Herding Basics

Herding plays on the roles of preditor and prey. The livestock are the prey and the dog is the preditor. Depending on how the human is behaving - they can be a member of the flock or a co-preditor. By positioning the handler and the dog in different ways - the livestock are manipulated.

Here are some basic herding terms:

Fetching – the dog brings the stock to the handler

Driving– the dog drives the stock away from the handler

Flanking – the dog moves around the outside of the stock.

“Go Bye”  = moving clockwise, “By the Clock”

“Away” = moving counter clockwise, “Away from the clock”

 

“Walk up” = dog walks towards the stock

“Go or get back” = dog turns off and moves away from the stock.

“Look back” = dog turns to look back to see stock behind him.

"That'll Do" = the dog has completed the task, he should disconnect with the stock and hook up with the handler.