working heading dog and barkers together?

[regolith]

So I've got a little black cattle dog who thinks he's landed feet first in heaven - from living on the back of my truck in June, he's now settled into a fine big farm with his kennel sited on a stationary piece of land.
And the sharemilker I work for has two bitches, the younger of whom he got on with very well. He's always been a solo dog, and travelling was almost his first experience meeting other dogs. A few weeks ago the pup of the younger bitch was brought on-farm and he and my dog are now best-friends-forever.

Part of the result of this friendship is that sometimes I have two doggy shadows instead of one, and the last couple of days I've noticed my boss has four dogs racing around when he goes to get the lame cows in for milking. So this afternoon milking, there was a heck of a lot of barking going on out there and I wondered - what exactly is my dog doing? He's a heading dog. All three of the others move cattle by barking behind them; he goes to the cows' heads and almost never barks.
So I asked. And the answer basically was - the two male dogs are out of control, over-excited and having a great time. I'll check that he's on his chain next time (and have told my boss what his 'stop' commands are).

I wondered if heading dogs and barking dogs can work successfully together without having to change their instinctive method of working cattle - or if there's a good plan forward from here aside from getting to a point where I can control that pup and my boss can control my dog, and as far as possible not letting him work cows in company with the other dogs.
Maybe all we need is a better "stop" on both the boy dogs... :?:

 

[Howdyjabo]

They will figure it out with time-- you just need to make sure that your dog is not working at cross purpose to the others. IE-- hes heading while the others are pushing cows over him.
And I wouldn't work more than two at a time together. More than that and they seem to be getting in each others way and triggering competition instead of cooperation.

 

[fargus]

It could work. We've never tried it, we have only heading dogs. If you have dog-broke or half-ways dog-broke cattle it could work really well if you put a good handle on your heading dog. Let the heelers drive cattle until they start to bust and run, then turn your heading dog loose and pull the barkers out until your cur dog has control again. Then pull your heading dog off and resume driving.

We don't get to see dog-broke cattle, so we have only cur dogs. Stopping power is at a premium, and that's when a cur dog shines.

 

[regolith]

Thanks for your replies.

Well, the boss is away right now and apparently I don't have issues with the dogs - the right tone of voice pulls the pup away from the cattle and my one does what he's told. The bitches don't work for me - they pretty much ignore the cattle if I go to get them in for milking.
It's quite neat to be able to send mine out to fetch the stragglers while the pup does the running and noise.
Next step is to train the boss. I think my dog will work for someone else if he's relaxed (which he hasn't been in the past when I've had relief milkers, because I wasn't there).

Maybe we just had a good day. I was definitely informed yesterday that the pup was impossible to stop.

 

[Howdyjabo]

You might be right-- but don't forget the boss is ALWAYS right till he decides different- especially when it comes to using dogs.

That brings up an idea I had for an article for a stockdog magazine. How Bosses View Working Dogs-- insights on how to make it easier to be able to use dogs on hired jobs.
If you are a boss that lets hired hands use dogs I would love to interview you. Or if you are a hired hand whos boss lets you use dogs I would love to interview you.

 

[milkmaid]

That brings up an idea I had for an article for a stockdog magazine. How Bosses View Working Dogs-- insights on how to make it easier to be able to use dogs on hired jobs.
If you are a boss that lets hired hands use dogs I would love to interview you. Or if you are a hired hand whos boss lets you use dogs I would love to interview you.

I would really be interested in reading that article when you write it.