Foreword to the Book
When you’ve been farming with sheepdogs and judging trials as long as I have, you tend to have a few stories to swap with those around you - stories about the country characters we teased as boys, the escapades of our younger sporting days and, in more serious moments, the land we farmed and the stock we reared.
But it’s the stories about our dogs that are hard to beat - the working border collie or sheepdog. A dog that has been bred to do the job of ten shepherds but with intelligence, courage and style. A dog we have relied on totally and yet is always a cheerful and enthusiastic companion. And then, when we’ve taken them to show off their brilliance at sheepdog trials, they sit back modestly while we pick up the silver.
With so many stories to tell, I’ve not tried to write a technical handbook on sheepdogs and trials - a lot of folk have done that far too well already. I do though explain what I have found to be a sound way to build a strong handler, sheepdog partnership, and what it takes to win a trial.
At the very least, I hope the book provides some entertainment. If it gives you the curiosity to go to your first trial, or some tips and tactics to improve the way you work with your dog, then even better.
The Border Collie
I have a special respect for the working sheepdog or Border Collie which is pretty much the unsung hero of any livestock farm. A good dog literally does the work of ten men – and with a good deal better humour. While some lowland farmers have more recently resorted to quad bikes, at great expense, to help manage their stock, they more often than not have a sheepdog riding on it with them – the dog being there for the difficult tasks. And of course, a quad bike is useless on a hill farm.
There the border collie just can’t be replaced. It’s hard to describe the pleasure of working with a dog that is listening and responding to whistle commands at distances of more than half a mile away on a wind-swept hill. In fact, it’s worth considering for a minute that without the border collie, huge tracts of rough, mountainous terrain across the world could not be farmed and would be left unproductive.
Training your dog
The stories I tell write about sheepdogs and trials, and any tips I give along the way, all stem from the need I had, in common with most shepherds, for a dog I could communicate and work easily with on the farm – a dog I could trust to use its own intelligence. Anyone who owns a dog, sheepdog or not, wants a relatively simple way to train it and I think there’s a fair amount to be learnt from the training of the border collie for working and trial conditions. It may not be everyone’s style but it has served me well.
