HCT first leg

Today Kola attempted the first leg of her official American Herding Breed Association herding capability test. I figured it'd be no big deal, she knows what to do. I was a little nervous, of course, being in front of all these people with my lab-ish dog. Indeed people kept doing double takes when they saw her at the sheepdog trial.

We were the last to go out of 11 people. So Kola had to sit and watch 10 dogs go before her. It was an hour and a half. Kola kept getting more and more frantic. Whining and pulling and panting. Everyone else had a mellow Burmese mountain dog and a lot of them were giving us a look of some kind or other. I was mortified. Towards the end of it all I had Jesse take her so I could try to relax a bit, cool off and focus.

Finally it was our turn. Kola maintained her composure while we walked through the first gate to meet with the judge. I picked up my stock stick and half a second later Kola just went ballistic. Her whining sounded more and more like screaming. Despite being more than three times her size I could not pull her off the fence. Jesse reports that a pair of people walked off saying "Lets not watch this, that dog is going to be completely out of control." I eventually pulled Kola off the fence and she was reasonably composed to walk through the second gate into the sheep pen. Then she just about pulled me over lunging for the sheep, who ran to the other side of the pen, further agitating her. I swear I could have brought a half starved wolf in there and it couldn't have been any more wild than Kola was. The judge looked worried and said, "I guess she wont be any calmer off leash either."

Somehow she again composed herself long enough to walk a few steps on a loose line, sit, come when called and sit again. It was the absolute minimum but, we forged ahead. The judge stood between her and the sheep, to help remind her what her mission was. I let go of her collar and she waited a whole second and then I told her, "Ok!"

She went off like a gunshot. I held my breath.

With a frantic bark she drove those sheep straight past the judge and right to my feet. I started walking and she worked the sheep behind me. When she over flanked she actually responded very well to my signal for her to go the other way. I could tell she was on the job, so we walked around. Kola continued to whine and bark, too worked up to stop, but she did her job.

Going out the judge remarked, "I guess she really was calmer off leash." He didn't bother concealing the surprise in his voice. He added, "She actually... is a pretty good dog." A couple of people congratulated me as we walked out. I was so relieved I could have cried. My trainer, Dave, had come to watch us. He grinned and said, "I think people were all a little afraid when you went in there." I have to say, I shared the sentiment. Dave was pleased with how we did. So was I. So was Kola.

Jesse thinks we had the best run of anyone there. He's a little biased, but I think we were probably in the top three. Jesse also thinks we could do the Junior Herding Dog test. I'm thinking about it. There would be a lot more people watching that one. Tomorrow we go on to round 2. If she does as well tomorrow as she did today, I think we'll be getting a certificate for her in the mail.