There are times when I don’t get to work my dogs much because I own Marvin’s Fencing and build a lot of fence for a living.

But any time I get a chance, I go help people gather cattle. This past week I was asked by a neighbor to help haul 4 loads of cows and calves and one bull – a total of 5 loads. I figured it’d be some good work for my dogs and I had it all set up for a smooth and easy day.

First problem: I didn’t take a horse with me and being on foot with this many cattle isn’t always good! Second problem: not all of the corrals had been opened up so there was some fighting to get the young calves in those corrals! There must have been about 50 head of cattle, some of them Charolais crosses which love to put up a fight! Good thing I had Hangin’ Tree Tyson and Hangin’ Tree Trap with me – it only took about 10 minutes with those dogs to get the cattle all penned up and then only a short amount of time to sort out the cows and calves we didn’t want hauled.

We loaded the trailer and left about 6 big calves for the next load. As we were leaving I saw that the main gate out to the fields had one of those cheap chain and latch combos. Well I know we had enough bailing twine laying around to reach to the moon but for whatever reason I decided not to worry about it. We dropped that first load of cattle off, picked up another load and delivered them somewhere else, then picked up a calf on the way back. When we were driving into the barn lot a few hours later I turned to my neighbor and asked him if all those calves in the fields were supposed to be there!

Well of course they weren’t! Right then I knew what happened. They pushed open a poorly secured gate! The only ones happy to see those calves loose were Hangin’ Tree Tyson and Hangin’ Tree Trap. Fortunately it only took those dogs about 5 minutes to get the calves back through the open gate and penned.

So remember to secure your gates, or else have some really good cow dogs with you!

During this same busy week I got a call asking if I wanted to go pen about 60 head of roping steers and of course I couldn’t pass up this opportunity to work my dogs!

So I loaded up a couple of horses and my dogs, picked up Nathan (link) along the way to videotape the whole event and had Stacey there at the other end for help and to ride my other horse

We drove for about an hour to reach the place only to find out the steers weren’t dog broke. Fortunately I brought along Hangin’ Tree Tyson and Hangin’ Tree Trap who are seasoned cow dogs. I also brought Dottie who is by Hangin’ Tree Sport and out of Cattle Master Chick. She’s only two years old and has never been on a cattle gathering like this so it was an education for her. Surprisingly, it only took about 30 minutes to get the roping steers out of the brush and into the barn even with Dottie along.
I’m feeling pretty good and thinking this all went easily enough and that we were all done with a short day of work, Stacy and I tied our horses back at the trailer, I put Dottie in the dog box and told Tyson and Trap to stay under the truck.

We were starting back to the barn on foot to help load the steers when I heard someone holler that the steers were busting out and heading for the hills! Well being that I know I was the last one through the barn lot gate I also knew it was left open. So I hollered at Tyson and Trap to come. I ran into the lot and see a lot of steers going through the gate.
I tell Tyson and Trap to “get ahead”. They get to the head steer but he won’t stop. They hit him again and again. By this time they’re a couple hundred yards out of the lot so I go back for my horse and Dottie. I’m yelling at Stacy to get the other horse as I take off after the herd on mine. It’s not looking like the dogs are going to get the steers stopped before they get to the brush and hills. This is not a good thing. I’m going at a pretty good clip on my horse after them when I get out about 400 yards and see the steers coming back around the corner straight at me with the dogs behind them! The steers see me coming and start turning on my dogs. I know if my dogs could of talked I would have got a good cussing. It took a few minutes before we got them headed the right way again but skill was on our side!

My dogs were hot and tired after that fiasco so when we got the steers in the corral I let my dogs drink water and cool off for awhile. We didn’t have the best set up with the corrals so it took us about another 2 hours to get all those steers in the barn again. Once again, time and effort could have been saved if there was a secure gate – and a shut one!

You can make a short day (or week) into a really long and hard day if you’re not careful with your gates. When you pen cattle make sure your gate is tied good and won’t come open. Bailing twine is cheap! And if you’re gates aren’t secure, make sure you’ve got good cow dogs!

