We live in sheep and cattle country and most ranchers have good dogs that will do both. It is easy to find someone to train your dog and work with you in this area. The hardest part is finding a good dog. There are also clinics available where you can practice working your dog on animals that have already been trained to work with dogs. It is a long term commitment to train the dog, yourself, and the cattle. We started by buying a pup out of working parents. If I was starting over, I would have begun with a young dog that had already been started on cattle so I knew what I was getting. Our dog has been a great help, but he is definitely not one of the best. I read books and watched videos while waiting for him to grow. Herding Dogs Progressive training by Vergil Holland and Lessons from a Stock Dog by Bruce Fogt were books I read. I had made the mistake of reprimanding my prior dogs for chasing cows when they were still pups, and they had grown up to ignore or avoid the cattle. It was recommended in the books that I avoid interaction with the cattle until they were old enough to handle themselves. We sent our dog to a trainer when he was 1 year old. He started Tip on Sheep because that was safer. When he had Tip understanding some basic commands, he had us come as often as we could to work with him. We had him there for 90 days and he was working cows by the time he came home. I have been told that once you have one dog trained, it is easier to start another because the young dog can learn from the older dog.
If I was you, I would go to a Cattledog trial and talk to people there. They might be able to recommend someone who could help you find a dog and someone to work with you. Our cattle will come in when we call them, but sometimes calves will hang back, or cows will refuse to come up into the corrals to be worked. The dog sure makes that easier. He doesn't mind the mud or the lumpy ground and he is quick enough to cut them off when they decide to make a break for it to run around us. Our cows challenged him quite a bit at first. We made a special point of working the replacements with him each year, so the younger cows work the best. Even the old cows have now accepted the fact that going where we want is easier than challenging the dog. When a cow tries to avoid the corrals, we call the dog and when she sees him she almost always begins to cooperate. Most of the time he just waits on the ATV. We do leave him home when cows are calving, because it can be more difficult to catch and tag the newborn calves when he is in sight.
