My English Shepherds need a purpose.
by Cheryl Johnson
In December, I was able to assist two of my English Shepherd boys earn their AHBA HTAD 1-s titles. These two three year old litter brothers, Miles and Red, are grandsons of Woods Connor (Wilson lines), Woods Ciara (Beebe lines), Blacksheep Rowdy Yates and Blacksheep Gift of Gab . They live on our Pennsylvania crop farm with their mother, Katy-Ann (8 years), sister Gracie and our two new additions, Lilly and Luke. They are three month old pups of Gracie and Yukon (Wilson line) pups.
Since we still have no livestock, I feel I need to evaluate my dogs for their ability to work around livestock and how they interact with livestock before considering breeding them. I grew up on a large dairy farm and want my dogs to continue to be all around farm dogs that I grew up with 50 plus years ago. I don’t want a dog that the livestock are chasing. As my dad would tell me, “we need an English Shepherd because those other dogs run with their tail between their legs when the cow/bull confronts them”.
So, I retired and decided to try to compete a few times with Katy-Ann’s pups. Herding off the farm is not easy. Maybe I feel this way because I didn’t have as much trouble working my dogs with the dairy cattle when I was growing up. For consistency, I go to the same trainer who owns Aussies. I started with her at my friends sheep farm with the pups mother Katy-Ann (pictured on left.) Katy-Ann has a lot of presence, which her breeder says was an issue with her mother Ciara (Beebe dog). I recently asked him why Ciara never got a title and he explained. I tried a couple clinics elsewhere with my dogs and we did okay. The last clinic was a disaster because Red and I just couldn’t get our act together in the round pen (small circular round pasture). I have a hard time working my dogs without a purpose and I know Red can sense that. Going in circles without accomplishing something doesn’t seem to work for me or my dogs. So, I decided to stay at my Aussie trainers place because not only could I work in larger pastures, but I could work with a purpose and the dogs became used to her animals and pastures. Also, my dogs don’t like working for others. I am also able to trial there.
All my dogs have gone through basic obedience classes, so when introduced to the sheep we had a solid sit and stay. Down was hard for them because of the excitement. My trainer and I decided a solid stop, whether sitting or standing was a win. Miles was the first to start on the sheep (pictured below), he doesn’t get too excited and he was the dog with the most obedience work. On the 4th visit to the sheep we were able to pass our 
Junior Herding Dog tests. I think I am at a distinct disadvantage because I have no livestock at home. Miles works for me to please me. In fact at the end of our work, when I put his leash on to leave the pasture, he does the happy dance, asking me “did I do okay”. Miles does not always know what I want him to do because we don’t do this on our farm. He doesn’t always get around the stock like he should. If I had my own livestock he would be able to see the pattern of the work and I am positive he would step in and do what I wanted. Miles and I then progressed to practicing for our HTAD 1 trial. I found that Miles becomes easily bored. He does not want to repeat an activity. So, we would take the sheep out of the paddock, walk the course, return the sheep to the paddock and quit for the day. Always trying to end on a positive note. This way we felt he thought he was accomplishing his “job”. Because I wasn’t using my whole lesson time, I started taking his brother Red. Red is my agility dog (pictured below). Red is fast and not quite as patient as his brother, but he loves to work for me. He doesn’t get as bored as his brother Miles, but can be a challenge sometimes because he incorporates some agility into his herding. The instructor at the clinic Red attended with me, picked up immediately that Red was an agility dog, because he was doing rear crosses to get to the sheep! Some days practicing for our HTAD were 
good and other days it was a disaster. My trainer thinks maybe my dogs would be better at driving the sheep. Both boys weren’t always getting around the sheep like they should. I had to work with a purpose, watch the dog and the sheep and make sure my dog was in the right position each time. Obedience training really paid off. We do need more work on our come by and away to me, as well as trying some more driving. Our English Shepherds on our dairy always drove the cattle. As an 8 year old, I took my first pair on long lines, a mile down the road and would bring the cattle home. There wasn’t a whole lot of training. They caught on pretty quickly to our work pattern and after a bit, they were allowed to work individually offline, moving the cattle from the pasture, into the stanchions and then also helping at milking time (getting cows up that were lying down).
I am happy with my instructor, because she really tries to work with us and understand the English Shepherd. They aren’t easy to herd with off the farm with strange stock like other breeds.
I haven’t taken Red and Miles sister Gracie to as many herding lessons because she has either been in season, or this fall she had her first litter. She did easily pass her AHBA HCT. Lessons are 2 hours away and expensive, plus we do live on a working farm and time is precious. Gracie (pictured on right) has a lot of presence like her mother, 
but is a dog that quickly picks up on what you want and will try to enforce it. And she doesn’t quit. I feel she is the best of the 3 pups of Katy-Ann’s that I kept. She is the dog that would go and get the cattle for you for milking without being asked. Last night I had Luke (her 3 month pup) in the kitchen. I told him “no” to jumping on the puppy fence. The next time he jumped up, Gracie walked over, took her front leg like an arm, and threw Luke to the kitchen floor (he weighs 25 pounds). She pinned him and when he resisted, held him longer. She did this 2 more times until he figured out, “I shouldn’t do that”. I see her doing things like this all the time. Gracie had a grin on her face for 2 hours after reprimanding Luke because she thought I was happy with her work. I will work on Gracie’s livestock skills more this summer. Most of her pups went to small acreages with livestock, so I am anxious to see how they do in the future.
I don’t know if we will continue on with more titles or not. It is hard work, plus the time and expense. I will take the two pups, Luke and Lilly, to visit the sheep later this year. I am sure they will have a great time working!