The Myth of the Herding Pit Bull Farm Dog

All things are subject to interpretation whichever interpretation prevails at a given time is a function of power and not truth. Friedrich Nietzche

Trying to find objective third party evidence to back up the bogus claim that pit bulls were once used as farm dogs and herded cattle, was like looking for the proverbial needle in a haystack. Of course nearly every pit bull propaganda website regurgitates that claim but the real world and the fantasy world that pit bull advocates occupy more often than not contradict each other.

Herding Dogs

Heres what Ledy VanKavages former employer, the ASPCA had to say about pit bulls and herding:

The Pit Bull Today

Most experts agree that today’s pit bull is a short-coated dog characterized by a wide skull, powerful jaws and a muscular, stocky body. But there is great variation in the pit bull’s appearance. Typically 35 to 65 pounds, some weigh as little as 25 pounds, while others tip the scales at 80 pounds or more. Some have bulkier frames and colossal skulls; others have leaner, more muscular bodies. All are strong and athletic. With their impressive stamina and staunch work ethic, pit bulls enjoy a variety of activities, including agility, disc dog competitions, flyball, freestyle and competition obedience. They often excel in weight-pulling contests and schutzhund. Some pit bulls work cattle in herding trials, and some still function as hunting dogs.

There is the fantasy world of versatile herding pit bulldogs and then there is the reality of pit bulldogs herding cattle.



I managed to find a couple of videos of pit bulls "herding" sheep. My favorite is Hagrid the Herder. Watch this video closely. During the 5 minutes Hagrid is in the pen, he is given time outs at :50, 1:49, 2:27, 2:57 and 3:35. Notice how small the pen is and how close the handler stays to the sheep. Also note that the handler doesnt use the standard flimsy whip to keep the pit bull at bay, he uses a rake. The handler excessively praises the pit bull and is constantly making physical contact with the pit bull.




Herding Instinct Tests

According to the American Kennel Club, "The purpose of noncompetitive herding tests is to offer herding breed owners a standardized gauge by which a dogs basic instinct and trainability are measured."

"The purpose of the competitive herding trial program is to preserve and develop the herding skills inherent in the herding breeds and to demonstrate that they can perform the useful functions for which they were originally bred. Although herding trials are artificial simulations of pastoral or farm situations, they are standardized tests to measure and develop the characteristics of the herding breeds."

The AKC defines Herding Instinct as follows: The inherited balance in a dog’s temperament, between the predatory drive and the dog’s submission to its master. The stronger the herding instinct, the stronger must be the desire to comply with the commands of the handler. 

8 month old Border Collie

9 month old Sheltie

6 month old Aussie

Kelpie (young!)

Cattledog

Corgi (never seen a sheep before this test)

11 month old GSD

Now that you have seen what REAL herding dogs go through to achieve their herding instinct certification, lets watch a purebred american pit bull terrier earn his herding instinct certificate.



You can also watch this on a larger screen on youtube.

UPDATE: CARLA ANN THOMAS HAS DELETED HER VIDEO. WHY? ITS INCRIMINATING. I HAVE A COPY AND I AM WORKING TO GET IT TO YOU.

Notice how the handler keeps her body between her pit bull and the sheep as they circle the small flock and she stays a good 20-30 feet from the sheep at all times. This sheep owner should be ashamed for participating in this sham.

This is how pit bull advocates are able to claim that their dogs can do it all. I do not believe that Jaeger legitimately earned that certificate. Either CARLA ANN THOMAS greased someones palm to sign off on this test or Jaeger did not pass and she is lying. I will attempt to answer that question elsewhere.

Same here. This APBT earned his herding instinct title while LEASHED.

According to WorkingDogs.com, the dogs are to be tested off leash. This website has a good overview of the test. The author of this page acknowledges the subjectivity of the testers and how they evaluate and grant titles for dogs.

