Just found out my dog has cattle dog in him, how do I convert his minor herding behaviour into a game? He is very smart but very stubborn and can be reactive outside.
I'll drop a pic in the comments as he's only 14%.
I wasn't surprised to find this out as I've sworn for ages he tries to herd people and he has other herding dog traits like the above mentioned intelligence and attitude, but he has behavioural problems as he was owned a byb for the first year of his life (he's nearly 3 now, ive has him for 1 year). He is quite lead reactive which we are working on a lot so we need to be able to play this game inside.
The behaviour: he always wants to direct people to where he wants them to go. He will use a soft nudge with his snout to kinda boop you, then he will usually lead you to his chosen spot. He will turn around and make eye contact to make sure you're following. If you don't follow he will grumble like an old man but eventually will go wherever you are. He only does this to people inside, he doesn't do it to my cats and I've never seen him do it at the dog park.
Games he likes: "sit/down/go to bed/stay/ go spinny" game (no one tell him this is basic training or he won't do it any more). Fetching squeaky toys and empty toilet rolls (NOT balls, balls are ignored even if they squeak). Bitey face game that all dogs seem to know except he "bites" my hands. Big zoomin (idk what this is he just zooms like a spaz while I sing his theme song as his hype man). I have recently introduced hide and seek which he is a bit puzzled by but he's got the spirit.