Herding Capability Tested

Brisbane, Sisci and I participated in an American Herding Breed Association trial this weekend, and the dogs each earned their Herding Capability Test title. These are our first herding titles ever! I also helped set up and run the trial, which was a wonderful and also exhausting experience. Our venue had horseback riding arenas, which required some modification in order to use them for sheep. The biggest project was tying snow fencing along the rails, and shoveling dirt onto the bottom of the new fence to hold it securely in place. We had a wonderful crew comprised of many of the handlers in the trial, but it still took several hours to get everything set up the day before the trial.

Photo by Candy Lidstrom

In order to earn the Herding Capability Test title, a dog must pass the test twice under two different judges. This is a pass/fail test that basically differentiates between herding the sheep and just chasing them around. The test is done in a small pen so the dog and stock can't go very far if things get out of hand.

The requirement for the first leg of the test is to move the sheep around in a controlled fashion, which is something I've been able to do with Brisbane, Sisci, Ranger, Annie, and even Ru occasionally.

Photo by Candy Listrom

The second leg of the test requires a bit more control. The dog must be able to stay still from the time the leash comes off until the judge gives the ok, which is not very long. Then the dog and handler need to move the sheep back and forth between two cones a couple of times. It is not necessary to go around the cones, they just give a nice point of reference to move between. Finally, the dog must have some sort of stop, usually 'down' or 'sit', and recall to the handler on command. These are fairly loose requirements, even a step towards the handler counts as a recall as long as you aren't making a flying tackle as you dog blows past you toward the sheep.

Brisbane did awesome on both legs of his test. He is no longer having foot issues, but he often gets tired easily and doesn't normally like going all the way around the sheep if he can avoid it. At the trial he was in good spirits and happily ran circles around the sheep for as long as I let him. He has always had a nice stop and recall, and waits impatiently for me to let him work as soon as we get into the pen with the sheep.

Photo by Candy Lidstrom

Sisci is still pretty sure that herding is all about biting the sheep, and training her is basically a process of stretching out the time she behaves herself in between taking cheap shots. The judge for our first leg on Saturday said I could stand to relax a bit because my dog does good work. He has border collies.

She was much better behaved for the second leg of our test, but decided to scream at me the whole time because she knew I wouldn't let her bite the sheep. That judge said I knew what I needed to do to keep my dog from hurting the stock. She has Belgian sheepdogs.

Photo by Candy Lidstrom

On Sunday we also got a much-needed California rainstorm, complete with high wind and occasional hail. The trial went on as planned, and everyone got completely soaked because there's just no staying dry when it's raining upside down and sideways no matter what kind of rain gear you've got. My dogs got to do their tests during a short break in the rain, but nearly everything else happened during the downpour. Everyone did surprisingly well, including the dogs that did their tests in the hail.

As soon as the last dog finished their run, the sheep were whisked back to their nice warm barn. The dogs all rested snug in cars and RVs. The utterly sodden people went to work rolling up snow fencing, loading posts and panels into trailers, and returning the site to the condition in which we found it. The sun came out just as we finished loading up, and shone on our very drippy handing out of ribbons and awards. At that point it had been raining almost nonstop for six hours. It was beautiful, and wet.

Product Review: Boomerang CollarTags

Boomerang CollarTags are probably the most durable identification tags out there, and they're not just for dog collars, either. These non-dangling bits of ID are available both for traditional buckle-collars and for any type of strap that doesn't have a nice end to slip through the slots. The standard CollarTags fit single-ply nylon straps, there is also one with extra wide slots for double-ply nylon and heavy leather collars. CollarTags are made from heavy stainless steel with deep engraving. They are available in five sizes to fit straps 3/8-1" wide.

Photo by Erin Koski

Boomerang makes some fabulously high-quality dog tags that are surprisingly inexpensive given that they last forever. Seriously, this tag has a longer projected lifespan than your dog. Boomerang tags are also super easy to read, which is impressive. At work I see tons of scratched up, worn out aluminum vending machine tags that are completely failing to serve their purpose.