From the AKC Herding Regulations
Amended to August 2008

Section 4. Qualifications. The total number of
qualifications necessary to complete the requirements
for a Herding Instinct Certificate and for the issuance of
the titles Herding Tested Dog (HT) and Pre-Trial Tested
Dog (PT) shall be established by the Board of Directors
of The American Kennel Club.
The Judge’s certification of qualification for any particular
dog constitutes certification to The American Kennel Club
that the dog on this particular occasion has evidenced abilities
at least in accordance with minimum standards and that
the abilities demonstrated would justify the awarding of the
title associated with the particular test class. Qualification
must never be awarded to a dog, which exhibits abilities that
do not meet minimum requirements.
In Instinct Test the dog must show sustained interest
in herding livestock, either going around them, gathering
them and moving them toward the handler, or moving
them ahead of the handler to drive them or a combination.
For boundary, the dog should show sustained interest in
working the livestock and honor the border.
In tests, dogs must demonstrate the ability to move and
control livestock by fetching or driving, and be sufficiently
trained to work at the proper balance point to move the
stock forward on the course. Dogs that constantly prevent
the stock from being moved in a controlled fashion, or that
chase or harass the stock, will not qualify.
Dogs may continue to enter tests to gain experience
after the title for that class is earned with no entry
preference.

Section 5. Instinct Tested Certificate. The
American Kennel Club will issue an Instinct Tested certificate
to an eligible dog that has been certified by two
different Judges to have qualified by passing two separate
licensed or member Herding Instinct Tests.

Section 6. Instinct Test Description and Test
Elements. The dog is brought into the arena on a long
line approximately 6-15 feet in length. At some point
while on the line, the dog must demonstrate a stop (down,
sit or stand) and a recall before the line is dropped or
removed. A dog, which cannot be recalled, shall not be
let off line. Dogs must be immediately removed from the
ring if physical force is necessary to protect stock from
the dog.

Either the two women involved in the herding instinct tests above are lying or they have found some unscrupulous individuals willing to sign off on anything that pays the entry fee.

There is not a whole lot of buzz on the pit forums about herding and it is understandable when you look at the above rules and regulations. I did find two interesting discussions about herding. On pit bull chat forum. A member is interested in trying it with her pit. One member suggests using a muzzle to be safe, while another states "While I love APBTs.... terriers often dont make good herding drive. They lack the gathering instinct that the prey drive has developed into. That said, if you can afford to reimburse the trainer for dead sheep, go right on ahead! Herding is really fun!"

A member on chazhound broaches the question of herding with pit bulls and the responses are equally interesting. i have used them as rec herders we used to have a cattle ranch and i would take them out with a few cows and work with them herding them. Never anything serious tho. Our sheltar and farm dogs did that. 
And

My dogs would love to herd livestock........then bring them down. But baiting bulls/livestock is in there blood so for me to expect them to be perfect gentlemen/ladies around large animals might be asking too much. It honestly depends on the animal/dog aggression within that dog. And Ive seen a case where someone brought their very submissive non-DA pit bull out to the barn & it seems instinct took over. The dog however ended up with the brunt of the damage after being ganged up on by 2 of the horses (1 of them the one he was going after).

What does the Bulldog Diva, Diane Jessup have to say on the subject?

Because I titled Dread in duck and sheep herding and trialed him a time or two on cattle, as well as earning "Herding Certificates" (not really a training title) on several other pit bulls, people often ask me about information on this activity. To be truthful, it is not something I recommend. Todays herding trials are not a fair venue for these "catch dogs". Bulldogs can and do move stock, but that is not their real purpose. Their purpose is to catch and hold.

Todays herding trials are so much more risky than real world "herding" of yesteryear (sarcasm again). That might have something to do with society progressing towards more humane attitudes and behavior towards animals. The baiting activities that pit bulldogs were originally bred for was criminalized in England in 1835.

There will always be X number of duds within each breed. A dud being a dog that lacks all ability to function as originally intended. I do think that a few select people can exert sufficient control over even fewer select pit bulldogs long enough to pass these tests but no one with half a brain would trust a pit bulldog to round up their sheep or function in an unsupervised capacity as a farm dog.

The herding instinct titles on these two pit bulls are even more worthless than the ATTS.

