Herding is cruel ...

[SmoothCrew]

I wonder others on here, opinion, of that sentence.

I have had people often tell me herding is a cruel sport, but not if actually used for farmers and livestock owners. They think if you have dog chase little goats, sheeps, and cows you are being cruel.

I don't think it is cruel. I do it myself on occasion, and go to some shows. I know the people who own the goats, cows, and sheep take very nice care of them, and when they aren't being used for herding are out in pasture and having good life ... here are least. So I don't think little time being chased for herding breed is that bad ....

Others who have looked down on it also say that all the dogs hurt them by biting them animals. I know at least my collie just do alot of barking or nip, but not hard bite to hurt ... maybe feel a pinch if contact made, but alot of time their nip is just to air ...

 

[Xandra]

I think most of the time in "sport" situation the stock are dog broke, know the routine and they aren't really scared. They aren't frantic and panicky. The dogs are usually under control and don't chew the crap out of the sheep (they get a nip here and there).

In the grand scheme of things I don't know how someone could be against herding with any logical consistency unless they were a bona fide animal rights activist. I think most (probably all) of us have animals unnecessarily killed on our behalf. Most of us eat animals, and probably not that many of us need to and certainly not as much as we do. In addition to being slaughtered, stock animals are typically dehorned (horn buds burnt out-- depends on breed), castrated (either by cutting out the testicles or cutting off circulation to the testicles so they wither off), tattooed/ branded/have ear tags put in, forcibly weaned, flipped on their backs and shaved, trucked around (and when you're handling large quantities of animals you probably aren't handling them with R+ only) etc etc etc. And that's all routine stuff that even nice family farms will do.

I think if you accept causing animals some pain, discomfort, fear and stress for the sake of unnecessary/excessive meat consumption... then I don't know why you draw the line at a dog chasing around some not-very-stressed, well cared for sheep for the dog's benefit as well as the human's.

 

[Paige]

Pfft. Trial dogs are pretty bomb proof. Rarely do I see one nip... at least at the higher ends as it DQs the dog. If anything actual working dogs are harder on the livestock.

 

[Kat09Tails]

Depends on your perspective. From the livestock perspective it is a little because it uses fear to an extent along with herd drive to move animals. Very few production places I know of use dogs anymore to move stock. Far more use food incentives and natural herd movements because it's less stress on the stock and better handling leads to greater profit margins due to better quality product in the end.

Far more worrying to me are dogs who have zero stock ability working/worrying the same animals for long periods in a circular pen because people have zero consideration for the 4-5 sheep or goats they're stressing. The poor sheep can see the flock they're seperated from and are usually bunched together in a half panic trying to get back to their flock. It's not hard to find examples of this on youtube.

The thing about herding as a job is that it's less about the dog and more about the stock. Often times dog people lose that perspective.

 

[Sit Stay]

Eh, I don't think it's cruel at all if done properly. Then again I love working cow horses and cutting horses, which I'm sure people think is cruel too, so maybe I'm a little biased.

 

[lizzybeth727]

Far more worrying to me are dogs who have zero stock ability working/worrying the same animals for long periods in a circular pen because people have zero consideration for the 4-5 sheep or goats they're stressing. The poor sheep can see the flock they're seperated from and are usually bunched together in a half panic trying to get back to their flock. It's not hard to find examples of this on youtube.

^^^THIS. I don't know much about herding, but I know a scared animal when I see one. Some of the herding videos I've seen certainly make me think that they're being cruel to the livestock.

But in general, if it's done right, no, I don't think herding is cruel.

 

[Laurelin]

Yeah I've seen some pretty bad 'herding' out there.

I don't think it's cruel but at the same time I really am not sure about all the sport herding being done. I certainly think some people are not thinking of the stock first and foremost. A dog going wild biting, chasing, and terrifying sheep in a round pen isn't 'herding'.

 

[release the hounds]

Life is cruel, get over it