These dogs don't hunt -- but they herd

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Grand Forks Herald

By Kelly Stone

ST. HILAIRE, Minn. - Farmers and ranchers interested in lowering their fuel costs and exploring the idea of sustainable agriculture may want to take a second look at an old-school way of handling their livestock.

Herding dogs are much more common in the Western Plains and mountain states than they are in the Northern Plains. But here, border collie fans are demonstrating how useful the animals can be, especially for smaller livestock operations.

Michelle Davis lives on a hobby farm near St. Hilaire and owns more than two dozen dogs, 11 of them border collies. She's a professional trainer who regularly participates in obedience, agility and herding competitions. Her farm has chickens and horses, plus a small flock of sheep, which give her dogs real working experience.

"A lot of the people with the border collies do run a couple hundred head of sheep, which mostly supports their pastime of herding their dogs," Davis says. "Most of them who participate in the trials have sheep or cattle because of the dogs. If they got rid of their dogs, they probably wouldn't be in that type of farming anymore."

Davis' dogs also perform in "mutton-bustin" herding competitions at area rodeos. "I do see people getting interested when they see my dogs at the rodeos," she says proudly.

"They can replace 10 men if you let 'em. Most of the farmers around here use four-wheelers, which is fine, but it's a lot easier if you have a dog, too, because the four-wheeler just can't cut like the dog can."

More efficient

Davis demonstrates with two of her reddish-brown and white border collies, 3-year-old Hailey and 2-year-old Walker. Both dogs come from breeders in the Twin Cities area.

Davis enters the pen with Hailey, shutting the gate behind her, but eager Walker neatly vaults over the 5-foot fence to join in. Seeing that something's afoot, the sheep make a beeline for the back corner of the pen. Davis, carrying a white, waist-high wand, gives verbal commands to the dogs, speaking clearly, but not shouting.

"Come by," she commands, and Hailey glides in a smooth semi-circle around the group of sheep, keeping her distance to avoid startling the sheep. "Walk up, Hailey," Davis instructs, and the dog slowly approaches the sheep, head down, front shoulders lower to the ground than her hips.

"Steady," Davis says, and Hailey slows even more. There's a brief staredown, as Hailey "eyes" the sheep, a herding term for the intense eye-to-eye contact border collies use to get sheep's attention. Slowly, the little flock starts moving away from Hailey in a tightknit bunch.

The younger Walker still has some learning to do, and Davis calmly reminds him "steady, Walker" and "down" if he gets too close to the sheep. He drops quickly, front legs and nose flat on the ground, and gets a hearty "good dog, Walker" from Davis.

She offers her expertise, and her flock of sheep, to help other area dog owners train for sheep herding.

Hooked on collies

Tashia Lund has four border collies, and frequently makes the 150-mile round trip from Gilby, N.D., to Davis' farm.

"I've always loved the breed," Lund says. "I went to an open house at the University of Minnesota when I was about 10, and they had agility, flyball and somebody doing herding. I was so hooked.

"My first dog was a border collie cross, and from that point on, I've always been enthralled with them," she grins. "Watching them work and doing their job, you just can't describe it."

Three of Lund's border collies are rescue animals. Siblings Kia and Tucker are 3-year-old red- and-white borders who haven't started serious herd training, yet. Four-year-old Jake is a mellow, but friendly darker-colored border collie whose herding instincts prompted him to chase cars and farm machinery at his previous home. Now, Lund is putting those instincts to better use.

Two-year-old Tara might be considered the princess of Lund's bunch, purchased from a southern Minnesota breeder and destined not only to compete but also to produce at least one litter of registered border collie puppies.

Although she lives on the edge of Gilby, Lund doesn't have much space to work her dogs and is not allowed to keep sheep on her property. Instead, she has a small flock of Indian Runner ducks.

Ducks are used in many herding competitions. Like sheep and cattle, they tend to move in a group, but they're much easier for trainers to handle. Davis says they're a great way to train dogs before moving on to larger livestock.

"For one thing, they won't get hurt being trampled," Davis says, "but also, the ducks make a lot of noise, lots of movement and flapping and that gets the puppies interested in chasing them."

Indian Runner ducks, like Lund's, are especially good for herding. They don't waddle, they run, heads held high and emitting a steady stream of low, throaty quacks.

As her dog, Tara, is turned loose in the yard, the ducks scurry for an indentation in the fence, and the young border collie is clearly frustrated when she can't get them out. Laughing, Lund says that happens a lot.

Hard to beat

Once a dog's herding instincts are properly channeled, Lund says their skills are hard to beat.

"I've noticed there are more people using the herding dogs now than there were even 10 years ago," she observes. "It would take at least five men to do what one dog can do moving cattle.

"Many dog owners believe their pets have a sixth sense, and when it comes to herding, Davis says border collies seem to be uniquely equipped to work with livestock.

"The dogs usually know more about the stock than you do," Davis said. "If you're trying to get the dog to move left, because you want the sheep to go right, the dog might just hold and won't move. It's usually because they know the sheep are going to break in that direction."