Duck herding

Saw this on an ad on Roping the web. I sure need to get me a dog to do this...
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Have I got the dogs for you! We actually have a litter of pups right now whose grandfather is old and crippled but still helps me put the chicken in from free range every night. The last place we were on in Australia would flood regularly and this old dogs son (father of the litter) and his mother would have to swim to move the cattle to higher ground. I wish we would have gotten video of it, but really that is the last thing you are thinking of in that sort of situation. It is amazing to see cattle with water almost up the the top of their backs being herded by swimming dogs. They are wonderful creatures and so good at their jobs.
Thanks for posting the video, I really enjoyed it alot!

Do you raise the Australian shepards?
My hubby says no to them but I have always liked that breed, they seem so mellow but seem to be very hard workers.

I have 4 miniature Australian Shepherds and just love them! They are great enthusiastic companions, whatever I'm doing, and they're protective of me, and also very loving and affectionate, cuddly and playful. Two of the four have good herding instincts. I could harness it if I knew how. The other two, not so much. But they are very trainable, and I always say to people who ask about them, they are up for whatever I have to offer, be it a long walk in the woods, a good game of fetch, helping put the chickens away or sleeping in late and then having an afternoon nap. They are awesome dogs!

Hidden River wrote:Do you raise the Australian shepards?
My hubby says no to them but I have always liked that breed, they seem so mellow but seem to be very hard workers.

No Hidden, we have Australian Kelpies and Australian Border Collies.

Oh you are really after my heart now Coopslave, I really really wanted Kelpies. Everyone tells me they are not good for sheep though, too aggressive? My hubby wants a border collie of course, seems to be what most ranchers around these parts have.
I know when I was at college my sheep professor has Kelpies and he used them on the sheep, they did bite, but maybe that was the way he trained them? I prefer a dog not to bite my stock.

That's one smart dog. I hope he/she is rewarded for doing such a great job each time. I love intelligent breeds and seeing dogs who are bred to work, working. Thanks for sharing Jayme.

My friend has an Austrailian Shepherd that does this Herds her ducks and geese of the water, very cool to see.

Love those dogs! My parents used to have an Australian shepard named Ginger that they loved very much. Besides being an all around great dog, she was an invaluable access to my mother (who is visually impaired) when herding/sorting the cattle. Sadly, they lost Ginny to cancer some years back, but her legacy lives on. My parents named their farm Red Dog Ranch in her honor.

The dog in the video is working those ducks way too fast. Hopefully she can teach him/her to slow down and rate them a bit.

I know I wouldn't want any of my stock worked to that much of a frenzy. The dog is so keen but would need to learn the command to lie down and wait for them out of the water instead of running them like that.

Those ducks are so stressed!