SHEEPDOG TRIALS - A FAMILY VISIT

Ron Hadfield
Mar 19, 2018
13 min read

Designers have invented a new bra for us older women.

They've called it "The Sheepdog"

as it rounds them up and points them in the right direction.

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You can't be sad when you own a border collie.

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A farmer wants to know how many sheep he has in his field.

So he asks his Border Collie to count them.

The dog runs into the field, counts them and runs back to the farmer.

The farmer says, "How many?" The dog says, "40."

The farmer is surprised and says, "How can there be 40 - I only bought 38!"

The dog says, "I rounded them up."

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Background: Bonnie and I spent several weeks relaxing at our Park City condo in the fall of 2004. I had my Harley with us because I was going with the boys on our annual Scooter Trip the second week of September. On Labor Day weekend I went for a Harley Day-Ride and noticed an unusual amount of traffic and activity in the Heber City/Midway area. As I scouted the area I came across the Soldier Hollow Classic Sheepdog Championship underway (as it turns out, this was the inaugural year of what has become a very popular event). I was curious as to what was going on so I bought a ticket and sat in the grandstands to watch the activity. I had never witnessed, or even heard about, anything like what I saw. My amateur description at the time was: "There were a bunch of sheep way up on the hill - maybe five or six football fields away. This guy at the bottom of the hill sent his dog up the hill, using a whistle to instruct the dog. The dog chased the herd of sheep down the hill, guiding them through a series of gates on the way, chastising any who didn't do as he wanted, and guided them into a pen at the bottom." I was amazed at this activity and couldn't stop talking about it for days - it's a sight you have to see for yourself. At the time I thought I would definitely attend the event in the following years, but we sold the Park City condo and for various reasons have never been in the Heber Valley area around Labor Day since that time.

Sheepdog Competition: I thought I could improve on the description I gave above by using information from the Soldier Hollow website, which goes like this: "Handlers send their dogs to herd sheep, via command, from a hilltop downward, through gates, and eventually into a corral in front of the viewing stands. Held during Labor Day weekend in Midway, Utah, the Soldier Hollow Classic Sheepdog Championship is a stunning show of discipline and human-canine bond. The dialogue between handler and herding dog are intricate and complicated. The subtlety is astounding. For example, one Handler says she bends the pitch of her whistle, and the slight variation tells her Border Collie to circle clockwise around a herd of sheep. Indeed, dog and handler understand one another. What's more, they have a unified mission in this challenge: to move the livestock from the top of a hill down into a corral hundreds of yards below, and do so as quickly as possible." The Soldier Hollow Classic is recognized as being one of the sport's toughest competitions. While many sheepdog trials occur on relatively even terrain with farm-raised sheep, the Soldier Hollow course places competitors and their herding dogs on steep hillsides with numerous natural obstacles and range sheep. The main event is an invitational, where 64 dogs get invited based on point scores at other trials held nationally and internationally. Handlers have come from 17 countries and five continents to compete in Midway.

The images below are examples from competition at Soldier Hollow. In the first photo the dog is using a direct stare at the sheep, known as "the eye", to intimidate them ("Come on guys, let's go to the pen below"); the second photo shows the dog taking care of one of the sheep who had other ideas about where she was going; the last shows the pen - the final destination.

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One of my early ideas when I created my Updated Bucket List for YEAR 77 was to include a visit to the Soldier Hollow Sheepdog Trials. I had originally planned to attend during Labor Day weekend in 2017 and had hoped that Walt & Bev would have their dogs there at that time (more about the Murray's dogs below). Although that timing didn't work out, it turned out that the Murray's dogs would be at a Herding Trial in Chino, California during March 2018, so that activity went on my list.

A History of Walt & Bev's Dogs: As long as Walt & Bev have been together they have had at least one dog. At their wedding, Bev's dog, Danielle (American Eskimo), was the official Ring Bearer. In 2003 they adopted Seamus from the Payson Humane Society and thought they had their first Border Collie. After doing a DNA test, it turned out that he was a Heinz 57 variety and had NO interest in herding; in fact, the first time he was near sheep, he ran from them. In 2005, Walt & Bev attended their first Soldier Hollow Sheepdog Championship and she was hooked on Border Collies and herding competition. They acquired Josie (2 years old), a Border Collie, in 2009 from a woman who cared for Bev's horse in Payson. Josie had an intense drive to herd (getting in trouble for trying to herd all the horses at the barn). So with Bev's newfound interest in herding, Josie became part of the Murray family and began training and participating in herding competitions. Opportunity struck again with the arrival of a litter of Border Collie pups a friend had. Evan B (normally called just Ev) was acquired in 2013 when he was just 8 weeks old. With much training and care, both Josie and Ev have been very successful in herding competitions. Unfortunately, Seamus, the long-time member of the Murray family, and Alpha to the 'Murray Dog Pack', died in the fall of 2017. In November 2017, fate again struck, and they acquired Scout, another purebred Border Collie from Ev's field trainer. Scout was 9 weeks old. So that's the Murray dog family (so far). They are accumulating ribbons and awards from competition at an incredible rate. Below is a photo of their winnings for just 2017. Scout will have big paws to fill with the reputation of Josie and Ev.......!

