WHAT MAKES A SHEPHERD ?
What Makes a Shepherd?
None of the training books or articles ever seem to mention a dog’s most important training tool, asset (or detriment)…his teacher/handler.
Dog sports are a unique endeavor. There is no other situation or venue where someone is expected to simultaneously be both a student and a teacher. If you sign up for Macramé class you are not expected to face the front of the room, learn a knot from the teacher and then turn right around and teach that same knot to the person behind you.
If you decide to take horse-back riding lessons you find a stable with an instructor and take lessons on a “school” horse. If you fall in love with the sport you find a horse, buy him…and send him off to a trainer for a round of lessons. Once he’s finished his lessons the two of you then take lessons with your instructor.
There is nothing that says that you can’t try to take this route in most of the dog sports as long as you have the money to pay for months of boarding and instruction. I don’t really recommend it for herding though. The greatest joy in herding is the feeling you get as you learn and bond with your dog through the sport. (How much fun can you get out of signing a check each month?)
On a more practical side, herding is tough. You don’t need your dog to be more experienced and knowledgeable than you when out on the field. When I have seen people buy “started” dogs, the dogs are generally out there running rings around their handlers. The better route is to learn how to be a Shepherd as your dog is learning how to be a stockdog.
So what goes into making a Shepherd? A Shepherd needs to learn how to read and understand livestock. She (...sorry, but the overwhelming majority of people learning stockwork are female!) needs to have sound, balanced, centered leadership skills, have a student mentality, have or learn good timing, have some physicality and a good dose of Grit.
Understanding Livestock It’s pretty hard to impossible to supervise or run a division if you don’t know what that division does. Stockwork is no different. If you never learn how to read and understand livestock you won’t know if what your dog is doing is correct or just messing around. You won’t see the start of things going wrong or know what needs to be done to fix it.
Balanced Leadership Isn’t this a hot button issue! The right use of power is the most contentious issue in the dog training world today. Herding demands strong, clear leadership without brutality or micro-managing. When you step into a pen full of sheep with a new dog, you are agreeing to be a Shepherd. A Shepherd protects her sheep from all harm…including her budding, over-eager herding prospect. The initial experience of stepping into a sheep pen can be pretty overwhelming and even the best of dogs can lose their self-control. A strong clear teacher is needed to keep things on track. By the same token, herding is not obedience. Herding requires a dog to have an obedient mind. A mind tuned to the job and the handler’s desires but then able to make the right choices and decisions that will get the job done. It requires a Shepherd to teach her dog the elements needed and then trust her dog to go do the job. When sheep get moving the situation is so fluid and so quick that there is no way to give commands in a timely enough fashion for them to actually have any bearing on the action. A shepherd balances the need to firmly be the leader and the willingness to delegate the job to an employee without sitting on his shoulder.
Student Mentality Herding is hard. I’ve been studying herding since Labor Day of 1994. My first instructor, Judi Bigham, told me something that I repeat to every student. “If someone tells you they are an expert in herding, run. They are either a fool or a liar.” I’ve been an exhibitor in herding for 20 years. I’ve been a judge, instructor and clinician for 9 years and I still take lessons. As soon as you “get it” working with Fido, you go out and get Rover…and Rover doesn’t work anything like Fido did. Once you “get” that, you try your hand at herding ducks. Boy is that different! …and then cattle. What about herding with a second breed? Herding with a BC or a Malinois or a Corgi is worlds different than herding with a GSD.
Herding is a quickly evolving sport. Back in the early 90’s the techniques were pretty crude because most trainers didn’t know how to train upstanding dogs let alone the power breeds like the GSD or the Belgians. It was kind of, “Turn ‘em loose and beat ‘em off.” Techniques are evolving on an ongoing basis to help the dogs learn how to control their livestock using their own initiatives and instincts. Herding is a venue that needs you to be a perpetual student to continue to evolve along with the sport.
Timing This is a skill and an art that every venue requires. A good sense of timing “Fed Ex’s” a teaching program. Bad timing can devolve a program into chaos. Hand a cookie to a dog at the moment his elbows hit the ground in response to a Down command and you cement in his mind that a quick response is just the right answer. Hand that dog a cookie as his elbows are three inches from the ground will give your dog the belief that you want a crouch or that you don’t want him to lay down. Proper timing comes from thoroughly understanding all the elements of an exercise so that you know what the dog should be doing and when…and practice.
