More herding behavior at the dog park
I have always seen some signs of instinctive herding behavior in my sheepdogs but now that I have two young males I am seeing them doing more of it together in an apparently coordinated fashion. A dog runs off from a pack they are watching and one of my dogs, usually Toby the youngest and fastest, will give chase. Charlie will take off at an angle on the opposite side as Toby edges the run-away in an arc toward Charlie who now has an angle to cut him off. Which he does, turning the dog's head as Toby cuts hard to the back of the dog, sometimes nipping at his heels. The run away dog is now trapped between Charlie and Toby and stops in bewilderment or goes down on the ground in a submissive position. They do this over and over again when ever a dog breaks out. Admittedly some dog owners don't appreciate this behavior which, I suppose, looks like pack aggression, or picking on their dog, to the uninformed. I wish I was able to call them off if they are chasing a dog whose owner is worried, but they are not under my control at all at this time, and I am unable to. Where my dogs used to do this kind of thing only occasionally at the dog park, lately they are spending most of their time together in these kind of run-downs. Sometimes I wish they would just play like other dogs... |
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| Then they wouldn't be SHEEPdogs. LOL! Bella herds my younger one all the time. We haven't ever been to a dog park yet...we don't have one, but they scare me too. |
| Wow! With that instinct you should contact your Cooperative Extension Service and ask if there's a 4H agent there to see if there are herding classes nearby. Maybe some whistle instruction could help these boys understand you are in charge, not them. I don't blame the other folks for being unhappy, this could be a problem if the dog they bracket decides to fight. |
| Yes, it's becoming something of a problem although neither have been in fights to date. Today Toby took off after a breakout standard poodle mix and when Charlie got an angle on him and turned him, Toby couldn't swerve quick enough and bowled the dog over. The owner asked me to call off my dogs and I put leashes on them. She thought it was aggression. It wasn't, but I understood.
I guess I have always been satisfied with partly trained OES. They sit, down, stay and won't get on the furniture unless invited-- all the usual things-- but I admit they don't always come when called which I have always excused as just the inherent stubbornness of the breed. I have only had one sheepdog who was aggressive toward other dogs (never humans) and my solution with him was just to never take him out where dogs might be loose. So I have always gotten by with half-trained but basically calm, goofy sheepdogs. That is my failure in training, I know... I will look into seeing whether there is any herding training from the extension service in my area. It might be interesting. |
They will probably pass their instinct with flying colors. I am going to start Bella as soon as she is better. Probably the end of next month. They have a blast as you can see from the picture below.
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wendy58 wrote: They will probably pass their instinct with flying colors. I am going to start Bella as soon as she is better. Probably the end of next month. They have a blast as you can see from the picture below.
Wow. Neat picture. |
| My two always herded the other dogs i the dog park - using some sort of mental telepathy However, we just came from herding today - one knows what to do , just isn;t siure why she should have to do it more than once. the other one is super excited - just doesn't quite get the details. But they have great fun and really sleep on the hour and a half ride home ! |
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