Since we've got Bryson some 9 months ago, we've been wondering, being trained as a show dog all his life, does he have any herding instinct left in him?
Corgis are historically bred to herd, but we're told that show dogs who've been trained to be ultra obedient often has their herding instincts "trained out" of them.
Plus anyone who's seen how wide a berth Bryson gives the cows along the trail we frequent can probably tell he doesn't have a stomach for farm animals.
But we have seen what we thought resembles "herding behavior" in him. One time he had apparently mistaken our neighbor westie as a small lamb and tried to bring her back to her owner. Or maybe he just mistook her for meals-on-wheels...
So when we heard that the annual Pembroke Welsh Corgi herding instinct test is being held in Santa Rosa, we immediately signed Bryson up. We're just curious to find out what his "true color" may be. (For more photos, please check out our Flickr album).
We arrived at the Shepherd Ranch with a mix of excitement and uncertainty- we had no idea what the "test" entails (I know Bryson hasn't done any studying), and what, if anything, we will learn at the end of the day.
But with most other dog events we've been to, people around us were quick to put us at ease, patiently explaining the sport of herding, and how the test will be administered.
They also reassured us that in the case your dog didn't show any interest in herding, that doesn't mean there's anything "wrong" with your dog, they're just not wired to herd, or the desire to herd has been replaced by the desire to obey you through training (sounds familiar...).
And so on we went with testing- we were led to gather around a pen with 3 sheeps in it (they look more like goats to me, they got horns and everything, kinda sinister-looking if you ask me). One by one, the tester called the corgi contestants and their humans in, let them sniff around a bit, guided them towards the sheep, and see if they'll demonstrate some herding behavior (circling, barking, driving, etc).
Some perform beautifully (like Heidi, a corgi we met that day) demonstrates below):
While a few others (including Bryson) did this:
Needless to say, Bryson flunked (his report card says succinctly "Not Interested").
But another 18 corgis did, including Heidi, whose mom shows in the pix here the ribbon Bryson could have received if he were to "pass".
One thing that puzzles me a bit though, is why would you give out ribbons to award instincts. And I'm not saying it coz I'm bitter Bryson didn't get one (uh hmm). I can understand awarding hard work, obedience, and skills. But awarding herding instincts is kinda like giving people awards for having green eyes. Or curly hair.
Anyway, we weren't too surprised that Bryson didn't show any herding instinct. I'm just glad that we did this before we signed him up for a full-on class. That'll be like buying your kid a violin only to find out later he's tone deaf.
Oh well, onto his rally O classes, maybe there'll be a ribbon in his future there some day :D
