Our judges, Shelley Fritzke (BC) and Barb Davenport (USA) were very impressed with the quality of herding presented this weekend.
And those of us who attended came away with huge smiles on our faces and hope for a bright future in the world of CKC herding.
Joan Michaud had two of her Belgian shepherds, Dani and Dex entered in the trial. She reports,
"What a nice turnout for the CKC Herding trials this weekend! Prizes were great and everything really organized. Very proud of my 2 boys today!!! Dani was in Herding Tested and Dex in Herding Started. Dani earned his HT title in the 2 trials I had him in Saturday. Morning trial was his best, afternoon one I stressed him out too much but we worked through it and he got the job done. Seems a huge hunk of sheeps wool was better than wanting to listen to mom yell "lie down".... So Dani is now Windmar's Fandango HT (leg on pre-novice and leg on Rally Novice). Dex , my started dog, had a decent run this morning but we had issues and I know it was the handler causing the problems:)) His first run was 80.5/100 Q and his second run was awesome and fast! Course mom cost him some points off with handling skills but he got quite a few elements with a perfect score:) 90/100 with a 3rd place finish out of 13 Started dogs!!! Sunday, we picked up our last leg and so, Ch. Windmar's Dex Treme, CD, RE, HIC, can add HS to his list of credentials. "
Lore Bruder and her cardigan Welsh corgi, Daisy Mae, whipped around the course like gazelles, (well, maybe not gazelles, but fast) as Lore raced from obstacle to obstacle with sheep and Daisy in hot pursuit. The technique worked 4/4 trials and we think Lore should put out a herding video entitled, "Dog aerobics for arena herding". East Dawn Victory Ridge HT, was indeed victorious and added the Herding Tested title to her Obedience and Rally Obedience titles.
Hunter, German shepherd dog owned and handled by Judi Snowdon, had a blast at the trials. He gained more and more confidence with each of his four runs in Herding Tested and came away with with his HT title, a ceramic sheep bank (piggy bank) and a fluffy sheep toy that grunted its little bah, bah, as Hunter played with it in the van almost all the way home from High River to Lundbreck. Ch. Shadowbar's Pardon My Dust, completed his Herding Tested title in style qualifying 4/4 trials.
The three breeds mentioned above are not "eye" breeds, in that, unlike the border collies, they do not use "eye' to control and move sheep and they do not crouch down to move the sheep. They are considered 'upright' breeds and herding with these breeds is somewhat different. For example, when a German shepherd enters the arena, the sheep are on guard and wary far earlier and they automatically display more anxiety than when a border collie enters. The sheer mass of the dog and the fact that it moves upright is enough to cause the sheep to move away sooner and more quickly. The German shepherd moves with a fluid trot most of the time, switching to high gear as needed, so once the sheep become accustomed to it, things can settle down. But it takes some of the ten minute time limit to accomplish this.
The Belgian shepherd, on the other hand, is large enough to worry the stock, plus it moves with a jump start and a burst of motion that requires much fore-thought on the part of the handler to maintain a calm flow during the run. The cardigan Welsh corgi, because of its short stature, has to remain engaged with the sheep at all times as it needs to pace its energy and use its capacity to move quickly only as necessary. All these breeds differ from the "eye" breeds as well as from each other in their herding styles. Yet each of them showed that over the hundreds of years that they have been in existence, they have retained their natural herding ability.
Congratulations to all of you, and happy herding in the future!
The Prez
Prizes, Qualifying ribbons and score sheets
No comments:
Post a Comment