Herding Sheep Is Fun!

We had our third sheep herding session last Saturday. Two of the girls from the GSD club went to try their dogs, so we were able to take pictures and video.

Duncan and Reyna both have a blast when they’re working the sheep. Duncan’s tail almost never stops wagging. The trainer thinks he could be ready to start competing by December. Of course, she didn’t say when she thought *I* would be ready. She thinks Duncan has a lot of innate talent for this and would do really well. One thing that she specifically complimented is his rating, which is keeping pace with the handler. Basically, he understands that if the handler slows down, he slows down, and if the handler speeds up, he speeds up to keep the flock moving at the right pace.


Reyna, on the other paw, lives life at a run, and that carries over into her herding. Sheep herding for Reyna will just be a stress reliever. Watching her, its clear that her hips won’t let her move like she needs to in order to control the flock. She can’t easily spin on her right hip, so she runs a big circle instead, and tends to lose a sheep or two each time. Not that she minds chasing after them to bring them back… For now, she can turn on her left hip, but who knows how long that will last? So, she gets to herd the sheep just for fun, and Duncan gets to learn how to do it correctly.


The clips were great for me, because its really hard to see what your dog is doing when he’s behind you. And my balance in the sheep pen isn’t so great that I’m willing to walk backwards very often. This clip is Duncan’s first run of the day. It’s a bit long, and there is at least one spot where the trainer is giving me some instructions on working with Duncan, but its pretty neat to watch him working the sheep.

This clip is Reyna’s first run. Its considerably shorter, because the girl working the video camera had a bit of trouble with it at first.