HOW does one proof their herding training?
One way :
I trial with my dogs in AHBA.
Drover is a Herding Trial Champion with level III titles in Sheep, Ducks and Geese.
Another Way :
Drover and I have been all over 500 acres of land looking for and bringing home 70 head of sheep that thought the grass greener on a neighbors place! 🙂 even at midnight.
KAT has not had that opportunity until this evening.
The sun was setting and I saw a few sheep at the gate waiting to be brought to supper. Then I saw the rest of the flock. They had been walk about in the woods.
Imagine a small 6 foot deep branch with running water, trees and limbs down everywhere, mud …mud everywhere, Barbed wire and hog wire knee high. Oh and getting dark fast. Lambs 1 week old maybe!
Does my dog know her commands?
She seems to when we do routine work…She is excellent in the small pens the best! But guess what? Not this evening when I really needed her to be on it and do as I said to get the sheep across the branch and wire safely.
I thought we were doing great…But this incident just proves what I have known…Routine is not really knowing the commands that are needed when things go wrong! There is no quit in this dog, and she puts up with Me! she and I need more real work and practice!
KAT is talented and good with a mind of her own…
Thinking about all that happened:
I Guess routine fools the trainer too;-)
We did manage to bring the flock out of the woods and to the night time fold safely! she is a great dog.
I think when training we like safety too much…we set our training up inside pens and fences …we know will provide the correct outcome!.
That is the difference in KAT’s training and Drover’s!
We are going to work on that!
KAT did an awesome job considering . 
