Herding

[K&P]

I've recently started taking my Kelpie X herding training in the hope that it will focus his energy into that rather than everything else that moves, ie cars, bikes flies, etc ,etc.

Anyone else found this a great outlet for a 'chaser'?

thanks

k&p

[Vickie]

I guess it depends on the dog.

My older 2 BC's have tendancies to chase things that move, but neither are suitable for working stock.

My other 2 don't really chase anything and both are nice sheepdogs.

I found with my older 2 that I could find plenty of other training exercises to stimulate them and this settled them down.

[ness]

I was going to say similar to Vickie but obviously not got the experience that she has. My older girl is all about chasing everything and she isn't suited to stock work whereas my youngster is less inclined to chase and so far seems to have more potential on stock (although she has only had limited exposure so far).

[kiesha09]

I don't have all that much to offer other than to say my dads kelpie is a working dog who works with stock for at least a couple of hours each day and he still loves to chase anything and everything!

He now just has a really really good recall

[Aidan]

The major benefit is that you will learn how to teach CONTROL with DISTRACTIONS. For that reason alone it is worth doing, and also the mental and physical outlet that it provides.

I've never had a dog fail to learn to ignore bikes by having someone ride a bike at an appropriate distance, then having the owner clicker the hell out of looking at the bike without chasing and walking on a loose leash. Play around with the variables (speed, distance, direction) as the dog is able to succeed.