National Sheep Dog Trials

Greetings,

Serendipity! Doo dah! Day! While I was at the Roseburg Donkey and Mule Show, I found out that the National Sheep Dog Trials would be held in Glide, which is up the road apiece from Roseburg.

Sunday Morning I got up at a decent hour and drove to the Trials site at Seven Springs Ranch in Glide, Oregon.

There in the distance across a field about three football fields away were a clump of sheep. And there was a little black dot scurrying around, the sheep moving closer and closer.

Finally, they moved through a gate and off to the right. Then the handler, who was standing at our end of the field next to a post, had to convince the dog to leave these sheep and go back up the hill for another group of sheep, all with whistles and voice commands. The handler may not leave their position all this time.

The dog is confused: "Aren't I supposed to be managing these sheep? Isn't that what we've spent all this effort on? And you want me to LEAVE them?"

So the handler yells: "Look back! Look back!" And the dog finally gets it! He runs back through the gate and up the hill and fetches the other group of sheep. He takes these sheep to the circle where the handler is standing and then gets the original group of sheep and brings them to the circle too.

Here's where it gets really interesting. There are three sheep with orange collars. The handler and the dog must work together to get these three sheep and two other "wildcard" sheep separated for the final sheep pen. The others are supposed to be sent off into the field. All of the sheep want to go to the shade and the grazing, but the handler and the dog have to get some of the sheep to go without letting the collared sheep escape.

If the collared sheep do escape, they end up having to bring the whole flock back to try again.

The time limit for this entire exercise is only 30 minutes.

One of the handlers was scheduled to represent the US in Wales at an international sheep dog trial in September. It was easy to see why. When the first flock was headed toward the gate but still quite a ways away, as soon as that dog knew the sheep would go where they were wanted, he took off up the hill for the second flock. Wow!

Here are some pics.














The handler must stay. The dog goes to get the sheep.














Cooling off in a water trough to avoid heat stroke.














The handler and the dog work together within a marked circle to separate the sheep for the final sheep pen.














Mission accomplished!














A few of the players.














Expert handler and dog who are going to Wales for the international trials.















That'll do!