Farm Dogs

The farm dog myth goes something like this, early immigrants brought their cherished bulldogs with them to America where they continued their role as loyal hard working family members on american family farms.

My search for references to pit bulldogs functioning as all purpose farm dogs on non-pro pit bull propaganda web sites and books proved to be as futile as finding objective third party references to the pit bull as herding dog. 

I havent been able to find even a rough date when bulldogs began to invade our shores but at the very latest, they came here in the late 1700s as President Thomas Jefferson reportedly had a couple of bulldogs.

In 1800, 94% of the U.S. population lived in rural areas. That means nearly every american lived on a small family farm. They grew their own vegetables, raised their own chickens, milked their own cows and goats. Any dog owned by 94% of the population in 1800 could technically be labeled a farm dog. By 1920, half of the U.S. population lived in the country and half in the city.

Babe Ruth lived on a farm in the 1920s. He raised poultry and he owned pit bulldogs. Technically, you could call Babe Ruths pit bulls "farm dogs", since they lived on a farm. But Babe Ruths pit bulls didnt behave like farm dogs when they escaped containment and killed his chickens and a neighbors cow. This behavior is the antithesis of a farm dog and like every early american would have done, Babe Ruth killed the dogs.

The most famous pit bulldog that is credited as being a "farm dog" is Laura Ingalls Jack the Brindle Bulldog. In her books, Jack is credited with protecting the Ingalls from wolves and it was also noted that Jack needed to be tied up to keep him from attacking indians. There is no mention of Jack rounding up sheep or cattle. Jack functioned as a guard dog. Interestingly, the Ingalls loyal hard working "farm dog" was callously traded for a horse.

If you are like me, when someone says "farm dog", you picture a dog that adheres to the phenotype of collies and shepherds. Farm dogs were truly versatile dogs. They had to be, or like Babe Ruths dogs, they would have become food for worms. Early americans could not afford to own dogs that viewed their familys food source and livelihood as prey. As I searched in vain for objective evidence to support the pit bull propaganda, I realized I needed to expand my breed net to find information about farm dogs in general.

Hobby Farms had an extensive list of "farm dog breeds" on their website, everything from collies and shepherds to flock guardians and hunting dogs, even rottweilers. But alas, no bulldogs or pit bulls.

Farmcollie.com proved to be a wealth of information. The description of the farmcollie reads exactly like the fantasy pit bull histories found on Badrap, the ASPCA and every other mom and pop pro-pit bull website. In fact, I thought that pit bull advocates likely stole the identity of the american farm collie for their own Machiavellian purposes; european roots, versatility, once the most popular breed, they even allude to the farm collie performing nanny dog type functions.

The American Working Farmcollie, also known as the Old Farm Shepherd, (Old Shep) was once the most popular dog in the country. As descendants of the Old Scotch Collie, the farmcollies were versatile dogs, indispensable to farmers in the 19th and early twentieth centuries. During that period, it was this dog that most Americans thought of as a “collie”, although they were quite different from the AKC collies of today. The Farmcollie in this country quite likely also carried the blood of other types of herding and shepherd dogs that were brought here from Europe, but he remained a dog that clearly showed his Scotch Collie heritage. Like the Scotch Collies, the American Farmcollies excelled at herding, guarding (both livestock and the family), hunting and predator control. Their duties varied from protecting the baby from snakes to moving the bull. Over the years, however, the focus of American life moved from the homestead to the urban areas, and as small farms became swallowed up in larger corporate farms or urban sprawl, the need for this type of all purpose farmdog had all but disappeared. In its place came myriads of specialized breeds---companion dogs, hunting dogs, guardian dogs and herding dogs.


