Dogs and their handlers competed at the seventh annual Cattle Dog Futurity and Maturity competitions and the International Stock Dog Trials held Thursday at Canadian Western Agribition.

The futurity event featured dogs born between November 2019 and October 2020 who were competing for the first time.

“We believe (they) should be in their prime of their training then. They’re young, viable, and should have enough training, or be trained enough, to come and display in town and educate everyone on the use of cow dogs and how it works,” said event organizer Marcel Vermette of Rafter V Ranch near Outlook, Sask.

Vermette competed with his dog, Jock, who was the event’s reserve champion in 2020.

Calin Duce of Cardston, Alta., brought his three-year-old dog, Tan, to compete in the futurity event before moving on to the stock dog event.

Duce said the dog learns how to read and adjust to different types of animals.

“It’s a little bit of a different game on maybe how you handle them, but it’s very similar to each other,” he said.

With 750 cow-calf pairs and 6,000 in the feedlot, Duce currently has 15 dogs on staff.

After they start to slow down, retirement can be pretty special, he said.

“Usually if a dog has made it to 10 years old with someone, they’re probably going to be sitting on the porch the rest of their life.”

One stock dog can replace three ranch hands, said Vermette, who owns a custom grazing operation.

Beyond the skill, agility, and intelligence of stock dogs, there are other reasons stock dogs are ideal, he said. “These guys show up to work. They’re never hung over. They don’t have to take kids to a ballgame early in the day, whatever. They’ll work till they’re dead. And so they really are the ideal employee.”

Vermette also sees them as better for his cattle herd.

“Cattle are a prey animal. They’re always a little anxious. And if they’re anxious, they’re not going to put weight on when we’re grazing because they’re always looking for that predator that’s coming together. Once we started working with them with the dogs, that anxiety comes back down to nothing.”

Agribition has been a good place to feature the stock dogs, Vermette said, with a great community of fellow handlers.

“We’re all just ranchers… you can brag about how good your dog is but until you bring him to town, it’s just talk,” he said with a laugh.

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Jared Epp from the Saskatchewan Stock Dog Association led that day’s demonstration and drove home four main points: showing leadership is key, the appearance of the dog doesn’t matter, which breed is best for herding stock, and the use of voice commands versus whistles.

He went on to explain how leadership plays into owning a stock dog. The animal has a herding instinct, even an instinct to hunt, and be controlled, he said. They love structure and to be productive, so it is imperative to incorporate that into interactions with them.

The key to leadership, according to Epp, isn’t to scare or upset your dog, but rather approach the animal as an authority figure and someone it can trust.

“Our dogs do understand that they’re worthy, ‘we’re worthy of being listened to’, and then, they start to really embrace listening to us.”

Judging a book by its cover doesn’t exactly work for choosing a good herder or breed, according to Epp. He looks for good genetics by examining the parents of the pups.

In terms of which breed is king in stock herding, there are many different herding breeds and each has its own attributes, but Epp prefers border collies because of their great hunting instict and high intelligence, which allows them to be extremely teachable.

“[The] real important one is their intensity. So, they’re willing to work through discomfort. They’re willing to work through hot weather [and] cold weather, they just want to work so bad.”

Communicating with the dog is essential for herding cattle for a number of reasons and can be done effectively in two different manners: calling and whistling.

Epp says voice commands are most effective for when you’re close to your dog or when noise levels and other distractions are minimal — the reason being that if you have to raise your voice for the dog to hear you properly, the dog may interpret that as anger or aggression, which is not conducive to the process. This is where whistling can prove the best method.

“It’s our opportunity to give the dog a message without a voice, without screaming [or] hollering, and without any emotion attached. A whistle will never sound angry, it’ll sound urgent.”

Jared Epp and his dog perform a demonstration. (Liam O’Connor photo)

Epp also shared a sentiment of many at AiM — that he was glad to be back in front of people — although he also acknowledged the ability to record his stock dog demos with drones and give that angle to people online during the years of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“It’s wonderful to be back. There’s nothing like live interaction with people and the response from people when they can see things right in front of them happening,” he said.

The annual outdoor farm show — held near Langham, Sask., about 40 km northwest of Saskatoon — resumed this year after two years online, drawing 29,954 guests over three days from July 19 to 21. The event is owned and operated by Glacier FarmMedia, the owner of this website.

— Liam O’Connor reports for Glacier FarmMedia from Saskatoon.

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