I am thrilled to share that Buck completed his WTCh in September at ASCNE's Harvest Moon Mania. WTCh is the Australian Shepherd Club's working trial championship and requires dogs to achieve titles from started through advanced on ducks, sheep and cattle.
There are only a handful of collies to have completed the WTCh — due to requiring work on cattle. Only three or four collies have achieved all three herding championships — American Kennel Club (AKC), American Herding Breed Association (AHBA) and Australian Shepherd Club of America (ASCA), and they are all descended from Linda Holloway's breeding of her Ability's Morgana la Fay HSBs HXAs to Hawg n Dawg.
Buck was "purpose bred" for herding by Linda, crossing her CH Ability's Song of Rocket HSBs HXAsd to Haydee Kuner's CH Winterbound's Nightfall CD BN HSAd. Haydee's dogs go back to Glen Twiford's Wind Call collies, who were descended from his family's working ranch collies. I was thrilled to have the opportunity to get a pup from this cross. Buck came hard wired with talent and drive and is my working stockdog on my small farm.
Working cattle requires a dog with confidence, drive and resilience. We owned goats for a few years which was a good introduction to potential cattle work as they both have a tendency to turn and stare at dogs (most sheep unless they are dog wise or sour tend to turn off and move away). Dogs need to learn to stand patiently, hold pressure and walk in confidently to move goats and cattle. Buck is also the only collie I've ever owned with a grip (bite) which he uses to move recalcitrant livestock. These traits gave me the confidence that we could try and work cattle and potentially achieve that WTCh. We are fortunate to live in New England where the local ASCA club gets fresh Dexter calves yearly from a member to train and compete on, and I had 2 wonderful trainers that helped reacquaint me with the particulars of working cattle.
I am beyond grateful to Linda for entrusting me with such a wonderful dog and partner and to my trainers and community of herding buddies for their support in this journey.
WTCh HTCh HC Ability's Time Traveler HRDIIIs HTADIIIsd HTDIIId HSBs HXAsd HXBd HXDs owned by Chris Carilli :: Bred by Linda Holloway
Presented by Colliesonline.com | Contents