Nope, no pit bulldogs in here.


farm breeds

Farmcollie.com

Old-Time Farm Shepherd

Jack the Brindle Bulldog

1800 - 1990 changes urban rural us population

Old Time Farm Shepherd

Thomas Jefferson

Babe Ruth

pitbull-chat Herding!

chazhound pit bulls as herding dog

What To Expect from a Herding Instinct Test 

Herding on the web

Diane Jessup on Herding

Carla Ann Thomas and Jaeger

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Why is my dog so hyper

Hi, I’ve had my cocker spaniel since he was about seven weeks old and he has been consistently…hyper. It seems that he has boundless energy. He goes for long walks in the late afternoons and plays all night. However, he won’t calm down unless we put him in a crate. I hate having to put him away, but he never stops moving or destroying property (which he only does when we aren’t looking). I’m not sure what the issue could be. I haven’t gotten him altered because I got into an argument with his other parent about whether or not to do it (I’m in favor, he is not) and I’m thinking this is part of the problem. Is it normal for a cocker spaniel to be so hyper active? Thanks – T.T.

Dear T.T.,

Some of the most common behavioral reasons that people give for admitting their dogs to the Houston SPCA are related to the dog’s energy level. “Too much energy,” “too active for children,” “too active indoors,” are some of the reasons for admission. T.T., I hope that your question reaches some of the people who are considering bringing their pets to the shelter for these reasons, so that they can learn that there are so many things that can be done to change “hyperactive” dogs into agreeable household companions.

With breeds as popular as cocker spaniels, it’s almost a moot point to ask whether hyperactivity is ‘normal,’ since these dogs are so widely bred for characteristics that are not closely related to behavior. Dogs that are bred for behavior patterns, the way border collies were largely bred for their ability to herd sheep, rather than for their coat color or size, display more consistent behavior patterns. Cockers are seldom bred as steady gun dogs anymore, rather they are bred to conform to the standard of what a cocker spaniel should look like. This means that their behavior patterns are less consistent than those of dogs who are primarily bred for a certain set of behaviors. What it comes down to is that some cockers can be very energetic, where others tend to be rather sedentary.

You asked about whether neutering your dog can reduce his annoying behaviors and, the answer is a tentative yes. There are many behaviors associated with the drive of intact male dogs to find a mate. Restlessness, destructive behavior, vocalization, and aggression are some of them. Oftentimes, neutering a dog can result in the lessening of such behaviors, but this really depends on the extent to which the behaviors are hormone-related. For behaviors associated with hormones, you can expect behavior changes to take place by about two weeks after castration surgery. For behaviors that are not related to reproductive hormones, castration can have little effect. Whether your dog’s behaviors are learned or not, neutering is still the best recommendation, since it has the added benefit of preventing future health concerns, such as testicular cancer. If you’re thinking about breeding your dog, please think again, taking into consideration the sheer volume of unwanted, purebred cocker spaniels that are relinquished to shelters and rescue groups each year.

My question for you, T.T. is: What is your dog’s reason for living? In the wild, 90% of a dog’s waking hours are spent searching for food. If you give your dog his food for free (or even if you ask him to sit-stay, then give him his whole ration of food), you are pretty much depriving him of his reason for living for the rest of the day. If you give your dog a free bowl of food every day, then what happens to all that energy that was originally meant for finding food? This extra energy might be useful for dogs that have jobs, like agility, flyball, or search and rescue dogs; but dogs without jobs find their own release for this energy, often in ways that annoy their human families!

What this all comes down to is that dogs need something to do, and walks are seldom enough. Dogs do not have to go to the office, can’t use the internet, read books, watch T.V., or play on a video game console. A large responsibility of being a dog caregiver is to provide them with adequate enrichment. Enrichment doesn’t have to be a huge time investment on your part. Here are some tips:

·First of all, make sure that your dog works for every piece of dog kibble he gets. He can earn his kibble by training with you or by working on a food dispensing toy. Try buying several types of food dispensing toys and switch them up for variety.

·Don’t take the same long walk every day, but change your routes and incorporate fun training sessions into your walk. Walk at different speeds, engage your dog, and have a good time, yourself.

·Try one or two (or more) weekly trips to the dog park if your dog is friendly, or invest in some days at a reputable doggie daycare center (you definitely would want to consider neutering your dog, in this case).

