Heppers Posted April 7, 2006 Report Share Posted April 7, 2006 Do I have an abnormal Collie ?? haha. Does anyone elses Collie never herd?? She doesnt herd anything! We dont have sheep or anything but when we took her to the park and she saw the ducks all she did was chase them at full speed, running through them and barking !! No signs of herding at all !! Maybe she is a border Collie in disguise !! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RaisingRiver Posted April 7, 2006 Report Share Posted April 7, 2006 My BC doesn't herd anything. She does play fetch, frisbee very intently and seriously. She doesn't herd my kids, the outside cats, the horse, the dogpark dogs, or the geese we had on the property this winter. Considering I don't plan to herd with her, I don't mind at all Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dal & Mad's Mom Posted April 7, 2006 Report Share Posted April 7, 2006 I likened Dal to Ferdinand the bull from the childrens story. It was one of my favorites which is probably why I love Dal so much but, he would rather smell the flowers than to behave in a typical fashion. The extent of his herding so far is to herd Jewel while playing. I hate when he grips her neck but, she doesnt complain so I guess it's ok. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meg's mum Posted April 7, 2006 Report Share Posted April 7, 2006 My BC herds 100 lb dogs and flattens out submissively for the lap rats. That's all I've noticed so far, besides a keen eye. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
donna frankland (uk) Posted April 7, 2006 Report Share Posted April 7, 2006 my molly dog would not do any herding what so ever! when i went up into the meadows with her and tikki she would go and sit by the river till i had finished or till i called her to me. she wouldnt even look at the sheep! still she came in handy though as she was so good with a down stay out of sight when there were sheep about i would trick the sheep with her! in one field there was a hollow and the sheep would dissapear into it everytime i tried to gather them up and tikki wouldnt go out of sight of me. i placed molly in a down stay in the hollow and went with tikki to get to the sheep, sure enough they went towards the hollow. just as they were about to go into it i called molly. she came flying out of there round the back of the sheep, the sheep turned and ran, it looked stunning! she still never looked at the sheep but it looked perfect if you didnt know she was simply running to me whilst actually avoiding the sheep. she would never have made a sheepdog, but man was she usefull as a 'walking hurdle'. she didnt like sheep after getting caught by the lekky fence once whilst just watching them, ever after that she would have nothing to do with them not even eye contact. i miss that dog sooo much i cant believe it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snorri the Priest Posted April 7, 2006 Report Share Posted April 7, 2006 My Boys won't herd, either, despite having been born on a farm :eek: When Kali was a little pup, we had him out for a walk. A cow leaned over the fence and blew on him. He won't even look at cattle now! Later on, he met a pet sheep, which butted him. He won't look at sheep now, either. Snorri has a tendency to do the circling bit when he's on the beach, but he is decidedly cowardly if he sees any animal that's bigger than he is! With one exception - he's quite happy to hurl abuse at bigger dogs in town, when he knows he's safe on his leash and that they're safe on theirs! OK, so they may have been born to be workers, but they haven't "made the grade". This is OK by me, as I never intended them to be anything other than pets, and that's a job they are very good at! When any local farmer derides them as "potlickers" (local parlance for non-working collies), I tell them that being a pet is an honourable profession, dogs have been doing it for thousands of years, and that it's not easy keeping humans happy all the time! They were given a simple job description when they came: "Be my friend and companion" - and they have done it marvellously. The Border Collie may have been developed as a working dog, but, somewhere along the line, "wonderful pet" crept in as well! Snorri Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rebecca, Irena Farm Posted April 7, 2006 Report Share Posted April 7, 2006 Ben hates anything bigger than a sheep. He's from good working stock and even cattle working stock from CA but he literally won't even look at a steer or a horse. It's handy here at my new place - I've got two that need constant reminders not to eyeball the cow/calfs next field over. Ben needed a lot of convincing to even work sheep when he was young. I was looking at some piccies of our first time working at a clinic. I was struck at how terrified HE looked, and how the sheep were climbing the fence of the round pen even though he wasn't even looking at them. Sometimes a dog with "what it takes" is scared of the effect it have on stock in the first few exposures. And I agree, the amazing dog those shepherds developed as well-rounded workers make well-rounded and devoted companions to the right sort of person, also. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sandra s. Posted April 8, 2006 Report Share Posted April 8, 2006 Kessie will herd cats, other dogs, balls, thinks about herding cows...but has never showed interest in any sheep so far! Next week we'll see if we can convince her that they deserve some herding, too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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