Herding with the White
Shepherd
By
Judy Huston
I think the best way to
write this article is to tell the story about how
and why I got started in herding with my White
Shepherd. I’m not an expert on herding by
any stretch of the imagination, but I am learning
all the time. I am probably one of the few White
owners, along with Nancy DeGarmo and her Sassy
and Schultz who actively show their dog at
herding events. It is my hopes that after
reading this article, others will join us.
Currently, Becky Joyce, Gloria Erskine, Diana
Updike, Michelle Koons, and Jacki Wheeler have
given herding a try with Luna, Storm, Hugo,
Laser, and Dinah and Gracie respectively. My
reason for learning to herd came about as a
direct result of my own “Kyra”
(Crystal’s Lady in Red). It never
occurred to me that our dogs could be so good at
this. Silly, I know, after all they are
“Shepherds.” However, I don’t
think I’m alone in being surprised at their
ability and talent.
WSCC/RB/BIMBS U-CH U-CD Crystal's Li'l Pistol
Von Tasz, AM/CN CD, FGDCH, WETT, DSA, NA, OAJ,
HC, CGC, OFA (h&e), 88%vWF "Luger"
owned by Michelle Koons.
Back in 1996, when Ky passed
her HIC with sheep and then her HIC with ducks, I
was amazed at the natural interest that kicked
in, but that’s about as far as it
went. Then, in late 1999, after we had lived
in rural Howell, Michigan, for a year or so, our
neighbor bought some Texas Longhorns. One
day, Kyra surprised us by getting out of her
X-pen and going under the electric fence to have
a go at herding them. It was only after this
episode that I realized what a “hot
button” this was for my girl. Bar none, this
is Kyra’s #1 favorite thing to do in the
world.
Kyra practicing on a cold winter day.
(U-AGII, BISS, RBIMBS, AWSA, WSCC, FORB, RB,
U.K.C. GSD/WS GRCH Crystal's Lady in Red,
HC(D/S), CGC, TDI, TT, DSA, NA, ASCA/RB CD, PDX,
HT, FD, WETT, O-VCCX, OFA (H&E), CA, TH, vWF
65%, U-DNA)
Seeing her move those Longhorns across the
field triggered a need in me to find a way that
she could herd safely. This is when the door of
possibilities opened and I began to see another
whole world of fun, activity, and work (working
at what they were bred to do) for our breed. We
want our dogs to do conformation – it is
nothing they would ever aspire to on their own.
We teach them obedience, whether they like it or
not, and they do it. We easily teach our
dogs to do agility, and once they get the pattern
down in flyball, they crazily, happily satisfy
some of their chase/prey drive. There are
numerous other activities our dogs learn
including freestyle dancing, rally and Lonnie
Olson’s IMPROV obedience (more fun than the
traditional obedience), water rescue, backpacking
and more. But there are two activities where
our dogs excel – herding and
tracking. With these two activities, our
dogs take the lead and teach us.
In tracking, you’d
better learn to trust your dog because it is
light years ahead of you in ability. In
herding, if they are talented, they seem to start
out at a high school level while we, the
handlers, start out in kindergarten. Imagine
that! When I step out on the field with
Kyra, her frustration begins to show quite
rapidly as she waits for me (or not) to figure
out where to send her, or when to give her a
command when she already knows what to do. I
truly feel for her because if she could be out
there with someone who knew what they were doing
and knew how to read the stock, she could
excel. But, we keep at it and my last time
out my instructor said it was the best she’d
seen me handle Ky (and it wasn’t
pretty). I watch as the confidence she feels
on the field carries over to other
areas. And, I promise you that anytime I can
say “That will do” and turn and walk
AWAY from the sheep with her at my side, my
confidence soars.
The first thing you have to
find out is whether or not your dog has the
instinct. You do this by attending a herding
instinct test. They are usually held in
conjunction with National Specialty
Shows. The White Shepherd Club of Canada
(WSCC) has herding with ducks at their National
Show every year. The German Shepherd Dog Club of
America (GSDCA) will hold one in conjunction
with their National in Perry, Georgia, in
November 2001, and AWSA may host them at future
National shows. Otherwise, you can attend
one put on by other clubs – again usually
their specialty shows. It is in the best
interest of the Club to advertise their tests for
all herding breeds, as this can be, if not a
money-maker, at least it can help pay for the
expense of bringing in sheep and equipment and
paying the instructor which is not
inexpensive. At the completion of the test,
you can earn your Herding Instinct Certificate
with sheep, ducks, or cattle, as the case may be
(HIC/s/d/c).
RB Ch. Luger's Lazer Beam V Stellar, HC, FM
"Lazer" owned by Michelle Koons. |
Luger (Crystal's Li'l Pistol Von Tasz) at 10 years old.....
