Our dog Ty with our small flock of Wiltshire Horn Sheep. He is holding them back so we can put food down for them without being knocked over by them.
Introduction to sheepdog training and Herding Assessment workshop.
Find out how to go about training a sheepdog and why your dog behaves in certain ways
Assessment - How is your dog with sheep - not interested, sheepdog, potential trialist, killer. Find out and have a suitable plan for your dog.
Fee: £30 for a 3 hour group workshop for around 4 dogs.
Workshops for Autumn 2011
Saturdays 2pm 15th. October, 5th November
Wednesdays 2pm 12th, 19th, 26th Oct.
We start with some background about sheepdog training and how to go about training your dog and then we assess your dog and come up with a plan for you.
The following sessions will continue with practical training
Saturdays 2pm 12th, 19th, November.
Wednesdays 2pm 2nd, 9th, 16th, 23rd Nov.
Herding Assessments are for pastoral breeds. We will accept all breeds from herding origins but not terriers or lurchers, dogs can be of any age as their assessment will be done to suit them.
If your dog has potential we can recommend training in conjunction with "all about sheepdogs" http://allaboutsheepdogs.com/ depending on what your aspirations are i.e. do you want a working farm dog, or to compete in sheepdog trials, or pass a breed working test such as the Kennel Club herding test for Border Collies.
If your dog is a potential stock worrier you should consider the stock chasing workshops or if it has already chased stock a 1-2-1 lesson.
Jane and Bonnie a cautionary tale
Jane came to an introduction workshop with her young dog and she also had an older dog called Bonnie with her that she had been given as "she wouldn't work sheep". She was however keen to round up chickens. At the end of session we gave her a quick look at the sheep and she seemed like she could do it. Time had run out that day so a few weeks later Jane came back on her own with both dogs but the aim was to give Bonnie a decent go. Jane had developed her own commands for working the chickens with Bonnie including chicken noises for encouragement. It made for an amusing session but very soon we had Bonnie circling the sheep and developing a decent outrun. Jane left very satisfied and I had put her in touch with "All About Sheepdogs" for more advanced training. She has now started training with Richard Alvis who I sometimes train with and is very experienced at training dogs to work on farms. The only trouble is Richard is quite a long way from Jane and she needs to practice regularly.
The answer
Jane is now the owner of a starter flock of easycare x dorset ewes and is renting some land for them.
So be careful buying dogs from farmers who say they will not work sheep you never know where it will lead.
