Our sheep are not suitable for working with dogs at the moment so we are not able to run any herding workshops.
Our dog Ty with our small flock of Wiltshire Horn Sheep. He is holding them back so we can put food down them without being knocked be 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, potential trialist, killer. Find out and have a suitable plan for your dog. Fee: £30 for a 3 hour group workshop for 4 dogs.
Workshops for 2009
July 24th - Full
August 23rd - Full
September 20th - Full
10am until around 1pm. the cost is £30.
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" 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 following workshops.
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.
