A Day of Herding!

Bandit tried his hand at sheep herding today!  His breeder, Jamie, had set up this fun outing several months ago for a group of about eight mini Aussies and one English Shepherd.  The sheep farm is in Battle Ground, Washington which was a three and a half hour drive south for us.  Brigand's Hideout is a real sheep farm which specifically trains dogs of all breeds to herd sheep.  Our instructor/handler for the day was Trudy who gave us an overview of basic herding including terms, calls, and maneuvers.  After each dog went through the first time, Trudy handed out a report card to each canine participant regarding the testing of their herding instinct.

Bandit definitely has the instinct and the drive to be a natural at herding!  It was great fun to watch him work the sheep and take instruction from Trudy.  He was tested and scored on such things as interest (high), approach (runs moderately close), emotional level (very excited), eye (loose), bark (sustained barking), responsiveness to direction (responsive), temperament (readily adjusts), balance/distance to control stock (adjusts position and/or distance), and movement of stock (keeps stock grouped).  Overall, he was deemed qualified as herding instinct test certified.  We're so proud of him!  It most likely won't be something we continue with, but it was definitely fun, and we'll definitely do it again should the opportunity arise.  There should be some closer-to-home sheep farms we could try in the future, too.

Bandit at work with the sheep and Trudy

He definitely had the Aussie instinct from the get-go

We love this picture!  His look is priceless! 

Bandit was a vocal sheep herder

MOVE IT, MOVE IT!!

Keeping an eye on his work

He was very confident in his dealings with the sheep

I want to do this again!!