ENGLISH SHEEP DOG TRIALS

Stratford Evening Post, Issue 61, 9 October 1930, Page 7

ENGLISH SHEEP DOG TRIALS

TEAM FOR INTERNATIONAL SELECTED. THE WELBECK ABBEY CONTESTS. WELBECK ABBEY, Aug. 16. The English national sheepdog trials finished to-day. We had weather such as is granted only once in a virile, j Yesterday's attendance appeared but a handful in comparison with to-day's, and there looked to be about as many motorcars as people. Conditions couid hardly have been better from any point of view. With its parked cars, tents, booths, programme-sellers, and luncheon baskets, Welbeck Abbey Park had to-day more the appearance of a small race-meeting than anything else, though ' there was only one horse and rider seen through- j out the day. They created something of a diversion among people who had come j to see dogs and dogs only. Sheepdog trials are pure sport to the public, though to these shepherds and farmers concerned in them they have, of course, a strictly economic end in view. That is, to produce a worker who never strikes, has no trade union, and works incredibly for a bowl of porridge a day. Breeding value is the chief thing sought. A sheepdog of reputation will fetch £6O. and may , well fetch much more. One celebrated dog—which went to America, naturallymade £175. Testing the Breed. The trials are held to ascertain who's who, so to speak. I suppose that most people cherish the rather fatuous idea that a sheepdog does all these clever things off his own bat, as it were, and by reason of his strain that, given a flock of sheep, this sagacious beast will pen them through Maltese crosses, and the rest of it, all of his own sweet will. Such a misconception asks for correction. Without expert training from his puppy hood he would simply remain an ordinary dog with, perhaps, a penchant for chasing sheep over the horizon. What matters in his inborn capacity for doing what the shepherd wants him to do. It is all a question of evoking his capacity to do what no other sort of dog can do and directing his striking gifts in the right direction. Often enough, [ even then, only one dog in a litter will be worth his bowl of porridge. Hence I the significance of ancestry in these trial j winners.

But to return to our muttons, who were to-day so stealthily and effectively "dogged." To-day, being farmers' day, there was a better class of dog on the course. Running began early, soon after nine o'clock, and though no one knew it then, revealed the winner in the first dog to run. This was Mr. Ernest Priestley's Hemp, a four-year-old, bred by himself. Hemp, even to those who cannot by any stretch of imagination be called connoisseurs, put up a taking performance, though at the time everyone was waiting to see the form of Mr. S. E. Batty's famous Corby, the winner of last year's "International." But Corby's career is ended. At ten years six months of age his sight is failing. Such an affliction means the end of a sheepdog for trial work, for though his sense of sound and small are, maybe, a hundredfold more intense than his master's, he must be able to sight his sheep to begin with. This was a disappointment, but later in the day there was another champion listed to excel— Queen, now seven years two months, who won last year's "national" (sheepdogs', of course) at Hexham, for Mr. Walter Telfer, of Morpeth, and thereby, with a third successive victory, carried off the cup "for keeps." Queen did not run until late in the day, and before the results were announced it was known she b?.d tied with Mr. Priestley's dog. There was talk of a return, but the judges decided to give first place to Kemp for greater merit in off-hand work and time. So Hemp is the "captain" of this year's ■ English team. i The "Mesmeric Eye." There were those who thought Mr. Ashton Priestley's Lad the best dog out, and evidently the sheep that leapt over him after he had singled her out from i her three flustered sisters was offering him the same sort of congratulation. Lad, however, was relegated to the fourth place by Mr. W. B. Bagshaw's Jess toy a single point. This Jess seemed rather to fail at the singling, not to have a sufficiently mesmeric eye for the job. This singling, the last stage of the trial, is usually its most arresting, having, one learns on the best authority, a definite psychological interest. The term "mesmeric eye" really fits the case. Among the runners was Mr. A. Telfer, senr.'s bearded dog Don. Mr. Telfer and Mr. William Wallace, of Otterburn, have been friends and rivals in sheep-dog-running for fifty years. Of the twelve selected, only one—Mr. Dickenson's Tip—is a hired shepherd's dog. The Duke and Duchess of Portland were present, and the Duchess presented ' the prizes at the close. For their enter- I tainment there were three special exhibitions of "doubles"—six sheep and two dogs—run, extra-programme events that excited a lot of interest. Messrs. Ellis Powell, E. Priestley, and A. Priestley were the handlers. It is astonishing' how, in such events, each dog knows its own signal.