Mother nature can be a curse or a blessing. She can cause crop failure, poor climate conditions for livestock, and make for a awful hunting season. She can also turn all of that around and give you the best year you have ever had. She has a hand in every aspect of life. In my particular case, she gave me time to correct a decision I had made in haste. I was on a roll teaching everyone about training a hunting dog and getting a new one for myself. But I’ve decided I am not going to buy another one when I have one I am still training. You see, I put a deposit on a German short hair puppy that had not yet been conceived. The dogs heat (do to mother nature) had stalled and she has not yet become ready. This has given me and my wife time to discuss weather or not I needed another hunting dog or is I needed a herding dog.
In my normal bull headedness I said no, at first, but the good Lord stepped in and an opportunity came up for us to increase our herd tremendously. After trying to get almost 20 sheep and goats into our corral by myself, we decided to switch gears and get some sort of herding dog.
I have been around four different breeds of herding dog – border collie, blue healer, Australian shepherd, and German shepherd. If I had just sheep, any of these dogs would work, but the goats have a shortage of fear so I decided that bigger is better. I am choosing the German shepherd because they’re intelligent, willing to learn, great with kids, and big enough to take it if one of my goats gets an “attitude”.
Some people might ask, “How can one guy need so many dogs?” I believe dogs were put on this earth to work beside us as man’s best friend. Almost any job has a breed of dog that can excel at helping you get it done. If I can use a dog to make something easier or more fun, I will.
That’s why I have such a strict code of conduct when it comes to my four legged tail wagging friends. Training herding dogs and hunting dogs is totally different. The same ground rules apply so we will start there. When it’s time, we will train both. God bless!
