Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, September 4, 1994 TAG: 9409060041
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By KENNETH SINGLETARY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Medium
"Oh, God, this is making me sick," said McCaig, watching sheep scatter like leaves before an oncoming dog while he and Gael waited their turn to compete. "I'm going to have to run this course. It's easier to talk about it."
When her chance came, Gael, about whom McCaig wrote in his best-selling "Eminent Dogs, Dangerous Men," started competently. At his command, the dog burst away from his side and ran a quarter-mile in a wide arc to get behind three sheep waiting at the far end of the rolling field.
The sheep, sensing the dog's determination, ran back toward McCaig and the watching crowd of about 200 people. Gael expertly guided them through a gate, a feat that goes against a sheep's instinct, and forward on a true line, something the judge looks for. Both dog and handler were careful not to run the sheep too fast, even though they had only eleven minutes to complete the course.
But McCaig, who when he isn't writing is a sheep rancher in Bath County and commentator for National Public Radio, was ultimately right. Gael, a small border collie at about 30 pounds, did have problems.
The sheep split their tight formation and ran in all directions. Gael, silent and patient, flanked them each time the cagey sheep wheeled, forcing them toward the other gates on the course. Eventually, time ran out.
No two of the border collies at the competition look the same. Some have long fur, others short, and unpredictable, patchy colors are everywhere. All instinctively herd sheep.
The dogs are judged on how well they perform the outrun, or gather, when they run toward the sheep, and the lift, when they guide them back toward the handler. Most difficult for some dogs is the drive, when they must herd the sheep away from the handler, a task that is not instinctive. Most intricate is the single, when they must remove one sheep from the others.
The sheep take every opportunity not to cooperate.
"The sheep are trying to beat the dogs every chance they get," McCaig said. "They don't like to go through gates, they don't like to get close to people, they don't like to go into a pen."
Like Gael, many other dogs had problems. By early afternoon Saturday, about a quarter of the 60 border collies were unable to complete the course.
It's part of what makes the competition one of the top 10 in the United States, attracting handlers from throughout North America, and a good warm-up for the national championship in Lexington, Ky., this month.
Because of predation by strays, this flock is especially wary of dogs, said Bernard Feldman, a professor at the university's veterinary medicine school and a competition organizer.
The result is plenty of standoffs and occasional nips, mostly out of frustration.
"One or two [dogs] have achieved the course without biting," said the judge, Richard Fawcett of Yorkshire, England. "But a good dog bites from time to time to lead them on."
Often, though, the border collies can control the sheep, some of which weigh more than 150 pounds, with the force of their eyes. Directed and encouraged by their handlers' constant whistles and commands, the experienced dogs don't let their gaze waver.
Some dogs complete the course with time to spare, making their task look easy and effortless. The best dogs by early Saturday afternoon had scores in the 70s and 80s, out of a possible 100.
"The dogs usually know more than the people do. They have great sheep sense," said Ethel Conrad, whom Feldman credits with introducing border collies to Virginia sheep ranchers 15 years ago.
The competition continues today from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the campus sheep center off Prices Fork Road.
by CNB