Need Good Ol' Chicken Dog

[hellbender]

As a child we had English shepherds and a Scotch collie, working dogs all. The first dog preceded me, dying when I was about three and he was 14. Because he was black and white and born on a nearby sheep farm, I assumed he was a border collie. But later on realized he was calmer than a BC (maybe just old then), herded but didn't have the "eye" , was an excellent guard dog and my uncle and older cousin hunted with him. My parents called him a "farm collie" and later I realized he was very English shepherdy.
My father, returning home through Iowa brought out first English shepherd with papers. As an adult, I wanted another of these wonderful working dogs, but couldn't find any and assumed their gene pool had been absorbed into that of the Aussie or BC.
There were pockets of English Shepherds left and because of the internet, people were able to find each other. At one point the breed may have been as low as 2,000. Now there could be as many as 8,000.
These intelligent dogs can excel at so many jobs, herding, hunting, guarding........It would be a shame if these dogs were lost to posterity.

Wrong again...at least partially. Many Cur breeds have been adopted (shangahied) by AKC as well as UKC.

Everything else seems correct. The Old Farm Collie was advertised in Full Cry for many years and likely still is if that magazine is still in print. I got it for about 45 years.

I also bred/owned the first Mt. Cur that was registered by UKC....Cosmo


RON

 

[dekel18042]

Wrong again...at least partially. Many Cur breeds have been adopted (shangahied) by AKC as well as UKC.

Everything else seems correct. The Old Farm Collie was advertised in Full Cry for many years and likely still is if that magazine is still in print. I got it for about 45 years.

I also bred/owned the first Mt. Cur that was registered by UKC....Cosmo

Good lucking dog. Since their coffers are down, it looks as though AKC is willing and trying to add many breeds that the breeders themselves don't want added. So they get a breed club going under their auspices and add the breed, often splitting it in the process. Look at the Jack Russell/Parson Russell debate. In some cases same dog, two different registries and "different" breeds. There is a world of difference between the working border collie and show border collie.
Thankfully the English Shepherds are still not AKC registered. And hopefully never will be. There are three registries in which they can be registered but AKC is not one of them. There was a push for AKC registration during the 50's, even to the point those favoring it wanted one color only (black and tan) out of the four colors. Thankfully UKC was a better fit, but even now some of the ES breeders are backing off from that as they don't want the dog shown.
But back to the list topic, many of these breeds make excellent farm dogs, excelling at the task given.

 

[dekel18042]

Dekel 18042, you've inspired me to start a new thread specifically related to English shepherds. I would love to hear about other people's experience with them and find out more about people who might raise them and where to get them. Maybe on that thread you can let me know where you got yours, although Pennsylvania is a little far from me!

The one we have now came from Stony Creek English Shepherds in Michigan. She has a website and is on facebook under that name. My husband used to fly to Michigan for work, met the puppy and he was flown in. You can join [email protected] and learn more about the breed. The dogs are really smart, but definitely need a job to do, or they will find one and it might not be the job you want.
At one point one breeder drove halfway across the US to breed to a dog who one on one could kill badgers. Can't think of the name right now but there is a breeder in PA near Pittsburg who breeds ES and trains and uses them for search and rescue. Her name might be Heather Hollihan or something similar.

 

[hellbender]

 

[hellbender]

A black mouth cur:





A red heeler:



In case anyone wanted pictures.

These are my two Heelers... great flock protectors, once they got the stuff down. The male is a year older and came first...he wasn't especially difficult to teach about chickens but the ***** was quite a handful....it took a while but it she finally got it and when a Heeler 'gets something'....they got it...lol

 

[dekel18042]

Since this thread has dogs in it thought I'd post a picture of our new pup, Yuma. This is his first introductions to the bantams (They're about his size.) They took to each other and follow him around. Already he tries to herd the large fowl. While not good at predator control, shelties make excellent alarm clocks as well as competition and can do anything dogs (agility, obedience, flyball, herding, and barn hunt to name a few.)
What I found interesting is that the chickens are used to our dogs but are quick to sound the alarm call when anything else comes along. And yet when we walked out and put Yuma down they just watched. Soon they were checking him out and he, them. With us right there to intervene, if necessary. This makes me wonder if chickens sound the alarm to something strange (One windy fall day they were shrieking an alarm to falling leaves) or whether they have predatory behavior imprinted on their brains. If a strange cat walks by, they sing, this new little guy, nothing. Or maybe the fact that we and the other dogs were there made it seem OK.

 

[the poppster]

Cute pup...yes your birds can discern the difference between men and women...between one woman and another...my birds don't do much when my border collie stalks them along the fence or lays there and stares at them....the corgi challenges the Roos thru the fence...no big deal...but let my neighbor walk his lab pup over into the yard...or my sister bring her Shelties over for a visit and All Hell breaks out....from the moment they see the Strangers...think about where they came from....if you need to survive in a jungle you had better be aware of your surroundings....and tell the difference between friends and predators. They are not so much "Smart" in a human sense...but they are smart in a bird sense...

 

[Finnie]

Since this thread has dogs in it thought I'd post a picture of our new pup, Yuma. This is his first introductions to the bantams (They're about his size.) They took to each other and follow him around. Already he tries to herd the large fowl. While not good at predator control, shelties make excellent alarm clocks as well as competition and can do anything dogs (agility, obedience, flyball, herding, and barn hunt to name a few.)

I read through all 13 pages of this thread hoping someone would bring up Shelties.

They may not be guardians, but they are great all around working dogs. Here is my 14 year old named, coincidentally, Birdie:

 

[animalspooker]

A real beauty dekel. Is he for hire?

 

[dekel18042]

I read through all 13 pages of this thread hoping someone would bring up Shelties.

They may not be guardians, but they are great all around working dogs. Here is my 14 year old named, coincidentally, Birdie:

Birdie is a tri like our Glory. And, yes, shelties are good little working dogs, just not a match for the big predators. Here is Yuma at 3 months going out and bringing back some bantam hens he felt had strayed too far.