Herding - AHBA with Chewie and Bond
They have a lower level called HCT - Herding Capability Test. It involves 2 separate tests. Leg one is just that your dog has sustained interest in the sheep - no skills needed. Then leg 2 needs to show some control - that you can do a stay command and call your dog to you in the ring with the sheep - then if they pass that they can continue. You need to move the sheep the length of the small ring 3 times, and then you pass the HCT. The JHD is a bit more complex. You need to bring the dog into the area - larger than the HCT, usually a pasture area. It has to be 80 x 100 feet at minimum, up to 100 x 200 feet max. THe dog needs to have a stop, and be send to either gather or drive the sheep. Then you have to traverse the arena.  In any order, you need to move the sheep between the 2 center obstacles, then go to the far end and move them between the panels and the fence. You must move the sheep between all 3. (and they can be in either direction). Then when you get that done, you bring the sheep back up to the front, and pen them. The dog has to have a stop and wait - and hold the sheep while you go open the gate and pen the sheep. Then you release your dog and you are done! Penning the sheep   Love my artwork???  Chewie had done both of the HCT's when he was younger, and moved to the JHD. You need to qualify 2 times under 2 judges to qualify. Chewie did it twice, but I didn't notice I had the same judge...oops! One was at Nationals last fall, the other was a local trial where our group trains - who would have thought the same judge would be at both!? So we were trying to repeat under a different judge. Sadly, he had a putzy day, and was really slow getting started. He didn't contain his sheep. He did pull it together later and did well, but this judge is strict, and she didn't pass him. If you look at his sheet, you can see he did really well in all the other areas, just low in one.  You will have to enlarge it to read it. Now Bond.....  We have been working on control since he 1st did his instinct test (HCT leg 1) last fall. He has excellent instinct and LOVES herding. We had practice Friday evening, and he was doing really well. Jennifer was working her BC in the adjoining pasture, and spying on us. She said "you should do day of trial entries, and enter Bond too!". We were just weaning off the rattle paddle (makes noise - for stubborn pups who don't want to give up the sheep and stop!  ). They need to work on a regular stick or crook.I was hoping to be able to skip the 2nd HCT leg, and move him right up into JHD. He had all the other skills, just needed the stop at the end. He hates to stop! He would bark, and sass, and race around, evading the stop. We've been working on it for MONTHS! Well, he did it Friday (nothing like last minute!) so I emailed the event and asked if there were any more JHD openings (they only were taking 6 JHD's.)..and I would be bringing him with. This was at 10pm...and I needed to leave the next morning at 5am to get there by the 7:30 handlers meeting. So I packed him up too, and drove. Got there, and he got the LAST spot.  He worked with a bit more enthusiasm than needed  , but he did really well and PASSED!Here is Bond's sheet:  Again - will need to enlarge it to read. The comment at the bottom - to help your dog - was for me. I did get it together - I needed to set him up better in relation to the stock...and when I did all went well. So now I have both of them with one official JHD leg. So we will be entering another trial later this fall to finish BOTH of them up. Bond caught up in a big hurry! |
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| Very cool... hopefully that will be Fred and me next summer.. so many new terms.. legs, and acronyms.. I can't keep it all straight, lol It's so great when hard work pays off. Yeah!!!!!!! |
 Congratulations to you both! |
| Congrats on both the boys. Chewie just had an off day, but seems to have made up for it. Thank you for including a sketch of what was expected of them, makes it easier for us to understand. Good luck in the Fall! |
| Herding on paper helps explain just how precise the team must perform-thanks. Congratulations Dawn, Chewie and Bond |
| Yay!!! |
| Thanks - we had a really good time. It is so fun doing one of the jobs that these guys were bred to do. |
| Congrats to you all! That's awesome! Cindy |
| Well done all of you. x |
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