By Hilary Flower
*Photo credit also to Hilary
Living in beautiful Nova Scotia has its challenges if you want to sheepdog trial! While we are not at the end of the earth, it sometimes feels like it when we look for clinics and competitions. Currently there are two trials held locally; one in July that I host and one in October hosted by Fred and Anne Hamilton. Both are Novice trials at this time because we want to be able to offer two runs a day to give Novice handlers experience at the post and give them the opportunity to earn enough points to go to the Novice finals (NEBCA). We hope to have enough handlers/dogs to offer an Open trial next year.
While I am fortunate to be able to travel to trials, this is not possible for a lot of the handlers from Nova Scotia. The closest venue is in Quebec (11 hours), the US is 14 hours, Kingston is16 hours and Shepherd’s Crook is 19 hours. Training in Nova Scotia is not as easily accessible as in other parts of Canada. It’s a little bit of the “blind leading the blind”.
Yes, I have been working dogs for quite some time on the farm and have started a lot of pups, but I am not a trainer. My friend
Heather, who trains here at my place and has some trial experience, is good with young dogs and is a good communicator as far as training the handler. To bring a clinician in is expensive and we don’t have the # of participants or the $ as in more populated Provinces.
There is a small group of us that offer our sheep/farm for small fun learning clinics for people to come and work on specific problems during Spring/Summer for a minimal cost. Information can be found on the Facebook Group “Maritime Sheepdog Training Club”. The recreational herding community is growing, which is encouraging, but we have not managed to convince farmers to come learn how useful a trained farm dog can be. This summer I hope to offer a more hands-on practical work trial with chores such as pens/chutes/loading a trailer.
Trial and Error SDT
After all the rain we had, I was finally able to get the field mowed so the trial could go ahead. The weather was perfect, the sheep cooperated. I hope everyone enjoyed the weekend. A big “Thanks” to our judge Ellen Beasley! Also, our Sponsors Inukshuk, Omega Alpha, Crazy Dog Treats and overall awards donated by Elizabeth Edmonds.