Or maybe I mean it’s the only time you have to pay to be sheepish!?
I just returned from Sonoma County where they're holding the 19th annual Sheepdog Trials at Oak Springs Ranch, on the outskirts of Santa Rosa.
This annual competition brings owners and their Border Collies from all over the US and Canada.
The Collies compete to see which dog can corral a small herd of sheep into a pen in record time. There are cash prizes and ribbons to be won, and participants have to pay to register their pets, while guests and the photographic public must pay $5 to park.
This morning, the pro-novice dogs and owners competed; tomorrow the expert dogs, trained for years to herd sheep , will compete.
The judges are from Ireland and Scotland.
One Collie owner told napaman that “these are REAL Border Collies, not the ones approved by the American Kennel Club, where the dog’s herding instincts have been bred out, in preference of looks.”
“These Collies are scruffy looking, but they know how to corral sheep,” the owner said.
If you want to visit this event next March when the trials will be held again – a great photo opp! – make a note to go to this site around March 1, 2014:
This post made me homesick :(
I had no idea they had sheep dpg trials in this part of the world! Must go next year, but I'll leave my border collie/jack russell mix at home!
Posted by: Vinsanity-vino.blogspot.com | April 08, 2013 at 07:25 AM