KINGSTON SHEEP DOG TRIALS Overview

A sheep dog trial may look like an obstacle course (or perhaps a live video game), but there is a deeper purpose to it. It's designed to test not just the dog's obedience to his handler's commands - important as that is - but also his inborn working ability. Although these trials are open to all breeds, rarely will you see anything but a Border Collie competing at ths level. That's because the Border Collie is a breed specifially developed to be useful partners in the raising of iivestock. For the same reason, you'll notice a lot of variation in how these Border Collies look - the are bred to work a certain way, not to look a certain way.

What are these inborn qualites that make Border Collies such good workers? On of the most important is balance, the dog's innate sense of where he has to be to keep the livestock together and make them go where he wants them to and/or keep them from going where he doesn't want them to. He has to feel the right spot, not only how far left or right of the sheep but how close - close enough to put pressure on them but not so close as to panic or scatter them.

Power is the ability to make ornery, do what they don't want to do. It's provbably made up of determination, confidence, courage and moral authority. It includes a bite when absolutely necessary, but you will rarely see a dog bite here (and if he does he will likely be disqualified). A dog with real power is not just one who can face down challenges to his authority, but is actually less likely to be challenged in the first place. Style is the dog's physical mannner of working, mainly the combination of posture and stare that we call "eye". He needs to have enough eye to maintain contact wirth his sheep and evoke their respect, but too much eye can make him sticky (unable to move).

Physical traits are important - he must have the sight, hearing, speed, stamina and strength to get the job done. But mental and emotion traits are even more important. He must have the intelligence to understand his training, to generalize and to learn from experience. He needs the initiative to take charge when the situation requres it, and the biddability to take direction when it contradicts his instincts. He must be able to size up the situation quickly and respond to sudden changes. He needs stock sense - the ability to read livestock is partly a product of experience, but also inborn. Finaly, he must have the keenness and character to keep working and not to give up when it's hot and he's tired and people are hollering and he's a little confused and the sheep are fighting him every step of the way.

Only careful breeding for working ability alone, without regard to superficial traits like physical appearance, will produce dogs like this. Dogs must be trained to their full potential, their performance in challenging work situatioins must be evaluated, and only the good ones bred, with thought given to which sires and dams will best complement one another to produce the best offspring. Thus, as you watch from the sidelines, breeders will be closely watching too as they try to make these kinds of evaluations, because a sheepdog trial is one of the best tests of the many traits that are so valuable in the working sheepdog

Sheep are the players at the Kingston trials. Their management is important for the trial, not just from a good shepherding standpoint, but also because sheep need to be fit for each competitor that approaches the post. Our job to provide even sheep for Canada's biggest trial and it is one we take seriously.

To that end we attend them carefully. Felix Bergeron, Ben McRady, Spencer Gaudet are their shepherds this year. The sheep are trucked to Grass Creek Park from Picton, by one with years of experience moving livestock. They arrive with minimal jostling, at cool times of the day if heat is an issue. Once unloaded, they take in the park, for twenty-four hours, "settling in". At night they are folded up to their new set of digs, at the North end of the park, where they can be protected from brush wolves. They are released at day break, to graze for an hour before the start of the trial. When we need to feed, we feed only top quality hay, encouraging the flock to fortify themselves, between runs, both in the exhaust and at the set out. They have water at all times and access to shade. They make a great job of tidying it up with grazing, in the penultimate environmentally friendly means of clearing overgrown land. The sheep are moved through the set out handling equipment by a pair of experienced shepherds.

Nearly 700 sheep comprise the trial flock. The are sorted as much as possible at Waupoos, by  Matthew Fleugal, ensuring sound, healthy sheep climb onto the truck. Uniformity is one of the goals of the sort - all white or broccle faced sheep are preferred, for similarity of temperament and type. Even sheep provide a level playing field for each dog and hand, a responsibility of trial management. Every handler will have four fresh sheep for the qualifying trials. Sheep will be rerun for the second qualifying trial ,and once again for the final championship on Sunday.

 Wapoos Island is 50 km west of Kingston in Lake Ontario and is a kilometre offshore in Prince Edward County. The sheep come from a flock ewes which have been on Wapoos Island since 1976. 

Harinui Farm is 100% pasture based operation. The island is 900 acres and the farm uses 85%, some owned and the rest rented. The breeding is now predominantly Dorset with some Romanoff and Cheviot influence. 

In the fall, when the pasture is finished on the island the ewes barged off the island for winter feeding. In March, the ice conditions usually allow the use to be walked back to the island where they finish up the winter feeding program and are prepared for Flemming.

The ewes are almost always worked in large mobs using both heading/eye dogs and hunt away dogs along with ATVs so when they come to grass Creek and are worked in small groups, they are definitely out of their comfort zone.

In March, the Waupoos Island sheep, returned to the island.