By Dorothy DeLisle
When one looks at the herding title statistics and keeps in mind the relative popularity of the different breeds in the US, one finds that German Shepherd Dogs are way under represented. This is pretty pitiful for a breed that is supposed to be first, foremost, and always a working dog. Part of the problem is due to GSD people starting herding, but dropping it early because they and their instructors did not understand how to train this breed. If done incorrectly, one can end up with a predator rather than a herding dog.
To understand how to train a GSD, one must first understand the type of herding it was originally bred for and how it differs from the type of work a Border Collie was developed for. This is important because most trainers base their methods on those developed to train Border Collies. Many BC fanciers will tell you there is only one correct way to work sheep, the BC way. However, numerous herding styles have been developed across the world in response to the particular sheep breeds, terrain and management systems in existence there. The professional shepherds in those areas have selectively bred their shepherd dogs to have traits that are useful in their situations. While a BC person may call particular traits possessed by these other breeds faulty, the shepherds in their areas of origin found them valuable and worth breeding for. Indeed, what is instinctive for one herding dog may be counter-instinctive for another, and two herding styles may be diametrically opposed to each other.
The Border Collie was developed on the island of Britain after the eradication of wolves. Until the advent of modern predator-proof fencing, it was globally a relatively rare situation to be able to leave sheep unattended without suffering losses to predators. Thus, sheep were normally under the daily watch of a shepherd and his dogs. However, this was not necessary on the island of Britain and, the sheep were left unattended for extended periods of time to graze on the large tracts of open land present there. Consequently, whenever it was necessary to tend to the sheep, Border Collies had to herd sheep unaccustomed to being worked by dogs. Thus, a lot of Border Collie style, such as very wide outruns, is based upon the breed's historic use on semi-wild sheep that just wanted to flee dogs and on them having worked in large open areas. One should also bear in mind, that since the advent of regular herding trials, many lines of BC have been specifically bred to trial. Their skills at working very small sets of sheep have become very refined as a result of breeding for trialing ability. Additional points to consider are that when BC's move sheep, they walk behind the flock whose shape is roughly circular. They are to grip sheep in the face or legs in response to a sheep's refusal to move off the dog. BC people tend to consider body bites real no-no’s.
In Germany, wolves were not eradicated and graze land was small, patchy and unfenced. Flocks, which generally numbered several hundred, had to be protected from predators and constantly moved to fresh graze, and they had to be contained by the dogs while grazing. Sheep had contact with dogs not just every day, but for most of the waking hours of each day. Most of travel between graze areas was along narrow roads bordered by crops. The sheep were trained to follow the German Shepherd while the German Shepherd's dogs trotted up and down the sides of the flock massaging the flock and keeping it moving. (For those of you who have been confusing it all these years, a shepherd or a German Shepherd is a man who makes his living taking care of sheep. The woman equivalent is a shepherdess. Whereas, shepherd dog or German Shepherd Dog is a dog. The Australian Shepherd breed of dog is doubly misnamed because not only isn't it a man, it isn't even from Australia!) They kept the flock shaped into a column, controlled the width of the column, and guarded against escapes. The dogs were in constant motion while moving the flock.
Graze land was often a harvested field right next to a field still with crops. The dogs patrolled along the furrow at the edge of the field. The dogs knew they were not allowed to enter the graze, which was the sheep's sanction, but were allowed to bite any sheep that exited the graze. Grips were only allowed on the neck or body because only there is there sufficient wool there to protect the sheep from any real damage, unlike the exposed head and legs. Body grips are why GSDs have such long muzzle; a full-mouth grip to the body is much less damaging than a grip done with just the front teeth. The canine teeth were often filed down (lightly, just to dull the sharpness) to prevent injuries from them. Grip positioning was genetically selected for. Many dogs will consistently grip the same part of the body (usually shoulder or rump) because that is where their genes tell them to grip. The dogs were required to release the sheep immediately, and herd her back to the flock. The shepherd showed the dogs the boundary, and the dogs showed it to the flock. The sheep knew that they were safe as long as they stayed within the line defined by the dogs' patrolling. They knew they could graze right up to the line or the dog with impunity. Thus, they settled despite the close presence of the dog. And they knew that if they crossed the boundary, the dog would discipline them. A good dog had the sheep trained not to even try to cross the boundary. Often, the dog has the sheep so well trained that it looks like the sheep don’t even want to cross the boundary or will follow the shepherd anywhere. It looks like the dog isn’t even needed. But take the dog away, and you will see the sheep suddenly develop free will, ingoring boundaries and the shepherd’s call.
