by Tildon Kirby
Tildon and his wife Amy reside with their 3 daughters in the foothills of North Georgia. Along with full-time jobs, they maintain a small commercial beef herd and a small flock of hair sheep. He trained reined cow horses for several years prior to working with Border Collies. He credits much of his early success to the timing and feel he picked up during that time. His schedule doesn't allow for trialing as much as he would like. He has some judging assignments on the calendar and plans on hitting the national finals in 2025. Besides several top finishes in 2024, he and his young dog, Trudy, were the Purina Outstanding Nursery team of the Year, Bluegrass finalists, USBCHA National finalists, USBCHA open rookie of the year and USBCHA nursery rookie of the year.
It gives me great pleasure to watch a good dog driving 20 heavy sheep around a big challenging course. Head low, shoulders rising rhythmically to a marching cadence, coming forward with pace and purpose. Most any well trained Border Collie can runout and gather sheep to the master's feet, but go to the Bluegrass Classic on a warm day in May and it's not hard to spot the dogs that stand out while moving their stock. On the trial field, driving is the most weighted single task at 30 points, while on the farm a good driving dog saves time and steps. Some dogs take to driving very naturally, while others take a bit more time to gain confidence and understanding. No matter what type you have, with thoughtful training and consistency, most can make competent driving dogs.
The dogs I enjoy working with usually have a natural tendency to be direct and move their stock. This type of dog is usually easy to start driving with because they want to do it and you can shape it almost right from the beginning. Dogs with a little more eye or a little more feel might require a bit more effort, but can make excellent drivers as well once they are educated properly. I introduce driving once I've got them mostly on their sides and they are balancing sheep to me correctly at hand. I like to let my dog tell me when they are ready.
Don't think of training in terms of a hard itinerary that you need to follow. Instead, listen to your dog's subtle little signs. Maybe they'll start creeping up on their own when I take them to the training field. Maybe they're running loose in the yard, and they start walking up on some sheep I've got in the round pen. It's much easier to shape when they want to do it naturally, as opposed to spurring them along on a schedule.
I like my dogs to have a reliable stop, a basic understanding of a flank, and a somewhat straight walk. For me, it's important in these earlier stages to define that the walk up command means to approach your stock straight and direct. A walk up is not a flank. As I get into more advanced training, I will give my dogs a bit more freedom with that as they start helping me hold the heavy side. In the beginning, I think it is important to define that, or else your walk up just turns into a cue for the dog to move wherever they want to go. I've worked with several outside dogs who were trained in this manner, and for me, I just can't get the precision I like to have in steering. I always have to go back with this type of dog and clean up that walk up. It's just much easier to teach them to do it right from the very beginning.
I can't stress enough the importance of having the correct kind of sheep when introducing driving. Sour sheep that swarm your knees or that are totally desensitized to dogs and hard to move can set your dog back in its training. I like to start on lighter sheep that will flow off a dog, but aren't fleeing for their life. If you've got some sheep that have a little draw to one side of the field or the barn without fleeing, this is a great situation to get your dog behind them and teach in a way that isn't a drill.
I'll have 5 or 10 sheep calmly grazing about 30-40 yards away. I start by having the dog beside me and just asking them to walk up. The dog's keenness naturally takes them toward the sheep. I already know the sheep will flow off my dog. I'll ask a super keen dog to lie down a couple of times leading up to contact to make sure I've got a hold of them. On a stickier type, I may not ask for a stop at all and give them a few little flanks to keep their feet moving. Once contact is made, I like to control the situation to avoid any wrecks. I only give them their sheep when they are walking up calmly and in the right frame of mind.
If they ever get excited and I see a chase coming on, I like to shut down that unwanted behavior with a stop. I restart when that frame of mind passes and my dog is back in the correct frame of mind. Again, on a stickier type I may not stop them at all. Very quickly the dog will pick up that they only get the sheep when they are working somewhat correctly and in the right frame of mind. I say somewhat because for me, this is not the time I work on polishing pace. To borrow a phrase from the legendary natural horseman Ray Hunt, I am making the right thing easy and the wrong thing hard. The pace will obviously be a little faster with a keen dog, and that's okay, just so long as they don't get chasey. I'm going to need that gear later and I don't want to shut it totally down.
If your dog tries to head, just stop it, let the sheep settle and ask for a walk up again. Fairly soon, you've got a dog happy to follow sheep and in no time at all, they will get more confident. You can then start calling them in behind you, giving the corresponding flank and then stopping them to follow on. Once they start following with some confidence, I'll start giving them little flanks to drive a circle with me in the middle as the pivot point. The dog will still want to leak out to head, but between a good stop and calling them in to me a little bit, I can help them hold their position. Rather quickly, I'll clean that circle up to a square. I'll be in the middle of the square with my dog about 15 to 20 yards off to my side. I'll build a confident little cross drive right there in that square. From that square, I'll move on to a little triangle to introduce the 3 legs of a drive for trialing. At the start, I never ask them to push sheep straight away from me very far, as that can lead to bad habits, like looking back at me. I always let the dog tell me when they are ready to start taking stock straight away from me and build off of their confidence.
As with any facet of training, real work polishes them out cleaner and more naturally because you are educating them without drilling. Somebody can tell me how to clean out the fuel system of a Kubota tractor 14 times, but until I actually do it, it just doesn't click. The more times I do it, the better and more proficient I become. I use this as an example, because last summer I accidentally left the fuel cap off of my tractor and bush hogged about thirty acres. Needless to say, I can break that fuel system down in my sleep now.
Similarly, I think my dogs learn better when they are in real work situations. Try to think of creative ways to associate a task with your driving. Examples could be: Start at one side of your training field and have them drive to the opposite corner. Let them hold sheep to you while you deworm or check feet. Have them drive to a pen or a trailer on the opposite side of the field and let them load or pen. Let them drive back to the barn and help sort the sheep in two groups. There are countless possibilities to create a “job".
While consistency and repetition are essential training tools, they can also work against us. Make sure you are putting enough variation in your routine to avoid a dog anticipating so much that it is a hindrance. Use varying distances, patterns, areas, training stock, etc., to get a good mix. Challenge yourself to be creative so you avoid boredom and drill mentality. Dogs will naturally become more confident when they can associate their task with a real work situation. As your partner gains more confidence and miles, I think it's important to introduce them to different kinds of sheep. Dogs need to be educated on how to properly move all types, from heavy to flighty.
I always want to train in a way that my dog understands it's their job to take the sheep around the course. At the end of the day, my dog's position to the sheep and fundamental stock handling never changes. The only thing that changes is his positioning to me. Some dogs have more feel, some have more push, while some can be sticky and hard to move. Some dogs like to walk straight and some are busier, less direct workers. No matter which type of dog you're working with, they all can make solid drivers with proper guidance and education. Don't make a big fuss over pace and square flanks too soon. If you're working with a beautiful piece of wood and you sand too much away, you can't ever get it back. I have found it to be the same with dogs. Everything you take out is all you are left with. A young dog's mind will often tire much sooner than his body. Put him up when he's happy by keeping training sessions short and productive. There is no cookie cutter method to train. Be creative and thoughtful in your approach to find what works best for your situation.