A trip down memory lane...

We got up early and jumped on the M6 (again) and headed for Raymond MacPherson's place, near the Scottish border. We only made one wrong turn, and intelligently ignored the GPS's suggestion to drive into a field, landing at Raymond's a few minutes early (we allow time for several detours when guessing at our ETA). He and his lovely wife Margaret invited us in to their beautiful home for tea. We all sat in awe as Raymond recounted stories of famous dogs and handlers, and of his travels through the UK and North America. He had known the great J.M.Wilson and and his spectacular dogs. Raymond told us stories of his own famous dogs and of working them on the hill. The pictures and memorabilia were fantastic...

After tea, we went out to work dogs in a near-by field. The field had "rashes" (reedy type brush) running across the middle of the field which created a virtual fence, and the sheep seemed a long way away on the other side. All of us were a bit nervous, but Mary Lou elected me to go first. I wanted to work on Craig's outrun, but naturally he was perfect. However, when driving them back to the top he decided to act like he didn't know how to drive, and Raymond kindly insisted there was a dead spot in the field for sound.

Raymond explaining a finer point to Linda and Mary Lou...


After we'd all had a go, the rain started and it was cold, so we headed back to the house. Margaret had laid out a beautiful lunch, and I proceeded to make an impression by knocking my head on a low flying ceiling light in the kitchen. Since Raymond is at least 3 inches taller than me, I figured I wasn't the first.

As we head back towards The Shepherd's Barn, we are looking forward to tomorrow, where we will try to set our new record of three trials in two countries in one day. May the sheep (and sat nav) be with us!

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Coming up rose-ettes

After a relaxing cup of coffee, we headed out to our next sheepdog trial adventure, a fast blast up the M6 motorway to the Caldbeck trial, another long-standing trial...flighty Swaledales on a tricky hill with a river running beside that the sheep were quite willing to use as an escape route. When we arrived, they were pulling yet another group of sheep out of the river...oh boy...

We have been surrounded by sheepdog legends this whole trip, and this trial is no different, as we will have the privilege of watching such luminaries as Raymond McPherson, Joe McRoberts, and of course Thomas Longton. When another top hand goes into the river with his sheep, we aren't sure whether to be terrified or relieved that we wouldn't be the only ones to go in if it happened to us.

We booked in right away, planning on getting home for an early evening. Mary Lou sent Dyna to the right, and she came up spot on behind her sheep. Taking control, Dyna eased the touchy sheep around the course beautifully, with a small glitch at the pen before sliding them in calmly. A great run that left many asking about Dyna's breeding and background and congratulating Mary Lou on her handling.

The sheep recycled just before Linda was to go, her second trial in a row to have the first lot of recycled sheep. We could see the sheep bouncing and popping in the set-out, and Linda looked back at us and laughed... We could all see what was about to happen, the sheep were going to explode t of the pen. Remember, in these trials the sheep are let out, but not really spotted anywhere. Linda's sheep leapt onto the course with a flourish. Linda's Bet calmly paddled them around the course, settling them well considering the grand entrance, but the pen ended up being their nemesis, as it was for many teams on this day.

My run with Craig started a bit uneven, but Craig got a good hold of his sheep and had a decent fetch and very good drive, but the pen caught us as well.

Then there was the "dog type" parade again, which we learned more about. Apparently, it is done at many of the long-standing trials, particularly at the prestigious Longshaw trial, where it is taken very seriously. A vet checks the dogs over for conditioning and health and it is considered a valuable part of the sheepdog trial. Mary Lou's Dyna made it to the semi-final this time, as did Raymond MacPherson's dog.

When the dust settled, we came away with a fair amount of hardware.


Mary Lou finished in second place, one point behind Raymond MacPherson's run, and earned a large rosette. She also won the top female handler award, a gorgeous crystal bowl. I won a perpetual trophy for top run without a pen, but since I couldn't take the trophy with me, they gave me a lovely plate (not sure how some of this is going to survive flying home!) and best of all, we have the opportunity to go visit Raymond MacPherson, a wonderful store of sheepdog knowledge and history.

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Things that go bump in the night...

Yesterday was the Reeth trial, another stunning drive through the Yorkshire Dales.


You'd think we'd be sick of taking pictures of sheep on the road, but it is such a culture shock to us North Americans, it is almost like being on a domestic safari.


