Beginner Herding Class

Class Day and Time: Tuesday evenings starting April 1st, 6:30 to 7:30 pm at Dancing Hearts in Manhattan, IL.

Dates: April 1, April 8, April 15, April 22, April 29, May 6.

Pre-requisites: None. Puppies over 5 months and herding dogs of any age may participate in this course.

Purpose/Goal: Levels 1 and 2 will be combined, so the Building the Foundation and Skill Building segments will be covered: 1. To teach you the building blocks of starting your herding puppy or dog to be your partner in livestock handling. 2. To solidly establish the basic skills of stock handling and partnership between you and your dog.

Course Info: This class is limited to 4 Dog/Handler Teams, ensuring personal attention and plenty of practice time. This Course will focus on providing you and your dog with the necessary tools for becoming partners both in your life and in your work with livestock. Basic herding commands will be taught, and you will learn how to prepare your dog for stock work using quiet leadership and positive reinforcement. Your dog's natural instincts for herding will be developed, as well as teaching your dog to look to you for leadership. You will learn how to start your dog on stock and begin to teach and use the herding commands in response to stock movement and learn to control their path of travel. Dogs will be working on a line in a round pen with school sheep, handlers or coach will be using a clicker to clarify "good moves".

• Establishing a working partnership with your dog
• How to effectively communicate with your dog in a positive way
• Basic obedience skills required for a shepherd's partner
• Understanding the principles of livestock handling
• How to introduce your dog to stock for the first time
• How to teach your dog basic herding commands on stock
• Developing keenness, balance and obedience in your dog
• Learn to understand the stock and how to convey effective information to your dog
• Allowing your dog's stock sense to develop

Tuition: $150 • This is a 1 hour class that runs for 6 weeks.