cattle dog training

[txag]

and is very gun shy. I never have been able to figure out why
Craig-TX

some dogs are just like that. i don't know if something happens when they're pups to scare them or if maybe they have sensitive ears.

my heeler, on the other hand, thinks she's quite the huntin' dog. she sees a gun & she's barking & running circles around you trying to figure out what kind of varmint we're lookin' for. i have to call her off, shoot it, & then she attacks it again

i, too, will cry a bucket when she dies

 

[Campground Cattle]

heelers are my pick because i do like the aggressiveness. i also like the short hair. we have a border collie who is much harder to train because she's pretty submissive & whenever you raise your voice, she cowers & won't do anything except lay down if she thinks you're angry.

just a word of caution about heelers, though. they're sometimes not only aggressive with cattle.......mine never liked strangers or kids (except mine) and any wild animals coming on the place don't stand a chance. she's eleven years old & hardly has any good teeth left but had a possum cornered this morning & gave it a good workover. i finally got the .410 to help her out.

The problem with most Bordie Collies is the owner needs training. I worked with a proffesional for a few days its amazing what I learned and how much better the dog worked.

 

[la4angus]

[

i, too, will cry a bucket when she dies

When Sebastain and Boo (real name Edie) dies I will have them MOUNTED
I will cry too. But at least I will still have them.

 

[txag]

The problem with most Bordie Collies is the owner needs training. I worked with a proffesional for a few days its amazing what I learned and how much better the dog worked.

you could be right. i'm by no means a professional trainer, but i've done pretty darn good w/my heeler. it could also be the individual border collie we have as well because she's not near as aggressive with intruder critters as the heeler. like i said, i also prefer the short hair. the border collie always has burrs & mats in her hair & it's a pain in the rear. as for the aggressiveness of the heeler........we've had cows in the middle of the tank & could stand & yell all day & they just look at you, but & i could send her in & she'd have them out in a sec.

just like raising cattle, luckily we don't all agree on breed.......keeps things interesting :lol:

 

[Anonymous]

Do you ever get to watch the stock dog competitions on t.v? Seems we have one channel that is all about dogs. I've seen border collies get control over cattle with their strong eye and an occaisional nip - the huntaway or kelpie (forget what it was called) wasn't getting anywhere with it's barking method. When it finally ran in to nip, it wasn't quick enough and got hurt. I guess it depends on how the cows are trained. My brother brought his ACD to visit, from the city. She'd never seen cows before but she had enough breed character to dominate the cows quickly with her agressive barking and quick teeth. My dog is a Chesapeake Retriever x German Shepheard, he will actually head and heal believe it or not but he hasn't the desire to dominate the cattle. He has one cow that is a good friend of his. But if a bull calf shakes his head at me, or a cow starts to make the fence squeal trying to climb over, he becomes very fierce. I taught him not to chase the horses when they run, by a couple lucky rock throws when he was younger.

 

[PASS]

Like you guys, i'll miss my healer very much when she's gone. The reason i'd try the australian shepard next time is because i really need help working the cows when pinned up. I don't really know but i'd think that dog would work well at helping sort as well as helping to move from pasture to pasture. Most healers i've seen are very protective and sometimes down right mean to people they don't know. Mine is not for some reason. Just like your healer's, no varmits allowed at my place. She killed many copper head snakes and has been bitten many times. She swells up for a while then seems to get well.

 

[dun]

Like you guys, i'll miss my healer very much when she's gone. The reason i'd try the australian shepard next time is because i really need help working the cows when pinned up. I don't really know but i'd think that dog would work well at helping sort as well as helping to move from pasture to pasture. Most healers i've seen are very protective and sometimes down right mean to people they don't know. Mine is not for some reason. Just like your healer's, no varmits allowed at my place. She killed many copper head snakes and has been bitten many times. She swells up for a while then seems to get well.

I was beginning to think that heelers had really changed a lot in the past 25 years. Ours, 25 years ago, was terribly protective of what was hers. The truck if she was in it, the house if she was there, etc. Way too rough to use on calves but worked well with horses and grown cattle. Main problem was if she didn't have anything else to herd she word herd ducks, chickens, geese, guineas, people, whatever. She turned into a terrible fowl killer. When she would "grip" (bite) them, if she tasted blood she would just finish the job. We kept her chained when she wasn't working and she taught her pups to herd the birds past the front of her dog house. When they herded them close enough she would lunge out, catch the bird and kill it. She never ate them, just killed them. We never could allow her anywhere near the dairy barn because she was so rough with the dairy goats.
But when the pesty people would come by and bug us, all I had to do was say "gate", and the people were unceremoniously herded out the gate. Didn't take but a couple of times and the neighbors would be bugged by the door to doors, but we never were.

dun