Amazing dogs
When Pat and I adopted Pearl, a border collie, last fall, we became acquainted, first-hand, with the intelligence and boundless energy of the breed. This spring, we took Pearl (and our golden retriever, Truman) to an obedience class and this summer Pat has been attending a beginning agility class. (Dog Agility is a sport in which a handler directs a dog through an obstacle course in a race for both time and accuracy.) It has been amazing to see how quickly she learns new skills. And, to be honest, she’s even been known to learn very quickly some skills you wish she wouldn’t learn at all. Skills like where to find the cat food in the basement.
Through her agility class instructors, Pat learned about the Soldier Hollow Classic, one of the world’s premier sheepdog championships. We’re not familiar with what competitive sheepdog trials are all about, but basically a handler and his/her dog have to fetch a set of sheep from a spot over a quarter mile away and guide them through three sets of gates, perform a “shed” which means to separate the herd of sheep into two groups, and then, finally, get all the sheep into a small pen. Oh yes, if all of that weren’t enough, they have to do it all within 13 minutes. No wonder the announcer kept referring to the dogs as “athletes”. For more details about sheepdog trials, see this very informative page.
The Soldier Hollow Classic is held every fall at Soldier Hollow (about 40 miles from where we live), so we decided to go and spend the day watching dogs (mostly border collies) who made Pearl seem like a real underachiever. Here are some pictures from the event:
neat photos, I bet that was fun to watch. Makes all of our dogs look like extreme slackers!
Hi Nancy!
Thanks for the comment on the posting! It was very fun to watch! I think because it was clearly such hard work (especially in the heat) and the dogs so clearly enjoyed doing it. If only we could all have jobs we enjoyed so much!
They are amazing. What most surprised me about this activity when I first saw it, is the huge part played by controlling the sheep through calm intensity and focus and eyes, not agility. The key (apparently) is never to spook the sheep, for if they scatter, it’s over. The sheep are about as fast as the dogs, IIRC.
(We had our own smart agile border collie for many years, until she died last year. Tennis balls were her virtual sheep and addiction. What a dog!)