October 12th 2009 4:54 pm
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I took Bianca to a dog camp today (for the day) and the first event was a herding instinct certification, held at another location. It was a lot of fun and Bianca did really well in the herding test! I had no idea what her reaction was going to be, I'm not sure if she's seen sheep before. When we were waiting for our turn she did not seem that interested in the sheep. When it was our turn the tester took her in to the pen on leash and she started to circle the sheep almost immediately. It was really funny though because she basically bounced through the whole test! She looked like she was bounding the way dogs sometimes do with really deep snow. I am not sure but I think maybe it was because she really wanted to RUN fast but in the small pen and with the sheep not moving too fast she had to keep her speed down so instead she did sort of a slow-motion bouncing run. After the test she reeaallly wanted to go back in and herd more! The tester and the other people getting their dogs tested all commented on how pretty she was and they thought her bouncing was great heh. It was a great start to the day, and later she her first try at lure coursing and carting (see other diary entry for that).

So Bianca got her HIC! This is what she got on the Herding Instinct Certification testing form (the stuff in parentheses was added by me):

STYLE
- Shows gathering instinct
(Gathering is a style of bringing animals to the handler.)

APPROACH
- Runs wide
(Wide running means the dog makes wide passes going around the stock, naturally keeping a good distance off the stock.)

EYE
- Medium
(Medium eye means the dog shows "eye" but without the crouching approach.)

WEARING
- Shows wearing
(Wearing is the side-to-side movement of a dog to keep the stock grouped.)

BARK
- Force barks
(Means the dog works silently except to bark to move challenging livestock.)

AGGRESSIVENESS
- Forceful without excessive aggression

TEMPERAMENT
-Appears readily adjusted

In the comments section they put "WOW - She really liked it."