Cute.

I've booked another herding trial for the weekend of 04 July so obviously I'm still undecided on where I fall on the idea of how the stock feels.

So far, the herding event has been my least profitable though.

James,
As Jim says, the idea is not to chase the sheep and take them down. The idea is to move them always with the dog under control. Unfortunately, the better herding breeds are the ones that make the sheep feel that if they don't do move the way the dog wants, the dog will eat them. Border Collies, Shelties, Aussies are all very high-prey-drive breeds and that's why they're good at Herding.

For me, allowing my dogs to do what they were bred to do is exhilarating. Watching Rotties herd stock -- not only sheep but cattle and ducks -- is an amazing demonstration of control and instinct. Does the stock get stressed in these situations? Sure. But so does the dog and the handler. The stress is the same as with any game and the reward is you get fed and allowed to do it again. Dogs that are too aggressive toward the stock do not get allowed back in the competition until they demonstrate that they are under complete control.

I watch those same Herding breeds run Agility and I assure you they are not calm and laid back. They are at a very high stress level which drives them to perform at a very high level of both speed and accuracy. Should I be concerned about putting the dogs under stress in this type of environment?

The stock that is used in Herding Trials has been bred for this type of activity. They understand their role and they understand that's how they get fed. They are not "wild" sheep that get pulled away from the pasture to endure a day of getting chased by dogs.

I understand the concern for the safety and "emotional well-being" of the stock. But that's what they do for a living. I doubt they are any more stressed than the dogs and and handlers.

An area of ambivalence for me is Schutzhund training which involves bite work. Another thing that Rotties have been bred for is protection and police work. When you watch a Rottie (or German Shepherd) working at a Schutzhund event, you'll see an amazing level of control in tracking, jumping, retrieving and, of course, capturing a fleeing person. If taught properly, the bite work is really just a game played at a very high level. The key to bite work is not the bite -- believe me you don't have to teach any dog to bite and certainly not the dogs that do protection work. The key is the release: these dogs must always release the victim on command. No exceptions. The best examples I've seen have been the decoy (they guy with the sleeve) walking back from the field after the exercise with the dog running beside him carrying the sleeve. The decoy is the dog's playmate and the sleeve is the toy.

Now, I don't do Schutzhund with my guys. In this age of Breed-Specific legislation and dogs that have to live in total harmony in very populated social environments, the concept of teaching bite work just doesn't play for me. Besides, I've always thought that Rowdy would look pretty silly carrying that sleeve home and sleeping with it. But I understand the sport and admire the dogs that can be trained to do it well.

Getting involved in sports with your dog is a complicated issue because in all cases you put some animal under stress -- most often the dog. If not stressing animals is important to you, then you might want to consider keeping them home on the couch and never allowing them to push themselves in any performance area. Because whether you are the chaser or the chasee, there is stress.

I personally enjoy seeing my guys work in Herding. The boys tend to be very non-aggressive and tend to work under control most of the time. It's amazing to watch them figure out how to move the herd from 10 feet away by just moving a few inches one way or the other. In fact, Sundance thinks we should get our own herd. He thinks the sheep would make great friends and would be cheaper than mowing the lawn !

Jim

I really rarely have a problem with any animal sports, but, they ALL have abuses in them. I have seen horrible things at even dressage shows. rated ones.

I lure course my dogs and they have run in 102 heat and not burnt their pads. They are used to the type of soil they run on and to the heat also. The Alaskan dogs probably do not have pads used to dealing with the excessive heat. The way to combat it is to keep the feet cool.

Before a run and after, the dogs get soaked in a baby pool. The worst pad injuries I have had have come from the backyard, last year during the drought.

I'd say the livestock are a lot more stressed being hauled to the slaughter house.

That's a cool photo Jim. I'd probably crop it a little closer, with room left for them to run into

Thanks Jim & Julie.

Good points for sure.

Interesting that you mention protection work. I've toyed with covering some Schutzhund events, but the one club that invited me so far is one that makes me extremely uncomfortable. I did a holiday shoot at their location and all I could think was "Photo faster, I hear Banjos . . ."

These people were not nice to their dogs and had no control over them. They seemed proud when they said things like "move back, that dog will bit you in a heartbeat." All I could think was, well given that the dog is wearing a pincher, a choker AND an electric collar, I assume you don't have much control . . . but that's another story.

Jim,
like any "blood sport", Schutzhund has its share of macho owners who want to scare people with their powerful dogs. But, like with the Obedience teachers that still preach tug and jerk, you have to pick your trainers and your clubs wisely. Done correctly, it's a pretty cool sport.

The greatest Schutzhund dog I ever knew was Ch, HCH Antrieb Von Boylan, Toby. Toby was one of the top Conformation dogs in the country, a Herding Champion (one of only 5 in the history of the Rottweiler Breed), a TDI-certified Therapy Dog and a Schutzhund III, the highest rank you can get. Toby worked with us at the Meet The Breeds booth in Orlando the first year of the AKC/Eukanuba National Championship and he stood shoulder to shoulder with Rowdy greeting adults & children with puppy kisses.

During the 2002 National here in Florida, I was shooting the Herding Trials and Toby had already run and hadn't really done that well. His owner was not very pleased with him. I was sitting under a tent eating lunch and she put Toby in a down/stay right next to me. Toby was also a UD Obedience dog so there was no way he'd break a stay. But he really, really wanted to nuzzle me. So, he slowly crawled over to me on his belly until he was laying across my feet, rolled on his back and let me rub his tummy until his mom came back. She laughed, took him out of his stay and let him cover me with kisses.

Toby had learned all his skills the correct way and his schutzhund work was not an expression of aggression; it was a trained response to a certain behavior that could be turned on or off on command. He didn't hate the sleeve or the person wearing the sleeve any more than a puppy hates the rope or the person holding the rope in a tug of war.

If you want to see some really good Schutzhund work, let me know and I'll recommend a club in your area that does it the correct way. Once you see how it's trained and how much it encompasses beyond the bite work, I think you'll be impressed. That does not mean I want my dogs or any dogs bred by us to be trained in Schutzhund. You can't tell which type of trainer you'll get until you're involved. But I've seen it performed by incredibly stable dogs both here and in Europe and it's a very impressive sport.

Jim

Thanks Jim,

I'd love some recommendations for this area. Keep in mind that although I have an interest as a trainer in training and a dog lover in general, I'm mainly looking to book photo events at this point.

I don't hold what we saw at this "club" against the whole sport / profession of Shutzhund. They are the only ones we had any dealings with in the area.

Jim,
unfortunately, what you saw is more prevalent than the type of training I advocate. But it's changing. Just not fast enough.

I'll send you a list of good clubs in the area as well as some contacts that know the sport very well. I'm more an observer than a participant in Schutzhund but there are some good people heavily involved in the sport and I can give you their contact information.

Jim

I'll certainly appreciate it.

I watched one fool yank a huge (and beautiful) GSD completely of it's feet

Jim,
well, that's actually what the decoy does with GSDs, Tervs and Malinois: swing them to demonstrate the strength of the bite. They don't do that with 130 lb Rotties because they can't. Nor does anybody need to demonstrate the strength of a Rottie's bite. Usually, they just double up the padding on the sleeve and hope for the best.

Jim

Oh I get that and I swing mine around on the end of a rope. I was talking about a leash correction with a pincher collar in my last post though :O