Sunday, May 19, 2013

Keltic is a Sheepdog!

I took Keltic for a herding instinct test yesterday. He did really well, maybe even better than Beckett. But poor Beckett was distracted by the Border Collie that kept rushing in to move the flock; I think Beckett thought he was coming after him. Keltic had no such reservations and headed right to the flock.

We had a nice sunny day and I got a little more sun than I thought.  We were a small group so we each got to have two tries with the sheep. Keltic did better the first time around but I think he wore himself out barking to go back in after his first turn was over. There was also very little shade so he might have been rather warm by the time his second turn came around.

Smudge the bottle-fed sheep
Smudge was in the pen for our first turn. She knew to stay by the people and then the dogs wouldn't bother her as much. After the first group of sheep went back to the barn, she just hung around meeting people.


Keltic watching sheep
HIT Certificate

Evaluation Report

Ready to go again!
This time there was also a photographer that we could have take pictures of our dogs in action. I can't wait to see her photographs, she usually does some really nice work.  I'll post the link to her photos once she's put them on her web site. We get to choose five pictures and she sends them to us on a CD. I don't have any photos of Beckett doing his herding test just some video.

One of Erika's shots.

Erika Anderson Photography
It was a very nice day. Keltic had fun. I'm so happy that my Keltic pumpkin actually chased the sheep.


8 comments:

  1. Wow, he did great! Can't wait to see more photos. How awesome to let them try out what they were originally bred to do!

    ReplyDelete
  2. That is something we have always wanted to try.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Congrats! I tried Java on sheep. She just didn't care. Funny because that's what her parents and most of their off spring do.

    ReplyDelete
  4. What a lovely day! What a clever boy he is, looks like he's a natural :) Well done!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Beautiful shot of Keltic with the sheep!!! I think they have to be a certain age to show their best. I have a suspicion that when they are older they are too attached to their handler and looking for commands. The shelties all did really well!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Keltic looked great with the sheep! He was in charge!

    ReplyDelete
  7. We love Erika's photo. Good job Keltic of being a Sheepdog!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Haha, Keltic sure looked good at that! Did he have fun herding them?
    Have a great week,
    Pippa :)

    ReplyDelete

We love to get your comments on our activities. Please drop us a line.