Schips ...and Herding!  

Our Samoyed friend took us to her herding class one week...and since we had the space on the farm and love sheep anyway..we thought we might put a little effort into a productive use of energy. I enrolled Nika into a basic herding class and a few weeks later brought home a few sheep..

Quickly a few turned into ...8 sheep solely for the dogs to learn to herd. Originally we bought 4 'light' sheep, meaning they could be easily moved by a beginner dog.  These sheep are very quick with long legs and it allows the dog to build their confidence when the sheep are easy to push. Below is a shot of Gibson pushing the heavy sheep.  Gibson does not do well with light sheep.  He works much better when the sheep are not flighty- I should mention -this picture was taken the first time Gibson was put on the sheep. He has a basic herding instinct that should be easily molded to be productive.

After just a few tries, and several escapes by the 'light' sheep we called our herding instructor to buy some 'heavier' sheep.  That led us to purchase 2 additional sheep that were a little harder to intimidate. By mixing the two types of sheep personalities it will balance the flock more. 

To the left is a shot of Nika playing .. This is not one of those productive herding pictures!  We allowed Nika to play with the sheep a little in the beginning- which was a mistake.  Our instructor quickly corrected me on this one.. Allowing Nika to play with the sheep she- in her mind- took possession on the sheep as her own. This possession caused Nika to want to take the sheep away from me, after all- she thought they were hers!  We had to take two steps back and tell Nika that she was suppose to bring the sheep to me not drive them away from me... At least as a beginner dog that is...This was hard for Nika to understand at first, once she understood this we had to go back and build her confidence back up to drive them again.  Her feelings were hurt..  Nika works best with the lighter sheep at this point until we get to a point were we can work them several times a week. This will allow her to get the rules clearly laid out so she can fully understand what it is she is suppose to do.            

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