how a sheepdog pup starts out to become a working dog

we are in the very early stages of training this sheepdog puppy. he is about 5months old. I have his older brother who is almost 18months old, too.
I called this pup Karoo, after the Karoo in the western cape in South Africa.
I like what he is doing here. he is balancing the sheep to me. I am the sheepdog trainer. I think this pup will make a very good working sheepdog and perhaps even a sheepdog trial dog.
we have used these same 5 sheep to do our sheepdog training and shepherding for the last twelve months. if we look after the sheep correctly, they will behave properly for training sheep.
Sometimes sheep can get sour or too dog broke, if people don't manage them or work them correctly. These sheep are handled by all kinds of dogs and never get sour or turn into kneeknockers.

[@tsmfff9251]

Thank you for sharing!

[@peterknelsen5200]

Would love to see more of this pup

[@ChurchmountSheepdogs]

I will have him for a while I expect, so we should see more of him anyway

[@Lienlo_Border_Terriers]

Really like these videos, Paddy! And he looks fairly biddable too 😅

[@ChurchmountSheepdogs]

I'm embarrassed Neil, I still haven't edited up our interview..BUT I will! The biddable might go but that'll be ok too

[@gavinladd7915]

like any dog put a stop to early stops the drive .i like this pup

[@ChurchmountSheepdogs]

Yes, we have to balance the control and the freedom, so as not to dampen the desire in the dogs

[@gavinladd7915]

@@ChurchmountSheepdogs hope pup it doing good for you

[@anomienormie8126]

He’s taking chunks out of the sheep’s wool 😂

[@ChurchmountSheepdogs]

Yes, what does that tell you?

[@mattschademann6826]

@@ChurchmountSheepdogs It tells me you intentionally planned unshorn sheep for this grippy little guy to minimize the bite on them for being good sports while you are able to safely curb his bite. Was that planned?

[@ChurchmountSheepdogs]

​@@mattschademann6826well i don't consider this pup to be grippy at all. In fact, I would describe him as a dog that doesnt have much of a grip in him. The 4 or 5 2yr old wedders are training sheep. We have trained alot of dogs with them. In fact, in the video i mention how if we had a weak dog on them they would show him up very quickly. We have these sheep for training becuase they are an active mountain breed. The pup in this video here, doesnt know any commands..he is just working off his instinct and my body language. This is how it starts and then we put commands on them. Im not sure what you mean by shorn or unshorn..these sheep are just how they are whatevet time of year this was. For a pup like this, we want sheep who know how to stay together and not be too wild. This pup is in Scotland now and learning how to work at big distance on the mountain

[@mattschademann6826]

@@ChurchmountSheepdogs That's fascinating. It's also good to know it's expected because when I get my puppies started I'm scared they'll be declared savages. Mine are 15 weeks, at 8 weeks I asked seller to get video of them around stock, it was orderly and nice, and they did give a little nip to a ram's heal who put his head down to show them up, and instead they backed him up not with a nip but just holding their ground. I love you're doing this at 5 mos because one local trainer said not until 6, and another not until 10.
...but to your question 'what does that tell you?' I just figured the wool is nice to soften the grip. All the US sheep seem to be cleanly shaven ready for a wedding. THX for all you do, can't wait for Land of Lincoln....

[@leilajenkins-gr8ho]

So how will you put a stop on this one?

[@ChurchmountSheepdogs]

The stop is easy enough to get but I don't worry about it too much when I am starting pups. I am more concerned with holding onto the forward in the pup and teach him his sides probably