Sheep Dog Trials

Over the weekend we attended a local Sheep Dog event held by a friend of ours. The Colliding Rivers event was this year being used as a warm-up event for the National Sheep dog Trials being held here in Oregon at Klamath Falls in late September.

Sheep dog trialing is a lot different in Oregon than it is in Arizona where Jen first started doing it. Back there you run your dogs in a small arena-like enclosure, but here in Oregon the courses are large, covering dozens of acres and include hills, valleys and of course a lot more obstacles. The comparison is like show jumping and cross-country with horses.

Over the last few days we have started bringing Hamish, our youngest dog up to the fields so he can have a run around with the sheep. Marlowe is already well versed in the intricacies of sheep handling and Byron has been back on the sheep for a few months now since he was given the all-clear after his double hip surgery. It's fascinating to watch them. You can see them thinking about what they are doing and just like people each has their own personality and of course methodology. Marlowe has drive and determination and his concentration is unequalled. Byron can balance the sheep perfectly, and Hamish seems to have the enthusiasm of Marlowe. We have high hopes for him as he is a relative of the dog that came 5th in the UK Nationals last year, and descended from a line that has won that title on more than one occasion.

We'll be heading down to Klamath Falls overnight when the Nationals begin and hopefully we'll pick up a few more pointers, but it will also be an opportunity to meet up with some of our Arizona friends who got us started in this all those years ago.