Allison 2,369 Posted September 8, 2016 Report Share Posted September 8, 2016 Gracie has been training with Ally Cowan at the Wind River Bear Institute. Today they're trying to herd five sheep into a wooden corral, in a grassy valley a few hours south of Glacier National Park in Montana. "Getting a border collie to drive, basically stay behind and push forward is a bit tougher," Cowan says. "For Gracie, we are working against that instinct a little bit, because for a wild goat, we don't want her bringing them closer to people; we want her pushing them away." The 2-year-old border collie with icy blue eyes is part of a pilot program funded by the Glacier National Park Conservancy. Encounters between visitors to national parks and wild animals can go awry. Sometimes, it's the visitors who approach the animals, but just as often it's the animals that approach the visitors. So rangers here tried something new this summer: canine "Bark Rangers." It's Gracie's job to train wildlife to stay away from popular areas in the park and teach park visitors about safely viewing wildlife. http://www.npr.org/2016/09/07/492805897/bark-ranger-helps-lick-dangerous-wildlife-encounters-in-national-park 3 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Denise E. 1,485 Posted September 10, 2016 Report Share Posted September 10, 2016 If the program works they might want to try training some AI Dogs. Tayamni & Coffey go sheep herding (for fun): they both have different techniques. Tayamni, the Common AI Dog style, might be better if they all herd like her. She herds from a bit of a distance either moves the herd together or cuts one out but not drives to us. She also watches how an animal or group is moving and angles to get to them instead of following. Coffey on the other hand is right on top of the sheep (sometimes LITERALLY - LOL). He works from close up to the animal if it (or they) stop. I'm so glad to hear the Park Rangers are thinking outside the box and I hope this program works!!!!! 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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