Anyone into herding?

Is anyone out there involved in herding with their dog? My GSD is driving me nuts - herds everything all the time. He has no ball drive but he will chase the ball so that he can run around with it in his mouth so the other dogs chase him (a form of herding the other dogs).

My cats are irritated with the herding and he tries to herd my husband and I when he doesn't want us to leave or something.

I entered him in a herding instinct test this weekend as I think I am going to have to give him an outlet for this behavior. However, I am nervous because I don't know anyone involved in herding and I find the whole thing confusing (titles, levels, etc).

Anyone out there have experience that could help me out?

Atlas is so handsome!!!
While I have no herding experience, I did see something on TV the other day--someone had a dog that wanted to herd everything, and wouldn't chase the balls, so they told her to throw a bunch of balls (like 5), and then the dog can herd all of the balls together. It wasn't on tv, sorry, I read it in Dog Fancy.

Good luck with the test!!

Hi Demigodess!

I've got a 9 mo old Collie, Oz, that's still frisbee and toy motivated,
but I have noticed his herding instincts are starting to increase
as he matures. Much to the annoyance of my lil' Cairn terrier,
Oz has taken to poking Murph in the rear with his nose and
blocking his path at every step. And the other night, he was
herding a couple of frogs from one flowerbed to another.

We're in dog agility right now, so we haven't tried any herding
activities. But I'd love to hear how it goes with Atlas and what
all's involved with the test once you complete it.

Par...

Molly, my 2 year old rough collie, likes to herd dogs at the dog park! She will go up to each one get a bunch of them in a circle, and just watch them! If one moves out of the circle, she will go up to that one and just stare at it....then, eventually it will go back...she also likes to nip little dogs at the dog park.....kinda intresting!:)

Well, today was the day we did the herding trial I mentioned. Atlas aced his first leg, which requires no training. He has an incredible instinct for herding. It was amazing to watch a dog with no prior exposure to sheep herd them so wonderfully.


So, I guess I will be getting involved in the sport of herding now whether I like it or not. :)

Atlas is a gorgeous dog!

I'm not involved with herding, but Ruby is (she has some australian cattle dog in her). She loves to herd her people. She's very happy when we're all in one room together :) She doesn't do much heal-nipping (thanks goodness), but sometimes if you're running with her she'll take a nip at your heals and try to herd you... It doesn't hurt, and she only seems to do it to people she knows (another thank goodness... I don't want some stranger to think she's attacking them! :eek: ). So... it's not a problem.

I'm glad to hear that your first trial went so well!! Congrats! :)

Oooo I just love Atlas. What a handsome boy. I'm glad everything went well at the instinct testing. I've been thinking about getting Kai into herding. I'm not sure if he's gonna be good at it though...although he has been herding a bit more lately. He tried nipping at my scooter when he was running with it.