It's not difficult to train your dog to toilet on command
A dog which stops to relieve itself while it's supposed to be working, is not working efficiently. If the dog stops, it's clearly not fully in control of its sheep or cattle.
In our latest sheepdog training tutorial, you'll see just how easy it is to train your dog to "make itself comfortable" before it begins work. Usually this will eliminate the embarrassment and inconvenience of an interruption to the proceedings while the dog "answers the call of nature".
Aside from improving the dog's work, there are many other times when it's very useful to be able to instruct the dog to "do its business" such as before you go on a long journey or at times when you need the dog to oblige quickly for one reason or another.
Young Archie keeps his pen very clean indeed, and when we take him to sheep, he's so excited he forgets to make himself comfortable. Eventually though, nature must take its course, so he has to stop for relief. More recently, we've trained him to take a "comfort break" before the herding training begins.