Hangin Tree Cowdogs play an important role in the Dagley’s ranch life.
David and Susanna Dagley manage a ranch in South Dakota, USA, where they also homeschool their three children, raise goats, sheep, and chickens, train their dogs to help them move the cattle and goats, and seek to honor God with their lives.
As a working ranch they use rotational grazing to improve the soil. The cattle are in an area for a week or two, then they use the dogs to move them to fresh pasture, allowing the land to rest most of the year. This improves the soil and encourages the growth of native grasses.
Not only does David train dogs, he also uses the dogs to train the cattle. The cattle know that when David and the dogs show up, they get fresh pasture. So, the cattle respond really well to the David and our dogs, and trust David as their leader.
They also use our dogs throughout the year to bring the cattle to feed, bring them to the corral to work them, show them where the water is in a new pasture, where there is shelter during a winter storm, or to load the cattle into a trailer.
Working the cattle, the way they do, is peaceful and low stress.
The Dalgeys still use horses when ever they can, but the dogs fit in with their everyday ranch work easier, because a cowdog can just jump into the pickup if they are taking out a load of feed, ride on the four-wheeler or in the tractor, and go along when they are building or taking down a fence. (which they do often, because they use a lot of temporary fences due to the rotational grazing)
These dogs aren’t your ordinary farm dogs. They are Hangin Tree Cowdogs, which are bred to be an all around cattle dog. They can gather the cattle, bring them to you, and also drive cattle. So, David usually rides his horse (four-wheeler, pickup, etc) along ahead of the cattle, showing them where to go, and our dogs bring the cattle on behind him.
They are a very intelligent breed, and David has trained their cowdogs to understand voice and whistle commands such as “Come-By” (Clockwise), “Away to me” (counter-clockwise), “There” (stop, and be ready for the next command), “Down” (lie down),and “Walk up” (walk towards the cattle), etc.
The Hangin’ Tree Cowdog breed was originally developed by Gary Ericsson and his son Choc. Gary chose four breeds originally to develop this breed; 3/8 Border Collie for their intense herding instinct and intelligence, 1/8 Catahoula for the ability to trail and find cattle, also for their toughness and slick hair coat, 1/4 Kelpie for endurance, herding instinct, and short hair, 1/4 Australian Shepherd, only a dog named Hangin Tree Black Bear went into this breed. Bear was a super dog with courage and ability to handle any kind of cattle.
The Hangin Tree Cowdog Association Inc. was formed to protect, preserve, and promote this very special breed of dog. The objectives of The Hangin Tree Cowdog Association Inc. are to promote and protect the Hangin Tree Cowdog, maintain a pedigree registry for qualified Hangin Tree Cowdogs, to further the advancement of the Hangin Tree Cowdog, to disseminate knowledge and conduct clinics for the training of dogs and their handlers, and to do all in its power to advance the interests of the working cowdog.
Owners and breeders of Hangin Tree Cowdogs are encouraged to join and register their dogs with the association.
But, to take it a step further, they came up with “Supreme Qualifying.” Supreme Qualified dogs are listed on the Hangin’ Tree Cowdog website as a “Supreme Hangin’ Tree Cowdog,” and are highly recommended for breeding.
In order to Supreme Qualify your registered Hanging Tree cowdog, you must use your dogs to bring five or more dog-broke yearlings through an obstacle course in front of the judges. The handler must stay in a 30’ circle. They sends their dog over a hill to gather yearlings that the dog did not know were there. Using voice commands, the handler directs the dog to guide the cattle around a couple obstacles in a figure eight or “S” curve pattern, then away from the handler and into a pen. Then you must be able to call the dog off the cattle and have it come to you.
By encouraging you to Supreme Qualify your dog before you breed it, it ensures that the breed will not only be tough, but be trainable, amazing, cowdogs for generations to come.
The Dagley family were able to take Annie to Texas last fall and not only get her Supreme Qualified, but David and Annie also competed in the Novice class at the 2018 Hangin' Tree Cowdog Futurity, and carried away the Novice Champion belt buckle.
This past November, David had an accident while working in the shop and got a piece of metal in his eye. While he spent the winter going through surgeries to remove the damaged lens, reattach the Retina, etc.…., he was not allowed to ride his horse, or even ride a four-wheeler across bumpy pastures.
His dogs made it so he could still move the cattle, slowly walking or driving ahead in a pickup, while Spur and Annie gathered the cattle and brought them on behind. The Dagley family is very thankful to God, and all the skilled doctors who worked on David’s eye, David’s eye is slowly healing. The doctor’s plan to eventually put in an implant lens, so he can use his eye again. But it was another case where their dogs proved their worth.
The Dagleys love being out in God’s beautiful creation with our family, horses, dogs, and cattle.
God has truly blessed them.
Q. How long has David been training dogs?
A. David has loved dogs and owned at least one ever since he was little. But about three or four years ago he decided he wanted to get a really good dog, and learn how to train it to gather cattle.
He spent about a year reading articles and watching YouTubes, trying to decide which breed of dog he wanted. It was normal for him to spend at least a couple hours every week watching YouTubes of people working stock with their dogs. He came across the Hangin Tree Cowdog breed and was amazed.
He bought Annie as a pup from Schlegel Cowdogs, back in February of 2017. David continued to watch Youtubes and dog training DVD’s, learning as much as he could about training cowdogs as he trained her.
By the time Annie was five months old, we knew we had an amazing dog.
Annie enjoys working cows, and is a big help on the ranch gathering cows and bringing them, and often comes in handy because she can easily slip under a fence or block a gate as needed. She is trained to gather, move, and drive cattle in a controlled manner listening to voice commands and whistle signals. Annie also enjoys all the attention she gets from the kids, and is a great family dog.
We got another Hangin Tree the next winter, and began to train Spur. Spur has learned the commands, and is a good dog. David has used him on yearlings, cows, and bulls. But he doesn't have as much natural instinct as Annie, so he needs a little more guidance.
When we realized that we wouldn’t be able to register Spur, we made up our minds that we would not use him to breed Annie. Our goal is to breed quality cowdogs. Spur will still make a great dog for someone. But we want to carefully select the dogs we bred, so that we do our part to keep the Hangin Tree Cowdogs an exceptional breed.
Q. So, what about the rest of the family?
A. Susanna teaches their kids, helps with ranch work, and is David’s secretary. She loves to garden and sew, and she is learning how to write children’s books in her spare time.
Hadassah takes care of the goats, helps her papa with fencing and ranch work, loves making things in the kitchen, and enjoys reading, writing, singing, and playing piano. Hadassah self-published her own book when she was nine, A Horse and It’s Life. Hadassah also enjoys acting, she and her sibling got to act in their aunt’s first movie, Damsels in Defense of the Castle. Hadassah and Ephraim both have leading roles in the movie their aunt is currently producing, A Peasant Protector.
Clementine loves dogs, and helps a lot with the daily dog care, feeding them, exercising them, and cleaning kennels. She likes going along with her papa and helping with the ranch work whenever she can. Last fall, Clementine and Susanna started learning how to teach our puppies basic manners, using a combination of Clicker Training and cowdog training.
Besides acting, Ephraim cares for the chickens, enjoys reading, writing, building things, horseback riding, and he loves helping his papa fix the ranch machinery.
We love living in the country and serving God together as a family.
Thanks for reading,
-The Dagley Family
