#herding instinct test

[itsybitsyblitz]

we played with some sheep!

i am slightly sad that the professional photographer only came over towards the end when he was kinda crapped out, so no really good pictures.

he did a very cute excited little strut when he was herding and it was the best. he even almost considered a bark! who are you?!

[thegrovestudios]

Photos from Pan’s Herding Instinct Test last fall (he passed and has his HIC title!) RJs Pandemonium / Pan CGC HIC  Photos by Amaya Frutkoff

[winawinadajcie]

As I saw a post earlier about herding instinct tests, I was inspired to post these. This was in... 2003, I want to say? So I’m about 12 in these pics, lol. The black and tan dog is Emmee, my childhood dog whom I reference pretty frequently. The brown dog was her litter brother, who belonged to my aunt (their breeder, though this was her only litter).

Interestingly, Emmee passed the test very very strongly on ducks--but didn’t have much interest when we tested her on sheep later. Espresso, the brown dog, didn’t pass on ducks--but was passionate about sheep.

[rhysthecorgi]

He was so proud of himself at the end that he stopped and smiled lol.

[rhysthecorgi]

Yesterday, we took Rhys to a herding instinct test at Winning Edge Dog Sports in Chino, CA. We had a trio of fresh sheep for our turn. When Rhys first went into the pen, he was really confused and distracted (must eat all the sheep poop… GROSS) plus he also wasn’t used to having a leash hooked to the D ring of his collar. Corgdad was then allowed into the pen with him and they took him off leash… and he did great! I was so relieved and proud. It was really fun to see him get into it with barking and chasing them. I think he also had fun. Maybe he has some herding training in his future!

(The video was too big to load, so click the link to my dropbox to view!)

[thecorgi]

JP apparently thinks "herding" involves relaxing and watching humans chase sheep.

He is such a spectator!