Lilly’s Herding Lesson #1, Part 2
Our herding story continues this week with a video showing Lilly chasing and/or letting the goats go hither and yon. Yes, they ended up spread across three pens, so we asked Ben, an experienced herding dog for help.
First, A Shout Out for Ben
Let me brag a second about Ben. At the recent National Western Stock Show, which has been held in Denver every January for 105 years, Ben came out of the first round in 3rd place (just a second behind two dogs tied for first). He finished in 8th place, after the second round … how awesome is that?
Ben is 11 years old. He is the PERFECT dog for Lilly to be around and learn from when she is herding because he COMPLETELY ignores her.
And, for a dog like Lilly who isn’t fond of effusive dogs, that’s just what she needs.
Herding Mishaps: How Lilly Got Into A Mess
I promised NOT to over-narrate and influence how you feel about what you see, but in today’s goat herding video (almost 3 minutes), you’ll see that working in a bigger space with more goats is MUCH harder for Lilly.
That’s why we needed Ben’s help.
See what you think of Lilly’s movements compared to Ben’s. (Yes, clearly, he knows what he is doing, and she doesn’t, but beyond that …)
If you’ve come to our herding stories already in progress, you can catch up via these posts:
Lilly’s Herding Instinct Test, Part 1
Lilly’s Herding Instinct Test, Part 2
Lilly’s Herding Instinct Test, Part 3