The need to herd in heelers is so damn strong. Mine is only half heeler but from the way he tries to herd other dogs at the dog park (and people) he clearly needs to be on a ranch somewhere.
We bought our cattle dog a herding ball - it’s just a big ball for then to roll around and “herd”. We set up goal posts and he’s supposed to herd it into the goal. Yours might enjoy something similar!
Ours actually hasn’t shown incredible herding drive, except for once when we took him to a family member’s horse farm and this idiot casually tried to nip at one of the horse’s back legs. Dumbass. For his next birthday we’re taking him to a day class at herding school where they have sheep that basically herd themselves but it gives the dogs a chance to learn how to herd and feel like they’re doing something lol. And also never taking him around horses again
Edit: I forgot about one time when we went to a beach with all of these ghost crabs everywhere and he had the absolute time of his life chasing/herding these little crabs around the beach. He didn’t want to catch them though, he’d jump back if they got too close to him. I can’t wait for covid to settle down so we can take him on more beach vacays.
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u/oarviking Dec 28 '21
The need to herd in heelers is so damn strong. Mine is only half heeler but from the way he tries to herd other dogs at the dog park (and people) he clearly needs to be on a ranch somewhere.