The trial was fun. According to Eric Halsall (I'll have to find which book I read it in) years and years ago after a sheepdog trial the working dogs would also be in a contest for looks. This trial continued that tradition for fun and everyone including top handlers like Thomas Longton and Richard Faucett put their dogs in. It was quite funny to see all these muddy, wet dogs lined up. My handsome Craig got a prize, losing in the final to a six year old girl's dog, with the judge giving me a wink. It was a good laugh.


The trial was a success for all of us as well, with Linda's young dog winning the novice class, my Craig finishing 3rd and Mary Lou's Dyna finishing 6th. Richard Faucett, a very nice man whom we chatted with in depth, won the trial and Thomas Longton, our host, was 4th. The sheep were touchy and would go over top of a dog and apparently hadn't been penned at the trial in two years. This year seemed better, but since it was pen, then shed, the pen was critical and we all had good in-bye work.


After another beautiful drive back and we went out with Thomas to celebrate his birthday and returned home exhausted.


As we were all falling asleep, a loud bang resonated through the house. At first I thought perhaps a dog had knocked something over, but then I heard a knock at my door. Mary Lou was at my door with a big smile on her face, trying to maintain her composure. Her bed had collapsed, or so she described. With all of us laughing uncontrollably, Linda and I entered Mary Lou's room, expecting to help her rebuild the bed. We were surprised to see a perfectly normal looking bed. Mary Lou insisted the bed had broken, and indeed we had all heard the thud. Looking under the bed, which was supported by slats, one had popped out and fallen to the floor, leaving a gap for the mattress to sag through. We fixed it as a team, and then with big smiles on our faces, retired to our rooms for a luxurious contented sleep.

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To England...

The ferry ride back to England was pretty exciting. We were on the "fast ferry", a massive katamaran-style ship and the Irish Sea was very rough due to gale force winds. Looking out the ferry window, one minute we'd be looking at the water and the next minute all we could see was sky. Apparently the ship ran out of sea sickness bags, and even Mary Lou and Linda decided some Gravol would be in their best interest.

The ferry captain had to divert and zig-zag across to avoid the worst of it, but every now and again a particularly nasty swell would hit us with a bang and the ship would shudder, which was somewhat unnerving (can you say "Titanic"?).

Mary Lou and I went out on the back of the ferry, which was essentially covered in a cage to prevent anyone from being tossed overboard. The water was crashing on all sides and I could taste the salt of the sea. We had to hang on for dear life but it was exhilarating!

It was a long drive to Lancaster, and the following morning came early. We were bleary-eyed as we drove to our next trial at the Kilnsey Fair. The sat nav (GPS) took us over hill and dale, but it was a spectacular drive. Neither Linda or I faired well. The sheep were let out at the top but not spotted by anyone and the field was small. I had an independent Swaledale ewe who was halfway down the field before Craig got there, and we never got things settled. A few ewes had jumped back into the set-out or the exhaust and my ewe was trying her best to do the same. Linda had a very good run up to the pen, when Bet got frustrated with another tricky ewe and decided to put some manners on her. Mary Lou and Dyna had a great go, finishing 4th, only a couple of points behind Jim Cropper's winning run.

It is such a different game here. Many people won't go to trials that are more than an hour away. Have a bad go? Tomorrow there's another trial 20 minutes away with only a £5 entry fee. Had a great go? Not to worry...sheep, the great leveler, will likely bring you back to reality tomorrow. The motto in sheepdog trialling... "This too shall pass..."

Today we are off to another trial, to have another go with the dogs!

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Jacket and trousers

We got to see a dying art today in a private demonstration. Pat Corrigan, who has been shearing for 65 years, since he was a teen, demonstrated how to shear a sheep in a special jacket and trousers cut. Back in the day, if the sheep weren't sheared well, they wouldn't sell at market. Sheep that were sheared in the jacket and trousers fashion would get very good prices. Four weeks after the shearing, this cut apparently looks amazing. Few shearers can do this today, and soon its secret will be lost.
It starts out with a sheep with full fleece...Pat's son Andy (it's a sheep shearing family), a brilliant shearer in his own right, tips the candidate...




Pat steps in and the process begins...




More off...




The ewe looks at me as if to say "how embarrassing"...




Voila!




