Herding Group Dogs Need To Be Smart
Herding Group Dogs
Most herding group dogs are excellent family pets. Their herding instinct is so ingrained that they sometimes try to keep children or other pets in a small group. Herding dogs are intelligent and easily trained to herd animals as diverse as ducks, sheep, goats, and cattle.
Australian Cattle Dog
The Australian Cattle Dog was bred in Australia to herd cattle for long distances over rough terrain. Depending on their coats’ color, they commonly have the nickname Red Heeler or Blue Heeler.
Height: 17-20 inches; Weight: 35-50 pounds; Lifespan: 12-16 years; Country: Australia
Australian Shepherd
You would think that if a dog is named the Australian Shepherd, it comes from Australia. However, the breed started in California from dogs that probably came from Europe.
Height: 18-23 inches; Weight: 40-65 pounds; Lifespan: 12-15 years; Country: Australia
Bearded Collie
The Bearded Collie is from Scotland, where it was a herding dog. Now, most are family companions. It may be related to the Polish Lowland Sheepdog and the Komondor.
Height: 20-22 inches; Weight: 45-55 pounds; Lifespan: 12-14 years; AKC rank: 127 of 197 Country: Scotland
Beauceron
The Beauceron is a herding group dog that also served as a guard dog, especially against wolves, in its native region Beauce, France.
Height: 24-27.5 inches; Weight: 70-110 pounds; Lifespan: 10-12 years; Country: France
Belgian Laekenois
The Belgian Laekenois (pronounced lak-in-wah) graduated from the Miscellaneous Group to full recognition as a member of the AKC Herding Group on July 1, 2020.
Height: 22-26 inches; Weight: 55-65 pounds; Lifespan: 10-12 years; Country: Belgium
Belgian Malinois
Like the German Shepherd, the Belgian Malinois is a herding group dog better known as a guard, police, or military dog than a herder. They originated in farms around Malines in Belgium and were farm-working dogs.
Height: 22-26 inches; Weight: 40-80 pounds; Lifespan: 14-16 years; AKC rank: 43 of 197 Country: Belgium
The BelSheepdogepdog has a solid black long-haired coat and is the most famous Belgian Shepherd dog.
Height: 22-26 inches; Weight: 45-75 pounds; Lifespan: 12-14 years; Country: Belgium
Belgian Tervuren
The Belgian Tervuren hails from the Tervuren region of Flanders, Belgium. It resembles Belgian Shepherd dogs’ size, temperament, and health.
Height: 22-26 inches; Weight: 45-75 pounds; Lifespan: 12-15 years; Country: Belgium
Bergamasco Sheepdog
The Bergamasco Sheepdog comes from Bergamo in the Italian Alps. They are a very ancient breed with roots in the Persian Empire.
Height: 22-23.5 inches; Weight: 57-84 pounds; Lifespan: 13-15 years; Country: Italy
Berger Picard
The Berger Picard is also known as the Picardy Shepherd. Its name comes from the region of Picardy in northwest France. Picardy is an agricultural region and has miles of rich pastureland.
Height: 21.5-25.5 inches; Weight: 50-70 pounds; Lifespan: 12-13 years; Country: France
Border Collies are the most intelligent dog breed in the world. It should be no surprise that they were also herding dogs.
Height: 18-22 inches; Weight: 30-55 pounds; Lifespan: 12-15 years; Country: United Kingdom
Bouvier des Flandres
The Bouvier des Flandres is from Flanders and is a general-purpose farm dog for herding livestock (sheep and cattle), guarding the farm, and pulling carts.
Height: 23.5-27.5 inches; Weight: 70-110 pounds; Lifespan: 10-12 years; Country: Belgium (Flanders)
Briard
The Briard is a medium to large dog bred for herding and guarding. The breed has been around for a long time, well before France was, well, France.
Height: 22-27 inches; Weight: 55-100 pounds; Lifespan: 12 years; Country: France
Canaan Dog
Canaan dogs are an ancient dog breed. They are native to the Middle East, where Canaans today are more common in Israel and Palestinian. They are also known as the Bedouin Sheepdog.
Height: 19-24 inches; Weight: 35-55 pounds; Lifespan: 12-15 years; Country: Middle East
Cardigan Welsh Corgi
The Cardigan Welsh Corgi is similar to the Pembroke Welsh Corgi, and the casual observer will probably not distinguish between the breeds.
Height: 10.5-12.5 inches; Weight: 25-38 pounds; Lifespan: 12-15 years; Country: Wales
Collie
Thanks to the novel Lassie Come Home by Eric Knight and Albert Payson Terhune’s stories about his dog Lad, the Collie (especially the rough-coated Collie) is one of the most recognized dog breeds in the world.
