Jip is earning her keep.

[Ky hills]

She's been driving cattle with little to no flight zones out of the lots where I feed for quite awhile now. She seems to instinctively know to be easy with the calves and can get tough with more stubborn bigger calves and cows. I have been taking her with me to drive weaned calves into the lot which she has been good at too. This evening we went down a longer ways off to drive them up from the hay roll. She did good getting them bunched back up and kept them headed toward the barn lot, and in. She listens good when working and seems to understand what I'm wanting her to do. I don't know anything about working with dogs and training them, if so I believe she would've been a top notch stock dog, She is definitely got a knack for it in spite of what we don't know. She has just watched me I guess and picked up from that and refined her natural drive.

 

[faster horses]

She sounds like a great one!!Lucky you!! How about a photo of her?

 

[wbvs58]

She sounds like she is enjoying it, what breed is she?

Ken

 

[Ky hills]

@wbvs58 she is a Blue Heeler.
@faster horses usually I post pictures of her sleeping in a recliner, but I tried to get some of her in action this morning. The first is her waiting to do her job. The second is her heeling a summer bottle calf to keep him moving. The third one she is coming back to go around the troughs and turn the ones around that didn't go through gate. Then in the last one she is waiting for me to shut the gate, she has to bite the gates as when they move and she knows it's going to.

 

[faster horses]

A good dog is a real joy. We used Blue Heelers and Blue Heeler crosses for many years. Mr. FH could do a lot with just him by himself and a good dog. We had 3 Blue Heeler croses at one time. They were all different and all good. They were all female blue heelers. The last dog we had was a male Blue Heeler Australian Shepherd cross. A good friend but the most worthless dog we ever owned as far as being a good cow dog.

 

[Ky hills]

@faster horses we have 2 Border Collie cross males by that Heeler. One is decent with cattle, but can be a little more aggressive than I like. Have to keep a watch on those two or they go into business for themselves and just chase.
The Heeler is more refined and stays around close if she goes out in the field on her own she just ambles around and cows don't pay much attention to her then.
Now if a vehicle pulls up or somebody walks up she goes into guard dog mode.

 

[wbvs58]

She looks as though that couch gets a good work out too KY. It is so good when you have a dog like that where you can walk around your cows and they leave them alone until you need them. My kelpie bitch Bo was great and so smart, she knew when I was just walking through them and would skirt around the edges but if I was to start pushing them she would be straight in to help. It made it very relaxing to go for a walk amongst the cows. I am a bit overwhelmed with working dogs now, 2 young kelpies and a BC and a bit of a handfull but are just transitioning to the stage where I can switch them on and off but having the 3 together is tough but I think we are making progress at the moment but if cows are close by and I am in the house they will take themselves off to do a bit of practicing so they go on the chain.

Ken

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

I have owned a Blue Heeler dog for 50 years now. Love the breed. Mine doesn't really work the cows at all because we don't "push" cattle. I just call & they follow. He knows how to move them and he will stop one from going thru an open gate that they were not supposed to go thru.

 

[Dave]

We have two Border Collies. The older bigger one is my wife's dog. That one barely listens to me but will really listen to my wife. I think she could be a cow dog but the wife would have to do the training. The smaller one is my dog. She is actually a Border Collie Idaho Shag cross. She is just about 11 months old. She is a natural at herding cows. And is coming along real well. Right now her only issue is that more than about 30 yards away she goes deaf and can't hear a word I say. We are working on that.

 

[CowboyRam]

We have an Australian Shepherd/Border Collie, she is not bad, but she is getting old. I have been thinking we need to find another dog. I have a friend that has a Idaho Shag that is supposed to have some Idaho Shag/Border Collies pups. I could probably get one. I seen on craigslist that someone has some Rough Collies, like Lassie; they are cute as a button, but I'm wondering if they may be a bit to timid for cattle.

 

[GoWyo]

We have an Australian Shepherd/Border Collie, she is not bad, but she is getting old. I have been thinking we need to find another dog. I have a friend that has a Idaho Shag that is supposed to have some Idaho Shag/Border Collies pups. I could probably get one. I seen on craigslist that someone has some Rough Collies, like Lassie; they are cute as a button, but I'm wondering if they may be a bit to timid for cattle.

Maybe not a good cow dog, but if you fall down in the field and can't get up she'll go get help.

