker than a dog. we didn't teach him a thing; encourage or discourage. he simply decided that was his job and we were grateful for him. by the way, my hubby is 6'2" and about 225# in that pic. axel is a huge dog and has a heart to match. pjp |
ziegenfarm by windwalker18 on 13 May 2010 - 04:35 |
| One childhood memory is of an old man and his mutt shepherd cross. The farm where we rode horses neighbored his property, and one day the hefers knocked down the fence between the farms. The hefers of both farms were completely mixed... George (where the horses were) had 2 of his men out there trying to get his hefers back on their own property and to get the old man's hefers on the other side so they could repair the fence. After 2 hours on a hot summer afternoon all 3 of them were panting, sweating and the cows were no nearer to where they belonged than when they'd started. Finally they flopped down on the grass to catch their breath. The old man nudged the dog laying at his feet and said "hey... Bub... those cows don't belong there... get 'em out" In a flash the dog was off... in about 3 minutes the old man's 5 hefers were on his property, and George's 15 were on George's property with the dog standing on the fence line. George wasn't all that thrilled that he'd wasted 2 hours, but went and repaired the fence and peace returned to a small town in New York... LOL |
windwalker18 by BlackthornGSD on 13 May 2010 - 05:32 |
| I've herded with three of my girls, Kiva, Hunter, and Jubilee. A friend of mine who trials with her border collies got Jedi from my J litter and was having so much fun herding with him (and doing dock dogs and training him for live find SAR) that she talked me into coming down and training with her. She got Jedi's Junior Herding Dog title when he was just 13 months old. All three of my girls are different to work. Hunter is calmer and more inclined to drop into border/tending style herding. She's fairly gentle with the sheep and not super pushy. She got her JHD last fall. Jubilee is very naturally talented and seems to do best when she thinks we're working together to accomplish a goal (like moving the sheep between fields). She got one leg of her JHD (you have to pass twice) at the same trial as Hunter, but on the first day she bit a sheep, so we DQ'd. We'll go again sometime this year. Kiva is the youngest and is very fast on the sheep--and likes to get a good bite in if I'm not watching her closely. She's the only one I have herding pictures of, though, because my friend was the one to start her on the sheep, so I could stay on the sidelines with the camera. :) She was about 14 months old in these pictures, and this was one of her first few times to wor on sheep:   |
BlackthornGSD by Whopper on 13 May 2010 - 21:20 |
| You've never heard of a German SHEPHERD Dog used for herding? Pics look good Blackthorn... |
Whopper by kioanes on 14 May 2010 - 17:08 |
| one of my homebreds is in training for HGH with ulf kintzel of white clover sheep farm, NY. he has been making videos & sharing. here's the latest: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FYn_kmAY5AY -krista |
by ShelleyR on 15 May 2010 - 17:03 |
| No. But my chihuahua will herd anything! |
ShelleyR by Escobar on 15 May 2010 - 22:27 |
| Thanks you guys. Now, I'm not very knowlegable about herding, but how does the GSD herd compared to a Border Collie ? Is he used with horses as well ? :) Thanks for your replys and awsome pictures. Is it possible to train a dog for Schutzhund as well as herding ? |
by eichenluft on 16 May 2010 - 01:24 |
| My dog Brix v Eichenluft is titled HGH and achieved his HGH with a high-in-trial V score of 94. He is also in training for Schutzhund - was in training before going "off to herding camp" and is back in training again now. There are videos of his HGH trial and also some protection work on his page http://www.workinggermanshepherd.com/brix.htm molly EIchenluft http://workinggermanshepherd.com |
by DebiSue on 16 May 2010 - 01:54 |
I haven't worked Echo in herding but we did get her Herding Instinct Tested certificate. Here are some pics of her and her first experience with livestock on the same side of the fence...LOL. She moved right in and bunched them up. Both judges told me she would be excellent in herding.   |
DebiSue by darylehret on 16 May 2010 - 03:55 |
