German SHEPHERD dog Working Dogs

My phone is as old as the hills and has a small video capacity to take clips of around 5 seconds. I kid you not!

He isn't allowed to interact with the sheep when we are out and about, he is under control - just like any of the working collies. He seems to be starting to enjoy being around the sheep when training, but has never been one to go off chasing them on his own.

I think you are possibly jumping too far ahead. Zak has only been to sheep four times. We are just letting the dog get used to the sheep and vice versa. Either I or Allan will move around the sheep, and encourage Zak to move around them of his own free will - but place yourself in different places, encourages the dog to flank the sheep. We are not putting any pressure or commands as such on yet, just playing around really. No, Zak does not have the same inherent instinct as a border collie, but he does have interest and Allan actually said last night that he feels Zak may even have a little aptitude for the work (so far as a GSD would). As I said, it is very hard not to compare him to a collie, but they are worlds apart - and were bred to be so as well.

We are going to watch a full German HGH Championship Trial tonight, to get more pointers.

Thank you Maxine. I am pleased to continue to post photos etc so long as people are finding it interesting.

So true. I don't think that she has also taken into account that for years she has taken money off people for their pet collie to have a go on sheep. I would think that is a far more dangerous thing to do than to allow a calm and obedient, well trained GSD (who is owned by the wife of a shepherd of nearly 30 years experience) to be trained with the supervision and help of said shepherd on his own sheep. There again, logic doesn't often seem to enter into this person's world any more :?

Last night's session. Zak seems to be appearing to relax around the sheep now, and realise that he is allowed to move freely around them. He flanked them quite nicely on his own and was standing almost nose to nose at one point. He also drove them away a short distance and stopped immediately he was told.

Very proud of my boy









I think the camera has a short video making facility, but I don't think it has sound. Will try it out later.

These are great photos and watching Zak's progress is so interesting. Thanks for posting them - I'm looking forward to seeing the next ones

Thanks LupiLu. I will try and keep the thread regularly updated

Just thought Id add Im finding it interesting to follow this..just so you know there are lots of silent lurkers too

I am loving this please keep us updated it's fascinting. Kirsty im more than happy to come over at some point and video Zak working

Thanks everyone and that would be fab Annette, thanks

Absolutely brill Looks like he is progressing really well, good job Kirsty, Zak and the sheep of course lol!

Thanks Sarah. It all seems to be heading in the right direction so far No training session today as it was just too hot for sheep and dog!

this is better than a soap. (stopped watching those years ago!) i love the way he concentrates on the sheep, so well, and then you just see the slight turn of one ear at a time, to pick up your next command! oh he is doing so good. well done Moobli. Keep them coming please. Good job Zak!
ps. with the olympics coming to an end, this will do me!
c'mon TEAM G S D!!

Thank you Jeagi. I hope to get him to the training sheep at some point today - so long as it isn't too hot again. The other shepherd (human) on the estate has put up a round pen in the training field, so we may make use of that - we will see.

You are doing great Kirsty! Well done Zak

Thanks Azz

These pics taken Friday night - the midgies were hell! :twisted:









Hubby has taken Zak to the sheep a couple of times on his own and sees a difference in Zak, in that he appears more serious about work when I am not around. I think he is too focused on me and not enough on the sheep, so hubby is going to take him alone again today and see whether he can get a bit more out of him.

As I have said before, it is early days yet, but I don't want to make any mistakes that may affect his confidence at this stage.

We always have another dog there to initially gather the sheep up and to keep them from breaking - as there is not a chance at the moment that Zak would be able to gather and contain them himself. I am not sure he ever will be suited to that type of job really, but we will see. I still think the biggest mental hurdle for us at the moment is that Zak is not a collie, will never be a collie, doesn't work like a collie and doesn't have the strong inherent instinct that most working collies possess.

We also have no prior experience to call upon to know just how an untrained GSD (but with herding potential) would be at this early stage of training. Of course Zak is also not from HGH lines.

I think even if the only thing he has learned at the end of all this training is to be totally controlled around sheep then that is fine too, as that is so important where we live.

This is a really interesting website about herding GSDs

http://www.german-shepherdherding.com/

I would love to have been able to speak to Manfred Heyne - what a wealth of experience!

I find it very interesting how he stresses many times in the site how he believes the great herding dogs to be genetically capable. Not sure where that leaves Zak and I I do agree with him in the main though.

He says obedience is genetic. This is a point I have pondered over for the past few days. I guess it also boils down to having respect for his owner/handler and also, to some extent, the leadership shown by the handler. It would have been fascinating to be able to watch Manfred Heyne work his dogs and to speak with him.

I am not sure there are many dogs outside Germany (and few within!) that could do this ...

"Manfred described the original German Shepherd herding dog as being genetically endowed as a herding dog with innate self-reliance / independence, an honest grip, the best temperament, requiring little water when working, not bothered by heat ─ a dog that can tend the flock on his own and to whom the presence of the shepherd doesn’t matter as long as he is allowed to tend the flock. If the shepherd leaves the flock either on foot or by car, it makes absolutely no difference to this herding dog and he will continue to contain the flock working precisely on all four borders hour after hour on his own. "