How to Train Your Dog to Herd Animals

Working a livestock farm can be challenging, no matter how you look at it. But, imagine having the willing help of your pup in rounding up your sheep, cattle, chickens, ducks, or any other animals you have. What a great way to relieve just a little bit of the load and let your dog do what comes naturally to him while having fun at the same time. Among the most important things you need to know is that you have to start with a dog that has a natural tendency to want to herd.

While you may be able to teach other non-herding breeds, those such as Border Collies, German and Australian shepherds, Shetland Sheepdogs, and Corgis are best suited to the task as they all have a natural herding instinct. Before you decide to train your dog to herd animals, be sure to have him examined by his vet to make sure he is healthy enough for what can be a very vigorous task over a long period of time. 

Training your dog to herd animals is far more difficult than it looks and, at the same time, easier than you might think. Part of this difficulty lies in the fact your pooch has to learn several new commands as part of the herding process. Beyond this, one of the best things you can do is make training time as much fun as possible. Most herding dogs absolutely love what they do and will jump at any chance they can get to move your critters around.

While you can teach any age dog to herd, if you want to train your pup, you should consider starting him off with smaller creatures such as chickens, turkeys, ducks, and even geese. Be sure you are always ready to step in during training if necessary to protect the safety and health of your pup or the animals he is herding. 

So, before you can actually start training your dog to herd animals, you need to take a couple of weeks to train him these new commands. They are 'come bye', which you use to make him come around on the herd clockwise to turn them to the left. 'Away to me' tells your pup to go counter-clockwise around the herd to make the go to the right and 'walk up' tells him to come up behind the herd and move them straight towards you. Each direction is given as though you are looking at the herd coming towards you.