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I have a theory that if our
dogs lose the instinct to herd they may lose a
lot of what makes these dogs so talented and
special to us. When one trait is lost,
others can be lost with it, as when you breed to
bring something in to a line, you can get
something you didn’t count on. What if
losing the herding instinct also meant losing
their unique drive to work – or something
else that makes our dogs what they are? Our
White Shepherds are working dogs and drive is
what gives them the desire to
perform. It’s possible a dog without
herding instinct would make a better house pet
and be easier to live with, but is our goal in
breeding these dogs to turn them into something
other than White Shepherds? It is my belief
that before our dogs are bred they should have
shown that they have at least passed this minimum
test to indicate they have retained this
instinct. I think this should be right
behind temperament on the scale of desirable
traits. Dana Mackenzie (AKC Herding Judge)
also said that the herding instinct is the
easiest thing to lose and the hardest thing to
get back. She feels that over 80% of the
colored shepherds have already lost this
instinct. We don’t want our whites to
become less than they were bred to be.
Personally, I would love to
see herding become one of the most important
activities to aspire to for our dogs. I
would like to see our Mission Statement and Code
of Ethics revised to include a commitment to keep
this alive in our breed.
UCh. Beadog's Brash and Sassy,CGC
(Sassy) owned by Nancy DeGarmo
Now that there is no
uncertainty about my passion for this work, let
me tell you how to get started with your newly
certified dog. You must either find a local
instructor or began contacting the well-known
teachers and masters of this art and get yourself
to herding clinics. If you really want to do
this, it may not be easy. You will end up
driving anywhere from 30 minutes (I got lucky) to
2 hours or more for a 15 minute lesson that costs
you at least $20.00. Expect to get
dirty. Expect your dog and your car to get
dirty. Remember to take towels, and boots
and layers of clothing for
yourself. I’ve ended up on my knees in
mud more than once. If you can’t find a
local instructor and can afford the time and
money to travel, you can attend clinics put on by
people like Bob Vest, Cappy Pruett, Kent and
Lori Herbel, and Stephen Ware. And, you can
do what we plan to do in our area now that we
have a budding group of would-be
herders. You can bring the clinic to your
area (of course you have to find a place to hold
the clinic and you have to locate sheep –
not always easy, but definitely can be
done). I’ve discovered that herding is
one of those things that is harder than most to
break into. Once you make contacts and make
friends with others in herding, you get on the
lists for clinics and shows, but this has not
been an easy task.
Okay, now you have your
lessons underway, what next? Hopefully, your
instructor can give you a little guidance (mine
specializes in Border Collies but does her best
to offer guidance). You can go to the AKC
website and click on Herding, the Australian
Shepherd Club of America (ASCA) website at www.ASCA.org and
the American Herding Breed Association (AHBA) http://www.AHBA-Herding.org
website to learn about shows and to gather
information. If you are in an area that has
a herding club, by all means join. I
recently joined the Buckeye All Breed Herding
Club (BAHA) in Ohio and now receive their
newsletter and their list of events, which are
not that far away. Their website is http://members.aol.com\rrsheepfrm.
BIMBS UCD UCh Third Time's Acharm von Jamin
CD,PT,CGC (Schultz) owned by Nancy DeGarmo
What about titles? With
AKC, you can start at any of five levels. If
you start higher and fail, you can’t go
back. I followed Stephen Ware’s advice
and entered Kyra at the basic level, which is
called Herding Test or HT. Two legs are
required to earn a title. Basic flanks, a
short gather, a stop, and then a call off are
required. Then comes the Pre-Trial or
PT. This is on a bigger field and requires
dog and handler to cover a longer distance with a
longer stop, and then another stop while the
sheep are let out of the field and the dog is
called to you. Following these levels, you
move to yet a larger field for Herding Started
(HS), Herding Intermediate (HI) and Herding
Advanced (HA). You can also earn your
herding championship and they give High in Trials
and High Combined. With ASCA, you do not
have the luxury of HT and PT; you start right in
at HS. They usually have trials with ducks,
cattle, and sheep. The titles are specific
to the livestock you work with. So, a dog
could have a championship with ducks, sheep, and
cattle, or just the one you prefer.
The style of herding that
our dogs were bred to do is called
“tending.” You won’t find the
average instructor teaching this style. This
is boundary herding with large flocks of
sheep. My instructor gave me the name of a
woman in Pennsylvania who owns German Shepherds
and teaches the tending style of herding at
weeklong camps. I intend to take Kyra there
in August, so if anyone has interest in learning
more, visit the Raspberry Ridge Farms website.
Royal Von Tasz Classic Combo "Hugo"
at about six months of age. Owned by Diana
Updike.
I suggest you join a
herding list on the Internet. The books I
have found helpful are, “Lessons from a
Stockdog” by Bruce Fogt, and “Herding
Dogs” by Virgil S. Holland. Bruce
Fogt’s book can be ordered by writing him at
14933 Kirkwood Road, Sidney, OH 45365. The
price when I ordered it was $33, which included
shipping.
In herding, it is possible
to get a professional handler to work your dog
– if they will work for someone
else. I’ll do both. For AKC,
I’d like to continue to let Kyra be shown by
Stephen Ware who did a wonderful job showing Kyra
at the GSDCA. In ASCA and AHBA, I plan to
show her myself. You will have to assess
your strengths and weaknesses and decide which
way is right for you.
If you are trying to get
started and have any questions for me, don’t
hesitate to e-mail me at judyh@ismi.net. I’ll
help you out in any way I can.
The AWSA Website
Committee appreciates all the hard work our
contributors put into these educational articles.
Now and then we take it upon ourselves to add a
little something extra, so below is what can
happen if a herding dog gets bored. Enjoy!
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