Height: 22-26 inches; Weight: 50-75 pounds; Lifespan: 12-14 years; Country: United Kingdom
Entlebucher Mountain Dog
The Entlebucher Mountain Dog is the smallest of the Sennenhund Swiss Mountain dogs. It also has the brown, black, and white coat as the other Sennenhunds.
Height: 16-21 inches; Weight: 40-65 pounds; Lifespan: 11-13 years; Country: Switzerland
Finnish Lapphund
Lapphunds are friendly dogs and are popular family pets in their native Finland, even though the dog tends to bark a lot. The Finnish Lapphund was bred to herd reindeer and has developed the quick reflexes necessary to avoid their antlers.
Height: 16-21 inches; Weight: 33-53 pounds; Lifespan: 12-15 years; Country: Finland
German Shepherd
The original job of the German Shepherd was to herd sheep. That is why they have “shepherd” in their name.
Height: 22-26 inches; Weight: 50-90 pounds; Lifespan: 12-14 years; Country: Germany
Icelandic Sheepdog
The IcelaSheepdogepdog is a charmingly friendly and faithful all-around herder of small-to-medium size. A densely coated Nordic spitz-type breed, Icelandic Sheepdogs are enthusiastically devoted to their humans.
Height: 16.5-18 inches; Weight: 25-30 pounds; Lifespan: 12-14 years; Country: Iceland
Miniature American Shepherd
The Miniature American Shepherd is a relatively new breed. Its history began in the 1960s in California. Australian Shepherds were bred with smaller dogs to produce what was initially called Miniature Australian Shepherds.
Height: 13-18 inches; Weight: 20-40 pounds; Lifespan: 12-13 years; Country: United States
Norwegian Buhund
The Norwegian Buhund is a spitz-type dog similar to the IcelaSheepdogepdog. They are an all-purpose farm and herding dog that makes a fine devoted family companion.
Height: 16-18.5 inches; Weight: 26-40 pounds; Lifespan: 12-15 years; Country: Norway
Old English Sheepdog
The Old English Sheepdog is a shaggy-coated large herding dog that may have the Bearded Collie as one of its ancestors.
Height: 21-22+ inches; Weight: 60-100 pounds; Lifespan: 10-12 years; Country: England
Pembroke Welsh Corgi
Pembroke Welsh Corgis are the favorite dog breed of Queen Elizabeth of England. She has had a Corgi in her life for almost 90 years.
Height: 10-12 inches; Weight: 24-31 pounds; Lifespan: 12-13 years; Country: Wales
Polish Lowland Sheepdog
The Polish Lowland Sheepdog breed has existed in Poland for hundreds of years, maybe as early as the thirteenth century. It has a shaggy coat, and the hair on its head sometimes covers its eyes.
Puli
If you own one of these herding group dogs, you can trim its fur, but the appearance of the Puli coat makes this dog breed unique.
Height: 16-17 inches; Weight: 25-35 pounds; Lifespan: 10-15 years; Country: Hungary
Pumi
The Pumi is a medium-sized herding group sheepdog from Hungary. It has a curly coat and doesn’t need as much grooming as expected. It sheds very little, but its hair will come out during grooming.
Height: 15-18.5 inches; Weight: 22-29 pounds; Lifespan: years; Country: Hungary
Pyrenean Shepherd
The Pyrenean Shepherd is an energetic herding dog from the Pyrenes, a range in southern France and northern Spain.
Height: 15-21 inches; Weight: 15-30 pounds; Lifespan: 15+ years; Country: France
Shetland Sheepdog
The Shetland Sheepdog, or Sheltie, is a small herding group dog from Scotland and the Shetland Islands.
Height: 13-16 inches; Weight: 15-25 pounds; Lifespan: 12-14 years; Country: Scotland
Spanish Water Dog
The Spanish Water Dog is a herding group Sheepdog but is sometimes used as a gundog as it retrieves from the water. It has a curly wooly coat that does not require a lot of grooming unless you want to keep it looking a certain way.
Height: 15-20 inches; Weight: 30-49 pounds; Lifespan: 12-14 years; Country: Spain
Swedish Vallhund
The Swedish Vallhund is an ancient herding group dog breed from Sweden that has been around for over a thousand years. They are distant cousins of the Corgis but are not built relatively as low to the ground.
Height: 11-14 inches; Weight: 20-35 pounds; Lifespan: 12-15 years; Country: Sweden