Working dogs

[1wlimo]

I have border collies and find them a vital part of my operation. Lynn Daniels of Atoka Oklahoma has great animals. Two things about cattle and dogs. The cows learn from the dogs and then they make the dog better. You will not "train" a border collie they are bred to do what they do and they love doing it. Your job is to learn to control they movement. It takes patience and a couple years before you have a great dog. Good luck!

Would second this, especially the need to teach control, not train. Took my best border collie a while to learn the difference in working cattle compared to sheep, but he got there.

Not every dog however is a worker, and they are all different. I think a very good border collie will teach you more than you can teach them.

 

[grubbie]

A stock dog needs to work, that's what they do. 25 pairs a few times a year, you would do better to train your cows. Shake a bag of cake in front of our cows and they will follow you anywhere, but they weren't always that way. Train your cows to dome to a bag of feed, a bucket of feed, whatever. And use a call that they can associate with it (my wife yells "come on girls!" and you'd better get out of the way!) It doesn't take much and it will save you a LOT of heartache! We just went out on four wheeler every few days and fed them. After a few times we made them follow us a little before they got fed. Once they were trained we only do it a few times a year, and always give them something when we bring them in or move them to a new pasture. Dogs are great, it just doesn't seem like the right answer for you in my opinion. Good luck.

 

[Runaway Deere]

Best advice is to pick a trainer by looking at all the trial results from your area. Then open up the wallet. Just for info go to red bluff bull sale look at dog sale results for 2015. At least in the west you'd be hard pressed to find a finished dog for less than 3k. What state are you from?

 

[plumber_greg]

George Monk, that's where I got Snoop Dog. Lynn gave me lessons for 2 days before he let me buy him.
Wouldn't take 50k for him now. The cows will ignore me, but let him get after them and they go whever he wants them to.
gs