Canine Athletes: Herding Dogs

Canine Athletes: Herding Dogs — page 1 — Chapter 1 BLUE'S SHEEPDOG TRIAL A Border collie named Blue dashed through the gates and raced far across the pasture His black and white fur was a blur He headed toward a flock of five sheep Blue's handler yelled out a command from back at the starting point Come-bye she shouted Blue circled around the sheep in a clockwise direction He would need to move the sheep around the course at a steady pace Suddenly two sheep split off from the flock Blue circled behind the stray sheep Lie down his handler shouted The Border collie immediately stopped and

Canine Athletes: Herding Dogs — page 2 — Border collies are considered some of the best herding dogs

Canine Athletes: Herding Dogs — page 3 — lay down on the ground The two sheep rejoined their flock Blue sprung back into action as his handler guided the dog with her voice Dog and handler worked in sync to keep the sheep together Good boy the handler praised Blue The Border collie gathered the sheep through two sets of gates and brought them to the handler Then Blue herded the sheep to a pen His handler shut the gate The audience clapped Blue had successfully completed the sheepdog trial He scored 80 points out of 100 and came in third place Blue had proved that he had the stamina and control for the sport Herding was in his blood HERDING HISTORY Approximately 10,000 years ago hunters began herding groups of wild animals These animals traveled in groups called herds which helped keep them safe Sheep cattle and goats roamed the grasslands Herders tamed and controlled the herds Then they used the animals for meat milk and hides

Canine Athletes: Herding Dogs — page 4 — Ranchers and farmers today still rely on herding dogs to control livestock Herders needed help with their herds They had to guide the herds over large areas while keeping all of the animals together They also needed to protect the herds from predators such as wolves So herders began breeding working dogs for these tasks Farmers still use herding dogs today HERDING BREEDS People have been breeding herding dogs for thousands of years They breed dogs with desirable traits These include the instinct to gather a group of animals without attacking them Herding dogs need to show an eagerness to work with the handler and often bond strongly with

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