Herding Abreviations

The basic ASCA titles are STD, OTD, and ATD which stand for started, open and advanced trial dog. Those titles are followed by the suffixes d, c, and s meaning the title was earned on ducks, cattle or sheep. So, SDTds, OTDc would mean the dog had earned a started level title on ducks and sheep and an open level title on cattle.

Once a dog earns an ATD on all three types of stock the dog is awarded a WTCH which stands for Working Trial Champion.

PATD stands for "Post Advanced Trial Dog" and, as the name implies, is a course for dogs who have already earned an Advanced title on a given type of livestock.

RTD stands for Ranch Trial Dog. This is a more variable course meant to replicate more realistic general "farm dog" chores, as opposed to the more or less identical course that is used for the STD, OTD, and ATD.

Some of the dogs also had titles from the American Herding Breeds association. HTD stands for Herding Trial Dog, and is a sorta miniaturized version of a Border Collie course, held in a more open field than the arena courses offered by ASCA. The numbers at the end I, II, and III represent novice, intermediate, and advanced levels, and the letter suffixes again refer to the type of stock. HRD stands for Herding Ranch Dog. Again, this is a more variable course that is supposed to reflect realistic farm work, with the same suffixes as the HTD titles. And HATD stands for Herding Arena Trial Dog, and is, as the name suggests, a course set up in an arena more the size of what is typically used in ASCA, although the course is somewhat more complex than the ASCA arena courses.

Thank You! That was very easy to understand

Tena

4HAND

Thank You! That was very easy to understand

Tena

Wow, I'm pretty impressed - are you looking at a particular breeding or dog?  Sorry if I missed this somewhere else. 

brookcove

Wow, I'm pretty impressed - are you looking at a particular breeding or dog? 

Becca, Birch Hollow Ranch Security is our Aussie's sire [do you say sire with dogs? Can you tell I'm a horse person?] Noel doesn't herd anything but tennis balls currently.She has been doing really well for my son[Aussies Rock on this board] in obedience and will be starting agility soon.I've been really astounded with her focus.It feels at times like she is reading my mind. I never owned a thoughtfully bred dog before but I see now what a difference it can make.I really respect the thinking of ASCA that workability is more important than conformation/color/ear type.Noel looks quite different from the AKC "bench type" Aussies.She only weighs 32 lbs and has a much shorter, thinner haircoat.

Tena

PS If it says a dog is DNA'd is that significant?

LOL.  It's sire and dam with dogs, too.  :) 

4HAND

I've been really astounded with her focus.It feels at times like she is reading my mind. I never owned a thoughtfully bred dog before but I see now what a difference it can make.I really respect the thinking of ASCA that workability is more important than conformation/color/ear type.Noel looks quite different from the AKC "bench type" Aussies.She only weighs 32 lbs and has a much shorter, thinner haircoat.

PS If it says a dog is DNA'd is that significant?

Now you see why the Border Collie people are so adamant about ONLY breeding for the original working standard of the Border Collie, rather than throwing in other parameters like conformation, being a pet, or any of the numerous dogs sports that BCs already excel at while still being bred strictly for livestock work.

I've seen several Aussie from Ericsson's lines and really like them.  I know there was some controversy there but I just don't believe it.  I've seen the results of his last breeding project (the HT stockdog) and the man was a genius, honestly.  If the breed ever stabilizes I may have an HT someday. 

And I've done a clinic with Jim Hartnagle (Las Rocosa) and can highly recommend his approach to anyone looking for someone who knows Aussies inside and out, and how to use the stock to show the dogs what to do instead of making them do it with forceful techniques (because these are dogs that take a lot of pressure!).  That was an amazing weekend and a friend of mine who was a top BC handler freely told everyone that they didn't need to look their noses down at Jim just because he chose to work with Aussies.