I confess it: I'm a sheepdogging Tony Banta. I got interested in this sport without any livestock background to draw on (I grew up in apartments and condominiums) and, even though I've messed around in dog sports my whole life, I never was wildly successful at any of them. So I have a lot of strikes against me. But for me, as for Tony, there have been moments, moments when everything flowed, when I seemed to have all the time in the world to make the most minute adjustments to the dog to straighten the line of the sheep, moments when I was blessed with a glimmer of what it must feel like all the time for the "real" Open handlers. It's the thought of those glimmers--so few that I can count them on one hand--that keeps me slogging away through practice sessions, lessons, clinics, and trials.

If you're in the same boat, this site is for you. Sheepdogging is intoxicating, addictive, and more intense than anything I've ever done with an animal before. Let's help each other muddle through to see if we can put a few of the isolated moments when things go well together into a single run when everything goes right.