Hello!
I'm Andy Nickless
and this is my partner Gill Watson.
We've been producing sheepdog training videos since 2009,
You might know our DVD, First Steps in Border Collie Sheepdog Training,
or the sheepdog training tutorials on The Working Sheepdog Website.
Now we're offering some shortened tutorials, free of charge, here on YouTube.
Our first series of eight videos, is called Top Tips for Sheepdog Training,
and covers some essential basics you may not have thought of.
Some of the videos here
include references to the full, online versions
that cover the topics in much greater detail.
and you'll find links to more information below each video.
First time sheep and cattle dog trainers are often shocked
to find that when their dog first encounters stock
it changes from sweet and obedient, into a rampaging killer.
Not all dogs are this aggressive when they begin training,
but a great many are
and to be honest, it’s not such a bad thing,
as long as we know how to quickly get the dog under control.
The dog needs training.
If it's got the right instincts, it should become a superb herding dog
but getting the dog and sheep, under control, can be the most difficult part.
To train a dog to work livestock, the first thing you should understand
is that when your dog confronts these animals,
It uses an ancient hunting instinct.
and yes, it wants to kill them.
It’s widely believed that dogs are descended from wolves,
and even those who dispute this, can’t deny that whatever their ancestry,
wild dogs must have hunted other animals to survive.
I very firmly believe that dogs are pack animals with a very strong pack instinct,
and that they use their hunting instinct when they confront prey animals.
I was told this when I began training sheepdogs
but it was several years before I realised how crucial it is.
It opened up a whole new world for me,
so far as understanding the behaviour of sheep and cattle dogs was concerned.
One of the best examples of this
is the trainee dog’s reluctance to get sheep away from a fence
or out of a corner.
Out in the open field, the dog is king.
It can outmanoeuvre its prey with ease,
but when the prey’s tight against a fence or other obstacle,
to get it away from there,
the dog must go between the prey and the fence
Here the dog becomes highly vulnerable to attack from the prey
and because it’s in such a confined space, the dog is trapped there,
so when we ask our trainee dog to get animals away from a fence of some sort,
it's no wonder the dog's reluctant to do it.
Corners are worse than fences,
because the space is confined along two sides,
and of course, a yard or pen is worst of all
because space is confined all the way round,
and to the dog, there appears to be no escape at all,
but if we train the dog and build its confidence,
it'll help get the stock out of any situation.
There’s lots of interesting information about pack behaviour on the tutorial:
“An insight into pack behaviour”
and “Get off the fence”
will help you understand
how to get stock away from
fences and corners.