Spryte got to play with the sheep again today and demonstrate whether she had an instinct to herd sheep. I decided to enter her in the Herding Instinct Test (HIT) on the day and so we travelled down Mandurah way to check it out. All the herding trials were first – which involved both sheep and ducks and three dogs (a Border and a couple of Aussies) having to put them through different courses.
We then went up to the small pen to do the Herding Instinct Tests and a Herding Test (HT). Spryte’s Mum Marnie (Ch Danari Dramas Bananas) went first and didn’t put a paw wrong – she has a lovely style on sheep, Robyn may have found her forte! Then Spryte went in and she did really well, didn’t stop for a sniff or a roll once and maintained her focus on the sheep the whole time, for the most part trying to keep them with me. We then repeated the two tests with a different judge and again Marnie showed good interest as did Spryte. So together Mum and daughter gained their HIT and can now train for and enter the HT. Spryte will need quite a bit of practice and I will need to work hard on getting her to drop or stop when told to. It was nice to watch both Brydie (Ch Winpara Soul Desire ADX JDX – who picked up her HT today and passed one leg of PT) and Marnie work their sheep quietly and unhurriedly. They put speed on only when they had to and kept the sheep fairly settled throughout the whole test.
There is a lot the handler has to learn to about body cues and where to go. If I have the time and the opportunity (ie it doesn’t clash with any agility stuff) then I probably will pursue some titles but I’m not fussed if we don’t progress too far. If I lived on 5 acres and had my own sheep I’d definitely be more motivated to start getting involved with the herding trialling scene, it certainly makes it more difficult if you live in the ‘burbs as they say.
Photos by Tim of http://www.yourdogphotos.com
Going to fetch her sheep
Keeping an eye on them, waiting for me to send her
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