What’s Wrong With White Sheepdogs?

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Sheepdog training tips and advice, The Working Sheepdog Website Blog

21 August 2020

Answer – NOTHING! (Well, almost nothing).

So why are there so few white sheepdogs? A recent question from one of our members reminded us that white working sheepdog pups are not as popular as black and white, tricolour, red or other colours. You very rarely see white sheepdogs working on farms or in sheepdog trials.

There’s no justice for white sheepdogs!

Mostly white Isla, Archie and Sybil (above) had enough black on their faces to convince sheep they were real sheeodogs! Other white sheepdogs have more trouble.

That’s a pity – and there’s little or no justification for it, unless you’re a sheepdog trials competitor.

If you have a predominantly white sheepdog, the sheep don’t always recognise it as a dog when it first approaches them. I’ve seen this happen.

Unbelievably, the sheep will often totally ignore the white dog until it’s extremely close to them. Then suddenly they realise there’s a dog amongst them and they panic!

After their initial consternation on seeing an all white dog for the first time, the sheep soon learn that the extremely pale looking thing approaching them is actually a dog (in disguise?) and it’s not a problem from then on.

This is OK in a farm situation, where the same sheep see the same dog every time, but for sheepdog trials, where you can lose points if the dog causes the sheep to jump, panic or even move erratically, the poor sheep rarely see the same dog twice. In this situation, a white shdog can be a big problem.

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