Happy Friendship Day - Ev on the left, and Josie

The portraits below of Ev, Scout, and Josie, were taken by Bev at the Dog Trials in Chino - a great-looking trio!

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Diamond Dogs K9 Events Center: This Events Center is located in Chino, California and is the location where Walt & Bev's dog Evan competed on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, March 16, 17 and 18. Josie's hearing has gotten bad, so she won't work this trip, and Scout is not yet ready. I obtained a "Judging Schedule" from the Events Center, but the information was obviously for owners and handlers, not for walk-in observers like us. It did give us a general idea of what would be happening, which was double trials on Friday, two in the morning (Ducks and Sheep) and two in the afternoon (Ducks and Sheep). Then on both Saturday and Sunday there would be a total of two events each day, Cattle and Sheep. This was a little misleading, because there are also categories of Advanced, Intermediate, and Starter for many of the events. Although Ev was entered in most (if not all) events, we were never sure what time he would work, so we did not observe him in all his events.

Friday, March 16th: Jenny, Tracy, Bonnie and I drove to the Event Center (about 25 miles from Monrovia) on Friday around mid-day to see what was going on. It was obvious that they were not encouraging a large attendance by the main sign at the Events Center. As shown below, other than the hand drawn sign that says "Herding Trials" there was no indication that this particular dirt road would take you to the Event Center we were looking for. In fact, the address at the top of the sign was not the address of the Event Center. Without guidance from Bev we would still be looking. The atmosphere at the Center was informal, but very friendly and I'm sure professional according to dog herding standards. This is another example of a "sub-culture" that exists in this country - groups of people with a passion for a certain activity and a connection with people they may have never known before, except for this passion in common.

Photos below taken at the Events Center: On the left, me with the lovable, 4-month old puppy, Scout (with Evan on the left looking on). On the right, Bev with Scout and Josie.

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We arrived at the Events Center after the Friday morning trials were over and the awards ceremony was just beginning. The first two photos below show the activity center where there was food and drink available for the owners and handlers and the Awards Ceremony tent. The third photo is Bev holding the awards for the morning: Ev's first place ribbons for Ducks and first place ribbons for Sheep. The award for the Ducks course was special - Ev was the only dog that herded the ducks through every obstacle without exception, and in an excellent time. The judges gave him a score of 98 out of 100 - very impressive!

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In the afternoon they worked the Ducks and the Sheep again. Photos below were taken at the Duck course, but I couldn't get close enough to get good photos of the Ducks. In the first photo I tried to get a picture of them releasing the ducks and was promptly given the "evil eye" by the judges for possibly interfering with the dogs concentration. The middle photo is Dawna, Evan's handler, taking Ev to the Duck arena to begin his event; the third photo shows them waiting to get started - and Ev watching the Ducks ever so closely.

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Below I try to explain the nature of the competition for those who may not be acquainted with Sheepdog Herding Trials. There are many courses of different sizes and number of obstacles. The diagram below is simply one example of a course - it could be a very large grassy field (several 100 yards long) or a smaller dirt arena. The Handler is standing at the bottom where he/she will stay and give the dog instructions, both voice and by whistle. #1 shows the path the dog will take to run up to #2 where the sheep (or cows or ducks) are grazing. The dog will herd the sheep back to the Handler guiding them through the fence gate at #3, around and behind the Handler, through the fence gates on the left, across the field toward #5, through the fence gate on the right and into the pen at #6. The judges base the score on the time taken, the number of sheep that do not go through the appropriate obstacle, and other more imprecise factors. The courses we saw on this trip were laid out different than this example, but the idea and the objectives are the same.

The series of photos below show Ev working Sheep on one of the courses we saw. From the top left - (1) Dawna is walking Ev out to the beginning point; (2) Ev is in a crouch looking way down the field at 4 sheep waiting to be rounded up at Dawna's signal; (3) Ev has run the length of the field and is bringing the 4 sheep back towards the pen; (4) & (5) Ev has guided the sheep around the traffic cone where Dawna is standing and moving them toward the gate they must go through; (6) Ev has herded the sheep toward a second fence, with a gate they must go through; (7) Ev has guided the sheep through the final gate and is heading them toward the pen; (8) and they are in the pen - Dawna has shut the gate and Ev is giving them the Eagle Eye; (9) Dawna proudly showing Ev after his performance.

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Tracy, Bonnie, and Jenny part of Ev's Cheer Group (plus the photographer of course). Ev won second place in both the Duck and the Sheep runs done on Friday afternoon.

