Rineweld Heart of Goodness "Millie"

Herding basics - Millie herding - Herding aptitude test - Herding working test - Herding competition

Herding competition

With Millie we participated at our first herding competition at Pomáz on 04.10.2014. The open competition was organised on the same field as the Hungarian National Herding Competition Finals organised by the Duna-Tisza Magyar Pásztorkutyás Hagyományõrzõ és Sportegyesület (Duna-Tisza Hungarian Tradition Keeping and Sports Association) and the Magyar Pumi Klub (Hungarian Pumi Club). Judge: Istvánné Patkó. Unfortunately I had no chance to go through the field in advance without the dog because I was the official ring secretary and special translator at the Pumi Special Exposition. Luckily the club show was finished on time so I could made it. In addition, Mr. András Korózs, President of MEOE Hungarian Kennel Club, special judge of the Pumi show, followed the herding competition as well.

The herding competition consisted of 7 excercises:

Gate: herd the sheep through the gate, between the pens.
Narrower: only the sheep can go through, the dog and the handler cannot.
Eight: go around the the tree on the right from below, and around the left on from above only.
Half pen in: the dog and the handler cannot go in.
Half pen out: nicest execution is when the handler stays at the middle and the dog herds the sheep alone from out of the pen and through the gate. Dog can be helped but for less points.
Select 1 sheep on the circle area: on a predefined area similarly as in the herding working test, the dog should stop the sheep and the handler should separate 1 sheep by the horn.
Gate

Herding competition field (created by Andrea Leidl)

We could see wonderful, perfect herding by Gabor Kiss and Nudli the mudi (they won the National Championship, hearty congratulations), but there was a dog who let the sheep leave the field (disqualified) or another dog who let the sheep go back to the starting position, their favourite spot so they had to herd them again. There was a contestant who gave up on obstacle (i.e. eight around the trees) - I believe it is always worth giving a try, partial scores might be very useful later.

45 Racka sheep are a lot... It was obvious that the dogs were not used to so many sheep, however they managed.

For a successful competition, to perform the tasks, we need the following :

know your own dog: Millie is very active, she can realise the situation and is able to decide by herself but is very important to control her.
know the sheep: these sheep were afraid of the dog and of the shepherd as well so traditional style herding was quite a challenge at the beginning but at the end they were happy to follow me. They like going back to the starting position or at the fence. Behind the trees they tend to leave the field. They split easily or one or two sheep leave the flock for longer time but finally they overcome their fear and rejoin the flock.
know the field: it is useful to know where are little holes in the field, where the terrain bend, where are picking plants, and referring to the above point, where is the spot where the sheep like to go away to prevent and stop it.

András Korózs especially congratulated me for Millie's work: this was the first time he saw a rough collie herding.

I still hear Gabor Kiss' instuctions in my head from spring: we went training with Millie and he shouted: "Stop her! Stop her!" Well it was nearly impossible then but now Millie worked beautifully, stopped at first command, it was a mere pleasure herding with her.

Millie and me (Photo: Duna-Tisza Association)

Gabor Kiss and Nudli National Champion, Istvanne Patko judge (Photo: Duna-Tisza Association)

Andras Korozs, president of MEOESZ Hungarian Kennel Club, Gabor Keve National Championship 2nd place (Photo: Duna-Tisza Association)

Opening ceremony: Istvanne Patko, Gabor Keve, Andras Korozs, Andrea Leidl (Photo: Duna-Tisza Association)

Barbara Kiss, Gabor Keve, Andras Korozs (Photo: Andrea Leidl)

First competition, first place - receiving the certificate was unbelievable (Istvanne Patko, Gabor Keve, Andrea Leidl)

1st Place