This is why I say that the old type water dogs, poodles, barbet, and the Iberian water dogs are related to herding breeds. That’s why in Germany, there were water poodles and sheep-poodles. I think these dogs are related to the curly-haired and corded herding breeds of Central and Eastern Europe, the most famous of which is the Puli.
Pulik have been taught to retrieve shot game from the water, so it makes some sense that the water dogs can also herd.
I have herd of one distant descendant of the ancient European water dogs, a golden retriever, learning to herd sheep, although not very well!
As a Border Collie person who has a tiny bit of experience (and I mean tiny) I don’t really know what to say regarding this being a title worthy bit of herding. I’ve gone to a handful of trials and trained a BC on sheep for a year.
This looks like obedience herding to me…. and I suspect that you could get just about any dog to do the same. Not to sound elitist (you have to be elite for that!) but if you put any dog in a pen with a human, the sheep will glom on to you just like they do in this video. If you are allowed to walk the course with the sheep, then I don’t see much purpose for the dog except as the constant threat to keep the sheep on you.
At the BC trials, the handler can’t move except to shed and pen the sheep. You certainly can’t walk with the sheep.
Perhaps this is just a style thing and “herding” for other breeds is different than “herding” for the Border Collie. But I can see just about any breed doing what we saw in the video if it was trained in obedience and followed commands.