The Novice Course
consists of Outrun, Lift, Fetch, Wear and Pen. The Outrun will be app 90 yards.
The ProNovice Course will have a longer outrun
plus there will be short cross-drive of about 30 yards.
The Ranch, USBCHA Nursery will be same as
Open but without a shed.
The Open
will be an ISDS style National course. We shall run either 3 of 4 sheep per
dog. With three there will be a "single" after the pen with four there
might be a "single" after the pen or a "split" before the
pen.
Our fields are very flat, this makes the line for the crossdrive
quite difficult. We normally set out our sheep for open class at
about 350 to 400 yards.
Our sheep are a commercial flock . They are mostly North Country
Cheviots with outcrossing to different rams for productivity. Rams used were
North Countries, Border Leicesters, East Friesian, Dorper. They are worked all
year with dogs but mostly in large groups and they have never really shown any
tendency to become "dogged". If treated well they work well but they
will test a dog and exploit any weakness.
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General Information
about Sheepdog Trials
The purpose of a sheepdog trial is to test the dog's (and
handler's) ability to work sheep effectively. To that end
many years ago some British farmers and shepherds devised a
course that through different phases thoroughly tests a dogs
ability to function on a stockfarm as a valuable partner to the
shepherd, helping him or her in all aspects of livestock
handling. These ISDS (International Sheepdog
Society) trials
test both the natural ability of the dog and the level of
training the dog has received and mastered.
There are many good dogs out there that do not trial but many of
them do not have the makeup that lets them accept highly refined
training and will never achieve that high degree of precision
that is important in a good trial dog. While they can make super
workmates on the farm quite often there will come a moment when
they "know better" than their master. Most times this
will not matter too much but at some critical moments that could
spell disaster. To best assess a dog's worth one should see
the dog both in working situation and on the trial field. If in
doubt I would always prefer to assess a dog on the trial field.
There I can see how (s)he manages the stock and by watching other
runs can form an opinion about the natural ability and about the
biddable nature of the dog. With some experience such a setting
allows one to assess a dog quite accurately as one also can make
allowances for the skill of the handler. This is the reason that
trials became such an important part of the shepherd and farmers
decision making process for choosing pups and potential studs.
ISDS trials are now run in most sheep producing countries of the
world.
Every year
ISDS holds an
International Competition. In this competition 15 handler/dog
teams from each of the four British "nations" (England,
Ireland, Scotland & Wales) compete for the International Supreme
Championship. They
compete on an International course. The teams are chosen by a
National Championship in each of the four "countries"
and the course for these National Championships is referred to as
the National course.
The National
Courseconsists of
Gathering: sheep are at about 400 yards from handler, dog runs
around them (outrun), lifts them quietly and fetches them through a seven yards wide gate (150
yards from handler) to the handler. Sheep are passed behind
handler in predetermined direction, which starts the Drive.
Handler directs dog to drive sheep 450 yards over a triangular course
with two sets of gates. The drive ends in the shedding ring, and
the handler has to remain at the post until the sheep are in the
shedding ring.
If the outrun is shorter than 400 yards the drive should be
lengthened so that the total of fetch and drive is 850
yards.
In the
shedding ring two
unmarked sheep are to be shed of by the dog. After the Shed the
sheep are reunited in the shedding ring. The handler will proceed
to thePen(9x8feet, gate of 8 foot with 6 foot rope).
Dog brings sheep to pen and pens them. Handler will hold rope and
is not allowed to let go of that rope until pen is completed.
Handler will close gate. After releasing sheep handler will close
and fasten gate and return to shedding ring. Dog will bring sheep
into shedding ring and one sheep (could be marked) will be shed
off by dog and worn to judges satisfaction, this is referred to
as the
single. Time limit
for the National course is 15 minutes. Most Opencourses are similar to the National course,
however generally there would be only a shed or a single, not
both and the distances would be determined by available fieldsize
and to some degree by weather (in the heat of the summer courses
are often kept smaller).
The International
Courseis quite
similar except that there a two lots of sheep: the dog is sent
for the first lot and fetches them past the fetch gates and then
is re-sent for the second lot. Once the two lots (each lot
consists of 10 sheep) are combined there again is a drive. After
the drive 15 unmarked sheep are shed off so that handler and dog
end up with five marked sheep in the shedding ring. After the
shed the five marked sheep will be penned. Also the distance of
the sheep from handler at the outrun will be 800 yards. This type
of course is referred to as a double lift. In Canada a double lift can be seen on the
last day of the Kingston Sheepdog Trials at GrassCreek Park, at
the National Finals in Canada, this year at Hawkridge Farm,
Morton Ontario(for more information about these visit the
Canadian Border Collie
Association). In
North America the best dogs compete at the National Finals, organized by
USBCHA. 150 of the top North American
dogs qualify to run at these finals: for 3 days 50 dogs each
compete for a spot in the semi-finals, where 50 dogs compete for
a spot in the finals. The two preliminary rounds are run on a
National type course and the 20 Final dogs run on an
International course.
Aside from Open courses there are Novice courses for different stages of the dog and handler
experience:
Novice
Novice classes are
designed for absolute beginning handlers and dogs. Generally they
consist of a very short outrun, some drive or wear (handler walks
ahead of sheep) through a set of fairly close gates and a pen. No
handler who has run an open course is allowed to run in Novice
Novice. Most handlers move their dogs quite quickly out of Novice
and into ProNovice. Some handlers liking ribbons, prefer to stay
in this class as long as possible.
The
ProNovice course
consists generally of a longer outrun, short drive (and possibly
short crossdrive), and a pen. It is intended as a second level
course for beginning handlers with dogs that have competed
successfully in Novice Novice it is also the first level of
competition for young dogs of more experienced handlers.
Some trials offer a Ranchcourse. A ranch course is the same as the
open course but without the shed or single. USBCHA also has a yearly competition for
top
Nursery dog, which
is run around the same time as the National Finals. Dogs less
than 3 years old that have qualified can run for the honor
of USBCHA Nursery
Champion.The
qualifying runs are held at various sanctioned trials all over
North America. The qualifying course is a Ranch type course (open
without shed or single).
The
Open course is
normally like a National Course (see above). It consists of an
outrun, lift and fetch; triangular drive, (shed) pen and single.
Often if there is a shed there is no single and vice versa. Some
Open trials are qualifying trials for the USBCHA Finals.
At every ISDS style trial the handler/dog team start with a full
score, each element : outrun, lift, fetch, drive, shed, pen is
worth a certain number of points. The judge takes off points for
less than perfect work. Each course also has a time limit.
Also in some circumstances the team can be excused .... gribbing
sheep is one of the transgressions that will most of the time
result in a DQ.
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