News
We are under construction!
No, not this page...our farm!
Willowcreek Farm is expanding!
Willowcreek Farm is building a new garage/barn/indoor arena. When completed there will be an indoor arena, for herding all year round in any kind of weather. Patty will be doing some boarding, and the kennel will have heated flooring inside, cement runs outside. We plan on having the building up by the time Bob arrives for his clinic because we know it'll rain at least one day, so it'll get broken in then.
Publication:TGC; Date:May 3, 2006;
Section:Community IC; Page Number:31
MAIFEST
Herding gives family direction
By Suzanne Barnes The Gazette
| Patty Anderson (left) and her daughter, Tracey McPherson, both of Williamsburg, train, show and breed herding dogs. The two women and some of their dogs and sheep will participate in the Stock Dog Sheep Herding Time Trials on Saturday and Sunday at the Amana Colonies RV Park during Maifest in Amana. |
|
WILLIAMSBURG — Patty Anderson’s life has gone
to the dogs.
However, it’s a life she very much enjoys and also shares with her two
daughters, Tracey McPherson, 39, and Alisa, 11.
The two women, some of their 22 working dogs and a selection of sheep will
participate in the Stock Dog Sheep Herding Time Trials at the Amana Colonies RV
Park. Scheduled to begin at 11 a.m. Saturday and 9 a.m.
Sunday, the trials are part of the Maifest celebration at the Amana Colonies.
Interested dog owners can register the day of the event.
 Suzanne Barnes photos/The Gazette |
Tracey McPherson and Ebony, a mostly black Australian Shepherd, work a small group of sheep at Willow Creek Farm near Williamsburg. McPherson and her mother, Patty Anderson, both of Williamsburg, train, show and breed herding dogs. |
The canines in Anderson’s life took on more
importance nearly 20 years ago. Anderson, who works as a technician in the
education department at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Iowa City, needed
something to combat empty nest syndrome.
Her older children were on their own and her marriage was ending, but she still
had her Chow Chow and poodle.
‘‘I took the Chow Chow to the vet for something and was told, ‘You need to get
this Chow Chow into some classes,’ ’’ said Anderson, a Fort Madison native.
From obedience classes for the Chow Chow, Anderson graduated to canine fly ball,
agility and herding.
‘‘I wanted my dogs to have a championship in everything,’’ she said.
Over the years, Australian Shepherds and Border Collies have replaced the Chow
Chow and poodle. Herding and everything associated with it have replaced the
other canine sports.
And Anderson’s menagerie of animals on her Williamsburg acreage has grown to a
dozen La Mancha goats, 60 or so St. Croix-Katahdin cross sheep, three calves and
assorted Khaki Campbell and Indian Runner cross ducks. All the critters are used
for herding because all react differently to being herded.
Anderson’s land, called Willow Creek Farm, also is used for herding. She and her
older daughter attend herding clinics and give lessons there. A recent five-day
clinic at Willow Creek included a woman from Switzerland who had purchased a dog
from Anderson, and a man from Germany, where herding trials are common.
They’ve also held trials at the Australian Shepherd Club of America course they
have, which Anderson said is the only ASCA course in Iowa.
Herding dogs listen for verbal cues and watch for physical hints from their
person. They understand ‘‘way to me,’’ ‘‘come by,’’ ‘‘walk up,’’ ‘‘there’’ and
‘‘here,’’ said McPherson, who started herding with a Newfoundland.
Anderson, 58, said if she turns her body a certain way, her dogs will interpret
that to mean that’s the direction she wants whatever they are herding to go.
When their work is done, Anderson and McPherson don’t turn their backs on their
dogs and leave.
The dogs all take their turns sharing a rocker or couch with the women, but only
if they are invited, Anderson said.
‘‘They all have house time,’’ Anderson said. ‘‘They all learn manners.’’
Contact the writer: (319) 398-8434 or
suzanne.barnes@gazettecommunications.com
