Bern, Grace, and I met Rich, Tracey, and Josie Roth at Linda Peacock's for herding lessons. Josie went first and showed a combination of herding and chasing behaviors. Linda thinks a smaller round pen and tons of sheep so they can't run will stop the chasing.
Next to have a turn was Grace. She is quite good at actually keeping the sheep together. By the end of her second turn in the pen, I was quickly walking backwards with the sheep coming towards me being pushed by Grace. Either I need to learn to walk REALLY REALLY fast backwards or Grace is going to have to slow her "walk up" speed some. She needs to work on a moving down in the sheep pen. Linda thinks we can have Grace ready for the fall Deep South AKC herding trial (need to get it on my calendar I guess).
Last to have a turn in the pen was Bern. He is more interested in mutton for his tummy than politely moving the sheep around the pen. With a long line on and lots of handling, he began staying out near the fence and moving the sheep around the pen. He is going to take tons of work to get ready to herd in a AKC or ASCA trial. The picture of Linda chasing Bern is typical of his efforts if he is not on a leash in the pen.
