Science and Medical Writer
jkling@gmail.com
Bellingham, WA
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Sheepherding
Sheepherding
(Read a short description of our first competition, at the Key Peninsula Trial in May of 2010)
In the spring of 2008, I saw a Craigslist ad for a one-year old border collie. Rodeo (top right) was a working dog on a horse ranch, but they had to adopt him out because he had become too aggressive with the horses.
Intrigued, my wife and I decided to go meet him, and it didn't take long to decide he belonged with us.
Soon after, I decided to explore the activity he was bred for: sheepherding.
So I placed a Craigslist ad that was answered by Dirk, a sheep farmer and trainer in nearby Deming, Washington. I told him Rodeo had shown some aggressiveness to horses, but he seemed unconcerned, telling us that malicious border collies are very rare. Indeed, when we arrived and Dirk evaluated him, he showed no sign of aggressiveness -- if anything, he was a little afraid of the sheep!
But Dirk was impressed with his instinct and willingness to work, so we agreed to do regular training.
I drove out to Deming two or three times a month, where we were met with a chorus of barks from Dirk's eight border collies, several of which often ran to the car to greet us on arrival.
I was a mostly contented bystander for the first several months, looking on as Dirk worked with Rodeo, teaching him to get a feel for the sheep and to understand our expectations.
But over time I became more eager to work directly with Rodeo. I was confident -- Dirk made it look so easy, and Rodeo instinctively did his part by circling around to the opposite side of the sheep from Dirk, putting them in a kind of vice that ensures some measure of control.
When I first stepped out alone with Rodeo and four sheep huddled together close by, I quickly learned how wrong I was. Without Dirk's experienced direction, Rodeo became anxious and put too much pressure on the sheep, sending them scattering with him in hot pursuit. I stood there, feet planted in the ground, with no idea what to do.
Dirk understood how to correct him when he came in too tight, and perhaps more importantly, he knew how to move so that the sheep had somewhere to go when Rodeo applied pressure behind them.
What looks simple to a casual observer is complex in practice. You must watch the sheep to see whether they are calm or anxious, and the direction they are headed so that you can move appropriately (usually backward, in a treacherous grass field). You must also watch the dog in order to see his mistakes, so that you can shout a correction (hey! hey!) at exactly the right time. Wait too long and the damage is already done -- the sheep are out of position, and the dog isn't thinking about taking correction anymore, he's thinking about how to get the sheep back under control.
And if you're training, you have to do all this while listening to shouted instructions from a trainer. ("Don't let him do that!" And I think... "don't let him do what?")
My confidence dropped fast, but I gradually built it up again as I worked more and more with Rodeo, and the pieces slowly began to fit together. I'm more comfortable now, but I know that I still miss much of what is happening. I certainly have much more respect now for the task that lies ahead of us.
Dirk has moved to his native Belgium. Fortunately, Dirk recommended us to a trainer in Bellevue named Brian, whom we've started working with. Brian shares Dirk's philosophy of emphasizing the dog's ability to think for himself, so their training methods are pretty similar.
Eventually, I hope to compete in sheepherding trials with Rodeo. I'm also toying with the idea of writing a book about our experiences.
That's Rodeo in the foreground, taking instructions from our trainer Dirk. His dog Amos is in the background.
Rodeo putting pressure on the sheep.