Approximately 5 months ago I had a litter of pups from two of my working dogs my breeding bitch and my new main dog Wage. At eight weeks of age I conduct puppy testing on the complete letter in order to find out there potential herding ability. This helps me to ensure the right pup goes to the right home. The last litter was six pups and their testing scores put all of them into the general herding category. In other words the pups should show good promise as far as herding abilities. All pups went very quickly to new homes and for the most part the screening I do ensure that the pups went to appropriate homes.
Unfortunately one of the pups has been returned to me at approximately 4 months of age. The owner of that pup assured me that they had practical puppy raising experience in addition they also told me what they wanted the pup for. The owners had a very difficult time raising this puppy they were very concerned with some of the behaviors of the pup. Of course I now known no that they did not have a real practical knowledge in raising puppies.
The owners of the pup asked if I would take the pup back and I did. On receipt of the puppy it was only a matter of a couple of hours and I could see that the pup did not have any manners, did not have any discipline, and did not know who the alpha dog was. Within a matter of an hour the pup began to realize who was alpha dog, me, and very shortly started learning manners. It is safe to say that the pup is a very well behaved pup and has exhibited strong herding signs.
At just under five months of age I took the pup to sheep, out of curiosity as I usually do when I have a pup for this length of time, to see how it was going to react to the sheep. I must admit I was very pleased at what I saw. When the pup was brought into the area where the sheep were he hesitated which I expected for a couple of minutes while he sorted out what these things were and then it was just as if somebody had flipped the switch, the pup took off chasing the sheep from behind. The pup did not charge at the sheep but actually went around the sheep and then started chasing them along the fence line. As I’ve been working with the pup a little I did have a recall on him and I was able to pull him off. I then let him go again and he then headed the sheep and then proceeded to chase them down the fence line again. Now this is what I call a very positive result.
Be who you are and say what you feel....
Because those that matter…
don’t mind…
And those that mind… don’t
matter.”
theworkingstockdog 