Sheep Dog Herding Trials
Saturday, August 12 from 11am-4pm & 6pm-9pm
Pavilion 4 (Amy Countryman Arena)
FREE to the public
Come and watch these dogs pit their skills against the cagey sheep in a test of skill for man and dog! As directed by their handlers, sheepdogs will intimidate and maneuver sheep around a field, through fences and gates, and into enclosures as they compete to win prizes.
Stockdog Facts
- Stockdogs have been used by farmers and ranchers to help move cattle, sheep, goats, pigs, and poultry for several hundred years.
- Stockdog trials are a way for "dog handlers" i.e. stockmen and women to determine whose dog is the best.
- Over 250 years ago in the UK the shepherds developed a style of herding competition that would test the every day work that a herding dog would need to do.
- First they had to gather the stock from the field, then they had to drive the stock from one field to another, then they had to be able to pen the stock and sort/shed the stock.
- The dogs that won these trials were valued above all other dogs and used for breeding more heavily, as a result the working dogs of today have evolved into the smartest, most athletic, most biddable dogs anywhere.