To put the difficulty of this in perspective, all the ridges line up on both sides of the ewe (a live feisty animal) and Pat's other son, David (standing on the right) who is also an excellent shearer, won't even attempt this. David said his own version doesn't look like jacket and trousers, more like bad pajamas!
After the demonstration, the Corrigans showed us different spots where the movie "Braveheart" was filmed on the Curragh, (they live near and pasture sheep on the Curragh, and were the sheep wranglers keeping sheep away from the movie set during the shoot).
Sheep are such a part of life over here and on the Curragh, golfers must even contend with sheepy distractions!




Sheepdog trial tomorrow with 740 yard outrun! Should be fun!
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Variety is the spice of life...

The dogs are getting quite an education, as are we. We've gone from Welsh Mountain sheep, to Welsh mules to Scottish Blackface, with a mish-mash of other breeds thrown in. From small paddocks to 700 yard outruns, clean groomed fields to hilly tussocks and rough ground, sheep in view to sheep out of sight three fields away with various gates to be negotiated, groups of sheep as small as 3 and as big as 150, it is an accelerated program. It could take you several years and thousands upon thousands of driving miles to get the same experience in North America.

We are visiting Denis Birchall in Ireland, a man who's energy level, if tapped, could power the entire Eastern seaboard of North America.

The dogs have worked everyday, and yesterday we took a bit of a break to go to some of the local sights. The Curragh is a spectacular expanse of grass plains in County Kildare where several massive flocks of sheep graze, and is also used as a common green space, where joggers and hikers can mingle with the sheep over almost 5000 thousand acres. Regular roads weave through the Curragh, and drivers must watch for sheep. 'You hit a sheep, you buy it' is the policy.

Our walk on the Curragh was cut short when huge black clouds appeared that Linda declared looked like Armageddon. We got back to the mini-van just as the rain started, and decided to do some shopping in the near-by equestrian superstore. After doing some serious damage to our credit cards by buying Dubarry boots (Irish Gortex leather boots, we can justify buying anything when we are together as a group), we went to the Hollywood Inn for a Guinness (Guinness is a must-have experience when in Ireland). If you recall, the Hollywood Inn was the crime scene from last year where Mary Lou threw a beer over a local passerby when she was stung by a bee.

We returned for dinner, worked the dogs some more, finished the day with tea and biscuits while laughing hysterically at pictures of the Birchall family over the years. You know you are becoming fast friends when people are willing to show you pictures of themselves from the 1980's!

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Virtual tour

On the ferry to Ireland, for the moment I have full internet access. So here is a quick picture gallery of the last couple of days...
Is it my turn? Craig peeking around the car...




View from one of the trial sites...




...and another view...




The typical picture at a sheepdog trial...all the cars lined up so the handlers can watch when the rain starts.




Dogs in the "boot"...our mini-van is massive by Welsh standards..




Packed to the rafters, but Dyna has found a comfortable spot...




Beautiful!




JR Griffith with his winnings...




How many sheepdog handlers can you fit in a telephone booth?




Linda getting ready to run...what a setting! Everything looks like a movie set...




We are crossing the Irish Sea at the moment, more adventures to come!
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Baby dogs...

Yesterday was fabulous, young dogs having a go at the nursery trials, the sun finally breaking through on the breathtaking Welsh coastline. Fourteen month old dogs ran like experienced Open dogs...it was impressive to watch. Of course, there were a few wilder runs as youngsters got the bit in their mouths and came on too quick for the liking of the sheep. Trialing is so much more laid back, a spontaneous fun trial was put on at the end of the day to raise money for the air ambulance so we all got a chance to run our dogs as well and donate to charity at the same time. The dogs ran much better, both placing in the top three, starting to adjust to the crazy Welsh sheep. We still all needed a quick cat nap in the car mid-way through the day, but it feels like we are now finally over to UK time.

Today, we worked the dogs back in the huge field down by the beach. Unfortunately, we failed to realize there was an open gate near the end of the field, about 600+ yards away. I sent Craig for sheep we couldn't see, and he found them and picked them up nicely. They started coming down the field and suddenly dartly to the left. Craig caught them tidily, but for some reason we weren't able to get the sheep back to the middle of the field. Mary Lou, looking through the binoculars, suddenly said, "they're on the road!" Before I could panic, John calmly instructed me to bring the sheep down the road instead. Seriously? Things are so different over here. All the dogs had some great schooling, including Linda's young dog Grace, who started working really well and Dyna was absolutely brilliant.