CollarTags are not your average dog tags. These things slide onto the collar and lay flat without dangling or making noise. They are ridiculously secure and can be attached to basically anything with 1" or thinner straps. Harnesses, leashes, halters, backpacks, luggage, climbing equipment, you name it. The slots in the tag are open in the middle, so there doesn't need to be a free end to thread through the tag. They're a huge pain to put on, but Boomerang guarantees they won't fall off so it's worth it.

Pros: Solid, heavy, durable. Easy to read even after years of use. No hardware to rust or break, unlike riveted plate tags. Guaranteed against loss, damage, wear, and anything else that would make it non-functional. Less likely to get caught on things than dangling tags. Totally silent, the quietest dog tag.

Cons: Not as pretty as my Dog Tag Art tags, so we have both. The adjustable collar tags don't work on my nice leather collars, need to get different tags for that. Not as obvious as a dangling tag, someone who finds my dog may not spot the CollarTag and may assume my dog is not wearing identification.

Bottom Line: Forget dog tag silencers, this is where it's at.

Food Friday: Alternative Protein Roundup, Venison Edition

Brisbane's Bark Blog is approaching its second birthday, and we're taking a look back at some of the unique and interesting goodies we've found for dogs with food allergies. Brisbane himself is allergic to poultry and eggs, and was recently diagnosed with corn, barley, and sweet potato allergies as well. Finding foods, treats, and chews for him is an ongoing project, and I'm always looking for new things to try.

Venison is a popular protein found in quite a few limited ingredient diets intended for dogs with food allergies. I assume it's also somewhat easy to get in places where people hunt. Here on the coast of southern California, nobody hunts. Well maybe a few people do, but nobody talks about it. Saying you go out and kill animals for sport sort of feels antisocial, unless those animals are fish. Guns aren't common either, and the people who do have them tend to keep them in lockers at shooting ranges. I have seen a number of raw feeders recommend asking friends that hunt for their freezerburned deer meat, which seems downright foreign when I know so many people that have never even tasted venison.

Photo by Erin Koski

Anyway, venison is a nice flavorful game meat that my dogs absolutely love. Like rabbit, it is a common alternative protein that does not seem to be a common allergen yet.

Venison Food

Stella & Chewy's makes both freeze-dried and frozen Simply Venison raw dog food. Primal also offer a frozen raw singe-protein venison food in their Primal Nuggets product line.  

In the non-raw food department, Natural Balance Limited Ingredient Diet Sweet Potato and Venison food was a common sight around my house until I figured out that Brisbane was allergic to sweet potatoes. We also tried the canned version back when the place I worked still carried it. Wysong gave me a coupon for free shipping, so I bought a bag of Epigen Venison, but Ru didn't like it. I'm not sure I would buy it again because it contained powdered barley grass and Briz has a barley allergy. Likewise, we'll be skipping the Party Animal Heavenly Venison canned food from now on because it contains sweet potatoes. 

So far, I think our favorite venison-based single-protein dog food has been the Canine Caviar Wilderness dog food. The canned version also went over well here. It's awfully high in calories for Brisbane, though. At the moment, we're working our way through the big bag of Pure Vita Venison and Red Lentils that the company handed out when my employers started carrying their products. Free dog food is my favorite kind of dog food. Ziwi Peak makes an air-dried venison, but it costs way more than their beef dog food so I've not been able to bring myself to buy it yet. I bet it smells horrible yet wonderful.

Venison Treats

So far I think our absolute favorite treat has been the Superior Farms Venison Crepe. It was basically a soft, delicious rawhide chew, but made out of a deer instead. We've had numerous Etta Says Deer Chews show up in our monthly subscription boxes, and they never last long. Less exciting are Natural Balance's LID Sweet Potato and Venison cookies. One of our favorite training treats so far has been the Merrick Venison Holiday Stew sausages.

What other deer-based, elk-based, or moose-based products are out there that we haven't tried yet?