Sheepherding dogs’ skills put to the test

DOVER PLAINS, N.Y. — Finality Farm in Dover Plains hosted its second annual sheepdog trials last weekend, May 20 to 22.Sheepdog trials are generally competitions for border collies (although in the 1995 film “Babe,” a pig had aspirations of winning the competition). Organizer Michele Ferraro, an equine vet and partner at Millbrook Equine, and herself an owner of border collies, said 99 percent of the entries were border collies, but there was a kelpie or two thrown into the mix as well. Ferraro had three of her dogs entered in the trials: Moss, a proven winner (as a 3-year-old, he won the Scottish Nationals) took a sixth place, out of 77 runs, in the open competition on Friday, May 20.Competitors came from as far away as Virginia and Canada and the judge, Frank Cashen, hails from County Wexford in Ireland. He is a former winner of the International Sheep Dog Society World Sheep Dog Trials. Sheepdog trials are intended to test the natural abilities of the border collie. They are, said Ferraro, “the one breed that truly uses their eyes to move the sheep.” In fact, points are deducted if the dog nips at the sheeps’ flanks, heels or throat. The only contact between sheep and dog that is allowed is a brief bite and release to the face, “because head wounds heal very fast,” Ferraro said. Over three full days of competition, 85 dogs competed at the advanced levels on Friday and Saturday and 120 dogs competed on Sunday, in the intermediate and beginner levels. A dog and handler worked three or four sheep at a time depending on which class they were entered in. Sheepdog trials have been on the wane, as open land and sheep become more scarce. The 90 head of sheep were trucked in from Pennsylvania, and were “undogged,” meaning they hadn’t been used in competition before, making them more of a challenge to the competitors.For more information on sheepdog trials in the area go to the Northeast Border Collie Association website at www.nebca.net.