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Beau has always shown that not only did he have the desire to work stock but the resilience to bounce back from a correction and learn how to work stock in an acceptable way. He has an incredible work ethic – has never shown any tendency to quit, no matter how bad the stock is or how negative our corrections. Those who have seen Beau run on cattle in Tennessee will probably remember that we were in over our heads (I didn’t have a clue how to help Beau with the one calf who kept splitting off and going back to the gate) but Beau gave 110% for the entire 10 minutes of his run and when time was called he was still trying to work that cow. Beau never gives up and he usually tries to please me; sometimes he has decided I really didn’t know what I was doing (I usually didn’t) but when he has taken matters into his own that has not usually worked, either! We finally came together as a team when I learned a little more about reading stock and he learned to give me nice wide outruns so the stock weren’t sent into panic at their initial contact.
Beau just got his HX on sheep last August, so the National was his first opportunity to earn HC points. He won the Advanced sheep class both days, which gave him his first 4 points and the major win he needed; he was just starting to really work well for me, so I entered a bunch of California trials over the next couple of months. We came home with points from every weekend but one, and he really impressed a lot of people with his work (especially on cattle). He earned his HX on cattle, then earned points on both cattle and sheep at those California trials. He got his HX on ducks at the Arizona trials in February and also completed his HC by winning the Advanced cattle class for another major win. He has 3 points toward his HTCH (AHBA herding championship title) and I will start working toward his ASCA intermediate and advanced titles now. (Beau has since completed his AKC, ASCA and AHBA herding championship titles, and is one of only a few Pembroke Corgis to obtain an AKC Dual Championship title.)
Beau has been a great ambassador for our breed at the herding trials, especially on cattle. Many people with test level Corgis have thanked me for “showing them that it can be done” and what it looks like in a finished dog; many judges have thanked me for running him and showing people that Corgis belong in the advanced classes, too!
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