Herders

The very best suggestion I can give you is to find a trainer in your area. There are some really good trainers in NC. One place to start is www.littlehats.net . Where is Wilkes County?

ORIGINAL: dogslyfe

The very best suggestion I can give you is to find a trainer in your area. There are some really good trainers in NC. One place to start is [linkhttp://www.littlehats.net]www.littlehats.net[/link] . Where is Wilkes County?

 
I'm in northwestern NC between Boone and Winston Salem.  My only issue with consulting a trainer is that they are outside of my budget.  That's why I'm seeking other resources such as a good website, book, or video.  I will check out that site though...thanks!

a cattle dog and a green handler are a really really risky proposition.  A lesson once a month is better than nothing.  cattle dogs are really hard in many cases and grips can happen and get out of control quickly.

It would be best if you could at least go to one clinic or lesson, preferaby with someone who has experience working with goats and cattle. My business partner and I are planning at least one, possibly two clinics aimed specifically at helping farmers start their dogs and learn how to train them.

Beyond that, I can tell you it's really, really hard to start with a dog that doesn't come with all the bells and whistles right out of the box. Heelers are tough and want to come in hard right from the start, which can scare you into thinking the idea is to get them off as quickly as possible (ie, back away from the stock). That would be a mistake, since you'll need that later, and also because Heelers can have a touch of sulkiness, and if you take away the "fun" in the wrong way, the dog may quit on you entirely.

I used to live in Stokes County. There's someone who has fun days up in Rutherford County, and then there's someone else down in SC, very close to the state line, who has clinics about once a month. The clinics are only about $65 if I remember correctly - the person in Rutherford County offers them for even less.

Border Collies in Action (http://bordercollies.com ) has several books and videos to help get your head around some of the basic concepts, but most of them are not going to help much when you actually get out there and start.

For what it's worth, I always let my Cattle Dogs help me do the chores every day, and it didn't take long for them to learn to go get the cattle and bring them up to the barn at feeding time, and milking time. I agree that working with a trainer as much as you can afford would be very helpful, but try to make sure you go to someone who knows how the Cattle Dog was bred to work. They are supposed to be tough, hard headed, and they are supposed to be willing to bite! They are very smart dogs, and they can be a joy to have helping with cattle if they are trained properly. Good luck, and have fun!

so how does someone like me go about doing this? i have bulldogs that are pure naturals but... they're bulldogs. not shepherds. bulldogs were originally intended to work cattle, but i've seen them work sheep as well. but that guy is Down Under. he recommends starting them young, which is good of course and i want to. i would love to have some REAL working cattle dogs.
problem, given most peoples opinions on the breed.. i doubt i could find a trainer/mentor.  unless i wanted to catch hogs or something... rather not. i'll leave that to catahoulas and pit bulls.

In most cases working stock should not occur without instruction and support from a skilled mentor or instructor.  At an absolute minimum requirements is a leave it command no matter the distraction level, and a command that stops motion immediately.  Most dogs who have herding instinct have natural ability far beyond that of the human involved.  So, the green handler and the green dog end up with problems of communication that result in frustration.  In high drive dogs, that is often expressed as diving in and gripping in an effort to control the stock.
 
Green dogs, green handlers lead to frustration at best and damaged livestock at worst.

I took my cattledog mix to sheepherding clinic here in the Los Angeles area.
For $28 we spent the afternoon watching the other dogs and had 2 supervised sessions in the ring.

The first session was to assess instinct, my dog only nipped once, then began driving and trying to read the herder's crook almost immediately. In the second session the herder gave my dog a specific task to master, and worked with me as well.

I hope you can find something affordable like that in your area.
Do you know about ACD specific discussion groups? If not, PM me and I'll give you links.