Frequently asked questions about sheepdog and cattle dog training

Click a topic link or scroll down for frequently asked questions about sheepdog and cattle dog training. Feel free to ask a new sheepdog training question below or privately via our Contact page. Watch our sheepdog training videos.

1. Afraid of sheep or cattle – what to do if your dog’s afraid of livestock.
2. Attacking cattle – find out how to control your dog better when it’s working.
3. Barking – find out why the dog barks, and how to stop it.
4. Biting sheep’s faces – a fairly easily-fixed confidence problem.
5. Calling away from stock – get your dog to come away from sheep or cattle.
6. Chasing cars – and anything else that moves.
7. Darting at sheep if they move – the dog’s “getting the idea”, but needs guidance!
8. Different reactions of sheep near dogs – why sheep respond differently to different dogs.
9. Familiarising dogs with sheep – it’s great to get the dog used to sheep, find out how.
10. Flank around stock both ways – it’s essential to get the dog working well in both directions.
11. Get sheep away from fences – how to get the sheep where the dog can go around them.
12. Going too wide around stock – find out how to get your dog to work closer to the stock.
13. Good recall – train your dog to come back when you call.
14. Help for new trainers.
15. Huntaway or Blue Heeler dogs.
16. Killing sheep – what to do with a dog which has killed sheep.
17. Living in the house – will it ‘spoil’ the dog’s farm work?
18. Older dogs – can you teach an old dog new tricks?
19. Retirement age for the dog – at what age should we retire our dogs?
20. Send the dog from your side – setting the dog up for an outrun.
21. Slow the dog down – learn to work the dog quietly, and keep it calm.
22. Stopping sheep going into pen – why the dog does this, and how to stop it.
23. Stop shouting at the dog – learn to work the dog quietly, and keep it calm.
24. Speed the dog up – if the dog works too slowly, here’s how to speed it up!
25. Splitting sheep – how to encourage the dog to keep the sheep together.
26. Tail position – how the dog carries its tail as it works, tells us a lot.
27. Will the dog work sheep? Signs to look for, and how to encourage the dog.
28. Working without commands – such as at the top of the outrun.
29. Work a flock of sheep – moving on to work big bunches of sheep.

If you can’t find the answer you are looking for among the frequently asked questions about sheepdog and cattle dog training above, feel free to ask a question yourself, using the form below. (We try to answer questions within a day or so). (Top)