The sun is shining, the fields are clear, and the sheep - a jittery trio of fluff - are just getting comfortable.

Suckers.

Selkie, a border collie recovering from a tennis ball addiction, gets her cue. She cuts a wide curve around the field, hunches low and creeps in. Bleats of protest are useless. The sheep stiffen and get moving.

It's a good day to be a dog.

Selkie isn't really a stock dog but she plays one at Drummond Ranch, which isn't really a livestock ranch, but a 40-acre haven an hour outside Los Angeles. There, city dogs escape their leash-and-lounge existence and learn to get in touch with their inner herder.

The ranch is part of a trend that mixes training techniques, a back-to-basics ethos and a hint of dog (and human) therapy. read more