[Jacob-list] Herding Dogs

[Fibre Folds Farm]

We use Italian Bergamasco Sheepdogs to herd our Jacobs.  We now have three
Bergamascos and any one of them can move the flock to where we need them.
Another Bergamasco, who has since been killed on the road, "dog broke" our
flock by repeatedly grouping them in the barn, when there were many fewer of
them.  She started going in with me when I fed and would exercise with them
until she was satisfied.  She taught them to respect her by using head butts
and body slams on any sheep who challenged her and "flossed" with the wool
of any sheep who chose to ignore her.  She never hurt or bit a sheep, but
they learned to listen to her - and to flock together much more than before.
She has been gone over two years now and our flock has grown, but our sheep
still flock together well and pay attention to our dogs, when we do take one
in.  Our guardian llama will not permit a dog near whatever part of the
flock he is in with and aggressively attacks them, so we move him out before
we work a dog with the sheep.

Last spring, I started reading about the tending or border/boundary style of
herding still used more widely on the European continent than here.  The
method uses a dog to lead sheep, to work a border/boundary around where the
flock is supposed to stay to graze (like a living fence), and to protect
them from harm.  The potential appealed to me for use on our farm with its
many hillsides too steep to crop, but good to graze and not yet fenced or
cross fenced for rotational grazing.  During the summer, one of the dogs and
I attended a week long tending camp on a sheep farm in eastern Pennsylvania
and in the early fall my husband and I took all three dogs to another
tending camp at the same place.  All of them have the instincts for the
tending style of herding.

We did many things wrong learning to herd with our dogs, starting with them
when we were at the very beginning of the learning curve with sheep and with
herding dogs.  Amazingly, they still work effectively with us, most of the
time, in the fetch/drive/gather style of herding, but not as well as we know
they could if we could communicate better with them and if we worked with
them frequently enough to reduce the stimulation of their rare opportunities
to work with the sheep.  The Bergamasco is traditionally a drover and worked
in the tending style in Europe in the past.  If I could start over again
with a young Bergamasco, I would start him with the tending mind set with
the sheep, rather than encouraging their companion ability to MAKE them
move.  Now I have to go back and condition the sheep to follow me, which
isn't too hard.  The ewes and I have that down pretty well.  I also have to
convince the dogs it is their role to make the sheep comfortable with their
presence and to convince the sheep the dog is showing them the boundary of
their grazing area for the time they are out together and that the dog will
take care of them.  That will take much longer with these dogs and sheep,
because that is not what they have done in the past.  Dogs who learn to work
with the sheep in the tending style of herding can also easily learn to work
with the shepherd to accomplish the objectives of the fetch/drive/gather
style of herding, all with much less stress on the sheep.

Anyway, that is what we are now in the process of trying to do with our dogs
with our Jacobs.  Of course, I set the whole effort back when I want to
gather up the sheep from the far end of the pasture and move them into the
barn and I use one of the dogs to help me do it.  The sheep know when I
especially want them somewhere and are suspicious about my intent, so then
they are much less inclined to follow so nicely, like they do when we are
just practicing.  I have not worked at conditioning our group of rams to
follow me, so the drive is my only available method to move them to where I
want them.  Still much to learn - and unlearn - for all of us!

Nedra

John and Nedra Esau
Fibre Folds Farm
Bath, NY