Buying a trained herder...

Is it possible/prevelant enough to be easy?

I did a quick google search and found one site for cattle with little dogs listed, not much in the way of sheep. I plan on a small sheep farm in the not so super distant future, and I would like a herder. Since I'll be new to everything, I'd really rather get a trained dog to start and maybe train the next dog when I am more comfortable working sheep myself.

I will also have some mini cattle... And by some I mean like prob 2 max. So ideally the dog could work both, but the focused work will be the sheep.

I understand it will probably be fairly expensive to buy them fully trained vs puppy... But I think having a properly trained herder from the get-go would be worth the extra cash.

If I can, how and where does one go about finding said dog?

I would recommend figuring out what breed you want and then starting to look at breeders who trial and train their dogs for herding and start speaking with them. Also try to see if you can get to stock dog trials and start talking to breeders/handlers/trainers etc.

You have the options of finding adult dogs who are trained, started young dogs, or puppies that you can get and pay someone to put stock dog training on.

I see lots of ads here and there for started or finished herding dogs. Many breeders advertise that they do (particularly Border Collies and Aussies). Check the northeast stockdog assocation, local breed clubs. You can check http://www.ranchworldads.com/ ...a lot of BYB I'm sure, no health testing, but perhaps you can find something. They list McNabs, Hangin Tree, etc too if you if those types interest you.

Breed wise I think I would rather Aussie, ES, BC in that order. That being said, ideally I'd get an adult (or young adult) trained dog. Since the dog would be an grown enough to know their personality I would be more apt to buy for a fitting personality and working ability than I would breed. I'm not sure about buying a puppy to have trained at this stage. If that is the only course of action I would, but I'd really rather buy a fully trained dog.

I'm equating this to horses... You usually learn on a broke horse, when you know what you're doing you can move on to a "greener" horse with guidance still and then finally train your own.

That's actually the site I saw. HaHa. It's pretty much all puppies or started only... Neither of which I really want.

So the best way would be to just start emailing working breeders/trainers I guess? That might make it a little harder... HaHa. I'd travel for/ship the right dog and I know there are a decent amount of working breeders without much Internet presence. /sigh.

At least it seems it is possible?

Start looking up some breeders you like and talking to them, they might be able to refer you.

I'm not in the herding world, but I have to imagine a trained herder is going to be hard to come by without dropping a lot of cash, like 7 digit money. People that really herd, tend to keep their dogs to work on their farm. I don't think they tend to part with 2+ years of training unless there is a lot of money involved or the dog didn't make the cut. Even Green dogs for patrol or narcotics are 5-8K easily and those aren't fully trained by any means.

There's a woman who trains up my way, in Gaylordsville! She breeds Aussies.

Alta-Pete Stockdogs has young dogs as well as adult dogs for sale. They breed Border Collies, and are super super nice. I'd look into them.

ETA, I don't know how OFTEN they have trained young/adult dogs for sale, but I do know they will take on young dogs to train/finish as well.

I know them, they're right by me

I see started dogs a lot on BC breeder sites. And yeah you're looking at dropping a lot of money for them.

Don't forget facebook groups as well! LOTS of people advertise through this now. Might be worth posting an ad when you are ready!

Herding/Stock Dogs Achievements & Sales
https://www.facebook.com/groups/354579857885853/

Working and Agility Australian Shepherds For Sale
https://www.facebook.com/groups/518217381526668/

Yeah, there are quite a few border collie breeders/trialers that train up young dogs to sell. If you are interested in a border collie, check out nebca.net, there are classifieds and I'm sure people on the committee would be able to help point you in the right direction.

It will be harder to find a started ES, but you never know! I would guess they'd probably be a rehome situation though, as opposed to a trainer purposely training a dog to sell.

BCs are probably the easiest breed in which to find a started dog

Ugh. Facebook pages. I've come to loathe them, as it seems everything is now being marketed through FB and I am much happier without my page. /sigh. I might have to create a dummy page soon.

CD, I looked up your site. Currently they have a started dog for sale and it says they often have finished dogs. Actually a lot of the sites I've been on make mention of often having various levels of stock dog's for sale. One Aussie breeder had on her site she often has too many dogs for her to keep and needs to "retire" some... Giving people who would actually work the dogs priority.

And Julee, thanks for the tip! I googled to try to find the woman you're talking about. It doesn't appear she has a website but by looking specifically for her I found mention on a few sites. It looks like she often has finished dogs(trained in sheep and cattle) for sale. She would as of yet be on the top of the list due to breed and location.

As previously mentioned I am well aware the cost of a trained dog would be higher than the cost of an untrained puppy... But my time spent training, hiring a professional to help me since I wouldn't know how and complete novice mistakes would quickly add it. Actually the lack of stress in starting with a proficient dog would probably be worth it in its own right.

I also wouldn't compare a stock dog to a narc dog. The people buying and using are so vastly different. If you had to, I would be more inclined to compare them to a gundog... Which you can buy a fully trained nice gun dog between 3-5k on average.

I just realized my response to the FB pages might not be taken the way I meant. THANK YOU very much for the links to them! I appreciate them very, very much! I just overall hate FB bc for a lot of groups you HAVE to have a FB to view them and it drives me crazy. HaHa. But I am def going to look at them, they prob offer my best chance of what I need.

And Julee, the SO and I just started looking to purchase our farm. We're looking in eastern NY so we'll be pretty close to you when you move back. You'll have to come play with the sheeps! And I'll have a ring for the agility equipment set up too.