Formed in October of 2000 by Leslie Earl and Donavon Thompson, the NCHGA started out as the Sacramento Valley Herding Group Assn. but quickly expanded its membership to include members from much of Northern California and even Nevada. Our name changed to the Northern California Herding Group Association, to reflect our increasing membership, in January 2003.
After holding several fun matches and herding aptitude tests, all of which have been very well received by the Herding Breeds fancy, we received AKC-B status in February 2004. We then asked for accelerated status to A level sanctioning and were delighted when AKC agreed with us, granting this in July 2004. We held our A matches in both conformation and herding, receiving full AKC approval for licensed events in summer of 2005. We held our premier AKC-licensed conformation show in Dixon, CA, on October 27, 2006, with a total entry of 407 dogs! Clearly, members of NCHGA are excited about promoting their breeds and having events to celebrate them.
