Sunday, May 24, 2009

Herding

Bug's herding lesson today was awesome. I had a different dog than last time we had a lesson (late December). We worked sheep and Bug was totally into the sheep! And I remembered to watch my stock and not my dog! Breakthroughs for both of us. We worked, took a break (Bug is still heavy and it was hot), worked, took a break. On one of the breaks I was saying how hard I find herding. Diane and her friend guessed it probably takes about 5 years for the handler to become comfortable. Oh dear! At least I have one year under my belt (altho does it really count given the breaks? hmmm...).

A couple with two Pems and two Cardis were there to meet Diane and watch our lesson and Diane's friend work her dogs. They opted to have their new Cardi herding instinct tested. It was interesting to watch (I had never seen a herding instinct test before). He was VERY into the sheep and wanted to hold them in one space. He had very strong eye, Diane said.

Then Diane's friend worked ducks with her two Aussies. The ducks were not being that cooperative! They kept escaping. Unfortunately all of Diane's ducks were killed by a fox in the early spring, so these are new ducks and like I said, not that cooperative. The new ducks are Crested Indian Runners - they have little powder puffs on top of their heads and don't stand quite as upright as the Indian Runners. Diane said she has 40 Indian Runner eggs incubating and once they are hatched it is about 7 weeks before they are fully feathered and can be worked lightly. At about three months they can be worked regularly.

One of the best parts about herding is I have a very tired, happy (and dirty) corgi afterward!

2 comments:

manymuddypaws said...

that's great Julie! I agree that herding is HARD! Good for you for sticking with it- sounds like Bugs' got a LOT of interest!

Jules said...

He does! I am so excited as there was a point where he wouldn't look at the sheep! What a difference a year makes!