Some Physicality Anyone who knows me knows that I am not the picture of physically toned and buff. I have been able to work both my own and student dogs while having a frozen ankle and severe anemia. Herding is a sport that epitomizes “Work smart, not hard.” Find the more advanced techniques that don’t make you run around like a banshee. Having said this, you do need to be able to be outside in any weather, walk a lot, be flexible enough to not break if you occasionally get bumped into by the sheep, and have enough upper body strength to correct your dog for pulling and lunging on a cord.
Grit Herding is HARD. It’s a combination of chess, pool and juggling. Chess because successful herding is all about being able to position your “piece” (your dog) in the right place to get your “adversary” (the sheep) to go where you want. Pool because herding is all about trajectory. Where you place the dog will change the trajectory of the sheep’s movement; the same way that where you hit the pool ball determines its trajectory. Juggling because you need to keep yourself, your tools/equipment (stockstick, long line…), your dog and the sheep all moving in line with your goal. The most consistent wail that I hear from new students is, “There’s just so much to keep track of!!”
I don’t know of anyone who has not at some point walked back behind the barn to give into a crying jag because they felt so inadequate at learning the sport (yes, me too). Herding is a humbling endeavor that makes you review your thoughts and positions on dogs, teaching and yourself.
You have to be kind and patient with yourself. You need to understand that you are GOING to make mistakes. You are going to tell your dog the wrong thing. You have to be willing to have things go wrong, feel silly or stupid and be willing to apologize to your dog and then motor through to find the right answer.
For those of you that have not tried herding I’m sure you just read the last paragraph and thought to yourself if it’s that bad, you can keep it!
There is a sign in my barn that states, “A good day’s herding lets you see the Gates of Heaven. A bad day’s herding drops you into the Seventh Ring of Hell.” The high that you get when everything comes together and you, your dog and the stock are working as one, is like no other on this planet.
None of the training books or articles ever seem to mention a dog’s most important training tool, asset (or detriment)…his teacher/handler.
Dog sports are a unique endeavor. There is no other situation or venue where someone is expected to simultaneously be both a student and a teacher. If you sign up for Macramé class you are not expected to face the front of the room, learn a knot from the teacher and then turn right around and teach that same knot to the person behind you.
If you decide to take horse-back riding lessons you find a stable with an instructor and take lessons on a “school” horse. If you fall in love with the sport you find a horse, buy him…and send him off to a trainer for a round of lessons. Once he’s finished his lessons the two of you then take lessons with your instructor.
There is nothing that says that you can’t try to take this route in most of the dog sports as long as you have the money to pay for months of boarding and instruction. I don’t really recommend it for herding though. The greatest joy in herding is the feeling you get as you learn and bond with your dog through the sport. (How much fun can you get out of signing a check each month?)
On a more practical side, herding is tough. You don’t need your dog to be more experienced and knowledgeable than you when out on the field. When I have seen people buy “started” dogs, the dogs are generally out there running rings around their handlers. The better route is to learn how to be a Shepherd as your dog is learning how to be a stockdog.
So what goes into making a Shepherd? A Shepherd needs to learn how to read and understand livestock. She (...sorry, but the overwhelming majority of people learning stockwork are female!) needs to have sound, balanced, centered leadership skills, have a student mentality, have or learn good timing, have some physicality and a good dose of Grit.
Understanding Livestock It’s pretty hard to impossible to supervise or run a division if you don’t know what that division does. Stockwork is no different. If you never learn how to read and understand livestock you won’t know if what your dog is doing is correct or just messing around. You won’t see the start of things going wrong or know what needs to be done to fix it.
