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Hav Herding Instinct

19K views 75 replies 42 participants last post by  katkoota 
#1 · (Edited)
Okay, I will first say, I was a complete skeptic. I thought often times people said havs were herders cause they wanted them to come across smarter than other toy breeds. I decided to try it myself and see what it was about. Dasher has some very unique personality traits so I thought he would be a good dog to try it with. If the tunnel blows in the yard he runs around nuts. You saw him with the snow video, and I knew he had a lot of drive from doing obedience and agility. So yesterday I show up to the herding instinct test. Dash nor I have never seen sheep that close. I watch as many non herding breeds walk in and stand back look at the sheep and comb the ground for food, failing the instinct test. So I thought it was just going to be fun to see them and really wasn't expecting Dash to have any interest. Well it is my turn.... we go in and Dash turns into a different dog. He has never seen sheep, they are HUGE, and they are actually a bit defensive when Dash approaches them, they turn around and stomp their hooves. I was worrying about saving myself!!! Well Dash could care less and his little inner big dog totally takes over. Dash passed the herding instinct test in about 1 minute!!! Let's just say I really was asked what kind of dog he was by everyone there. He was insane and they loved his drive. They did say we would have to get his barking under control but that is very common for a high drive dog seeing sheep for the first time (Dash is normally not like this- he scored a 99 in rally 30 mins ago!). I think it paid off when he was a puppy everyone asking if he was a baby border collie. Now he is just a pocket BC with a better coat :)


I will add the video of the first few minutes (I had one of the testing guys take!)
 
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#3 · (Edited)
Here is the video of Dasher's first few minutes. The instructor quickly told me he has instinct and was trying to show me how to work Dash- I had no clue what I was suppose to do as all the dogs I watched before me had no interest and I get crazy dog! Notice how he takes the leash to show me!!! HAHAHA! I think he was just excited to a "hav a what!" in the ring. He actually lives about an hour from me so I am gonna get on his list for herding training and see if we can't make it out a few times.
 
#6 ·
What will you come up with next??? :pound: You never cease to amaze me with all you come up with to do with your pups. This is totally cool! I love how Dash isn't fazed one bit by those big ol' sheep.

Oh, and BTW, they have shepherding classes out in Norco where Tori's vet is. I wanted you to know that so WHEN you return to CA you'll know where to go to continue his training :biggrin1:
 
#9 ·
How totally fun and awesome, Amanda!

I definitely think Havs have a herding instinct. I can see it in Scout more than Lincoln. My friend had Pulis before she got a Hav and she said she was amazed that the Havs reminded her so much of the Pulis in regard to the herding kinds of movements.

I'm amazed Dash knew what to do with sheep. I'd always thought sheep would be too big. I thought it would be fun to get a bunch of chickens together and see what Scout would do with them!
 
#11 ·
Amanda, that is SO cool! I'd love to try Tucker at that, too. But, short of that (the nearest herding place is about 3 hours away,) I'll content myself with watching videos of Dash and you learning.

Thanks so much for the video!! You were a VERY good Forum member to remember us ahead of time!

:biggrin1:
 
#16 ·
The problem is Dash can't do a herding trial even if we trained :( They are reserved for "herding breeds." But I still think it would be fun to do and try and teach him more. I also find it very interesting. I wanted to see them do some real herding with trained dogs. Now I want to take Dora too to see what she does! This was about 3 1/2 hours away but the judge who was in the video-his children have BCs and sheep an hour away from me and they occasionally have training clinics. You really kind of let them get wild and react in the instinct test. I wish I would have taped some other dogs to show you how different Dasher was compared to some other non herding breeds. If you see a big grin on my face it was because I was expecting him to look for sheep poo like some of them! The handler never corrects the dog and it is just done based on instinct. You are allowed to praise and encourage but I didn't even get a chance. I wasn't sure what I was suppose to do with Dash and I was startled when he started to get out of control but ideally when the sheep turns defensive toward your dog, you want the dog to react and as you can hear Dash did and didn't stop! I wanted to try sheep as with the ducks or chicken would just turn into prey as Dash chases any bird in the backyard. You can see at first a few times he turned around to look at me like Mom, are you going to yell at me for this? I should have given him over to someone who knew what they were doing- maybe I will if we go to a place for a lesson :) He did tell me you can train a lot of things but you can't train drive and that is something Dash wasn't lacking. You can see how much he pulled and barked.
 
#18 ·
You go, Dash!

Lola herds everything, or attempts to, including very large dogs at the dog park and people in intersections. I have been wishing I could take her to Key West to see how she would do in a place full of chickens! Test that Cuban breed a bit.
 
#21 ·
I had no clue what he was suppose to do either- none of the dogs I watched did anything! :) What they are suppose to do is have some interest in the sheep initially but when the sheep turns around (defensive nature), that is when they are suppose to have more interest. This is just the herding instinct test. There are a lot more tests. He did say Dash would have to learn not to bark so much but it is very common even for herding dogs the first time they are on sheep. But when Dash gets very excited this is what he does- he did this the first time in the conformation ring, agility ring, etc.
 
#22 ·
Way coooooolll !!! I'd have loved to be there with you, Amanda. You drove over 3 hrs. to do this?! I don't know whether to be impressed or worried!! :suspicious: :pound:

Dash wasn't too sure the first few seconds, but boy he went right for the sheep in no time. I can't imagine having a clue what to do, but I suppose that's what lessons are for. :biggrin1:

I'm glad you shared this with us, Amanda! It's always fun to see what you do with your pups. :whoo:
 
#23 ·
Great Video Amanda :)
Dash looks like he was having a wonderful time chasing his new "toys" lol
Todd likes to herd everything, dogs, cats, kids...I have friends with sheep...I wonder what he'd do??
 
#24 ·
#33 ·
OMG! I was laughing when they put the lights on the sheep! Ooooh! Christmas Sheep! :pound: Until they started herding and made a visual of the game 'Pong'...for those of you UNDER the age of er...30, this was THE game to have before all the video games came out....I told my kids about it and they looked at me like, wow...really exciting eh Mom? Sheesh I'm old :suspicious::pound:
 
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