training a dog to herd

Question

I am interested to learn how to train a dog (of course of specific breeds) to herd (ducks, other animals). Is there a guide, book, or research results available? I already made a cursory search in google. The popular search results are wikihow and blogposts. I am looking for a more scientific approach, hence I am asking if anyone knows research papers, or journals, or books.

I am interested to know what methods are used to train:

1. Are dogs given commands, rewards?
2. During the training process, are dogs shown a demonstration? (which they can imitate later?)
3. Or are dogs 'left to figure it out'? (and given a series of punishment/rewards for tasks that are not done/completed)

Any definitive sources are well appreciated!

thanks

Answer 1

I'm afraid your approach to this topic is wrong. You are interested in "a more scientific approach", but a dog is not a machine.

In science, chemical A + chemical B equals chemical C.
In dog training, dog A + training method B must not always equal behavior C. Every dog is an individual with an own personality.

As far as I know, people who train dogs to herd have years of experience and have to adapt the training to the individual personality of each dog. That's why you find more general information and anecdotal stories than scientific training manuals online.

As to the precise questions you asked:

• Herding training usually starts when the puppies are a few weeks old. They don't have to do any work at that age, but they have to be socialized with the animals they're supposed to herd. If you want your dog to herd ducks, it has to be familiar with ducks as "friends" as opposed to "prey".
• The puppies are taught basic commands like "sit" and "stay" with positive reinforcement (reward wanted behavior, ignore unwanted behavior).
• Once they know the basic commands, they're taught more complex commands for herding like "go left / right", "go further away" and "come closer", again with positive reinforcement. Most people use whistles instead of spoken commands and use different commands for each dog.
• The young dogs are often taken to the herds to watch adult dogs herding. They are given very short and simple tasks at first. Herding is a very strenuous activity, both physically and mentally, and the young dogs have to adapt to more complex tasks slowly.

The dogs must be absolutely obedient before each further step in the training. They become the remote control tool of the shepherd, but the shepherd cannot control the herd if they cannot control their dog/s.

The training must be done very regularily (at least twice a week) for a long time (I think at least half a year, probably longer). That's one of the reasons why many shepherds buy trained herding dogs instead of training them themselves and why those trained dogs are extremely expensive.

Positive reinforcement (only rewarding good behavior and ignoring wrong behavior) generally works better than negative reinforcement (punishing wrong behavior) because the dogs need to have fun while doing their job. If a dog is afraid of punishment, it'll rather do nothing than risk doing the wrong thing.

Answer 2

Because there are so many personalities and breeds of herding dogs there is no one scientific method that is the most successful with all dogs. I recommend finding an experienced handler/trainer in your area to help you get started and continue learning.

Herding dogs are typically started around a year or two of age. Earlier exposure to stock (sheep/ducks/cows/goats) is helpful so that the puppy learns that they are just part of life and is not over excited or scared by them. However, this exposure should be done carefully so that the puppy isn't hurt or scared and doesn't hurt or harass the stock. You want to encourage good settled energy and habits and avoid learning bad ones. A good activity for a younger pup is to be on leash with you or tied near by while you do farm chores.

When the dog is old enough it is given an instinct test which just allows an experienced dog trainer to evaluate if the dog is ready for training, if it still needs time to mature, or possibly if it is not a good candidate for herding. They are a good candidate if they show herding instinct where they want to work with the human and tend to want to bring stock back to the human. They are not a good candidate if there is a lot of prey drive and they chase and try to bite sheep.

When the dog is ready for training they are first taught the basics of how to behave around stock, stop, be called off, circle without cutting in, change directions, and walk stock toward the handler in a line. Once the dog starts showing good knowledge of these things verbal commands for circling in a clock-wise and anti/counter-clockwise motion.

The sport advances from there depending on the breed and the goals and abilities of the trainer.

A great resource is a book called "Think Like a Sheepdog Trainer: A Guide to Raising and Training a Herding Dog" by Kay Stephens and Beth Kerber.