How to train a sheepdog – a beginners’ guide to teaching a farm dog to herd sheep
First uploaded Feb 8th 2003 – revised October 2022
Learning how to train a sheepdog
Struggling on our knees in the base of an overgrown hedge one day, Gillian and I had an idea! We realised there needed to be more information for beginners to sheepdog training. At the time, were attempting to extract some Texel-cross ewes from the base of a hedge. They’d wedged themselves among the thorny branches and were stubbornly refusing to come out. Who could blame them? Our over-zealous trainee dog Dot, had been giving them a hard time, and they’d had more than enough of it.
The last straw!
Trying to ignore the pain inflicted by countless thorns, and using every ounce of our strength, we triumphantly heaved the first ewe into the open field. Dot, who we’d dragged by her collar into the base to the hedge to help us remove the sheep, suddenly shot out from beside us, and drove the sheep back into it! It was the last straw!
We had already studied most of the books and videos available at the time. We were also fully aware of how to get a dog to lie down behind the sheep. Or even to flank right or left. But none of the instructions we’d encountered mentioned how to reach such an advanced stage from where we were now!
This article was originally written in 2003. Now it’s 2023 and, most of the information currently available on herding and is written by sheep farmers or sheepdog trials champions. All are excellent trainers, of course. They go to great lengths to instruct us on the tiniest intricacies of training a sheepdog. What they overlook however, is the fact that these days a growing number of handlers are part-time smallholders with regular employment outside agriculture altogether. Additionally, not being experienced farmers or shepherds, these newcomers simply don’t understand much of what the instructor’s talking about.
Experience of sheepdog training as a novice
They need more detailed background information which the top handlers and trainers take for granted. Especially information which is second nature to the professional shepherd or sheep farmer. A source of information on training sheepdogs – created by someone who’s experienced the difficulties of sheepdog training as a complete novice.
Perhaps most importantly, they need to see things that typically go wrong, and how to correct them.
20 years later…
Twenty (20) years later, Gill and I are proud to have seventy four (74) Online Sheepdog Training Tutorials, watched by sheepdog trainers, farmers and shepherds throughout the world. Watch the preview video below.
WE CAN HELP YOU TRAIN YOUR DOG TO WORK SHEEP, CATTLE OR OTHER LIVESTOCK
If you’re interested in training a dog to work sheep, cattle, or other livestock, we can help you – whether you’re a complete beginner, or just wanting to improve.
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For a very small monthly (or annual) subscription, watch many hours of expertly presented sheepdog training lessons. Not just theory – we show you what should happen, and what to do when things go wrong. Signup now. It’s easy to cancel payments at any time and you can continue to watch for the period you paid for.
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