There's a reason GSDs are called shepherds

Tristan went sheep herding and he's a natural at it. This should be no surprise since that's what GSDs were bred for. It was fun, however, to see Tristan take to it so immediately. I went with a colleague from work who raises and shows GSDs. We always have so much fun talking about our dogs and she's so supportive of my work with Tristan. After committing to go, I talked to our Schutzhund club trainer about it and he was most emphatic that we shouldn't do it. He said the dogs get corrected with long poles even though the herding facility says they won't be and it could ruin them for protection work.

Since I had committed to go we went for one time. I let the herding trainer know Tristan is training for Schutzhund and of my concern that he not be corrected inappropriately. It was incredible to see Tristan dive in and start herding right out of the gate. The sheep were huge - probably about four feet high and five plus feet long. I may be way off but they were really large and had very thick coats. Tristan first started trying to nip at their cheeks but then settled down to targeting their hips as he was supposed to. My favorite moment was when Tristan took a time out and sat in the middle looking for directions. It was obvious that he was thinking, 'Just show me what you want for me to do and I'll do it'.

Everyone at the facility was very encouraging and thought Tristan is a great dog. It was a lot of fun and something I've wanted to do for a long time. It was amazing to see Tristan's natural instincts kick in. The club trainer, however, was spot on about the corrections. Tristan did get corrected and it's obvious different commands are used so he could easily be confused trying to do both sports. I trust my Schutzhund trainer implicitly and concur that herding training is not appropriate when also training for Schutzhund. We are not going to pursue it as I am absolutely committed to getting Tristan his Schutzhund titles. It was fun though to see Tristan in his natural element.