For Lewistown rancher, training cattle dogs uses same rules as life

One of Carl's favorite things to do during the day is to work with his dogs. He loves dogs and likes to train them to work his cattle. He teaches them to respond to both voice commands and hand signals. “That way, if you're around a bunch of bawling cattle, they still know what you want them to do,” Carl said. Carl explained that if the people you're working with can't hear you over the noise, chances are the dogs won't hear you either. Most of his dogs are Australian Shepherds, descended from the first one he purchased from a breeder back in 1995. Carl likes the way they worked the cattle. The breeder raised national champion stock dogs. “I listened to the breeders and trainers and watched them work their dogs, and I asked a lot of questions,” he said. Recently he purchased a Hangin' Tree Cow Dog out of Portland, Ore. The male pup is not quite six months old, tall and leggy with a short fine coat. He plans on cross-breeding the male with his females in the hopes of producing a taller dog with a thinner coat, without losing working ability. “Having these qualities they can travel in the rough breaks country a little longer. They'll be bigger build in order to cover more country and their hair won't let them get over-heated or collect as many burrs,” he said...read more