Wednesday, August 27, 2008

HERDING!!!

Well... it's finally happened.

I found something I like MORE than conformation showing! Yeah, I know, impossible right? Well, that's what I thought until I decided to take Cedar for a herding lesson a few weeks ago, on a whim. Little did I know that I would become so captivated with this amazing sport :D

We went herding a couple times back in the spring with my friend Julie, and Aussie breeder, but it didn't go that great. Clueless handler + green dog + wild sheep= not a completely great idea :D

However, our next try at herding went amazingly. We went out to Caldwell to meet with Dianne Deal. That night, our first "real" herding lesson, I was completely intimidated by the sheep. After another couple times, I realized they weren't going to kill me and my handling improved immensely. Cedar, actually, is decently talented. Plus, she LOVES it... so it makes it hard not to want to continue training her. I went to the sheepdog trial at the fair to watch, and I made the decision that this is something worth doing. Something much less shallow than the politics and drama of the conformation world. So, there you have it I guess!

A video from our third lesson (at Patrick Shannahan's Red Top Ranch):




And here are a couple photos from our first lesson: