A conversation with a sheep and a dog.

I love this movie so much. Here’s why . . .  so the sheep is trying to get the dog . . . not to be a sheep by asking him why he is doing it and why he cares what the man wants and such. The dog responds:

“You will go through those panels even if I have to bite you.”

“You will be disqualified.”

“I don’t care. Maybe I will bite you just for the fun of it.”

Exactly. Your good stockdog is doing what he’s doing because what he’s doing is wicked fun. This is why using treats and clickers when training stockdogs is stupid. If you’re dog’s prime motivator is running and moving those sheep, a hot dog ain’t gonna lure him away. And you want it to be the prime motivator.

And then there’s the sheep’s response:

“All right, I will go through those panels, but I cannot speak for the other sheep.”

“You mean you are not the leader?”

“No.”

Pause.

Dog: “Dammit.”

So one thing we haven’t talked about is follow the leader. Since all the animals that your dog is working are herd animals, that means they find comfort in the herd. But even within a herd, somebody decides when it’s time to get food or water and then everyone goes. Just like every other animal. Think about watching flocks of birds and how they all switch directions at once. Someone is leading that. Heck, you go out with friends and invariably, you are usually following one person who leads the way, decides where to cross, etc.

You’re not really dealing with herd mentality when you and your dog are out there. There’s always one or two “leaders” in the group and your dog, if trained properly, figures this out and works those sheep. Sometimes you got yourself a rogue animal that won’t follow, and then your dog and that rogue animal get real frustrated trying to settle down.

But look for it.

This especially useful if you’re sheeding livestock for something like a ranch trial. The method is this – if all the sheep follow somebody, you kind of want that somebody in your draw. So, if you have to shed out ten sheep out of fifty and go show your dog’s stuff, better to make sure that you figure out a way to pull those first leader sheep and not get the dregs in the back. The sheep will cluster better and your dog will be working with more confident sheep, making life good for EVERYONE. And who doesn’t want that?