Hope you enjoy reading this.
Marvin pierce

One day I was building a fence for some clients. The people owned a blue heeler and it was allowed to run loose. I was there early one morning and when the people left for work the dog started chasing and biting at the horses that were in the corral. I was there the whole day and this dog would chase the horses, then it would quit for awhile and then it’d start again. The people got home that afternoon and the dog ran out and laid in the drive way to greet them. When they got out of the truck the dog ran over and got its pat on the head.

The man came over to me and started talking and I asked him if he knew his dog had been chasing and biting at his horses most of the day. He said “no way”, his dog would never do that. So I told him he should sneak home some day and see what his dog was doing while he was gone!

I build a lot of fence on farms and I constantly see dogs that chase horses and cattle when they’re not suppose to. A lot of times the owners just laugh about it. If the truth was known I bet a lot of horses and livestock are hurt due to unruly, untrained dogs. Some people don’t understand the trouble a stock dog can cause. Of course once they get one of these dogs they fall in love with it and can never part with him or her. So they’re forced to try and figure out how to keep him out of trouble. My solution to this is keeping my dogs in nice kennels with runs and then turning them out to run and play at least every morning and every evening under SUPERVISION, even though they have a big acre-sized turnout. Of course I also work my dogs on cattle regularly and start basic obedience with them when they’re just pups. Between the cattle training, the constant obedience work, nice kennel setups and good supervision I know my dogs won’t be causing a big wreak with the other livestock.

I have had a few dogs that slept by my bed, would sleep in my lap if I let them and they were still super working cow dogs.

When it comes to dogs, I’m not a person who will pet and love on my dogs all the time but that doesn’t mean I don’t care about them. I treat my dogs very well. If they need a vet they get one. They are wormed when they should be, have a dry bed to sleep on and nice, clean kennel runs.

My Hanging Tree Sport dog will lay by my feet and be as happy as a dog can be and he will let me pet on him anytime I want. But he doesn’t bug me to pet on him and that is what I like. But don’t get me wrong, I think it’s a great thing if people want to pet on their dogs a lot.

I sold a nice cattle dog a few months ago because she really wanted to be loved and petted on when she wasn’t working and she wasn’t getting enough of that from me. I thought she’d be happier with someone who’d pet on her all the time like she wanted.

I believe one of the things people don’t understand about a cattle dog is that if they’re from the right bloodlines of great working dogs then they’re going to live to work. If they’re going to be a good companion and a good working dog, then besides coming from good bloodlines, you’re also going to have to spend a lot of time with them to get them where they will do whatever you tell them, when you tell them.

My dogs Sport and Chic with my granddaughter

Hanging Tree Sport is not only my buddy, traveling companion and family dog, he also lives to work cattle! Sport is 10 years old now and has been one of my greatest working cow dogs as well as a fantastic family dog.

I owned a Border collie about 11 years ago who was the coolest dog. To him, me and “live stock” were the only things that he cared about. He wouldn’t work for anyone but me, no exceptions, and he would work anything I asked him to. If I let him loose, he would gather stock and put them in my roping  arena or at the gate and hold them till I found him, it didn’t matter if it was 5 minutes or 5 hours, he would hold the stock and wait for me. But he was all “work dog”…and none of the other stuff mattered to him.

So a cattle dog is not for everyone. But they can make great pets. They need exercise and a lot of it, especially when they’re young.

I have seen my wife, Jodi, play ball with her dog Tren in our living room when we’re watching TV. Her dog is so amazing because she can throw her ball 10 feet and that dog will get it time and time again without breaking anything and be the happiest dog alive. Now that Tren has gotten older she doesn’t need the ball thrown for her as much. The thing is, when Tren was younger and needed the exercise all the time, she got it even though sometimes she wanted to play in the house. Jodi taught her to be careful and not break anything. If you go to the Montana story you’ll see Jodi and Tren working cattle on the ranch. So you can have both a working dog that’s also a great pet.

Cattle Master Female Chic

I also own a Cattle Master female who is about 5 years old now and she is the most extraordinary female dog I have ever owned as well as one of the toughest. She would definitely sleep in my lap if I let her though!

So my thoughts are, if you want both a good pet and good working cow dog, find one from the right parents, train it well, give it lots of exercise and I believe you can have both in the same dog.

If you would like more on this subject, drop me a comment and I will be glad to try and help you!  Thanks