HERDING CLINIC WITH GIANNI

 SATURDAY 13TH & SUNDAY 14TH JUNE

Pauline Jackson & Leon her Spanish Water Dog  visited The Glebe for the first time to take part in Gianni's herding clinic. Thanks  to her for sending us her impressions of a  fantastic  weekend enjoyed by all !

 Pauline &  Spanish Water Dog Leon

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Early on a Saturday morning, me and the dogs headed off to Pickering N Yorks to try something completely new to us – herding! 

  A warm welcome awaited me at The Glebe, and what a well organised day it was. Booking in completed, it was time to get a drink and a bacon butty before heading off to watch the first group of dogs work. The dogs on the day were a mixture of dogs that were experienced with sheep, had done some work with the sheep, and those that had never been tried on sheep at all (including my SWD Leon). There was a huge range of breeds present, from the normal herding breeds (beardies and border collies) through the lesser known herding breeds (Polish Lowland, SWDs, Pyrenean sheepdogs, shelties) to the more unusual including a Papillon, German Spitz, Leonberger and a Canaan dog.

Our happy band of herders take a break from the action in the Sunday afternoon sunshine

 The beginner dogs were assessed to see how they dealt with the sheep and some shuffling of   groups was carried out. I found it very interesting to see the different techniques that Gianni used to try and get the dogs interested. For some dogs, the presence of the sheep in the round pen was sufficient to get them working, some needed their owner in the pen moving the sheep about, and others needed a sheep (or two) outside of the pen to excite their interest.

 Canaan Dog Desi being encouraged by Gianni and owner Pam 

   Leon took a little while to get interested and he needed a sheep outside the round pen to get him going; apparently my face was a picture when Gianni got another sheep out of the pen so that Leon had two to work

             Leon the Spanish Water Dog showing great interest as Pauline enters the pen

Gianni with Christine and Cawley  

   I found it really interesting to watch the more experienced dogs; the natural instinct only needed to be controlled and channelled rather than actually trained. I was really impressed to see that so many beardies have such a strong herding instinct. I loved watching Jackie work Mirk and Liz working Diva, fantastic dogs that had a real drive to herd the sheep. Mirk goes from wiggly beardie begging for attention and fuss from anyone to a hard core working dog once he spots those sheep. I also love Lynda’s Izzy, but I have known her from a puppy; today I got to see the serious side of her and my goodness she is a different dog when working the sheep.

                          Lynda's working beardie Izzy, the dog Gianni wanted to take home! 

 Spanish Water Dog Brio with Robin

I will just pause here and give grateful thanks to the sheep that were used over the weekend, they were very patient. I did have to chuckle at the way they attach themselves to whoever walks in front of them….it did look so funny to the novice like me.

                                           Gianni  working with Ron and Beardie Bess

 Jack the baby jackdaw with his foster parent Christine

   On the Saturday all of the dogs got to work three times and the vast majority showed progression over the course of the day; some showed little interest in the sheep, but maybe with more exposure they could become interested. Teresa’s little sheltie really took to the herding and graduated to working in the paddock near the parrots (who were very well behaved).

A keen & lively Peaches working well with Teresa

                               Hilary getting good control over the lively and enthusiastic April 

 Pyrenean Sheepdog Remy  in action

Sunday was more of the same, but it ended up being a very hot day, so care was taken to ensure that neither the dogs or sheep over-heated. We were treated to Mirk and Diva being worked in the big field along with some of the other experienced dogs (sorry, but I can’t remember all the names)

 Safi the Tibetan Terrier circling the round pen

Huxley, litter brother to April and another keen worker, with Gianni and Pam 

Celeste, a young Pyrenean Sheepdog showing lively interest

Overall impressions of the weekend?......fabulous! great company, great food, relaxed atmosphere, and a whole host of dogs to watch. I hadn’t realised that there were so many people interested in herding, there were over 20 dogs worked each day. I ended up with over 1000 photos and over 4 hours of video footage. I was engrossed from start to finish and have already booked for the next herding event.

  Dilli the German Spitz being assessed by Gianni and holding her own! 

Dinky the Leonberger was keen to give it a go!

 A huge thanks to all involved in the event, it was fabulous (and very addictive!) and an added bonus for me was that Leon was totally shattered each night. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him so tired.

Apologies to all those that I’ve forgotten to mention.
 

 Snoopy the PLS on a Mission!!