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"The Herding Instinct Test" -- March 3, 2006
I am no expert on herding, but Acacia and I have done herding for several years. The saying goes something like this: “It takes five years to train the dog and ten years to train the owner.” I take that to mean that Acacia’s an experiment and if I go on to do herding with Bing, I might have a chance!
Bing's herding instinct test took place on February 18 at Raspberry Ridge Sheep Farm. Bing had seen sheep before; you can see that footage from when he was only a few months old on this website. That was the hottest day of the summer, with temps in the mid to upper 90s with humidity to match. The day of the herding instinct test boasted temps in the teens to low 20s, with wind chills in the single digits. One thing I've learned about Raspberry Ridge: there is no in between on temps. It's either hotter than a sheep's teat or colder than one! Oh, yeah, with the wind and mud thrown in.
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I am writing about Bing's instinct test because I was so thrilled with what I saw. Four sheep were inside a pen, which measured approximately 20x20 feet. I walked up to the pen with Bing on lead, and was instructed to keep him on lead until he showed interest in the sheep. Some dogs are clearly afraid of the sheep, some are stressed and eat the sheep poop, and some are rip-rarin’ ready to go! Bing fit in the latter category.
However, what I saw in Bing impressed even me (clearly NOT an instinct evaluator!). He ran wide circles around the pen in a clockwise fashion. After two or so rounds, he stopped briefly to look at the sheep, then resumed his run. I was instructed to stay between him and the pen, so that my body encouraged a wide berth. We had little trouble accomplishing this. I'm not sure of the significance of the distance from the pen, but I followed the instruction! Once, he paused near Pete, who was videotaping, but quickly resumed his work. He ran like a bullet around the pen nine times. Almost without exception, he kept his eyes focused on the sheep, and did little barking.
I was told to walk in the opposite direction to that in which he was running, and once he changed directions, I was to reverse mine as well. Each time he stopped to reverse direction, I was to mark it verbally (“Good!”) before changing directions. Here is where he was so impressive. I haven't counted it yet on the tape, but I would guess that he only needed me to do this six or so times before we got to the point where I was standing almost still and he was running a half-circle around the pen. The sheep ended up standing close together in the middle of the pen, barely moving. Each time Bing hit the ‘balance point’ he let out a little bark. The balance point is where the dog is directly opposite to the human, with the sheep in between the dog and the human. THIS is instinct!
While he was quite frenetic at first, and we joked about whether he'd ever stop running in circles, it became clear that he was figuring out exactly what he had to do, and then he simply did it. It was soooo cool to watch. Speaking of cool, Pete had to cease videotaping before the end of the test because his hands were unable to hold the camera any longer. Sometimes the cold just gets the best of us!
I have heard some folks say that if you have a problem dog and you work them in the job that they're bred to do, a lot of the behavioral issues go away. I could see this potential in Bing. I never doubted for a moment that he has herding instinct. But the drive, organizational thought, intent and joy that I saw in him on that day still has me in awe. Good boy!!!
Many thanks to Pete for agreeing to accompany me (and freeze) and to Carolyn Wilki for standing outside for so long in order to instinct test Bing and all the other dogs that day.
Ali
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