Students made their way to 105 Mile to visit the Sandhill Lea Ranch, home of Lorne Landry and his amazing stock dogs.  Lorne holds sheep dog trails on his property and he invited students to bring their dogs out to his ranch so they could get a taste of stock dog training.

Lorne produces grass fed beef and lamb and he has working stock dogs to help him out. Lorne’s stock dogs are trained to bring the lambs out to the pasture and to bring them back in. It was truly an amazing sight to see his dogs work. Calmly,with precision the dogs can move the flock one way or another, and go bring them home! Even from a very very far distance Lorne’s dog knew what it was supposed to do and did it effectively.

Working with the instincts of these herding dogs is the key to having a successful working stock dog.  I think we left this stock dog clinic with a whole new appreciation for how a dog can work at a really high level and how this could be such a beneficial relationship and function on a ranching or farming operation.

Students got a chance to bring their dogs in with the sheep to participate, and try it out. Lorne was great. I think we were all a little scared of how the dogs were going to react, but Lorne was a great instructor and within a few minutes we could see what he was trying to get the dog to do and he took control when needed to make sure the sheep were safe and that the dog knew its role.

All in all, a fantastic day with Lorne and students with the Applied Sustainable Ranching program. I know, for me- I want to get all the books he recommended and keep learning more.

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