Heading and heeling in cattle dogs has been discussed at length.
These are some of my observations as I see things today.
Simply put, if a dog gets in, and bites, and gets away, it was
right for him, whether he is a left-handed dog or a right-handed
dog. Yes, there are dogs that are right or left on heeling and
heading.
Forty
years ago almost everyone wanted a heel dog only. Now days
some people prefer a dog to never go to the heel. To me they are
asking a lot of a dog. Let's say 100% total is perfect, and you
have a dog that is a tough rascal. He's a 110% total head dog, and
absolutely no heel bite. Would this be as good an all-round dog,
or as easy to keep in position, as a tough dog that is 70% head
and 20% heel, or 90% total. I doubt it. It would be like
having a hand help me at the stockyards, and I told him he could
only bring me cattle by tapping them on the head, and never touch
the other end. He would be pretty limited as a hand.
Everyone has their own preference as to what percent they want on
each end. We need to respect that. For cattle dogs we need
to be alike only in breeding for that mean streak, that makes a
dog want to bite. Usually you don't have much control as to
which end the pups are going to work best. Personally I try
to avoid breeding to a body-biter, i.e. (flank, shoulder, belly).
If your market is mainly cow/calf dogs, you probably want more
heel in a dog than someone that's breeding for a yearling dog.
The reason being, cows don't need to be headed as much to be kept
together. Also it is hard to punish a cow by biting her on
her old hard head. Since she is going to be around several
years you are going to train her not to come out of a bunch.
You do this by working hardest on her most vulnerable part, the
heel, before she can make it back to the bunch. I like to
use two dogs on cows, a good head dog and a good heel dog.
Yearlings on the other hand tend to be curious at first.
Often they will come up and present their nose to a good hard
biting nose or head dog. Next comes their trotting or
running mode. You sure don't need heel here. Instead
of stopping and bunching like cows, yearlings tend to run.
The good head dog shines here.
Both head and heel dogs need the instinct to circle and hold, both
need to have the strength to stay there before and after they
bite, and both need to be in position before they do either one.
Remember biting is only 5% of working cattle, unless you have a
dog that won't bite. Then it becomes 95%. Most all
cattle dog breeders are looking for better dogs. What we're
doing now, is using the best we can find or afford. Am I
right or wrong? |