This is not a perfect run but it gives you some idea of what the Sheepdog Trials are all about. There are 8 obstacles that dog and trainer must guide the sheep through. The trainer may not leave their position near the cone until the last obstacle has been cleared and it is time to pen the sheep. Each sheep is worth one point per obstacle for a total of 32 points. They have five minutes to complete the run. The dog may not touch the sheep; the trainer may not touch the dog or the sheep though they are allowed to use the cane to create a barrier as long as it never touches the sheep. The dogs are guided by a combination of voice commands -come by, away to me, lay down, thatll do and whistles. The older, more experienced dogs generally dont need the voice commands - they respond to whistles only. The sheep are not trained on the course nor is the dog. Todays sheep were a rather fractious bunch who were not in the mood to be herded. Small groups of sheep are much harder to herd than large groups -they get nervous and keep trying to run back to the pen to be with the rest of the herd. Todays sheep were rambunctious and a few were kickers. The dogs had to work hard for every point. We had a GREAT time and I am already looking forward to next year!
Posted on: Mon, 29 Sep 2014 03:54:29 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015