English Shepherd showing no herding instinct?

I've been wanting to get my 10-month old English Shepherd, Pippin, into herding the animals on our farm, chickens in particular. Problem is: he has shown absolutely no interest in chickens. At all. I'm new to this and not exactly sure how to start out his training. Any tips, comments, and suggestions are really helpful. Thank you all! :3

-Gale and Pippin

I am not overly familiar with English Shepherds but did he come from generations of working dogs? Were his parents working dogs? We train our border collies to work our sheep and although there is training involved, the main ingredient is inherent instinct. You may be able to teach Pippin a left and right and lie down command so you can direct him to where you want him to be. What work are you wanting him to do with your chickens? Just herd them into their coop at night?

English shepherd? As Moobli mentioned if he's from working strain your likely to have more drive. I trained my girl for gun dog work to take direction whilst picking up but can be put into practise with anything to herd in a way. You don't want to make your chickens too interesting in case he goes the other way and starts chasing them. As long as you can get him to listen to you and take direction it shouldn't matter if he's interested or not

I unfortunately didn't get much about his history from the previous owner. All I know is that his previous owner bred and sold Purebred English Shepherds, but my puppy was in-bred. Could that have something to do with it? He knows a bit of basic commands (sit, lie down, stay, come, etc) but I have yet to teach him left and right. Yes, all I really wish is for him to herd the chickens into the coop. I'll definitely try teaching him the left and right.

Hmmmm I've never heard of an English shepherd before
Is he the pup in your profile picture??

There is a greater chance that a dog will show inherent traits if those traits have been selectively bred for over the years. English Shepherds are not a common breed here in the UK (despite their name) and I have never seen any working sheep or other livestock (although believe there may be one or two working in a search and rescue capacity). I believe they are a general farm dog - but of course some dogs will show more natural aptitude for the work than others.

Taking into account your other post, I would work on his overall obedience for the time being and then introduce him to the chickens once he is under full control.

@CrazyDogLady Yes, he's my profile picture :3

@Moobli Yeah, that's very true. I'm definitely going to be working on him around the chickens and the coop. Hopefully he'll have shown some behavior in the time being, but if not, I'll definitely train him in different ways :3

What is an English Shepherd Dog? Not one I've come across in England before!

http://www.englishshepherd.co.uk/