Beware of opening doors you don’t intend to use

The only thing worse than an untrained herding dog coming across stock is a herding dog who has learned just how fun stock are to chase but not had the control put around it.

All of our dog breeds have been developed for very specific purposes over the centuries, and providing an outlet for these instinctive drives is crucial to their behavioural wellbeing. However we need to be thoughtful about how we do this, or risk opening a door with unintended consequences.

Though this post is regarding herding breeds, the concepts also apply to other categories such as gun dogs, terriers, guarding breeds and more. Before you dabble in their intended purpose, make sure you’re committed to seeing it through to prevent issues - and if not, find a sensible surrogate activity that hits similar buttons (the same part of the predatory action sequence) but won’t be as problematic if you’re not so invested in the control piece.

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Coaching owners for better lives with their unemployed working dogs - Waipa & Hamilton NZ

Hello@wolfedogs.nz