Most folks scoff when they first hear about German style herding involving trained sheep. This is because they do not realize that it is the dogs that do the sheep training. They just need to realize that when we talk about "dog broke" sheep we are also talking about trained sheep. People validly complain about having to trial C Course with untrained sheep because the dog has to train the sheep during the run and then gets deducted for having to do so. A trial should test for a dog's ability to enforce rules sheep already know. And sheep will most certainly test the dog's ability to enforce rules.
In German trials, there is a scoring section on gripping. Sheep will test a dog and quickly ignore one who does not grip to demonstrate his authority. A dog that will not give effective grips is useless as a tending dog. Dogs that consistently grip the same location will score higher than dogs that grip various locations on the torso. This is because the ideal is to have a genetic grip rather than having to train for body only grips. A genetic grip placement is more reliably placed than a trained grip placement, because training can slip, but genetics can't. A good shepherd doesn't want to take any chances on his sheep being injured. Obviously, a dog that grips the forbidden zone (legs or head) during a trial won’t score so well. Neither will weak grips.
The dogs had to work close to the flock because there wasn't much room to do otherwise. Nor was there room to do outruns. If a sheep tried to escape, it made no sense to do a wide outrun to try to stop it. As this would mean the dog crashing through and damaging the crops that it was his job to keep the sheep from damaging. Also the crops would block his view. He had to stop the ewe the quickest way possible to prevent her from getting to the crops. This was accomplished by the dog taking the shortest route – a straight line - to the ewe and tackling her, often to the ground, with a full body grip. Indeed, the GSD was bred to grip a sheep every time she dissed him. This has caused many a "thank you" at trials when a dog gripped a breakaway sheep for not respecting his authority/the rules. (Something, every ranch dog needs to do to be effective, but considered inappropriate at most trials.) GSDs are especially likely to get removed because of their full body grip which looks so viscous; yet, it rarely results in injury to stock - unlike the head and leg grips which so many oddly consider the ideal.
German Shepherd Dogs were bred to be exceptionally keen so that they would keep interest in grazing (essentially non-moving) sheep. They were bred so that the slightest movement would excite the dog. This is the main reason why so many Americans fail when trying to train German Shepherd Dogs like they would a much less keen breed such as the Border Collie. They give the dog too much stimulus and send him into over drive.
Some dogs were in constant motion while they patrolled the graze; others patrolled more passively. Regardless, the natural working gait of the GSD is a trot. [I've seen many young GSDs (and I'm not just talking about herding here), that never walked unless restrained. When moving they would always trot, and the highest energy ones would run a lot. It's only when they were more mature, that they moved at slower gaits.]
The goal was to have the sheep relaxed and grazing with the dog in close proximity. Therefore, unlike BCs whose style is to keep the pressure on sheep, GSDs have an assortment of tricks to take the pressure off sheep. This includes feigning disinterest (anti-eye (looking away from the sheep), sniffing, etc.) and turning the body sideways to the stock. Unfortunately, this leads to a lot of bogus "off-contact" deductions in trials by judges whose religion says dogs should keep pressure on the stock to the point of stressing them such as with steady eye and should not allow stock to relax during a hold by turning sideways and looking away as a good GSD will do.
