Herding!

I just realized I never posted the videos from the BBCR Herding Clinic!!  So, the way the clinic works is in the morning they have a little presentation about the history of herding.  Then they bring all the dogs into the barn and they catch a sheep so the dogs can all go up one and a time and get a sniff.  Then they have 3 sheep in the arena, one dog at a time goes in and we turn them loose to see what they do.  One of the instructors is out there working the sheep and to run interference on the dogs if needed, lol.  Once all the dogs have a turn we break for a potluck lunch, and after than the dogs all get an afternoon session.

First up is Trophy.  Trophy had a PHENOMINAL first session.  He was focused, a bit too chasey, but he was taking direction from Jerry well.  The afternoon was a completely different story.  He had about 45 seconds of work, and then it was like this gigantic pile of sheep poo appeared out of nowhere, totally caught his attention and all of a sudden he was like "OMG!! There are turds EVERYWHERE" and he spent the next 3 minutes (until i dragged him out of the arena) eating crap and trying to roll in it.  *sigh*.  I'm going to take him back again next year to see how he does.




Next we have Demo.  When Demo went up to first smell the sheep, the sheep stomped a foot at him and he freaked out.  I don't think he was expecting a live animal or something.  So the first session was mostly him running away from the sheep. lol.  Second session he finally started to get the hang of it, but was more barkey/chasey/you-don't-scare-me-anymore than actual herding.  I may take him back next year to see how he does again.




Now, for a bonus, Ash and Cady's videos.  First is Ash.  He was, true to his nature, very nervous, but he showed some interest.




Cady, on the other hand, was very (what they call) sticky-eyed; where she would get control of the sheep's heads by staring at them, and then since she had them, not want to disrupt the balance by moving.  She did better in the afternoon.