I think that many of us who have seen herding trials or demonstrations on tv or in person have seen Border Collies working sheep.
I found this great video of a Cardi moving a herd of cows. This is no trial; from what I can see it's a working farm dog. Check out about a minute or so in when the back cow starts kicking and turns around to face down the dog!
So the next time your Corgi sits down and back-sasses you, or plants his feet and won't move, smile and think of the cows.
That's Nypa; she's a show dog, a mixture of UK/US lines. She's by Sw/FinCh. Gowarston Diesel and I think three of the litter already have their championships. Her brother Morris is absolutely breathtaking.
Exhibition, Stockholm International, 7/12-08, Hans-Ake Sperne
Feminine with a good stature Good lines in your head, well placed ears of good size. Excellent pigmentation. Korretkt bite, nice neck. Very well cooked shoulder, a short sternum. Muscled with broad thighs. Good coat, good form on his paws. These are wide in front, one subordinate rear. Need to be developed in the lower part of cartilage for further stabilization. Valvis. Needs more ring training.
2nd uhkl
Exhibition, Högbo, 6/9-08, Garach Domech Angel
Balanced bitch. Very nice head and expression. Good front and bone. Good topline, coat and tail. Sound moving.
1st uhkl 1kk 2btkl CK R-CACIB
Exhibition, Alfta 12/7-08, Poul Örnemark
Not a bit lame. Some sniper in the nose Good bite, ears and eyes. Good back to develop a little more chest. A little open-angle front and back. These are somewhat uncertain.
2nd jkl
Permalink Reply by Beth on December 5, 2009 at 8:14am
I had read that historically, Corgis were rarely used on sheep, being a bit too aggressive of a herder for that, and you can really see that here!
You can also instantly see so much of why a Corgi is the way it is. A fluffy is such a major fault because of all that mud. Those short legs come in handy when cows kick or lower their heads and toss them at the dog. They need to be able to sprint to get back to a wayward cow, but they are really built more to trot all day because the cows are just walking.
My understanding is there are feed lots and things in this country that still use Corgis to move/sort the cattle. We have so many dairy farms around here. It's a shame that the droving dogs are not in fashion for farms so much here in the East. Who knows, maybe it'll catch on. I heard that the guarding breeds are making a comeback as natural predators come back from the brink of extinction and gain in numbers.