| Is it possible to train a dog for Schutzhund as well as herding ? Of course, but difficult to find a dog that can do both exceptionally well. There can be various reasons why, but one example in my experience; schutzhund can favor a dog with a devout attention to the handler, a characteristic which can interfere with the dog's attention toward livestock. If your schutzhund dog doesn't make decisions to act on its own, following its instincts with a definite interest in the livestock while acting independantly of the handler's instructions, then you are obliged to instruct the dog for each task at hand. Like a "fish out of water", and probably not much fun for either the handler or the dog. Whether or not it finally 'sinks in' that the dog knows what to do in a particular situation depends on the dog, but the lightbulb didn't 'turn on' very bright in my schutzhund dog after about three months of work, before I switched my efforts to train a couple different dogs for the time being. Most dogs aren't so extreme, either handler focused or overly independant, so a more moderate dog might enjoy a moderate level of success in each venue, but a dog that has developed it's ability to "switch" would be ideal I'd think. My schutzhund dog has tremendous 'hunt drive' that will persistently go for hours in article searches, while occasionally 'checking in' with a glance for guidance, then back with nose to the ground following the scent cone patterns. It would benefit me to get similar working behavior around the livestock, and I was somewhat beginning to, but then there's the other issue; Every move he makes, every task he follows, is done very briskly. Totally against his nature to not-make-haste. His prompt response to command is 'explosive', and that negatively impacts the herd's behavior in 'tending' style, and really more suited to 'herding' style in the manner of the Border Collie. So, we were working on that for a while, and gaining better ground, but ultimately I was still teaching him what to do, and that's not my prefered approach. He was beginning to somewhat, but didn't easily take upon himself to explore his abilities, 'look what happens when I do this', 'boy this is fun', 'oh, that one over there needs to be grouped with the others'. I think a dog should be inspired by the work it's engaged in, and to let it's natural talents emerge. Now, my herding dog on the other hand, is more motivated by the work itself than by the handler, but with a sensible amount of biddable control. |
darylehret by Gustav on 16 May 2010 - 04:52 |
 I hope this shows a pic of my seven month female in her herding class. |
by Gustav on 16 May 2010 - 04:55 |
| Sorry, I can't get pics up on the PDB and it frustrates me to try. Please disregard the previous post....Thanks! |
by DebiSue on 16 May 2010 - 11:30 |
| Gustav, Try resizing your photo before downloading it. I get the same red x if my pics are too big. Please don't give up. We love to see pics of everyone's dogs. Deb |
by ziegenfarm on 16 May 2010 - 13:12 |
| escobar, in regards to gsds and horse herding......i don't recommend it. maybe someone else has better luck with it, but around here if there is any herding to be done, we make darn sure the horse is out of the picture. there seems to be a battle of wills between horses and gsds that gets the horse bit and the dog kicked. not good! pjp |
by Gustav on 16 May 2010 - 14:14 |
| Debisue, I haven't a clue on how to resize. I know how to find dog kennels and send/recieve emails. Probably won't get it this lifetime...old fashioned in this realm just like I am in the dog realm!(smile0! |
by DebiSue on 16 May 2010 - 18:59 |
| I wish I knew what to tell you about resizing your pics Gustav. I tried to do it myself so I could tell you how to do it but for some reason I can't remember how. It baffles me since I've done it several times before. You can also go to photobucket and download your pictures there then link them here where we can access them. Just a thought. Deb |
by Adi Ibrahimbegovic on 19 May 2010 - 04:50 |
| "Now I'm just being curious because I've never heard about it. " You have never heard of GSD used as a herding dog? Let's examine the name of the breed for a second... GERMAN SHEPHERD DOG... |
by Escobar on 19 May 2010 - 11:08 |
| Feel better Adi ? |
by Sherman-RanchGSD on 19 May 2010 - 15:53 |
Sherman-RanchGSD
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