Herding Instinct!!

.
Today Dazzle and I attended a herding seminar at Hado-bar farm near Cleveland. I did get video of each part described below, but since I don't have the video editing program on the computer up here, I'll have to wait till I'm home to post it. I did get some photos too, but the lighting was not letting the camera take clear photos. All the shots were blurry, but some weren't quite as blurry as others. There was a person there that was taking photos with a much better camera but she said hers were blurry too. I'm hoping she emails them though because I know they are better than what my camera took! She also took some stunning candid shots of Dazzle in the field of dandylions. I'll post those as soon as I get them. The rest of my photos need editing and I don't have that program here either.
.
The first part of the day was a brief intro that explained what herding instinct is and what it looks like and how it is used to move livestock. Then the instructor did a demo with a trained dog. Then each dog was allowed to go in the ring and meet a sheep being held by one of the instructors. There were also two other sheep that were loose staying near the one being held. Some dogs walked right up and sniffed the held sheep, others needed reassurance from the handler and a few didn't want to get close.
.
Dazzle walked in on leash and went right up to the butt of the held sheep taking a good sniff. Then one of the loose sheep stomped at him. Well he wasn't going to let THAT happen and went right toward that sheep. The sheep and his other loose buddy took off and Dazzle about pulled my arm out of the socket trying to chase them! So there is clearly no fear of sheep and a strong instinct to chase!
.
After all of the dogs had a chance to meet the sheep up close each dog got a turn in the ring with 3 loose sheep and the instructor. For Dazzle, she brought in a noise maker to break his focus on the sheep if he got too intense, which based on his body language I actually thought he might need. Dazzle was SO focused on the sheep when he was in the ring the instructor asked me to get him to sit to be sure he was in "working mode" and not in predator/prey mode :-)
.
Dazzle decided that eating the little brown snack pellets all over the ground was more interesting than sitting, but I did eventually get his nose up and got him to sit. I was very surprized in watching the video how much tugging on him I did. I thought I was just keeping the leash a certain length so he couldn't snack, but I was tugging too! Bad mom! He didn't really seem to notice though. I told him to stay and removed the leash. When the instructor was ready, I gave his release cue. He ran right over and got them moving. She shook the noise maker a few times and he backed off just a bit and she was able to get him to change his direction of travel around the sheep. It was clear he preferred counter clockwise over the clockwise direction (but it's normal for dogs to have a preference.)
.
He got a bit distracted by some sheep hair on the ground and then good smells/snacks, but quickly got right back to work. He was keeping a nice distance and was staying in thinking mode, which was really great (espcially compared with some of the other dogs.) Then when the instructor was ready and told me to call him, he did a beautiful recall! It was very clear he was really enjoying himself!
.
After lunch, each dog got another time in the ring with the sheep. It was amazing how much better almost all of the dogs did in their second run. Dazzle went into the ring for his second run on a mission! He managed to separate one sheep from the others at first, but wasn't interested in biting, just chasing. Once the instructor broke that up and let Dazzle circle them a few times, Dazzle settled into work mode. The instructor was able to use the stick as a guide to keep Dazzle behind the sheep and help him guide the sheep to him. That was SO COOL to see! The instructor was even able to cue him to "wait" (once I told him the cue was wait and not stop) and then Dazzle did another great recall! Before I could get a hold on him, everyone started clapping and he had to do a victory lap! LOL
.
So clearly I will be pursuing more herding training. He has an excellent balance of instinct and self-control (once he gets reminded that he needs to exercise it!) And they said he has a lot of potential. They also said he did everything he needed to do to pass an instinct test, so I guess we'll be looking for a herding trial in the near future! Now if I just had some income we'd be doing great!
.
Another post with photos and videos will be coming soon!