·Teach your dog some indoor games that you can easily play while watching T.V. or reading. I like to teach dogs tug and fetch, which I can easily play while brushing my teeth and getting ready for work in the morning. Tug can turn into a great reward for following commands, if you make sure to ask your dog to sit, down, roll over, etc., before each brief tug session.

Good luck with your exuberant pup and don’t hesitate to call us at the Houston SPCA Animal Behavior and Training Department for more tips: 713-869-7722, ext.190.

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Adoptable 8 week old Basset Hound puppy

Grace, 8 weeks old

All right, for those of you Dog Blog readers who double as newshounds, you may have noticed a story about the Rochester Cider Mill circulating among Southeast Michigan media outlets.
Im proud to have started off that media frenzy by first reporting on this seemingly unbelievable story. If you havent read it and are interested in finding out how growing corn and selling Christmas trees can make you a criminal, here it is: Oakland Township puts squeeze on cider mill.
So youre wondering, what in the heck does this cider mill news story have to do with dogs?
Ah, well, I have your answer.
The owner of that cider mill is Tom Barkham. Tom owns both the Paint Creek Animal Clinic and a second veterinary practice in Dryden.
Seeing as how the cider mill is closed this time of the year, and cold, the Barkhams suggested we meet at the veterinary practice in Goodison instead.
What do you know? The dog blogger winds up surrounded by dogs even when on an entirely non-dog related assignment. I do frequently wonder how I keep ending up in situations like that. Fate, I suppose. I dont mind, anyhow, so I just go with it.
"Try not to talk about dogs, Karen," I said silently to myself. "You are not here about dogs. Dont talk about dogs."
After the interview was done and I was getting ready to leave, I saw something that just made me entirely unable to hold myself back — an 8-week-old puppy!
"Puppy!" I exclaimed, looking over at the adorable little bundle of joy. "Oh, she is so precious."
"Want to adopt her? Shes a foster," said Roxanne Priest, the woman sitting with her.
I quickly whisked out my little Flipcam. "Is she really?" I asked.
I introduced myself, told her about The Dog Blog and offered to shoot a short video of the sweet little girl.

And so, here ya go — this is one good looking puppy! 

You can find out more about Grace by going to MichiganBassetRescue.org or calling 248-623-1698. 

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How to easily teach your dog to sit dog training video

This video shows you how to easily lure your dog to sit using either treats or a dog clicker.

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FitDog Friday GREAT Places to Walk Beaufort South Carolina

Its Fit Dog Friday!  

Fit Dog Friday is a blog hop hosted by my friends SlimDoggy, Peggys Pet Place, and To Dog With Love.  Check out our hosts and the other bloggers in the hop (see below) for ideas, tips and inspiration for getting and keeping your pups fit and healthy.

Mom and I love to walk.  Whenever we travel, we try to find good places to walk.  Each week I will tell you about a new place to walk.

Back in April, Mom, Dad and I went to South Carolina for vacation.  We spent the first half of the week in a little town called Beaufort.  You may not have heard of Beaufort, but youve probably seen it in movies.  The Big Chill, The Great Santini, Forest Gump, The Prince of Tides, and several other movies were filmed there.

Beaufort is a beautiful town and a wonderful place to walk.  We stayed in the Beaufort Historic District at the City Loft Hotel, and we could walk anywhere we wanted to go - to the shops, the restaurants, the waterfront, and through the historic neighborhoods.  We only needed the car when we went to Hunting Island State Park (another great place to walk, for a future post).

Every morning while we were there, Mom and I would get up and walk down to a little park overlooking the bridge, then along the waterfront at the Henry C. Chambers Waterfront Park and the downtown marina.

Oh boy! Can I shoot it?

Walking along the waterfront at the
Henry C. Chambers Waterfront Park

Taking a break on a dock at the downtown marina

View of the harbor from Bay Street

Walking on the seawall along Bay Street

One of the many things we loved about Beaufort (and one of the big reasons we went there), is that Beaufort is very dog-friendly.  They even have a special website called Pet Friendly Beaufort  (also see Pet Friendly Beaufort on Facebook) that lists dog-friendly restaurants and places to stay.  You know a place is dog-friendly when they have a doggie water fountain in the park!

