Herding Dogs: Progressive Training

by Vergil S. Holland

Book Overview

Herding Dogs: Progressive Training is the only book of its kind to guide the owner toward training the complete herding dog. Whether you are involved in farming or ranching, or simply want to explore your herding dog's heritage, you will find a wealth of information here. For those with competitive goals, Herding Dogs will enhance your knowledge with a philosophy that has the dog's individual breed and personality as the central focus. Vergil S. Holland...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0876056443
• ISBN13: 9780876056448
• Release Date: October 1994
• Publisher: Howell Books
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 1.28 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.4" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

A good beginning and a life long aid to training.

I first read this book when my first Aussie was about three months old. Frankly, I did not get it. I think it is difficult for the average person to learn how to work with a herding dog. Vergil Holland has not only put down all of the steps one might need to become successful at this activity, he has a lot of great advice in the book including very useful exercises and as the subtitle suggests, a progressive training method. However, the reason I did not get it when I first read the book was that the meaning of much of what he says is dependent on having the actual experience of herding. After many years of training stock dogs, I went back and re-read this book. It was very revealing in that I found myself agreeing with almost everything he said about training. I also found it helpful to get a clear picture of exactly what I wanted to do in a training session to read the portion of the book-- usually fewer than two pages at a time-- that was relevant to what I wanted to acheive in the session. So for me, this has become a valuable hands on training tool. I still recommend it to beginners and I think it would really help anyone getting ready for their first exposure to stock to have read the preliminary sections on getting started and basic commands. It would help the beginner become familiar with common training techniques and concepts so that a clinic experience would be more valuable than going in without the insights that are offered in this book. But this is not just a book for beginners. It can be useful at several levels. For the more experienced trainer/handler, the troubleshooting section provides very useful exercises for solving common problems that are likely to be encountered. I do think the section on herding breeds is a bit simplistic and in the case of Aussies not really accurate. But I think it is only there as a summary of what one might expect from herding breeds and therefore does not take into account the variance of different lines within a breed. I would not recommend the traits listed in this chapter to select your dog. However it does contain some very good advice such as basing your decision in part on the parents' abilities and characteristics. The diagrams could be improved as was mentioned elsewhere, but they are accurate. The pictures are not very clear and they could be improved to actually demonstrate better the points they are intended to make. Overall I give this book high marks and recommend it to anyone who is building up a stockdog library. But remember that there is a lot more information in this book than there appears to be at first reading. Go back to it often as your skills develop to really get the full potential of the book which really does offer a progressive training method.

I'm a Total Novice Herder with a Total Novice Dog

I have always had an interest in herding dogs and have owned them and been around them most of my life; however I have never known anyone that had any real knowledge of training for herding, or had a dog that was trained for that matter. This book is fantastic for a total novice. It takes you carefully and "progressively" into the world of herding and explains everything from the very beginning, including the somewhat confusing language that is used to communicate with the dog while the two of you are at work. Thank you Mr. Holland!

Very Informative

This book covers the basics of herding. It presents the concepts clearly and provides some good trouble shooting sections. The diagrams could be improved and I could do without the cartoons. They were very hard to understand. The author obviously knows herding dogs and conveys very well what it takes to make a good "working" dog. I would recommend this book for anyone who is beginning to work a herding dog or who is considering purchasing a Border collie.

Most comprehensive, easiest to understand training book

An excellent job of detailing often complicated and difficult scenarios encountered when training. I have purchased several copies to give novice handlers for a good introduction to the world of livestock and herding. I reference the book repeatedly for tips on problem solving. Thank you, Vergil!!

very usefull, good trainingprograms

This is a complete guide to teach your dog to work sheep, step by step. Different types of dogs and their approach to stock are beeing mentioned which is very helpfull to make your own trainingprogram. Text is explained by funny pictures and photographs. A special chapter is dedicated to the specific problems you can experience during your program and clear solutions in excercises are given. This book is a great help in reaching your goal: Work the stock with your dog!