Saturday, March 17th: One of the things most interesting to me during our visit on Saturday was my realization of the number of different breeds of dogs that were competing. I had assumed that almost all of the dogs would be Border Collies. Even the many different colors of the Border Collies surprised me, but the big surprise was all the different breeds. Then I saw a sign saying the Australian Cattle Dog Club of Greater Los Angeles, Inc was holding the event. Obviously there would be Australian Cattle Dogs participating. Eventually I got a booklet summarizing the participating dogs and showing each dog's breed. My curiosity pushed me into counting the different breeds. Border Collies did turn out to be the highest number of participants at 24. Australian Shepherds were second at 17, Australian Cattle Dogs next at 12, Welsh Corgis were next at 9 (I would have never guessed a Welsh Corgi would be herding sheep), there were 8 German Shepherds, next was the Swedish Vallhund at 3, and the Shetland Sheepdog at 2. There were six breeds represented by one dog each; a Belgian Sheepdog, a Belgian Tervuren, a Bernese Mountain Dog, a Boxer, a Miniature American Shepherd, and a Rottweiler. Quite a collection and quite a surprise to me.

I took a few photos of some of the dogs, but I wished I would have taken more to show the variety. The first photo below is a gorgeous Sheltie (Shetland Sheepdog). Her name is Brianna and she won the national championship at a Sheltie Herding Competition. The second photo is a beautiful Border Collie of unusual color referred to as "blue merle." The third photo is a large, black German Shepherd. The two dogs in the first photo in the second row are Australian Cattle Dogs, and the middle dog is a Border Collie. The Handler noticed me taking the photo and said the dog was a Curly Coated Border Collie. She also said, "I'm Robin and this great dog is Batman." The dog in the last photo didn't look like a border collie to me, but sure enough, Bev says he's a Smooth Coated Border Collie named Owen.

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The venue for the sheep herding on Saturday moved from the large open field used on Friday, to a smaller fenced arena shown below. I couldn't get a shot of the full arena, but the obstacle on the right was a gate in the middle of the arena, the most difficult to herd the sheep through. On the far side of the arena you can see a pen. On the close side, where the sheep are in this photo, was an obstacle fence with a narrow passage next to the arena fence. Out of the photo, at the left end of the arena was another obstacle. It's really interesting to watch (and listen) to the Handler and dog work the sheep through these obstacles.

The photos below show the sheep going through some of the obstacles in the arena and the audience watching from their folding chairs. You can tell by the dress of the audience that it is cold.

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Ev participated in two trials on Saturday, one with Cattle, which he won, and one with Sheep, where he came in 4th Place. We didn't arrive early enough on Saturday to see Ev working the Cattle, but Bev sent me the photos below. It looks like cattle react to herding much differently than ducks and sheep. I'll make sure I see the cattle event next time I attend.

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After the events were over on Saturday, Tracy, Bonnie, Bev and I went to BJ's Restaurant for an early dinner. The food and conversation were great. It's been a long time since we've been able to sit down and have a good visit with Bev. Unfortunately, Walt was unable to join Bev on this trip so instead of visiting with him, we talked about him.

Sunday, March 18th: On the last day of the Herding Trials, I drove to the Events Center early hoping to see Ev work in his two events of the day - Cattle and Sheep. Unfortunately when I arrived, about 8:30 am, the Cattle event, which Ev won, was all over.

I was, however, able to watch Ev in the sheep event, which took place in the same arena they used on Saturday. The photos below show the sequence of action, as good as I could photograph it. (1) Ev is with Dawna waiting for the signal to go like a lightning bolt for the sheep shown in (2) at the south end of the arena. In (3) Ev is bringing the sheep toward Dawna, and after they have gone around her and the traffic cone, in (4) he's herding them west toward the first fence obstacle. In (5) he's guiding them through the fence obstacle and in (6) heading them to the north fence obstacle. In (7) Ev is herding the sheep toward a pen on the east side of the arena, and in (8) he is crouching down giving them the eye and holding them in the pen for a required few minutes. Then in (9) Ev has guided the sheep through the fence opening in the middle of the arena, the most difficult obstacle to do, and in (10) he has taken them to the final corner. This was such a smooth run I thought Ev would score 99! It turned out the judges didn't agree. There were 23 dogs in this particular event, and four of them scored higher than Ev.

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These three days were fun and interesting for me, and I learned a lot about sheepdogs and herding trials (I probably drove Bev crazy with all my questions). It made me want all the more to go back to Soldier Hollow and see the Championships. I know that Tracy, Jenny and Bonnie also enjoyed the time that they spent at the trials.

There were still some more dogs to work, and the awards ceremony to come, but I decided it was time for me to head for home. I congratulated Bev on Ev's performance and wished her a safe trip back to Phoenix. I looked around for Dawna to congratulate her also - she has obviously done a great job with Ev. But she was probably off working with another dog - she actually served as Handler for 8 to 10 dogs during this event.

I probably should have hung around for the awards ceremony - I'm sure it was fun. Bev sent me the photo below which is very impressive. Dawna's daughter Megan is also a Handler, and the photo below are all of Dawna and Megan's herding partners and the ribbons they won during these three days of trialing - outstanding!! (This photo shows the discipline these dogs have - can you imagine trying to get that many grandchildren to sit still for this photo?)