Think predictability is overrated? Check out this Australian Shepherd youngster encountering her very first ducks. We should mention that she is six weeks old. This baby is owned by Deb Domann is the owner whose permission we have to share an impressive video.
Awesome job little one!
Isn’t this precious?
She is doing a super job!
Who is in this dog’s pedigree? This is fantastic!
This is why purebred dogs…because the innate understanding of how to do their job is carried down the line to babies like this. Well done!
Exactly, Carol, we totally agree!
Of course that’s only if the breeding has been done for purpose rather than looks. Not all purebred dogs remain “functional”.
Agreed. Carefully breeding purebred dogs for a purpose and seeing that expressed in the offspring is the best a breeder can attain!! This pups work ethic is awesome!!
When approached by a friend who knew of an Aussie adopted out of a pet shop 3 times -and returned 3 times – I agreed to bring “The Terror” to my goat farm. Bad move. Goats will follow you anywhere, but they get angry if herded. My queen cold-cocked him, but that didn’t dissuade him from herding. He herded the chickens, the cats, company and even me when he wanted to be fed. When I took the goats on browsing walks, he would ‘pretend’ to herd them from at least 50 yards away. Amazingly, he determined the property boundaries within his first 24 hours with us and never strayed. A fierce protector, friends resorted to calling ahead so I could restrain him. The working instinct is all well & good, but it can become exhausting to deal with. His loving spirit made his high-strung personality tolerable. After 7 yrs, we lost him to complications from diabetes. IOW, I would never recommend an Aussie as a pet. These are working dogs and if you don’t have a job for them, they’ll create their own job.
Thank you Mary for what you’ve noted. I was invilved with Aussie rescue in So Ca for 30 yrs. These are the things that I relayed, counseled, railed about to new owners and/or buyers… a zillion times. One may think that they want a dog/ breed that’s “active and intelligent”. It’s often the last thing they *need* (re the right fit) [chuckle].
Apologies for typos and spelling. And my rescue years were about twenty, not thirty.
and it may well be a job you don’t want them to do, or one that doesn’t ‘need’ to be done at all!
She has good eye for an aussie and stay off them very nice.
WOW Amazing and she is just adorable!!!
Not as young but here is a 12 week old Clumber Spaniel using her nose as she was bred to do, hunting for scent in a tracking exercise. As you can see, she had no problem finding the glove. At 4 months she worked variable surface problems going up and down hills and also locating metal and plastic articles on her way to the leather glove.
It’s a beautiful thing, Jody!! She’s marvelous.
My girl Callie looks just like this pup. She has always herded the cats and my grandson lol
It must be pretty amusing, LeAnn, to watch Callie in action. Living with a herding breed, ourselves, we know how it goes. We haven’t walked a straight line in our house since 1978, the Pulik insisting we get to our destination THEIR way.
We must stop breeding ‘JUST’ for appearance – it is ruining many dogs – loosing the work ethic, even if the ‘job’ was simply being a ‘Companion’ – and we must remind our judges in conformation that ‘pretty is’ is not always ‘as pretty does’…. when they fail to not place dogs that are so far from the standard, and only put up ‘the best of what is put before them’… and that dog goes on winning because ‘Judge XXX’ put him/her up, or because everything is being bred to that dogs appearance – not the Breed Club Standard … and most Judges today came up thru the ranks of Professional Handlers – not old time breeders who knew the standard like the back of their hands, and bred to that standard. Just a rantrave …
A good point, Kathryn, and one we’re glad you made. We find it disheartening that in some breeds, there seems to be a “field type,” and a “show type,” when in our naiveté, we think that a sound dog that meets its breed standard should fare well in both endeavors.
Excellent, Kathryn. I agree 100%. Too many breeds have been weakened or destroyed by the groups that have “jurisdiction” over what makes the best of a breed.
Is it just me or is that cruel to the ducks because they are terrified?
We suppose it depends upon how you look at it, Nicole. We personally didn’t see ducks that were terrified as much as they were irritated at being moved about. The pup and fowl were supervised, so no harm came to either. We don’t know of a good substitute for ducks that will help a youngster learn his herding craft, and remember, this was a 5 week old puppy.
This is so messed up. Torturing ducks so some inbred creature can learn his “craft?!” Something you can objectively see is not a viewpoint. Grow up. Responses are agreement with this sentiment.
“Responses,” as in plural form, Andrew? We counted one other comment in line with yours, and we regard that one as misguided as your own. How do you think farmers and ranchers have moved sheep, geese, cattle, and pigs around from one pasture or pen to another over centuries? We can promise that wasn’t by asking them to line up in single file and move quietly. Neither is it in the best interest of people who own livestock to have a vicious dog work their animals. Grow up? We suspect that it’s you who needs to visit some farms, ranchers, and heritage breeders to see how the world actually works.
And did we miss the part where you read the dog’s pedigree to see if, in fact, this particular youngster is line bred, outcrossed, or, as you sneer, “inbred?” Oh wait, we’re guessing that you think all purebred dogs are inbred, another testament to your evident lack of knowledge on the topic. You may want to read the results of a 2013 study conducted on the records of over 90,000 purebred and mixed breed dogs by researchers at the University of California, Davis. They found that mixed breeds don’t have an advantage when it comes to inherited disorders.
What we find “messed up” is the moral high ground of the tone you take over a subject you seem to know little about.
That was all I could think of. When my cat starts something like that with a live critter I intervene. Ducks aren’t raised to be herded, least of all by the inexperienced.