This came up a group I’m in, and I thought it was worth discussing here. We see a lot of folks, especially those who aren’t trainers/sports folks, mistakenly attribute a lot of misbehavior to “he’s a herding dog.”
From killing small animals, to chasing cats, to true biting (not playful nipping), we often hear this refrain. “He just needs to get control of his herding drive”.
Tough love time: A dog who does these things doesn’t have good herding drive. In fact, he has the opposite of good herding drive. While it’s true they both are rooted in the desire to make something move, that’s where the similarity stops. A good herder only puts their teeth on something when they have to. A good herder should able to herd baby ducklings without causing harm just as easily as he can herd rank heifers. That’s not to say a dog can’t hurt another animal due to herding drive. Young dogs especially have to learn to moderate their bite (known as “grip” in the herding world) to an appropriate level. However, true herding behavior that causes accidental injury does not look ANYTHING like prey/hunting drive. Prey drive is often triggered randomly by movement. A small animal moves, the dog attacks. You will also see dogs with high prey drive intently watch their target with tense body language and then pounce. Herders will nip at heels and noses. Prey drive hunters will go for throats or underbellies. Over enthusiastic young herders may run off and chase stock but that chasing should never look aggressive or violent. You won’t see stiff body language. Older herders will *initiate* the movement of the stock vs responding to the movement of the stock. They aren’t chasing; they’re guiding.
Excess prey drive in a herder is neither acceptable nor normal. As a goat farmer, I assure you nothing gets you cut from a herding dog program like violence to small animals. It's the one thing I will rehome a dog for in a heartbeat. Once they've killed they're almost never trust worthy again. Again, I'm referring to deliberate killing not to injury via over exuberant herding or harrassing stock until it dies of stress. Those are herding issues, not prey drive. Also note that a dog who has prey drive towards birds may be fine with goats/sheep. One that has prey issues with small stock may be fine with cattle. There are different varieties of prey drive that occur.
I had to rehome my best agility dog several years ago due to small stock prey drive. He'd have probably made an excellent cow dog. He was an ACD and I spent 4yrs, several thousand dollars in professional training, and a lot of energy and effort trying to “fix” him. I ended up with several dead cats and goats for my effort before sending him to live with a friend with no cats or livestock.
Over-exuberant herding might cause a dog to pull another animals leg out of socket or cause a bite on the nose. It will not cause them to rip a throat open.
While herding instinct must definitely be factored into training, we must never blame aggression or violence on herding.
Aggression refers to behavior that is aimed at other dogs or humans. Neither human aggression nor dog aggression is related to prey drive OR herding drive. These are all separate issues. We can't use "herding" as an excuse for these things.
Herding causes playful chasing. Herding causes playful nipping beyond the puppy stage (all puppies are nippy/mouthy, most outgrow it). Herding causes dogs to circle small children. It does not cause them to viciously bite or savagely attack another animal or a person. If that should happen, you are dealing with something beyond herding drive.
Let me stop a minute to address puppy nipping. ALL puppies nip/mouth. Herding dogs seem worse about it but it's not something specific to them. Every puppy I ever had from chihuahuas to Mastiffs like to nip at hands and noses. This is a training issue. If it's continuing past 6 months, this isn't because your dog has "high herding drive". It's because you haven't corrected his behavior consistently enough. I will say that herding dogs tend to be more difficult to break of this though. This also doesn't indicate violence or prey drive. Again, all puppies do this.
Other things not related to herding drive or prey drive include aggression to humans and aggression to other dogs.
The good news is that true prey drive is not horribly common. What is common, and it's somewhere in the middle, is what I colloquially refer to as "chase drive". Some dogs love to chase. They don't want to catch it, and if they do, they don't know what to do with it. They also don't want to round it up or herd it. They just want to chase.
Almost all dogs have some level of chase drive and this is generally fixable with a little training. This should *also* not be mistake for true prey drive. True prey drive is violent and intense, and if you see it, you'll know it. A dog is much more likely to kill a chicken by harassing it to death than actually *trying* to kill it.
It's important to know what you're looking at in order to find the best way to proceed with training. If you aren’t sure if your dog has prey drive vs herding drive, I strongly recommend bringing in a professional to help.
Below are a few pics of my boy Nago herding to illustrate some herding concepts. The statements I'm making here apply to aussies/MAS. Border Collies have very different body language and style.
Also note the dogs in these photos are all young and in training.
Notice Nago is just holding the gate. He is not randomly running at stock. A young dog may run at stock at first, but once they have a little training, they'll understand that isn't their job. A dog with prey drive attacks first and thinks later. He's acting on instinct.
Notice he's just holding the stock again.
Nago's expression here is happy and laid back. He does not look tense or overly focused. He's having a good time. Dogs with high prey drive often have tense body language and an intense stare (note that an intense stare is NORMAL in herding border collies but not in aussies).
Look at this happy body language in my young puppy Sonic as she learns to herd!
Again, notice the loose body language and joyful demeanor in Spyro.
Spyro here is watching the sheep intensely but she's not running at them. She's circling and watching.
Notice that this doesn't look "violent" even though he's technically lunging at them. He's trying to make them move but he isn't trying to single one out to attack.
After holding the gate, one of the goats makes a move to sneak by. Rather than immediately biting or chasing, he stands his ground and barks. His job here is to hold them; not chase them.
What's significant here is that he is aiming his bite at the haunches. This encourages stock to move forward. He isn't going for the throat or underbelly the way a dog with severe prey drive may.
Our herd queen Christine is not moving here. Nago is giving her a chance though. A good stock dog is patient.
At this point, he's already tried to move her from behind and failed. She wasn't having it. He's now trying to get her to back up and return to the herd and using his voice to encourage that. FYI, this is why you need to be careful training young dogs on goats. They can be stubborn enough to mess with their confidence!
Notice his frustration here. He never did get her to move and I called him off to keep him from getting more upset or loosing confidence.
Here are some good pics of the dogs circling. Circling behavior is herding oriented.
I hope this blog has helped explain a little bit more about herding vs prey drive vs chase drive. I'm not a herding expert; I don't herd competitively. I'm just a girl who's lived her life around livestock and herding dogs. A pro may give you different advice than this, but this is what has proven true for me over the year.
One last note: all of these drives are genetic. If you have a dog with human aggression, prey drive, dog aggression, etc, this is not a reflection on you or your training. It's not "all in how you raise them". These are DRIVES, aka instincts. There is only so much that can be done to manage them!
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