It is important to realize that under historic working conditions, the dogs worked for hours each day, every day. Realize also that beginner dogs would spend months on nothing but graze work, being lead on leash with the shepherd while the flock was moved. Eventually, the dog would be advanced to helping move the flock. One reason, we have so much trouble training sport herding dogs is that we do not give them enough exposure to livestock. An hour or two a week, equates to very little mileage on the dog. The relative rarity of the stock work keeps the excitement level of the dog up way higher than it would be if the dog were adequately settled by having been given a proper amount of exposure to livestock. The methods I discuss below are for starting GSDs. When started properly, after enough mileage, they will be able to work a wide range of stock and situations. However, to get to that point, they must be started very carefully under optimized conditions.
As you have probably surmised by now, herding instinct is not one gene. It is not all or none. As we look at a breed as a whole, there is a great deal of variation in herding talent based on how many and which particular herding genes a particular dog has. Ironically, most people have trouble starting the GSDs that retain the most herding instincts using standard British techniques. They have a much easier time with the dogs that have lost a lot of their heritage. This culling method has the sad consequence that most of the nicely working GSDs out there don't have much talent. And the more talented ones usually get retired quickly due to the inappropriate training methods used on it. No wonder most people think of GSDs as being poor herding dogs.
A GSD that is a German Shepherd's tending dream dog is usually a nightmare to try to start on a small group of sheep. These dogs can be recognized even off sheep by their general nerviness, by the way they are constantly scanning their surroundings and feeding off the slightest bit of stimulus. It can take a lot of work to train them to heel because it is hard to get them to focus intently on you when they seem to think so much of such great interest is always going on in their surroundings. These dogs are best worked German style. They need to be started on graze work and eventually worked up to roadwork as the Germans do. They can compete well in this country in the HGH, the AKC C course or the AHBA French course. Perhaps, after a couple of years, the dog will have settled enough to work small groups of sheep. However, it is possible that he may interpret a small group as having escaped from the flock and feel the need to punish the sheep. To those not understanding the breed, it will look like a predatory attack.
So many people have fought and fought with their high drive GSDs to get them to behave themselves while working the normal 3 to 5 sheep. They then put the dog on boundary work, and it quickly settled down and started doing really nice work. This happened because they finally gave the dogs rules it could live with. Rules that didn't go against all its herding instincts. In herding training, one should always try to work with a dog's instincts rather than against them.
As mentioned above, German Shepherds were bred to work sheep at a trot and to work the sides. Americans want them to work the "normal" way, by walking behind a small group. Many GSDs find it very difficult to move that slowly while working stock. [Even with some that have been trained to work at a walk, you can watch the internal battle that goes on. You can see them applying force to keep the leg from moving too quickly. Oh, the concentration and effort it takes on their part to keep those legs from moving too quickly. ] They want to move at a natural pace, not an unnatural one. Unfortunately, this pace is too fast. The result is either the sheep break away from the handler (which can get real ugly) or the dog rings the sheep. While some GSDs will adapt and slow down, others never will. The latter dogs will never advance in their training no matter how long you work them (in a manner that promotes ringing). These dogs need to be put on a large flock. Fifty would be a good number. They don't have to be worked in strict German style, but don't force them to stay only behind. Many GSDs aren't comfortable when the flock is in a circular bunch when moving. They should be allowed to tidy the sides and make the flock more oblong in shape. Let the dog flow along the sides. A good dog will feel where the draw is and will work that side of the flock.
Many German Shepherd Dogs have lost enough drive that they can be started on small groups of sheep. For the best chance of success, you must use the right type of sheep to start your dog. Only when your dog is solidly trained to Started trial level should you allow it to work sheep other than what I am about to describe. Always keep the stimulus minimized when working a beginning GSD in herding and don't allow wrecks. That is the real key to success.
