HERDING WITH FRIENDS

On Saturday October 22, 2005 Dale & Laurie Malony hosed a United White Shepherd Club (UWSC) end of summer picnic at their house in Ohio.  Mona Persson with Haley and Diana & Scott with Polo, Hugo Pebbles, and Kyla were planning on going.

Luna & I were scheduled to have a herding class with Kelly that day.  I recalled that Diana had tried Kyla in herding at the United White Shepherd Club (UWSC) show in September and had mentioned she'd like to work her again.  Mona & Haley had gone with me on several occasions so I asked them if they wanted to go to a herding class prior to the picnic.  The response was "Heck, YES!"  This resulted in a great 2 hours for all of us.

All our dogs are at a different level's in herding so some spent more time in the ring than others.  Mona & Haley were first to work.  Here's her recount:

I put Haley on a long line and had her do a site before entering and told Haley "That'll do" (which roughly translates to "stay around me and don't mess with my sheep" until I give the word to do otherwise).  Haley and I entered the ring and Kelly explained to me that we were going to instill upon Haley that the sheep were "My Toys" and that Haley couldn't "play" with them until instructed.  Then Kelly told me to drop the line.  Off went Haley after the sheep!  I ran over and stepped on the line, told Haley "NO!" and put her back in a "That'll Do".  Once I told Haley "That'll do" I would drop the line, Haley would circle around me and go back after the sheep.  Once I had the line, Haley had to make eye contact with me before she was the OK to continue working.  We continued to do this until Haley realized that if she wanted to have fun she had to listen to me and stop going after "Mommy's Toys".

Our second time in we worked a little more on control.  I was walking with the sheep and directing Haley, indicating which way she needed to go.  She was getting it but I was having a bit of problem.  When I would redirect Haley with the shepherd staff  I didn't realize that I was to turn in the direction of the staff.  Plus, you have to gifure out how to get through the sheep and not get stepped on.  Once I got it I was actually walking with the sheep and Haley was doing her job.

Haley is a natural when it comes to herding.  It is such a rush for me to learn what I need to do in order for the two of us to work as a team!

The whole time Mona & Haley were in I was sitting on the outside watching and thinking "Yep been their done that."  Next in was Diana & Kyla.  Here's her recount:

Kyla was more or less playing with the sheep.  You could tell Kyla wanted to work and would sometimes but she wasn't real sure of herself.  (Puppy brains in action")

Kyla's second time in took a turn for the better.  She acted like an old pro.  She was actually taking her turns when Kelly would place the shepherd staff in front of her.  She had the biggest grin on her face.  It was too cute!

Scott & I spoke with Kelly and asked if we could try Pebbles.  We explained that Pebs had already earned her 1st leg toward her AHBA HCT at the 2003 AWSA Nationals; however, two separate incidences had blown her otherwise confident nature.  Pebs wasn't too sure at first.  Once she got a couple good sniffs in and she immediately sensed that Kelly was a non-threat, she was fine.  Kelly would direct her to go one way and she would.  Then Kelly would redirect her and she'd go the other way.  Kelly did an awesome job and allowed Pebs to excel.  She helped her regain her confidence.

Luna and I went in for our first round and after about 10-15 minutes Kelly said, "Ok you guys are ready to start working obstacles.  I said "Luna might be ready but I'm not sure if I am."  Kelly ignored me and came in and set up three 90 square feet fence gating obstacles.  The object of obstacles is to get your dog thinking more.  If the sheep go through an obstacle is it better if the dog goes through the obstacle with the sheep or shorter for your dog to go around the obstacle and meet the sheep on the other side?  In a trial situation there are some obstacles that if the dog goes through with the sheep the sheep come out first and could head for the gate - not good.

I put Luna in a sit, walked to the middle of the arena.  I then sent her in a "Go Bye."  To my amazement she didn't take the first obstacle and went right toward the second obstacle that the sheep were at and drove them through it.  I then picked up the sheep and we started walking.  At this point there is no pattern to the obstacles I just walked in whatever direction I wanted.  For another 15 minutes Luna and I worked the sheep and the obstacles.  Then Kelly said "OK put your sheep in the corner" I had Luna put them in the corner she backed off a few feet and Kelly said, "Great that's just what you want her to do and where she should be!"  We did two rounds of the obstacles with the same success.

On October 29th, one week later Luna, Star, & I along with Diana with Kyla and Pebbles had another herding lesson with Kelly.  My lesson with Luna focused on "Get Back" (don't break the imaginary bubble around the sheep).  I also worked on alot of control excercises.  I swear I cuold see Luna's brain cooking!  It was a tough lesson but, "wow" the end result demonstrated a beautiful team effort.

For Kyla's lesson, Diana was allowed to "drive" for the first time.  Kelly handed over the shepherd staff and they proceeded to have a really good controlled lesson - moving sheep left then right - repeat.  What a HIGH for Diana! Even though she had to slow down from her otherwise "energetic walk" and await for her shepherd, to swing around the entire back end of the herd inorder to move them in a new direction, the act of balancing sheep, with dog, with self was a very lifting juggling act.
Pebbles lesson, after an initial " I wanna charge up the middle of the herd" (another sign of some remaining confidence issues) very quickly turned into a productive lesson of driving around the sheep.

Last but not least, I re-introduced 10-year-old "Star" to the sheep.  Lord knows, she tried her best!  At the end, Kelly indicated that Star did great and would have done much better if it hadn't been for age alone being against her.  (Notably, 3 of the 7 sheep were yearlings, full of themselves, so it was a tad too much for our Veteran.)

These were two very good weekends.  We all have White Shepherds, at varying levels that can really work sheep!!

Diana mentioned that she was impressed with the way Luna and I worked and what level we are at.  She said it was very impressive to watch.

Personal Note from Diana:  Watching Becky and Luna have inspired me to make Herding titles a goal for my girls.  Kelly is going to be an awesome instructor, as she truly understands the shepherd where many others have failed.