Seen and Herd

It's not exactly like finding a woodchuck chucking wood, but by golly those Corgis do have an affinity for herding, as I found out when I went with my friend Kim to Brigand's Hideout near Battle Ground, Washington, and watched Dave Viklund work with her and her dogs.

I'd always heard that these dogs were bred to herd sheep and cattle, and in only five or six lessons, Rocky (a black and white Cardigan Welsh Corgi) and Sterling (a blue merle Cardigan) have learned to "balance," that is move back and forth around the sheep; they'll eventually learn to respond to commands from a distance. For two dogs who aren't yet a year-and-a-half old, they're amazingly focused, though Rocky seems to have more of an affinity for the task.

The video starts with a woman who has worked with her dog (obviously not a Corgi) for a much longer time and uses the larger pasture, while the young "trainees" are in a smaller corral.