'Nother herding article

[kelpiegirl]

City pooches trained to be wild 'n' woolly

Shepherding enthusiasts find it's more fun out at pasture

By Jerry Berrios, Staff Writer

Article Last Updated: 03/30/2008 11:48:06 PM PDT

 

LEONA VALLEY - About an hour north of the gritty streets of downtown Los Angeles, Karen Wessinger stands in a pasture commanding her border collie, Lill, to bring her a flock of sheep.

 

Wessinger makes a living giving shepherding lessons to dogs and their owners, in addition to raising and selling sheep.

 

"I should have been a shepherdess in another place and time," she says, surrounded by her 6-acre GemStar Ranch.

 

The art of shepherding has ancient roots, and little has changed over the centuries. On this chilly hillside in Leona Valley, Wessinger teaches the challenging craft.

 

It's a declining vocation in the United States, but one that has become a hobby and a sport. The hardworking and instinctive border collie is the shepherd's traditional partner, although other breeds have the gift.

 

And beginners and veterans say shepherding is addictive.

 

"They are all live creatures with their own agenda," said David Porras, 46, a Los Angeles police sergeant from Palmdale who takes lessons with his border collie, Glen. "We are all trying to get on the same agenda."

 

Wessinger teaches her students - canine and human - how to gather and move sheep by using voice commands, whistles and instinct.

 

"I try to base the training on `if you were a shepherd, what would you need?"'

 

If sheep are going to market, they need to move in a steady, straight line toward the shepherd. If they run and move from side to side, the

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meat will get tough, and the sheep might not be sold.

 

On a recent Sunday, Mary and Dan Asmus spent a cold and breezy afternoon in Wessinger's pasture herding sheep with their border collies, Skye and Nel.

 

The couple have their own flock of sheep - 21 strong - at their nearly 4-acre property in Fillmore.

 

"You get into this sport," said Mary Asmus, 43, a Caltrans engineer technician. "That is what you do."

 

She and her husband have been shepherding since 2002, and she practices three or four times a week.

 

"It is a fine line between obedience and instinct," she said. "You are partnering with the dog."

 

She said she has competed at about 20 shepherding trials in the United States.

 

Margie Porras, wife of David Porras, has been taking shepherding lessons for five years and hopes to buy 20 acres of land where she can breed dogs and sheep.

 

She said she is fascinated by the old-world aspect of shepherding.

 

"It's just simple," the 45-year-old Palmdale homemaker said. "There is something about being out here in the open and working with animals."

 

In between home-schooling her three children, Margie Porras also somehow finds the time to practice herding sheep with her border collie, Kep, up to five times a week.

 

Porras is among the advanced students who head to the pasture, where the handler can be more than a football field's distance away from the dog and the sheep.

 

Other students at Wessinger's ranch are just beginning. They work in a round pen or fenced arena so the sheep can't get away. Wessinger also uses goats with the beginners because they are easier to corral than sheep.

 

Heidi Knight and her Australian shepherd, Scoop - as in "scoop up the sheep" - drive up to Wessinger's ranch from Studio City every Tuesday.

 

They started their lessons 10 months ago.

 

Scoop used to compete in agility competitions - events in which dogs navigate through obstacle courses.

 

"Scoop did what he was told, but it didn't light up his eyes," said Knight, 67, a retired floral designer. "When I brought him out here the first time, what a different dog."

 

Scoop was alert and just knew how to keep the sheep moving toward Wessinger. Once owners see that their dogs have that instinct, they say they are hooked.

 

"It's like having a diamond necklace and not wearing it," Knight said.

 

Cara Callaway saw that innate ability in her 14-month-old Australian cattle dog, Grifter, when the dog was only 12 weeks old.

 

"Every fiber of their being is doing what has been bred into them - for some of these breeds - for centuries," said Callaway, 63, an agility trainer and Leona Valley resident.

 

"This is primitive instinct."

 

Wessinger's own dog had that instinct even though she didn't see a sheep until she was 4 years old. Wessinger rescued her five years ago from a home in the San Fernando Valley and is now taking Lill to the World Sheepdog Trials in Wales in September.

 

"This is the dog who got me on the world team," Wessinger said, looking down at the black-and-white border collie.

 

Like the dogs, Wessinger was born to do this work. She admits to having an office job once in her life and promptly being dismissed.

 

She is clearly more at ease in green pastures where cell phones don't work. She prefers lambs and ewes to paperwork and walls.

 

"It is so anti-technology. It is different," Wessinger said. "It is addicting."

 

FLOCK FACTS

 

Herding dog commands:

 

AWAY-TO-ME: Counter-clockwise movement in relation to the flock. Dog goes to its right.

 

COME BYE: Clockwise movement in relation to the flock. Dog goes to its left.

 

GET OUT: Dog flanks to its left with more distance than in a normal come bye.

 

KEEP OFF: Dog flanks to his right, putting more distance between itself and sheep than in a normal away flank.

 

LIE DOWN: Dog stops, doesn't necessarily lie down.

 

LOOK BACK: Dog looks for and gathers another group of stock.

 

WALK UP: Dog gets up and moves directly toward flock.

 

TAKE TIME OR EASY: Dog approaches the flock more slowly.

 

THAT'LL DO: Dog stops working and returns to handler.

 

F.Y.I.

 

For information about training dogs to herd sheep, visit www.gemstarranch.com or www.qualitydogtraining.org, or call Karen Wessinger at 661-270-9281.