 

[faster horses]

We used Blue Heelers and Blue Heeler crosses for years and loved them. However our BEST dog was Zip. She came from the Birrers Ranch in SW Montana. They bred these dogs for over 35 years but they aren't sure what they were. If someone had a yellow dog, they bred it to their females and were able to keep the line going. (Whatever the line was. We suspect there was some black-mouth cur in her background, but that is purely a guess.) They had great reputations, regardless. They were Yellow, with white markings, some had natural bob tails, as Zip did. She never in her life barked at a cow. She meant business though and the cows knew it and didn't challenge her. She was great dependable help. We were fortunate to have her. She was smart and she was really tough. She lived to an old age and we miss her still. What a partner!!

 

[faster horses]

We used Blue Heelers and Blue Heeler crosses for years and loved them. All females. However our BEST dog was Zip. She came from the Birrers Ranch in SW Montana. They bred these dogs for over 35 years but they aren't sure what they were. If someone had a yellow dog, they bred it to their females and were able to keep the line going. (Whatever the line was. We suspect there was some black-mouth cur in her background, but that is purely a guess.) They had great reputations, regardless. They were Yellow, with white markings, some had natural bob tails, as Zip did. She never in her life barked at a cow. She meant business though and the cows knew it and didn't challenge her. She was great dependable help. We were fortunate to have her. She was smart and she was really tough. She lived to an old age and we miss her still. What a partner!! If you have any idea what she might be, please mention it.

 

[wbvs58]

We have an Australian Shepherd/Border Collie, she is not bad, but she is getting old. I have been thinking we need to find another dog. I have a friend that has a Idaho Shag that is supposed to have some Idaho Shag/Border Collies pups. I could probably get one. I seen on craigslist that someone has some Rough Collies, like Lassie; they are cute as a button, but I'm wondering if they may be a bit to timid for cattle.

The coat is a bit high maintenance in the Lassie dogs.

Ken

 

[Ky hills]

A week or so ago, before our last snow, the bred heifers wouldn't come through a gate from a section of a field. Ordinarily they will come from quite a ways off and come right through two sections with just me calling them from the yard, and certainly will come through when I go out closer and toll them with bucket. That morning they would not come through and I was afraid they might get on a frozen pond and fall through, so we tried for quite while, finally got them through a gate at the bottom of a hill.
Same story this morning, snow/ice predicted for tomorrow. They didn't want to come through again, so we took Jip with us in the sxs. I went out around them, and wife sends Jip under the fence a little ways down hill.
Jip and I then go toward them and turn them back towards the gate. She got them bunched back up, even cutting off and turning back around the one high headed idiot in the bunch (that's going to get culled out after raising her calf or sooner if she doesn't) and got them all through the gate.

 

[Dave]

But does she tree mountain lions? My dogs mother and full sister were among the dogs that put the cougar up a tree at the neighbors place?

 

[Ky hills]

But does she tree mountain lions? My dogs mother and full sister were among the dogs that put the cougar up a tree at the neighbors place?

That's something I hope we don't find out, I'm afraid she might try it and it back fire on her. I used to have a border collie, that I always said would jump on a grizzly bear, but he would probably regret that 2 seconds later. His and this Heelers pups would very likely try to tangle with anything one is extremely intense and has a relentless aggressive streak.

 

[Logan52]

Just this morning I was looking at some old family pictures my daughters put on my computer for me. Across five or more generations at family gatherings there was a farm shepherd or two hamming for the camera. They were mostly sable and white or black and white dogs most resembling what are called English Shepherds today. I have owned dogs like this all my life.
The breed was perpetuated by a roaming male dog in each neighborhood that seemed to have a calendar telling him when neighbors females would be in heat. These were not field trial dogs but good useful dogs on the farm. They also made good "tree" dogs for coons or other varmints.
Today it is hard to find a good stud dog of this type. Field trial type dogs put to much drive in the pups. Show bred studs often produce pups that are just worthless.
My dog today is a spaded Australian Shepherd and Border Collie cross that is a good dog but would be better if I had more work for her to do.

 

[faster horses]

I have always been fond of English Shepherds. We have had some good ones. They are generally very nice dogs. One found me in town during a bad thunderstorm, followed me to the grocery store and I took her home. She was never claimed. She was a wonderful dog. Black with brown highlights. She was always frightened of thunder and lightening. A friend borrowed her to get cows out of the mountain. She helped him until a bad thunderstorm. She left. We finally found her, she had gone into someones cabin and they thought she was a bear when she came through the door. They advertised they had her and we got her back. We had a natural bob-tailed one that was a beautiful dog, not as good of a cowdog as the first one, but a good friend nevertheless. Mr. FH loves dogs and is very good with them, so we have been blessed to have many good dogs.

 

[Logan52]

The majority of the good shepherd dogs I've owned have been terrified of storms and thunder. They cower on the porch or try to get under the house even before the storm hits.