I like to herd, but what am I?

What happened?
 

???

Well, that got my attention and now I'm disappointed and slightly annoyed!  And aren't you glad I shared, lol.

Let us know if you figure your question out, OK?  I'm always up for a bit of herding talk.

...a bearded collie?

its hard to tell from the pic,but it could be an american eskimo dog in a snowstorm.

LOL! I was guessing a White Pom?

O.K., since they didn't finish their question, I'll highjack the thread. []
 
I was thinking about putting Ash into herding, but can anyone tell me what it's like? Ash is a Queensland Heeler, Or Australian Cattle Dog, which ever name you prefer. I always say one and then someone says, "Oh! You mean a Heeler!" or "Oh! You mean a cattle dog!" Anyway, she's 16 months old. Does someone else handle them? Do they "test" her first to see if she'd be a good candidate? Any info would be great. There's a place near me that herds sheep and geese.

It's exhausting, and weird, and dirty, and totally the most fun you can have with your dog and still be legal.

Here's an Australian cattle dog working various stock [linkhttp://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v296/brookcove/Bouvier%20Trial/Crystal/]at a trial at my old place[/link]:

[linkhttp://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v296/brookcove/Bouvier%20Trial/Crystal/]http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v296/brookcove/Bouvier%20Trial/Crystal/[/link]

Does the owner of the dog handle the dog or do you let someone else handle the dog? The lady I spoke with wasn't very clear on how it works.
 
Those pictures look so cool! It really makes me want to put Ash in. I really think she'd like it. . . . However, when she was in agility class (she only did the intro to agility) there was a flock of geese penned up and Ash went over to investigate. When she got near the geese, they fanned their wings and hissed at her. Ash jumped back so fast! It was so funny! She crept back over to them, but the minute she got too close the geese would do that and Ash would run away!

When you first start out, someone else works your dog quite a bit. Then you learn to handle your own dog, usually by the time you enter your first trial. If your dog is progressing extremely quickly, your trainer may recommend that you let him or her handle your dog through the first few titles to get them out of the way.

One nice thing about working lifestock is that your dog learns a ton of impulse control and distance control, once he or she is working at the upper levels. It's a great match for the high drive and reactive nature of most herding breeds.

We started herding with Wes a couple of months ago and the first time they "instinct tested" him - to see if he was interested in the sheep and showed any herding instinct.  It was decided that he showed some skill and was definitely interested, so we go about once a week.  The trainer there is still handling Wes (as he does all the newer dogs) and will likely be for quite some time considering that Wesley is a little difficult to deal with and his progress is slow (he wants to do everything his way and it takes many many corrections for him to do things the right way)...  But, we are making progress and the hope is that learning this type of compliance (ie - he has to do it the handlers way, even with the distraction of the sheep right there, and then and only then can he work the sheep) is hopefully going to translate to alot of other areas and help make Wes a generally more compliant and responsive pooch.  I definitely suggest trying it if you think you guys would be interested - it is really fun (even just to watch, which is what I am doing at this point) and it is REALLY good physical and mental exercise for the dog...

I'd love to herd with Strauss, but I can't find anybody in WI that trains C Course
:-/

You can start working livestock without "training for a course".  Anyone with experience with your breed or similiar breeds (the Belgians, for instance) can start you and your dog.  C course takes much of the same basics that are laid down in the beginning stages, just as Border collies and Collies started right can do any of the courses, also.  It's just that advanced A course comes more naturally to, say, Bouvier des Flanders and advanced B courses come more naturally to Border collies - similiarly the tending breeds are supposed to have the advantage on the C course.  []

I live in the City.  There's no stock to work, and nobody I know herds with their dogs unless they do the herding instinct test.  Beyond that, they don't continue