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The below article was prepared for
a Working Bearded Collie Society newsletter.
One Man and His Three Beardies
An unexpected phone call last winter led to me and my working beardies, Jimmy, Fen and Blue,
having one of our most enjoyable away days (July 25, 2004).
Fen had her first litter of Pups last December. All the puppies, except for
Blue, who I decided to keep, soon sold, through word of mouth. It
was in this rather roundabout way that I received the phone call
from a couple, Edward and Carolyn, who were looking for a Working
Bearded Collie for their teenage son, William. After much debating
about which pup to have, William chose Shadow, the smallest pup, a
black and white bitch.
It turned out that Edward and Carolyn owned and ran a local tourist attraction
known as Hoo Farm Animal Kingdom near Telford, Shropshire, home of
the famous Sheep and Goat hurdle racing. They were very impressed
with Jimmy and Fens working ability and asked me if I would be
prepared to bring them across to their farm and give a demonstration
of the Beardies working at Hoo Farm. As I will do [almost] anything
to further the working beardies cause, I readily agreed.
Jimmy working geese
We set out early on a grey rainy Sunday morning in July with Jimmy, Fen, the
pup, Blue, accompanied by half a
dozen sheep, and 15 geese in the trailer. I decided
to take Blue along as her training was coming on leaps and bounds,
and the noises and crowds would be good for her socialisation. Five
minutes into the journey I noticed passing cars giving me strange
looks, checking my side mirrors there was Blue, hanging precariously
out the side of the trailer about to make a leap to freedom. She
spent the rest of the 70 mile journey in the back seat of the
Mitsubishi as if she owned it! Thank goodness most Beardies make
good travellers as this was her first journey in a car. We arrived
at Hoo Farm with no further mishaps and received a warm welcome from
Edward and Carolyn.
Blue driving them on!
The first of two demonstrations took place immediately after the goats
steeplechase, with Fen working the sheep. She worked
brilliantly, ending by penning the sheep; now we are ready for Jimmy
to enter the paddock to work the geese. While the dogs were doing
their work, Edward gave excellent commentary bringing in many
historical facts regarding one of our oldest and rarest sheepdog
breeds. After Jimmy had finished his show and penned the geese it
was time for Blue to enter the ring. Amazingly she took it all in
her stride, once she saw the sheep, the strange surroundings, the
territorial Llama, and the shouting children, all were
forgotten. She was an excellent example of a youngster just starting
off, going "away" "come bye" "walking on" and "lying down on
command. To end, and as a little light relief, children from the
audience were invited to have a go at working a sheepdog. Easy going
Fen was used for this, and it was debatable who enjoyed themselves
more, the children or the dog.
Fen
working sheep
Although the weather was against us, meaning that visitors to Hoo Farm were
below average numbers, the display the dogs gave was a pleasure to
see, making me proud of them. The dogs enjoyed meeting the people,
giving all those who came to say "hello" a friendly welcome, with
Fen giving her ball to anyone she thought she could persuaded to
throw it for her. Finally, when things had quietened down, William
and I took Shadow to the sheep. I was interested to see what her
reaction would be. Before long she was "working" them in her own
fashion, showing that she was keen to work. I gave William a few
pointers to be going on with and will be calling him soon to see how
he is getting on. We have been invited to return twice next year, in
the spring and later in the summer. I am hoping to add to the
content of the displays by then adding more obstacles and a bridge,
so it looks like I will be honing up on my carpentry skills this
winter.
Fen
working for one of the children
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