Incredible herding dogs guide ducks through an obstacle course

[Mister44]

Youth is wasted on the young

[Bernel]

I met one who had two border collies and had trained one on Swedish commands and one on English. Sounded a bit odd, but it worked.

[Ministry]

@KatjaKat

The whistles are commands, usually to circle left, right, stop and go.

Sure, but I meant that at least in my limited experience of watching the practice in one small part of the country the shepherd seemed to use those commands very sparingly, generally letting the dogs get on with it.

[euansmith]

@frauenfelder

Three herding dogs expertly guide a group of ducks through a hula hoop and a human arch.

I misread that as “Tree herding dogs…” and thought that’s just some lazy dogs that like to hang around trees. Everyone knows what real tree-herders look like, and it ain’t dogs.

[L0ki]

I’m always amazed to find out what people will do as a hobby.

Competitive herding as an event for non-farmers/people without easy access to sheep would never have occurred to me.

Then again I grew up with One Man and His Dog as the pinnacle of TV sports.

@Ministry

I frequently watch sheepdogs working in the English Lake District, and the whistling seem to indicate things like “yes, that group” or “hang on, you’ve missed one”; beyond that, the dogs deal with the actual herding themselves.

As I understand it (again from childhood years of nothing on telly but One Man and His Dog), that’s the idea.

Ideally the shepherd stands, arms crossed for the entire performance (optionally - arms crossed on their crook for the traditionalist) apart from starting the dogs off with some laconic monosyllable and giving a satisfied (small) nod at the end and an equally laconic “Come, by” or some such.

Any other movement or signal gets points deducted and exposes the shepherd to the shame and opprobrium of their fellows.

[snigs]

Flexibility is certainly unappreciated until it’s gone.

[jan_ciger]

Competitive herding:

And with ducks:

[anon61221983]

Training would help for sure… they are super smart puppers…

[noahdjango]

[L0ki]

As I say, I know competitive herding is a thing. It just never occurred to me that it would be a thing for people who don’t have sheep. I grew up in a fairly sheep heavy part of the world.

The thing with the ducks is adorable. Those are some admirably placid and elegant ducks.

[Ratel]

https://www.televisiontunes.com/song/download/10587

[AnonymousChili]

I agree, special props to the human arch kid. While it’s amazing watching those dogs work the ducks like that (even if it does take dedicated training, there’s still a degree of instinct playing into it, as well), that kid absolutley nailed the dismount!