HOPLAND — The sounds of dogs barking, sheep bleating and owners giving commands filled the air at the fourth annual Sheepdog Trial over the weekend.
The event was held at the University of California Hopland Research and Extension Center (HREC) from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. The event was sanctioned by the United States Border Collie Handlers” Association, an organization that puts on a large national sheepdog competition annually.
Fifty dogs competed each day on the course with their handlers. Spectators sat at the top of the hilly open field watching the action unfold. Handlers communicated with their dogs via whistles and verbal commands.
Marilyn Volpe, a volunteer who helped organize the event along with HREC staff member Jennifer Smith-Vagt, explained a bit of the course.
“Each competitor gets four sheep and they go through the standard course that was originally done 100 years ago in the United Kingdom,” Volpe said. “It all started with shepherds who wanted to show off their dogs.”
Each dog-and-handler team had 11 minutes to move four sheep from a pen more than 400 yards away and complete other tasks.
The first task was for the dog to gather the sheep and drive them toward the handler. The second task was to successfully work together and corral the sheep into a pen near the judge. The third task was to drive the sheep away from the handler and through a gate across the field. The final task was to split the four sheep into two groups.
“It”s all a test that is based on skills the dog would use when shepherding,” Volpe said.
She said each run was scored out of a possible 100 points and the top 10 competitors from the event would go on to the national competition next year.
Volpe said the shepherd, Elgar Hughes, is a friend of hers who came all the way from the Glyn Valley in Wales.
“He comes over and helps me usually in February or March each year (with) lambing,” she said. “But we had some things for him to do so he came early this year and I said, ?Great, you can help set sheep for us.””
Teams came from across the state and as far away as Oregon to compete.
Terry Pelkey came from Poway, a suburb of San Diego, and scored 85 points with her dog, “Jesse,” on their run, one of the highest results on Sunday.
“I”m really very proud of him,” Pelkey said after their run. “He”s a good boy. He gets an extra biscuit today.”
Pelkey entered two dogs into the competition.
“Most of your trials only let you have two (dogs), sometimes you can get in there with a third one,” she said. “Naturally, if you”re going to go all this way, you might as well have two to run.”
Bill Berhow also brought two dogs with him from Zamora, a small community in Yolo County. “Mike,” a 7-year-old veteran, took first place on Saturday and 3-year-old “Gwyn” had an 83-point run on Sunday.
“I was real happy with her (Gwyn) today,” Berhow said. “She”s a young dog, green to this. This is her second trial in this class.”
Berhow said he had been breeding border collies and competing in sheepdog trials for more than 30 years. Along with “Mike,” he competed in the recent national competition, held in Carbondale, Colo. during September.
“It”s a great trial,” he said of the Hopland course. “One of the most pretty, scenic courses we”ve run on. It”s one of the premiere trials, it”s gotten to be. It”s a great event.”
Kevin N. Hume can be reached at kevin.n.hume@gmail.com or call directly 263-5636 ext. 14.
