My Herding Day

Oh_my_God! We had such a fantastic day! I wish I had gotten more pictures, but I will next time. There were a lot of other dogs (all Border Collies) and livestock (goats, sheep, ducks) and a couple Livestock Guardian Dogs lived on the property, so I was surrounded by animals - my favorite kind of day!

Both my husband and I had a complete blast! I'm pretty sure our dogs loved it, too. I only got a few still photos of Basia and none of Jaia. I did get some video of them both, though. I was completely enthralled with watching and since my husband was working in the ring with the dogs, taking pictures just wasn't a priority. My husband LOVED this experience as much as I did, so that was a real bonus! He's already talking about doing it again.

Based on their personalities, I thought B'asia might run after and try to bring the sheep down, and Jaia would lie down in the ring and watch the pretty sheep run around, but I was COMPLETELY wrong! B'asia did really well at herding my husband, but didn't seem to know what the sheep were all about. A few times, she caught on a little, but she was sort of overwhelmed, even though they only spent 10 minutes in the ring at a time. Her last round, she started to get more comfortable, so I think with more practice, she'd catch on.

Jaia, on the other hand, showed real promise! He caught on pretty fast and at one point, got a mouthful of wool, but otherwise, he was composed, very interested, kept his distance, but you could see the herder in his eyes! It was fascinating! I am such a proud mama! He was just a treat to watch! He responded very well to the handler and he was kind of a star today!

Anyway, here's two pictures of B'asia. I wish I'd done this years ago!

Sweet! I wish i could give you a star for each of your babies. My Shepherd was a natural too but she was the body check champion which was frowned upon. She also tended to herd the other dogs more than the livestock.

Females are so bossy

I'm glad it went well and you all had fun. Working dogs are much easier to control when they have an occupation that helps them focus and burns down their energy.

Your dog sure looks happy. I bet they had fun.

originally posted by: ketsuko
I'm glad it went well and you all had fun. Working dogs are much easier to control when they have an occupation that helps them focus and burns down their energy.

Thanks! My dogs are both 8 years old and it's been work to drain their energy every day for those 8 years! I take them out on our property every morning for free run time and every evening for play, rain, snow or shine. We have used a flirt pole and agility equipment, not to mention the occasional rabbit that they get to chase.

But after one session of herding, they passed out in the car and fell back to sleep as soon as we got in the house! LOL! They'll be dreaming of sheep tonight!

That is great! I wish you had video!