Herding instincts and trainability can be measured when introducing a dog to livestock or at noncompetitive herding tests. Belgian Malinois, German Shepherd Dogs and Briards are historically tending dogs, who act as a 'living fence', guiding large flocks of sheep to graze, while preventing them from eating valuable crops and wandering onto roads.

The New Zealand Huntaway uses its loud, deep bark to muster mobs of sheep. Other types such as the Australian Shepherd, English Shepherd and Welsh Sheepdog are moderate to loose eyed, working more independently. The Australian Kelpie and Australian Koolie use both these methods and also run along the backs of sheep so are said to head, heel, and back. The heelers or driving dogs keep pushing the animals forward. They consistently go to the front or head of the animals to turn or stop the animal's movement. The headers or fetching dogs keep livestock in a group. Other breeds, notably the Border Collie, get in front of the animals and use what is called strong eye to stare down the animals they are known as headers. Some breeds, such as the Australian Cattle Dog, typically nip at the heels of animals (for this reason they are called heelers) and the Cardigan and Pembroke Welsh Corgis were historically used in a similar fashion in the cattle droves that moved cattle from Wales to the Smithfield Meat Market in London but are rarely used for herding today. ĭogs can work other animals in a variety of ways. Through selective breeding, humans have been able to minimize the dog's natural inclination to treat cattle and sheep as prey while simultaneously maintaining the dog's hunting skills, thereby creating an effective herding dog.

A nine-week-old Border Collie directing ducks.Īll herding behavior is modified predatory behavior. For a complete list of herding breeds, see Sheep dog.

Pastor belga malinois in english