THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, May 7, 1995 TAG: 9505050088
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: STEPHEN HARRIMAN
LENGTH: Medium: 52 lines
IT'S BEEN SAID that herding sheep is not unlike carrying water in your cupped hands. Some of it is going to get away.
That is why sheep dogs were invented. To keep the herd together.
Have you ever seem them work? It's a marvelous sight. I've been transfixed by their efforts, on the direction of faint whistle calls from the lonely sheep herder, on the bleak hills in the north of England, in Scotland and in Wales.
Sheep are probably not really quite as stupid as they act. But, together in the same pasture, they make the dogs seem absolutely brilliant.
The sheep dog, trotting alongside and crouching slightly, always ready to spring into action, nose down, eyes darting, its brow furrowed in perpetual suspicion as if this were something it learned from watching Chief Inspector Morse on the telly, anticipates this move by the stupid sheep.
In a single step, the dog shifts from leisurely trot to full speed. It swings wide of the sheep, barking, nipping - and quickly the wayward sheep is back with the herd.
You can watch these sheep dogs - almost all of them are border collies but in all sizes and colors - and their handlers in a series of May performance trials called the Virginia Triple Crown. Each dog (and handler) gets 10 minutes to show its stuff - barking, circling, separating, herding and penning.
``They are much smarter than breeds which have been bred just for looks,'' says Nelson County veterinarian Steuart Ligon of the border collies. ``They're the only dogs that do it well and so are selected for this kind of work.''
More than 60 dogs are expected for the triple crown events.
The first leg, the Blue Ridge Trials, is set for Mother's Day Weekend at White Post in Clarke County between Front Royal and Winchester. The second leg is May 20-21 (10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., admission $7) at Oatlands Plantation, six miles south of Leesburg. The final leg is May 25-29 (8-5, free) at Ligon's Seclusival Farm near Shipman in southeastern Nelson County, south of Charlottesville.
In the Nelson County leg, Thursday and Friday are for novice dogs and younger handlers, Saturday and Sunday are for the highly experienced, and Monday offers a special competition in which dogs separate and pen selected sheep with special collars from the others.
Info: For Oaklands (703) 777-3174; for Nelson County (804) 263-5239. MEMO: Send comments and questions to Travel-wise, The Virginian-Pilot/The
Ledger-Star, Norfolk, Va. 23501-0449; phone (804) 446-2904, fax
446-2963. by CNB