Balanced Leadership Isn’t this a hot button issue! The right use of power is the most contentious issue in the dog training world today. Herding demands strong, clear leadership without brutality or micro-managing. When you step into a pen full of sheep with a new dog, you are agreeing to be a Shepherd. A Shepherd protects her sheep from all harm…including her budding, over-eager herding prospect. The initial experience of stepping into a sheep pen can be pretty overwhelming and even the best of dogs can lose their self-control. A strong clear teacher is needed to keep things on track. By the same token, herding is not obedience. Herding requires a dog to have an obedient mind. A mind tuned to the job and the handler’s desires but then able to make the right choices and decisions that will get the job done. It requires a Shepherd to teach her dog the elements needed and then trust her dog to go do the job. When sheep get moving the situation is so fluid and so quick that there is no way to give commands in a timely enough fashion for them to actually have any bearing on the action. A shepherd balances the need to firmly be the leader and the willingness to delegate the job to an employee without sitting on his shoulder.
Student Mentality Herding is hard. I’ve been studying herding since Labor Day of 1994. My first instructor, Judi Bigham, told me something that I repeat to every student. “If someone tells you they are an expert in herding, run. They are either a fool or a liar.” I’ve been an exhibitor in herding for 20 years. I’ve been a judge, instructor and clinician for 9 years and I still take lessons. As soon as you “get it” working with Fido, you go out and get Rover…and Rover doesn’t work anything like Fido did. Once you “get” that, you try your hand at herding ducks. Boy is that different! …and then cattle. What about herding with a second breed? Herding with a BC or a Malinois or a Corgi is worlds different than herding with a GSD.
Herding is a quickly evolving sport. Back in the early 90’s the techniques were pretty crude because most trainers didn’t know how to train upstanding dogs let alone the power breeds like the GSD or the Belgians. It was kind of, “Turn ‘em loose and beat ‘em off.” Techniques are evolving on an ongoing basis to help the dogs learn how to control their livestock using their own initiatives and instincts. Herding is a venue that needs you to be a perpetual student to continue to evolve along with the sport.
Timing This is a skill and an art that every venue requires. A good sense of timing “Fed Ex’s” a teaching program. Bad timing can devolve a program into chaos. Hand a cookie to a dog at the moment his elbows hit the ground in response to a Down command and you cement in his mind that a quick response is just the right answer. Hand that dog a cookie as his elbows are three inches from the ground will give your dog the belief that you want a crouch or that you don’t want him to lay down. Proper timing comes from thoroughly understanding all the elements of an exercise so that you know what the dog should be doing and when…and practice.
Some Physicality Anyone who knows me knows that I am not the picture of physically toned and buff. I have been able to work both my own and student dogs while having a frozen ankle and severe anemia. Herding is a sport that epitomizes “Work smart, not hard.” Find the more advanced techniques that don’t make you run around like a banshee. Having said this, you do need to be able to be outside in any weather, walk a lot, be flexible enough to not break if you occasionally get bumped into by the sheep, and have enough upper body strength to correct your dog for pulling and lunging on a cord.
Grit Herding is HARD. It’s a combination of chess, pool and juggling. Chess because successful herding is all about being able to position your “piece” (your dog) in the right place to get your “adversary” (the sheep) to go where you want. Pool because herding is all about trajectory. Where you place the dog will change the trajectory of the sheep’s movement; the same way that where you hit the pool ball determines its trajectory. Juggling because you need to keep yourself, your tools/equipment (stockstick, long line…), your dog and the sheep all moving in line with your goal. The most consistent wail that I hear from new students is, “There’s just so much to keep track of!!”
I don’t know of anyone who has not at some point walked back behind the barn to give into a crying jag because they felt so inadequate at learning the sport (yes, me too). Herding is a humbling endeavor that makes you review your thoughts and positions on dogs, teaching and yourself.
You have to be kind and patient with yourself. You need to understand that you are GOING to make mistakes. You are going to tell your dog the wrong thing. You have to be willing to have things go wrong, feel silly or stupid and be willing to apologize to your dog and then motor through to find the right answer.
For those of you that have not tried herding I’m sure you just read the last paragraph and thought to yourself if it’s that bad, you can keep it!
There is a sign in my barn that states, “A good day’s herding lets you see the Gates of Heaven. A bad day’s herding drops you into the Seventh Ring of Hell.” The high that you get when everything comes together and you, your dog and the stock are working as one, is like no other on this planet.