Stock dogs may be cute, but when they are working, they are less a pet and more a hunter.
The stock dog demonstration recently returned to the Ag in Motion 2025 farm show to showcase the innate ability of these dogs.
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Jared Epp of the Saskatchewan Stock Dog Association brought out his Border Collie, Dot, to demonstrate how the dogs herd animals.
While there are many different herding breeds — Border Collie, Australian Shepherd, Australian Kelpie, Red and Blue Heelers and Australian cattle dogs — appearance and breed are less important than their instinct.
“The length of the hair, the colour of the coat, the colour of the eyes, has nothing to do with what makes a dog a useful stock dog,” Epp said.
“The most important part of this dog that allows it to be useful as a work dog is planted right in here, in its skull. It’s a brain.”
Most herding breeds are capable of working with any type of livestock because the fundamentals are the same, especially for ruminant animals such as sheep and cattle.
“Herding is the job we’re going to use the dog for. The instinct that God gave it is hunting,” Epp said.
“We’re actually breeding hunting dogs. They have to genetically want to hunt prey animals to be very useful as a stock dog.”
Prey animals, such as sheep, that don’t believe the dog is a threat will be difficult to herd. Dogs that don’t have a keen hunting instinct may also bark or flag their tails, which alerts the livestock to their presence.
In addition to a hunting instinct, Epp also looks for intelligence and intensity.
“Intensity is that piece that helps a dog work through discomfort, maybe some heat, cold, blizzard, maybe an angry mama cow. That intensity is what keeps them in the game.”
Dogs with a hunting instinct shouldn’t be quick to bite, but Epp says the dog has to be willing to bite when necessary. This is to remind the livestock who the predator is when they are acting out.
“If that dog is not willing to bite, that cow pretty soon now, is moving your dog around, and everything’s in reverse, so that’s where the bite is very important to have,” he says.
Epp says it’s usually difficult to tell if a puppy has these traits until they’re older, usually eight months at the earliest. If producers are picking a puppy younger than that, he recommends looking at their parents and seeing if they are happy with their herding skills.
Puppies can then go to trainers such as Epp to learn how to herd.
Alongside his sheep operation, Epp trains dogs how to herd stock and hosts clinics for people who want to train their stock dog. He can take them for a couple of months and teach them the basics using a stock rod.
When the dog returns to its owner, it is up to the owner to continue its training using commands such as “come by” and “away from me,” and, eventually, the dog whistle, which is a useful tool when covering a large range because the sound carries.
“The beautiful part of a whistle, no screaming, and the sound travels,” Epp says.
“Just like humans, if we holler at a dog, they get to not enjoying us very much, and they pretty much don’t want to be around us … so we don’t want to be screaming at our dog.”
However, a good stock dog doesn’t usually act like a pet.
To get the dog to work like this, Epp says it is important for the dog to respect its owner. That often means not treating it like a pet because it can upset the balance of who is the leader.
For example, he said owners should not be their dog’s treat dispenser.
However, just because an owner’s dog sees them as a leader does not mean it doesn’t love them.
“Sometimes we worry about, ‘oh, I want my dog to love me.’ If they respect you, it always turns to love,” he said.
“I haven’t seen one that doesn’t love you when they respect you, but I’ve seen a million that love their owner because they can run amok and they have zero respect for them. Always strive for respect. You’re guaranteed to get love. Strive for love, you may never get respect.”
