As the owner of a GSD, there are two styles of herding training available to you. One, which I will refer to as Tending, is the large flock grazing style traditionally associated with German Shepherd Dogs. SV HGH (Herdengebrauchshund) competition reflects this style of herding.  

In the Tending style, the flock is managed as it feeds.  Traditionally, German farmers did not own the property they grazed  their sheep on. The dogs acted as a fence, to keep the flock grazing in the designated area and  no other.  

In the U.S., it can be difficult to find instruction in the Tending style if you are not in New England, California or Washington state. For more information on the Tending style, see Ann Garner’s Website  

The working style of a dog gathering it’s flock is what I will refer to as Herding. Stock dogs are utilized to move the stock, not to feed them. American farmers own the land their flock grazes on.  Their land is fenced and there is little need for a dog to patrol the boundaries of the feeding area. In the U.S. there are practitioners of this style of flock management everywhere, but they are rarely GSD owners.  

The most common Herding dog is the Border Collie.  Other popular stock dogs are Australian Shepherds and Australian Kelpies and crosses of those breeds.  

As a rule, dogs employed by farmers and ranchers come from lines bred solely for their stock working abilities. Color, coat, ear carriage mean little. To farmers and  ranchers, their dogs are a tool, not a pet.As with any tool, there are some people treat their tools with great care and those that don’t.  

It is the absence of the ‘tool mentality’ that defines most GSD herding enthusiasts.  Most are involved in herding as a hobby. We have an emotional bond with our dogs.  If the dog doesn’t work out as a herder, we will love them no less.  

The challenges in training a herding GSD:  
* Our dogs have not bred primarily for stock work  
* Our trainers are likely to be Border Collie owners  
* ‘Dogs-as-tools’ herders may not understand our emotional bond or ‘hobby herding’  

That our dogs have not been selected for breeding based on their stock working abilities presents a big problem if you want to buy a pup that will grow up to herd. Herding is not a learned behavior like obedience or agility.  It is very difficult to make a dog herd that doesn’t possess the natural inborn instincts to control the stock. Lines bred for eons, breed Champion to breed Champion can produce strong herding instinct, and eons of working lines can produce herding rejects.  

Not every Border Collie on the Earth has the ability to be a premiere herder.  There’s a breed selected for some hundred years primarily for working ability, yet it can produce duds.  

That our trainers may be Border Collie owners can present some problems.  

A major stumbling block seems to be that some Border Collie trainers believe their breed is the only breed that herds. Any herding ability seen in other-than-BCs is some sort of fluke or very skilled training. Another potential problem is the BC trainer determined to teach every dog as if it was a Border Collie. That can result in misleading instruction to keep the dog an artificial distance from it’s sheep or to continually lie it down. It’s almost as if the BC trainers cannot sense that the crouched position well off the stock is a Border Collie trait, not a herding trait.  

This is not meant as a condemnation of Border Collies, their owners or trainers.  The point is that while both BCs and GSDs are herding breeds, the similarities end there.  

Border Collies are unique in their approach to herding.  

The BCs have what is referred to by herders as ‘eye’.  Australian Kelpies also have ‘eye’.  Kelpies are not fully AKC recognized and  are not as familiar. Eye is best described as a staring gaze.  The dog is entranced by the sheep.  (Some claim the sheep are hypnotized by the gaze & this is why they do the dog’s bidding.  I find this difficult to believe.)As a dog with a good deal of eye approaches the stock, it is almost as a force field goes up.  The dog slows his approach, moving in a stalking  
posture like a cat moving toward prey.  

GSDs are referred to as up-standing or non-eyed dogs.  Upstanding dogs as a whole work their flocks much closer than the eye breeds do. Closeness to the flock is not a crime.  If the dog is calm and under control, there is little need to force an artificial distance. Unfortunately, calm and under control are two aspects that are generally lacking in the green (beginner) GSD’s herding technique!  

How does one get started in Herding?  

Contact people doing the style of herding you’re interested in and ask for trainer recommendations. (Keep in mind the geographical conflicts for learning the tending style.)  Contact the chair of the GSDCA herding committee or committee members for information.  

Once you have a name, arrange to drop in on a scheduled training day to observe... without your dog. Watch how the trainer works with the other students and their dogs.  Does he have the ability to explain what’s expected? Does he seem fair? How does he think of his dogs? Tools or Pets? How are his sheep cared for? Does he have students in all levels of training?  

You want an instructor that is honest about your dog’s abilities and potential. (This is one area that our emotional bond with our dog gets us in trouble.  We don’t like to hear that our dog doesn’t have what it takes.  We avoid trainers or judges with reputations for being ‘hard’.)  

Your instructor should have experience competing in AKC herding trials, with some measure of success and preferably with more than one dog. (Within a breed, there are many different personalities; a wise trainer knows that each dog is trained as an individual- not as a breed.)  

Beware the potential trainer who belittles the program or makes excuses for not competing. (A breeder who claims to produce great dogs but never shows due to politics, would be labeled a loon.   Why believe it from a herding instructor?)  

Another potential warning sign is the trainer who only has beginning level students. Why doesn’t he have any advanced students? Can he not teach advanced concepts? Is he too new to training? Is it a fault in the trainer or in his students?  (If his students have been faithfully receiving instruction for a great length of time and don’t seem to be progressing-- beware!)  

I think one of the biggest problems in herding right now is a lack of good trainers.  There are altogether too many ineffectual instructors out there.   Anyone with enough land to house livestock is able to promote themselves as a trainer. If you find yourself training with one of these people, there are some things you can try:  
Attend herding clinics and get a different perspective.  
Go to trials to watch and talk with other herders.  
Create a network of herder friends and as you travel, schedule visits with herders or trainers for private lessons.  
Remember that you and your dog learn herding by challenging what you know and  applying it in new situations.