Linda Rorem – Clinician

Linda Rorem has long been interested in the herding breeds, their use and history.  Growing up, her family’s dogs included Collies, German Shepherds, and an English Shepherd.  In the late 1970s she acquired her first Shetland Sheepdog, Pascha, and in the early 1980s began working with him on sheep.  She began trialing with Pascha in the Australian Shepherd Club of America program.  Two of her Shelties, Cailie and Shaela (daughter of Pascha and Cailie), went on to earn herding championships in all three title programs – ASCA, AHBA and AKC.  Her Rough Collie, Chelsea, was the first Collie to earn the AKC’s advanced herding title. 

Linda was involved in the development of the herding programs of the American Working Collie Association (Rough and Smooth Collies), the American Herding Breed Association (of which she was a founding member), and the American Kennel Club, and is a herding judge for AHBA and AKC.  The descendants of her original Shelties have earned a number of championships and advanced titles in the different programs, and she has also worked with friends’ dogs, trialing in ASCA, AHBA, AKC, and in a few Border Collie trials.  Breeds she has trained to advanced titles include several Shelties, two Rough Collies, two Border Collies, a Briard, German Shepherd, Samoyed, Australian Shepherd, and Bearded Collie.  In helping others with training, she has worked with a number of other breeds.  Her focus in training is on establishing a sound foundation for progressing to more advanced skills, flexibility in tailoring the training to the dog’s individual tendencies, and helping the dog develop a range of abilities for handling a wide variety of tasks. 

Linda has written a number of articles, some of which are on her website at www.herdingontheweb.com (links below). 

She enjoys practical farm and ranch work most of all, and in trials the ranch courses are her favorites.

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