First, they must have strong flocking instinct. In recent years, with so many sheep kept as small flocks in pens, people have been breeding sheep without selecting for flocking instinct. Some breeds never did have good flocking instinct, such as the Icelandic sheep which have to spread out thinly to find the sparse graze. Or those from areas that historically didn’t have predator problems such as islands. As a result, there are a lot of sheep out there that don't flock very well. This means they won't stay as a tight group, but will scatter when alarmed. And sheep can find an untrained GSD very alarming. Single running sheep brings out the predator in a dog. Each such episode brings you closer to having a ruined dog. Good flocking breeds are all the ones currently still used as tended range sheep and include Rambouillet, Merino and Columbia. Avoid mixing breeds. Ragtag assemblages seldom flock cohesively. Each breed or breed mix will form its own subgroup within a larger flock. An ewe with a set of twins or triplets works especially well as a choice of a small working set. The lambs should be at least two months old to take the exertion. However, the same family group may not stay as well with a larger group as will a single lamb ewe, as multiple lamb ewes often think of themselves as their own group.
Second, the sheep should be of a "heavy" breed. That is, of a breed not easily frightened. Generally speaking, the larger the breed, the heavier its temperament. And woolly sheep tend to be heavier than haired ones. "Light" breeds, such as the commonly used Barbados, escape from the dog far too easily. This leads to chasing and chasing leads to a ruined dog. Now, a GSD of very little keeness or power can be started on lighter sheep to get their interest up, but you wouldn’t want to start a dog of average keeness or power this way. And if the low keeness builds into high keeness and you see things starting to get out of hand, then its time to switch to heavier sheep.
Third, the sheep should be totally "dog broke." That is, they should have been extensively worked in small groups by other dogs. They'll react much better to your dog's enthusiasm if they're dog broke. Better yet, they should be "Velcro." This means they should want to stick to the handler for protection rather than make a run for it when the dog starts getting too excited or pushy.
Although some people think dogs should be started in round pens. I'm a firm believer in having at least one corner in the pen. The objection to corners is that sheep will jam up tightly in a corner and prevent themselves from being worked. However, any dog whose training is worth continuing can easily be taught how to get the sheep out of the corner. Once the sheep learn that the trick doesn't work, they stop doing it. But more importantly, if sheep are bunching up in a corner, you are allowing your dog to overwork the stock. The training method needs to be modified so the livestock are not so stressed. Fix the training, not the pen! Also, beginner border collies tend to have difficulty getting stock out of corners, which may be a driving reason behind the common use of a round pen. In general beginning (and even some advanced) BCs stress out in tight situations. However, our GSDs tend to not have any problems “cleaning corners.” They were bred for tight situations.
I like corners because you can back into them and set it up so that the dog is not able to either move the livestock or circle them. I find this the best way to teach a stop in the presence of sheep. It's also the best way to catch a dog without a line on it. I recommend teaching the out-of-motion stop before you even introduce dogs to sheep. You'll probably end up having to reteach it again on sheep, but nonetheless it does give you a big advantage in starting your dog. The best dogs will feel the pressure of the corner and automatically stop, pull back, and turn sideways when you take the stock there. You stay in the corner until the dog comes to a complete stop. Then, you reward the dog, by stepping out of the corner and letting him move the sheep again.
It can be corner-person-sheep-dog or corner-sheep-person-dog, sometimes one way works better than the other. The idea here is once in the corner, the sheep are stopped. You can prevent the dog from being able to continue to move them by blocking him from going between the sheep and the fence. He can't go wide and out maneuver you in a corner like he can out in the open. When the sheep are stopped, the dog starts to think again. Some dogs will automatically stop when they feel out the situation, and all you have to do is time your Stop command to the natural action of the dog. Other dogs will keep pacing, you just have to wait it out. Resist the temptation to give the Stop command while the dog is still actively trying to get the sheep out of the corner. He probably won't listen, and you've just given an ineffective command. However, if he' s on a line so you or a helper can catch him and give the correction, that's another story.