Mom and I are always drawn to the water, but there were lots of interesting things in the town as well.

Hmmm.  Not really sure what type of creature this is.

?

In Beaufort, you can walk in just about any direction and run into a beautiful view of the water and a sign like this.

Im so happy that Beaufort preserved the view here

Beaufort even has a special walk for trees, the self-guided Beaufort Tree Walk . . .

and some amazing trees . . .

This tree is a gazillion years old

Okay, its really only 700 years old

In addition to amazing old trees, Beaufort also has a lot of beautiful antebellum homes, especially in an area called The Point.  (That means they were built before the Civil War.)

The shady streets are great for walking

This tree looks like its out of the Wizard of Oz

And when you get tired of walking, you can always take the horse-drawn buggy!

We really loved Beaufort and wished we could have stayed longer.  We definitely plan to return.  Not only is it a great place to walk, its a great place for a dog-friendly vacation!

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Badly burned dog deserves a safe loving home

“My father is outraged about the burned dog,” said one of my coworkers upon entering the newsroom this morning.
I think we all are. Only a very sick individual wouldn’t be.
You can read the full story I wrote by clicking here, but the basics are this:
Some awful, sick person poured gasoline on the head of a friendly pit bull in Detroit during Halloween weekend and set it on fire.
The owners of the dog thought at first that the burns weren’t so bad and could be dealt with at home. They kept the dog for a week, trying home remedies.
This is something I find disturbing as well, but I think it’s indicative of a difference in approaches to dog ownership. While most of us think of our dogs as family members, there are folks out there who don’t see it that way — folks who are stuck in the old attitude of, “A dog is a dog — keep it outside, feed it scraps and let it be a dog.”
But as the days passed, the dogs burns worsened and worsened. The owners finally called the Michigan Humane Society and gave the dog — her name is Lady, by the way — to them. Whew.
Lady is now in good hands and incredibly, she’s described as a happy-go-lucky girl who loves being scratched under her chin.
While she appears to be doing well, such horrific burns can be complicated to heal. Infections are a huge threat to recovery, as there’s no skin barrier keeping all that bacteria out.
But if she does make a complete recovery, she’ll go up for temperament testing. If does well there, she’ll probably be adopted.
I’ve got my fingers crossed.
All dogs deserve a second chance, but when you hear a story like this, it’s hard to imagine anything else happening.
Who knows what Lady’s life was like at her Detroit home. And then, to have someone pour gasoline on you and light you on fire — it’s hard to imagine the terror she must’ve felt.
Despite it all, she’s giving people a second chance — loving on the MHS staff, enjoying under-the-chin scratches and proving herself to be a friendly, bright dog.
I would be absolutely dismayed to hear she failed some part of a temperament test and was euthanized. That would be a horrible ending to this story.
I want to hear that regardless of her temperament test, she lands herself in a loving home where she spends her days lounging on a sofa and chewing on rawhides. I want to hear that her caring new family members are investing the time to teach her all sorts of stuff about being a good ambassador for pit bulls; to show that resilient and forgiving spirit pit bulls are known for.
Please join me in hoping for a good outcome for a great dog who has endured the worst of humankind’s cruelty. Let’s show her that people can be a lot better than that.
Video from WXYZ


Similar story ends with happiness for another dog
This isn’t the first time The Oakland Press has written about a badly burned dog from Detroit.
In 2007, a barely 4-pound pit bull puppy was set on fire with the rest of her littermates in an abandoned home in Detroit. The lone survivor, she was brought to Oakland Veterinary Referral Services in Bloomfield Hills.
Now named Madison, the little girl is deformed but able to enjoy a good quality of life — running, swimming and living a life full with love from her humans. And she’s in incredibly capable human hands.
Madison was adopted by one of the surgeons at OVRS and, as of my last report, was still a constant fixture in the clinic that saved her life.
I hope that Lady’s outcome is as good as Madison’s.
Read the full story about Madison by clicking here.

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