Bruce X Llangwm Bet
Why is it beneficial to join other Sheepdog handlers to train our sheepdogs?
Most of us are short of time when it comes schooling our sheepdogs and trial dogs but I think it is important to remember how beneficial it is to join other sheepdog handlers occasionally to train sheepdogs for sheepdog trials and to try and make time to join forces. Recently I visited with my friends Matt Murphy and Eamonn Connell. […] Continue Reading
Ideas for how to train your sheepdog to shed sheep
Ralf is a young sheepdog that I have in training at the moment. I want to prepare him to compete in nursery trials this season. I have him running out well to gather sheep. He has learnt his left and right, his off balance flanks and his inside flanks. you can see his flanks training video here https://youtu.be/48lfoBbZcTg He can […] Continue Reading
Joe Wilson tells me about the risks of gathering sheep on the highest mountain in Wicklow
these sheep have been coming here for generations. the come with their mothers in springtime and leave again in the autumn. they will return again the following spring as mothers themselves. they are not the only ones returning, the generations of people who follow them come back again and again too
Tony Rofe explains how he uses a round pen to train young dogs
The one thing that most impressed me most with Tony Rofe, is just how much he can squeeze into a training session with a young dog. He must be the most efficient young dog trainer that I can think of.
Dafydd Davies Stick and Crook maker
Dafydd Davies Stick and Crook maker I was over in Wales working on some interviews for the new Away with Dogs series ( www.awaywithdogs.co.uk ) when a friend from America asked me if I’d mind collecting a stick from a maker in Mid Wales and take it with me for her when I was coming to judge the Mohawk Valley Sheepdog Trial in […] Continue Reading
Alasdair MacRae in conversation (Part 2)
In this Part II conversation with Alasdair, he talks about training sheepdogs to single and what singling can tell him about a working sheepdog. He talks a little about judging the single and aspects that he feels are important. I think this has been one of my favourite conversations to date and I hope you find as much food for […] Continue Reading
How I got started in training and working sheepdogs
Churchmount Sheepdogs – How it all started I started to train sheepdogs in 1997 to help me cope with the work that came with handling big numbers of sheep and a hundred or so cattle. In that same year I met my friend, coach, sheepdog trainer and international trialist, Norman Deacon. Norman’s goal was always to have a working sheepdog […] Continue Reading
A Supreme Stud dog
‘I’m giving you a bitch with a bloodline i think you’ll like’, he said. ‘Sure maybe she’ll be the one that will get you started again.’ This is what happened after my friend John Heffernan called me and told me to drop in to see him. The bitch John gave me was well bred alright. Her mother was a bitch called Gra belonging to man […] Continue Reading
Glyn Jones Bodfari
A Way of Life I think I must have liked the picture on the cover because when i bought the book, ‘A Way Of Life’ by Glyn Jones of Bodfari, I had neither sheep nor a dog. I was probably about 21 at that time and was more interested in drinking and socialising than farming. That book must have sat at home […] Continue Reading