Over the past few weeks, Drummer has been learning to drive sheep which is totally opposite everything he has already learned about sheepherding...... which is..... bring the sheep.

Now he has to not only take them away from the handler, but he has to do it in a straight line....ya, right.

We are entered in the CKC herding trials at the Winchester Ranch just south of Pincher Creek on the 6 and 7 of August and today was our very first encounter with the "handler's line" .  

This line runs parallel to the arena fence, cutting off a section of the arena where the sheep and dog may enter but the handler may not.  In this area, there is generally a fence line obstacle and the dog has to move the sheep through the obstacle by exhibiting a drive rather than a fetch.
A huge leap of faith at this stage for Drummer who is just now working in Intermediate.   But we will try to put together all the little bits of knowledge that our herding partner, Lore Bruder, has shared with us and this, along with her fabulous information on stock, sheep in particular, will help us do a good job.  It is really all about the sheep in sheep herding and no matter how great your dog is, if you don't know what the sheep are likely to do in the presence of that dog, you are handicapped in herding. Lore helps handlers who do not have sheep and don't know much about them by giving them a course in Sheep 101 and I can truthfully say that having her explain WHY I need to do things in a certain way around sheep has made a world of difference in my confidence and my dog's confidence around sheep. I can't thank her enough.