On most mornings, I release my goats out to browse freely across 40 acres of woodlands. When I’m ready to have the goats back in the barn lot, I set Shep out with the instruction to “Put them away.” Within a few minutes, my goats are back at home. He locates the herd and drives it back to where he thinks it belongs. We trained on this task for about three months to get it right. The training was simply repeating the tasks daily with him on a long lead. It didn’t take too much work for his drover’s dog heritage to shine through. Shep does this job for a large Milkbone. More than a fair trade in my opinion.
Prince of Goat Dogs
Tony Bierman, "Prince of Goat Dogs," OBTESA, Accessed November 17, 2024, http://esbt.us/96.