Sunshine and Herding - Page 1

Hey, I saw the good boy herding....such fun chasing those sheep. I just bought 5 sheep of my own, and they should be lambing soon....so we will be able to work daily. Lots of fun. They are very flighty and we are working them with the BC right now as I think seeing the GSDs would send them into a frenzy. lol. I got to attend an AKC show here in Dallas at the place that I sent you the link for and I got to scribe for the judge, this was for B and C course titles. I got to see my dogs mom herd and get her two legs for the C course. I have also bought a video of the HGH titleing in Germany.. wow was it great. But if you ever get a chance scribe for a judge, I learned so much. really the only difference of the C course and the HGH was that there was no courage test at the end, and the number of sheep. It was great. I had a blast even though it rained one day and we were soaked down to the underware. lol Make sure you get in touch when you do the move would love to meet you and your guys and have fun working with someone. Heather

Het Will you be herding after Christmas, Easy and I are arriving in Dallas on Monday the 27th. Will bring the disc of the Coulmbus Day herding trials. I have a friend coming in from Chicago, and my Briard friend Mary is also coming. Should be a fun week. Susan

Het, the dogs had such a wonderful time and now I really appreciate having a sound animal that has it all in one package. I enjoyed your website and your pictures and also what you stand for iro breeding. I am beginning to feel very much at home in Texas already. Alot of people in dogs have written already and have been so helpful. I think we are going to do just fine in the heart of TX. I look forward to meeting you and your dogs. Sunny

Hello Susan, yes I will be there. I have a different dog this time, a couple actually hopefully we will get to learn more. Poor Ellie was just to worried about getting in trouble. I did get some sheep so the dogs will get to see them everyday. This is helping. lol Sunshine, thanks for the complement on the site, I learned to use the computer putting that thing up. haha. I do type fast so if there are any misspelled words let me know. haha. I think you will have a great time here, and Eunices place is the best I have ever seen. Her animals are in great shape and very well taken care of she has a very safe environment to work in and is just an all around great person. Heather

Het Glad to hear you are coming. Yes, Ellie was taking the handler senstivity thing too far! Be very careful with your sheep. Make sure your dogs never get loose without you there or you will have dead sheep. It is not really necesarry to have sheep to do herding, I finished three HX (Advanced AKC heridng titles) going to one lesson a week. You are correct about Eunice's End Gate ranch. Eunice is also somewhat rare in herding...someone open to new ideas!! Most people in the States want all dogs to work like poor copies of Border Collies. Very few breeds of dogs were bred for the same type of work as BCs including our tending dogs. The gsds come with tremendous prey drive yet with great handler sensitivity. They also want to control livestock through a genetically correct grip as opposed to stalking the livestock. This makes them want to work very close to their stock. Use only 3-5 head of sheep and things can escalate out of control very quickly. It is to the GSDs credit that they are able to adjust and learn ot stay off their stock. However that being said, many dogs that are successful in BC handlers eyes are probably incorrect in drive. Fortunately, AKC recognized that the breeds were bred to do different things and we are able to work our dogs in tending as opposed to other herding organizations. While C only uses fewer sheep, 20 to 100 head, it still focuses on the same skill sets. And the GSDs are really good at it! Susan

Susan, Well we have my sons BC that is working the sheep now, they are pretty wild living on a 2000 acre ranch befor here. Anyway I won't let the GSDs in with them until have a working arena. So far we bring them from the barn to the dog pen that is overgrown and needs some grazing and then around 4:30 we take them back to the barn. The horses are keeping the neighbors dogs out of the pasture and out of the barn. But I would like to have about 20 sheep total so will be looking into a gardian dog. When I first bought this place i had 8 sheep and the 2nd night that I had them here the neighbors dogs killed them all. It was the saddest thing ever. I have the 10 acres and need something to help me keep it grazed. And I have to say I just like watching the sheep. Heather