Corgi’s can herd cattle. We first knew our Corgi Teeny could herd when she was a puppy. We brought a basketball into the house and she loved trying to herd it around the living room, it was the most excited we had ever seen her. Yes, you heard it right, a basketball! stick around to find out more about the basketball, it’s as funny as it sounds, and about what animals Corgis can herd. I also want to tell you about herding trials and about how you might go about training your Corgi to herd. We didn’t take this skill any further than basketball training but it’s super interesting to learn what’s possible with some professional training.
Corgi’s are a popular family pet that are known to have a natural herding instinct. We decided we wanted to find out more about What animals Corgis can herd. Most herding dogs are used to move around sheep but herding breeds can also herd cattle and other livestock.
What animals are corgis bred to herd
The Pembroke welsh Corgi club of America wrote that Corgis are all-round farm dogs which means they are able to help with different tasks around the farm, including herding livestock. The Pembrokeshire Welsh Corgi club of America also wrote that Corgis are particularly effective at herding Cattle because of their small legs and ability to move with agility to avoid the cows kick.
Their low centre of gravity along with the Corgi’s natural bossy and confident personality give them the skill set to naturally herd large cattle with confidence. Wikipedia quote Wendy Boorer’s 1975 dog book as referring to this type of cattle herding dog breed as “heelers”. This is because they herd by moving close to the cattle’s heels and nipping on them to keep them under control when herding.
Do Corgis herd sheep?
Corgis can herd sheep although it seems most dog breeders and Corgi clubs agree that Corgis are naturally better at herding cattle because their small size, agility and confident nature means they are willing to boss around cattle.
The Pembrokeshire Welsh Corgi club of the garden state have an interesting section on their website where they introduce their Corgi sheep herding instinct test. Corgis can be given this herding instinct test which is given so you can find out whether your Corgi has a natural instinct for herding.
You don’t need to train your Corgi to take part in this trial. An experienced trainer will make sure your Corgi and the three sheep are safe and they will watch and see whether your Corgi is naturally interested in herding the sheep without any kind of encouragement. The only requirement for a Corgi to take this sheep herding test is that they are able to run for around 10 minutes so they must be in good shape and healthy. Here is a video showing a Corgi taking part in a sheep herding instinct test. It’s fun to watch Flynn build up confidence and become more and more interested in herding the sheep around the field.
With training it is possible to influence the direction your corgi moves and this will effect where the sheep move. Later in this article I’ll tell you more about how you might be able to train your Corgi to herd.
Corgi herding instincts
Sheep 101 have created an excellent resource for information about sheep and have written an article about sheep herding dogs. Border Collies are their preferred breed of dog for herding sheep and livestock because of their speed and intelligence but they also mention the Corgi’s herding instinct.
The PCAA also wrote about Corgis having won championship titles in herding and that if your Corgi has a natural herding instinct it can be exciting to see what they are capable of with more training. The guild of shepherds and collies wrote an article about how they sent their Corgi to a herding instinct event and they didn’t try and herd the sheep. As herding isn’t a very common past time as most people don’t have access to the facilitates and livestock, it is interesting to hear some people experiencing their Corgi not wanting to herd.
This experience led the Guild of Sheep and Collies to consider that not all dogs from breeds that are know to have herding instinct will always use that instinct and that you should always look at an individual dog to see how they respond around livestock before training them to herd.
Pembrokshire welsh Corgi vs Cardigan welsh corgi – which breed is better at herding
There are 2 separate breeds of Corgi, the Pembrokeshire Welsh Corgi and Cardigan Welsh Corgi. Both come from different areas of wales and have different physical characteristics even though they share a lot of common traits and a double coat which is perfect for herding in the fields in cold weather. The AKG compared the 2 breeds characteristics but also said that both breeds of Corgi were developed to move cattle by barking and also nipping at the lower part of their legs and heel to move them quickly.
There isn’t much evidence comparing whether the Pembrokeshire Welsh or Cardigan Welsh Corgi are better at herding livestock. However, The Pembrokeshire Welsh Corgi is usually the more outgoing of the 2 breeds and this might give them an advantage with more confidence to move around cattle in the fields. But, Cardigan Welsh Corgis might not be as outgoing when you first see them but they quickly become more confident. After doing some research online I think that it is difficult to say which breed of Corgi is best at herding but it would be interesting to find out more in the future.
How to train your corgi to herd
Our Corgi Teeny is very clever and by using reinforcement training, as introduced in the book, ” Don’t shoot the dog” we have trained Teeny since she was a puppy to perform a number of tricks and to walk alongside us. We don’t have any livestock to test out her herding skills but here are some ideas we have based on our experience training Teeny and other research we have looked at.
Firstly, it is important to use a clicker or whistle and train your Corgi to respond to it by reinforcing different behaviours using the sound of the whistle or clicker and a treat. Your Corgi will know that they have done what you expect of them and earned a reward when they hear that sound and associate it with a treat.
Once your Corgi has a good understanding of basic commands and will obey your command even in a busy or noisy environment with distractions, then you could try out a herding instinct test and see how your Corgi responds. After that you’ll need to train your Corgi to lie down, come to you and to move in different directions depending on the command you give them. At this point it’s probably wise to ask an expert to help you, as you are dealing with livestock it can be dangerous without an experienced herder who has experience of herding trials.
We are planning to try to train our Corgi to learn some herding commands, even without livestock we think it will be fun to see if we can shape her to move in different directions on our command. One day if we get chance we would love to go and watch some herding trials live and we’ll let you know all about it when we do.
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