City Dogs Learn New Tricks as Hobby Mustering Trend is on the Rise at Sheep Dog Trials

[Deeds]

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-02-04/hobby-muster-dogs-showcased-at-qld-sheep-dog-trial/101911582

[coneye]

Would imagine this would be a great sport for people  and especielly good excercise for the elderly , don't know anything about it   but i've seen it on tv  and like watching it ,, then again i like watching dogs run around , when i was an apprentice i remember working on a farm and used to watch the farmer and his daughter both jump on there little trail bikes  the dogs would jump on one on the tank one on the passenger seat ,  and the 4 dogs and them two would head off over the horizen  and come back with the sheep , so question for you farmers and country people on here ,  which make the best    sheepdog   border collie , kelpie  , or throw in heeler , just interested to know from the people in the know ,, are kelpies and border collies good with cattle has well

[DogsAndTheMob]

I competed in ANKC herding with a border collie about a decade ago. He came from a line of versatile border collies that competed successfully in Obedience and Tracking as well as mustering cattle on a hilly, 1000 acre farm as their “day job”. He was a wonderful dog … a natural heading dog and a wide worker, a good dog for three sheep trialling and a great first herding dog for me to train. He was very successful until I lost him from snake bite. My next dog showed great potential and a very strong eye at three months, when he broke away from me to block the goats my older dog was herding. He would have been a great dog in more experienced or more determined hands and I think he would have excelled in working a big mob of sheep but he worked very close and tended to focus on one sheep in a mob of three, sometimes even going in to grip. I decided that competing with him wouldn’t be kind to him or the sheep. He’s almost in his teens now and he spends his days inside in air conditioning but comes outside to watch the goats and cattle when they come up to the house for food.

 

The point of this story is that herding is a great sport so long as it doesn’t cause distress to the sheep or the dog. Unfortunately, occasionally even people who are careful about the welfare of their pets can be oblivious to distress suffered by other animals, so it’s not a sport I’d promote as suitable for all herding breed dogs and their owners.

 

 

Edited February 8, 2023 by DogsAndTheMob

[persephone]

20 hours ago, coneye said:

question for you farmers and country people on here ,  which make the best    sheepdog   border collie , kelpie  , or throw in heeler ,

LOL - Koolies! Over the past 60 0dd years that I remember, we have had kelpies/border collies and crosses - but have used Koolies now constantly for the past 45 years ! They are used on sheep and feral goats .

[coneye]

3 hours ago, persephone said:

LOL - Koolies! Over the past 60 0dd years that I remember, we have had kelpies/border collies and crosses - but have used Koolies now constantly for the past 45 years ! They are used on sheep and feral goats .

Interesting , i'm going to look up Koolies never heard of them ,, are one  breed suitable over another for cows has oppossed to sheep

[jemappelle]

Cattle dogs were developed specifically for herding cattle. 

[Deeds]

A friend of mine adopted a Koolie some years ago. Lovely, intelligent dog .  And they are getting another Koolie as company for the older dog.

[coneye]

2 hours ago, jemappelle said:

Cattle dogs were developed specifically for herding cattle. 

I got a heeler about 11 years ago , think he was actually a stumpy tail heeler , he did'nt have a tail , it was amuzing watching him on the dog beach  try to round up other dogs , in paticular a lady who used to come with 4-5  full grown  ridgebacks ,  they would group together and he would try to round them up ,  even has he got older   he would still try but could never catch them  was funny to watch them out run him , then stop wait for him and start again ,,, now my son owns him he's  11 or 12 now and  follows the 2 year old every where , giving her a nudge to  change direction he done it with her sisters has well when they were babies ,, other toddlers come around they play in the garden and he watches like a hawk , herds them away from the swimming pool fence ,  stuffed how we know he knows its dangerous  , but he's always done it  even when the adults take the kids in the pool area  with there armbands and floaties , he puts himself in between them and the water . Best familly dog i've ever seen