Several times a year someone will ask me how long it takes to train a Border Collie. This question pops up on goose control client visits, herding demonstrations or at sheepdog trials. I usually say something like, the length of time depends on the dog and the handler. Then I grin and say something like, now that I know more it takes less time, I don’t have to go back and fix so many mistakes. But the rule of thumb is you start working with Border Collies when they are a few months old on the basics and by the time they are 3 or 4 years old they may be considered fully trained. This usually stops a few people short who ask that question. Any pup to dog is a huge investment in time or should be. Dogs we partner in work with probably take a bit more time to teach and build a relationship with. Herding is a simple concept but to get it right, there are a lot of complexities.
Getting the training and work right with Border Collies, whether it is working wild geese or sheep, means understanding the relationships. A handler needs to know how the dogs thinks and reacts and that goes for the sheep or geese as well. Each Border Collie has his or her own personality, so that’s a variable too. Wild Canada Geese seem to be somewhat similar to each other by nature. But Border Collies have been breed for hundreds of years, lets say, to accommodate different farmers’ needs. Some farmers, shepherds, may want a quiet dog, others a more active dog. Sheep breeds vary in nature and the terrain of a farm plus other factors can play on a farmer’s mind when it comes to what type of dog will do.
A handler learns with time, as does a maturing Border Collie just the right way to work with sheep and or wild geese. The object is to get the job done with no harm but without taking undue time. The watchword may well be , go carefully. This allows the Shepard to work with any stage of the goose control or farm year, including the all-important lambing time, handling mother sheep and their young lambs on pastures and in barns. And for goose control handlers to work families with young, which can make a big a big habitual mess of properties. Herding or herd-chasing geese does come down to how much space is in between the dog and the sheep/geese. Get too close and the sheep get too worried about being moved by a dog. Get too far away from geese or sheep and the job can not be done.The distance, flight distance, depends on how “strong” the dog is, the speed of the dog and how wary the sheep/geese are.
Yes, different sheep, breeds of sheep have different flight distances and geese will act more wary as the hazing process progresses. We actually do not herd-chase families of geese with young, but herd as we do ewes with young lambs. This means that the speed of the dog slows a bit while working but the distance between dog and ewes with lambs and families of geese, at first is closer than normal. This is because of the mother’s tendency to stay still very close to their young. But as the fast growing lambs and gooslings mature, in a matter of a few weeks good respect on both ends is established.
Distance and time while herding or herd-chasing is varable depending on the situation,sheep,geese, individaul dog,dogs and handeler. A good herding dog understands what time to take and the space to work in, with. And a good handler “gets” how to adjust depending on the dog’s experience or individual skill according to the situation.