Herding Temperament Test for Icelandic Sheepdog Puppies!
By Valerie Sharp
When I got my Icelandic Sheepdogs I was very excited that they were a herding breed, my grandfather on my mothers’ side had bred, raised, trained and used Collies on his farm for years, and his dogs were most sought after. I can still remember Grandpa explaining what made a good dog, and I have to admit that I, to this day, still look for those very same things in my own dogs.
On my father's side of the family, they owned a huge thousand-head of sheep farm in southern Alberta and Border Collies were the dogs of choice, so I was familar with both the more upright style of herding that a Collie will use and the more traditional Border style of working sheep but the first question I asked was "what does an Icelandic Sheepdog herd like?"
In keeping with this, I called Iceland and talked to different owners of dogs that lived and worked the dogs on both sheep/horses, I also called and visited with Icelandic Breeders and owners in both Canada, and the US, that had both Icelandic Sheep and Icelandic Sheepdogs on their farms, and was surprised to no end, when in a nut shell, I was informed by both in Iceland and across North America that the dogs didn't really herd. The first thing that surprised me was how little time is spent herding or even driving sheep in Iceland with the dogs, this is because the sheep are a) low flocking, and b) turned out into the mountains to graze etc, in fact it became clear that they were used more on the horse throughout the year then they were used on the sheep at this time in the breeds’ history.
But what did come out clearly was this a) they are natural herders, they are not normally trained per se in Iceland, b) they had for hundred of years been used as natural boundary tenders, as fences have only appeared in the last while in Iceland and so the dogs were used to keep the hay meadows clear of the sheep and horses etc and would drive them back up into the hills. c) that they are a natural driving breed, and are what is in North America called a loose eyed, upright barking breed.
I have attended a number of single-day and even one three-day herding clinics with my Icelandics over the past years. I belong to my local herding club, and find the help and encouragement from the group a great asset.
Every year on our little farm, I use the dogs for boundary tending, I walk with my Icelandic and show her the line, and then we sit and write or read a book or in Jason's case, he will often take his laptop out, and we just hang out while the sheep graze, until someone gets too close to the "line" and my ISD will look at me, and I say, Go push them back and they are up like a flash and drive the herd back into the center of the hay pasture and then back to me to lay down in the shade of the chair, until needed again.
I think the second thing I use them for most is very close work in the barn, moving the sheep from pen to pen, moving them past the gate that they know has the grain feed in it, and also to help split the flock up, in case I need to check or work with one of the sheep. It is such a pleasure to be able to open the front door and say to my dog or dogs, Sheep, Barn, and by the time I have walked to the barn from the house, the dogs will have gone to the field, got the sheep, and driven them into the barn and into their back pens and will be waiting for me to close the gates.
I can see why a good sheepdog was worth its weight in gold, I have heard from many folks in Iceland that the dogs can be used to find lost sheep under snow, I believe this totally, as they often help me find, but not hurt, my new chicks in the barn, they will also let me know if anything is new in the barn by finding and trailing the scent, I know that some folks say that an Icelandic would not hurt anything small. I can't agree, my dogs learn what is part of the farm, and leave it alone, but mice, moles, rats, and wild birds are fair game, and the dogs will hunt the hay fields like a fox would, I have spoken to other breeders in Iceland and they confirm that their Icelandics also hunt the barns for mice, so I believe that this is something that is likely to be seen in our dogs here in Canada.
In keeping with this, if you go to a training center, if and when asked what they herd like, I have learned to say, they are most Australian Shepherds in terms of what breed they herd like.
While I had brought in Icelandics directly imported from Iceland who had working parents, I really wanted to work my own dogs and I also wanted to make sure that I kept the breed’s natural herding drive and ability alive in my kennel, so from my very first litter, I have done herding tests on the puppies with the ducks, I still remember introducing Greenstone Ada to the ducks at ten weeks old and being amazed to watch her show off her natural abilities, since then I have created a much more formal test for my kennel’s records.
I would never recommend that you test six to ten week old puppies on anything other then ducks, I have heard that one lady did bring a well dog-broke mini goat to the breeders home in the US to see which of the puppies had the most natural drive. You need to be careful and make sure that those first intro's are done in a safe and controlled manner.
So I have a round pen that is 20 feet across, and here is the test that I do:
Puppy Herding Test. Tester ______________________________ Date__________
Name of Puppy ____________________________ Age of Puppy _____________________
Parents of the Puppy ________________________________________________________
Round pen is ________ feet, Ground is flat and ducks are well dog Broke
Number of Ducks used __________
Test One
Put the puppy in the pen with duck, Puppy comes into the ring on leash
a) Does the Puppy Notice Ducks Yes______ or No _________
b) Does Puppy Move forward towards the ducks Yes ________ or No __________
Test Two, Puppy is let off-leash
Ducks move away from Puppy (either the puppy moves them ______ or human does______)
a)Does Puppy Give Chase Yes______ or No ________
b) Does Puppy Give up? Yes ______ or No _________ How long? _________________
c) Does Puppy Split ducks? Yes _____ or No ________
d) Does Puppy Bunch ducks? Yes _________ or No ________
e) Does Puppy Bark at ducks? Yes ________ or No _______
f) Does Puppy find balance to ducks? Yes ______ or No _______
g) Does Puppy circle ducks? Yes ______ or No ______
h) Does Puppy bit a duck? Yes _____ or No _______ Why? __________________________
i) Does Puppy respond to human in ring? Yes________ or No ___________
Test Three- Puppy is called back to person
Come when called. Yes _________ or No _________
Repeat test twice, with at least one day inbetween.
I have had my import/foundation Icelandic Herding Instinct tested with the CKC Herding Program and I have two generations of Puppy Herding Temperament tests done to date, so this means that so far, I have three generations of tested ISD's and I am looking forward to the fourth generation being born in the near future.
What has been very interesting to me personally is that the puppies that have tested out as a natural herding puppy at eight weeks, has proven to get the same results when tested out as adults, so it does appear that to date that it is very accurate, and I look forward to when Greenstone Kennel has another five generations of results in the future, and we will continue to look for any patterns or results.
Greenstone Icelandic Puppies that have tested out well in the puppy herding test have gone on to do well in both Arena style herding trials as well as working actively on sheep farms, and I also have one dog in Alberta that works with horses. Greenstone Icelandics on my own farm work with ducks, sheep and I even have one Icelandic, Ch Belglen Runa of Greenstone that can move my turkey flock for me.
I train all my dogs in regards to boundary tending, and I have found that it is one of the most natural and easy things to teach my dogs, so if you have any reason to get to teach this skill to your dogs, I think you will find it a worthwhile and fun thing to do.
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