Living With a Herding Dog
Many people have herding dogs in their lives but didn’t really understand what that meant until they spent some time living with them. Herding dogs are extremely popular here in the Wood River Valley, maybe because of the influence of the sheep herders that come through town twice a year. There is an endless stream of Border Collies and Aussies especially. We find many mixes with these breeds in the shelter and many breeders nearby. The herding dogs are also very popular among the competitive agility people, too!
The attraction is that they are gorgeous! Many have long, lovely coats. They have sweet faces and many have floppy, soft ears which are very engaging for us humans. They are extraordinarily intelligent! AND, herding dogs possesses loyalty like no other breed.
The praises of the herding dog are unmatched by many other breeds!
Living with an extremely intelligent, high-energy dog filled with “prey drive” means that these dogs require a lot from their owner/handlers. It is not enough to run them every day. They become bored. When they are bored, they will make up doggie games that may or may not necessarily be acceptable in the human society.
Since many of the herding breeds are also naturally protective, they tend to use that protective instinct to guide them in the games they will make up. Many times they become territorial, chasing cars or recreationalist (on bikes or skies, etc.) protecting/guarding the house, or the car, or even their owner, IF the owner does not demonstrate that the owner is the decision maker AND provides more socially acceptable “games” for the herding dog to engage in.
Many of us are so attracted to the herding breeds for all those above reasons, but sometimes many dog owners are not natural leaders. The human owner must be a leader to the herding dog or the dog WILL find other ways, particularly instinctual behaviors, to amuse himself! Because they are so intelligent, they will simply think to you, “Well, if YOU won’t make the decision about who comes in the house, I WILL!” Now, our beloved herding dog gets into trouble making decisions from the doggie point of view instead of the human society acceptable point of view!
Another extremely difficult behavior to deal with is the herding dog’s desire to chase things, or engage in “prey drive.” Dogs that chase cars, people on skies, wildlife, bikes, horses frequently do not have as strong of a “food drive” as they do “prey drive.” When that happens, you could hang a pork chop around your neck and your dog WILL NOT COME BACK! Then, often totally positive reinforcement training will not work with this type of dog, either.
Border Collies and Aussies are not the only breeds to be instinctually programmed to behave this way. German Shepherds, Shelties, Corgis, Collies, Tervurens, Cattle Dogs/Heelers, Bearded Collies, Polish Lowland Sheepdogs are some of the other popular herding breeds in our vicinity.
These are all WONDERFUL breeds and among my favorites, BUT, before you bring a herding dog home, be sure you have the energy, skill and abilities at leadership to have a happy relationship and few behavior problems!
CAPTION: Herding dogs often have more “prey drive” than they have “food drive.”