Speaking of stops, I advise not downing a German Shepherd Dog to stop him. Border Collies are downed because they have strong eye. They do not have the GSDs tricks of looking away or turning sideways to take pressure off they sheep. They must down so they blend into the ground to relieve pressure. BC's naturally work on their bellies, whereas noble breeds like the GSD do not. Our dogs do it upright! They're upstanding in their field! In fact, to a GSD your downing him is demanding that he assume a subordinate position and also to work sheep in an unnatural manner, not just asking him to stop. You are setting yourself up for a fight. Furthermore, when you down a GSD in obedience, they down in any of several positions. But when you down a GSD in herding, he always downs in the sphinx position. This is the working dog's down from which he can launch himself into action. Too quickly usually, resulting in a spooking of the sheep. But when they move again from a standing position, it is a much smoother maneuver and does not spook the sheep. (The best BC handlers make their dogs stand from the down first before having them move toward the sheep again.)
The most important thing to remember when working a beginning GSD on a small group of sheep is to always keep moving and to keep a fast enough pace that the dog won't attempt to circle or grip. GSDs usually circle because they need to move at a minimum pace. If they can't achieve that pace by staying behind the sheep then they achieve it by circling. While circling has its merits as a form of livestock control; it is very dangerous to let GSDs circle. Circling overcharges them. [Even when training dogs that already have a solid herding foundation trained onto them, I'm careful to watch the eyes when doing circling exercises to teach wide flanking. If they start to gleam, I change flank directions before a dog has gone a full 360 rather than do several circles in one direction. It keeps the monster away.] One can prevent circling in a beginning dog by blocking him with crook and body and making him go the other way and then blocking him again when he gets too close to the top on the other side. It is very effective and is a method all BC trainers know, but it takes skill, more skill than many a beginning handler can master before the dog becomes uncontrollable. Another trick is to make ninety-degree turns into the dog as he starts to come around. This will usually result in his changing direction, especially if he has decent balance. Never stop and argue with the dog. He won't stop, and the situation will rapidly get much worse than if you did nothing about it.
Remember, herding is moving livestock. Your dog needs somewhere to take the livestock to. In the case of fetching, that place is to you. If you aren’t moving, you aren’t giving your dog anywhere to move the stock to. So, if you want to be herding, you should set up a herding situation.
Moving too slowly also causes gripping because the dog knows he is moving slower than his German instincts tell him he should be moving, and he knows gripping will speed up the sheep. Moving too slowly also keeps the dog in a stress zone, and he grips or crashes into the stock as a stress release. See Virgil Holland's book "Herding Dogs: Progressive Training" for an excellent detailed description of stress zones. While the standard practice is to walk backwards while herding, many people can't move backwards as fast as they need to. These people need to turn and run! Now, some of you may be saying, "but I can't turn my back on my dog. He tends to be a bad dog, and I need to be able to watch him and correct him." Well, he's only a bad dog because you're a bad handler. If the dog isn't falling in nicely behind the sheep without attempting to grip, the handler is moving too slowly. Once you move at the correct speed, there will be no need to watch for misbehavior. It won't occur because you removed its cause (your slow movement). Proper speed is hard to achieve in a tiny pen. Don't be afraid to move to an arena early in your training; you may find things settle faster than they would in a small pen. If you still insist on being able to watch your dog, get a bicyclist’s rear view mirror that attaches to your sunglasses.
Also, for best development of a thinking herding dog capable of independent work, you shouldn’t be looking directly at the dog. When you do, it inhibits his instincts. When you look at a GSD, he looks back and waits for you to tell him what to do. But if you look away or with just the corner of the eye, he focuses on the livestock and starts thinking for himself about how to do the work. The difference in how a dog works when looked at vs. not looked at can be enormous.
It can be strenuous on both you and the stock (but not a well built GSD) to move at the proper speed. So, keep your sessions short (5 min), quitting before you start to slow down or the stock get too stressed. You can go in again after a rest period. Dogs actually learn better with short training periods. Eventually after you've put mileage on the dog, he will settle, and you will be able to slow things down.
