Not to be confused with Livestock herd of sheep dog. Not to be confused with Healer.
A 9-week-old Border Collie directing ducks. All herding behavior is modified predatory behavior. Through selective breeding, humans have been able to minimize the dog’s natural inclination to treat cattle and sheep as prey while simultaneously maintaining the dog’s hunting skills, thereby creating an effective herding dog. Dogs can work other animals in a variety of ways. The headers or fetching dogs keep livestock in a group. Herding instincts and trainability can be measured when introducing a dog to livestock or at noncompetitive herding tests. Individuals exhibiting basic herding instincts can be trained to compete in herding trials.