Tomorrow, we take the ferry to Ireland, and I'll have a chance to upload some pictures!

Seeing double...

Double letters (Welsh language), double vision (cross-eyed from jet lag) doubling back (getting lost), running doubles (JR's brace work)...double seems to be a theme of the trip so far. Unfortunately double lift has not yet been a part, but hopefully at some point.

Today we competed at two trials, one being near Bala, one of the birthplaces of sheepdog trialing. Both trials featured Welsh mountain sheep, and run after run there were sheep in three corners of the field and a score involving letters instead of numbers. The sheep at both trials only saw dogs a few times a year, and saw quad bikes more often than dogs. Three sheep were let out at the top of the field, and you picked them up wherever they landed. More often than not, one sheep would sprint for an adjacent field before the dog got there, but re-runs were rare and you just had to make do. That feels a lot easier when you haven't driven 12 hours to a trial (okay, we flew over 5000 kilometres, but who's counting).

Mary Lou's Dyna ran well in the morning, settling her group nicely. Craig and I tried to do a demonstration in point and shoot sheep herding, but it didn't come off as well as I hoped. We even almost managed a point and shoot into the pen, but alas, I was as shocked as Craig (and the sheep) when they shot into the pen instead of around it and failed to take advantage of the microsecond I had to swing the door shut. Although I wasn't thrilled, staying on the field was an accomplishment of its own and Craig gave me his all. Linda and Bet got one of the wiley runner sheep in their group, and never had a chance to start.

The afternoon saw a bit of a reversal, with Craig settling his group well, and Dyna working a group that exploded off the top, but managed to work them with great finesse into the pen. Linda's Bet is making adjustments to the speed of these sheep, an adjustment for all of us. Penning is a great challenge for everyone, and only a handful of sheep are penned at any of these trials. 

We've worked dogs every evening as well so the dogs are good and tired. Tomorrow, we get to be sheepdog tourists and watch some nursery dogs run. Can't wait!

On any given day...

Final trial result -
Sheep: 1, dogs and handlers:0

Two fields running, wild Welsh sheep, and RT (retired) is the main score on the board. When asked "How was your go?", the common response was "No joy" or "No good" and every other variation on "it didn't go well" you can think of. The fetch panel seemed to have invisible fencing across it for much of the trial. The five sheep to be shed insisted on either bolting out of the ring en masse or a single ewe would take take on an 'every ewe for herself' attitude and refuse to flock. The pen was an exercise in walking on eggshells.

Mary Lou and I both managed to finish, Mary Lou in particular having quite a decent go, but Linda's Bet succumbed to a well known dead spot in the sound (according to the locals in the know) complicated by pouring rain and wind, which caused many drive panel difficulties for everyone.

None of us were a danger on this day to make it into the final double lift, especially given the sheep went better at the end of the day. We were in good company. But we and our dogs have been used to pushing on and a new level of understanding is required on sheep like these. What an amazing experience this will be. The beauty of it is we paid £4, drove just over an hour, were home for dinner, and are going to two more trials tomorrow. Makes it easy to move on...

The adventure begins...

Well, we and the dogs made it over the big pond and landed safely in Manchester, England. I should clarify that "we" includes me, Mary Lou Campbell and Linda Comeau,stalwart friends and sheepdog adventurers.
We drove to Wales after a smooth extraction of the dogs out of customs.  Since the thought of learning to drive a standard when on the wrong side of the road seemed a bit overwhelming to Linda (can't understand why...) ;) Mary Lou and I are the designated drivers.
Our first stop is JR Griffiths, a quiet, brillian dog handler and trainer who has a special love of brace work. His wife Bet is a wonderful, kind, fiesty lady who can more than hold her own against JR's teasing sense of humour.
Although we are practically cross-eyed from lack of sleep and jet lag, JR shepherds us out to a massive field to work the kinks out of our own dogs and see his promising youngsters on a massive flock of mule sheep down along the Welsh shoreline. The magnificence of the moment shakes us out of our sleepy fog.
Pouring rain eventually drives us back to JR's and he hands us the running order of the trial we are running in early the next morning. Names like Aled Owen, Kevin Evans, Nigel Watkins, and of course JR's grace the running order...National, International and World Champions. It'll be 1am our time at home. I hope the coffee is strong in the morning!