2 Down, 1 To Go…

Last night, we hosted our second ‘Intro into the World of Sheepdog Trialing’ at Ballymaclary Farm. The NISDS had a special visit from BBC Newline and Radio to interview some people who was involved last night….
We had a great turn out of new faces and people who had a keen interest to learn. The evening started with Donal McKillop with a 4 month old pup, this pup was a very natural pup and was started nicely out in the field, going around the sheep and just starting to stop. Loughlin Conn was explaining what was happening and how he would start a young dog by starting in a round pen with the dog inside the pen and trying to get the dog on its sides.
Next up was Seamus O’Kane with a young dog (Jim) which was a more advance in his training than Donal’s pup. Seamus showed and explained how he would teach his dog to keep distance off the sheep therefore, the sheep dont get stressed and this can help at a trial as it can be easier to direct the sheep around a course.
Loughlin emphasised that everyone has different training methods. Michael McAlister was next up to demonstrate. Michael’s day job is training dogs therefore, he was very well experienced on how to train a sheepdog. Michael demonstrated how he would teach a dog to drive the sheep away. Driving the sheep away is unnatural for a sheepdog therefore, this is something that usually takes a bit of time to teach. After his demonstration Michael answered any questions that arose.
Our final demonstration was Shannon Conn and Yellowhill Chip. They completed an open course which consists the outrun, lift, fetch, drive, pen and shed. James P McGee commentated Shannon’s and Chips run and explain how he would judge them and what judges look out for.
After some refreshments, we had very keen volunteers who wanted to have a go with their dog. To each volunteer, we had one member of our society go out and explain what they would do to get their dog to the next stage.
We would like to thank everyone who was involved and came to the event. A special thanks to Bo Davidson for capturing this event
Click the link to see all the photos of the night-  https://www.nisds.net/gallery/
Our last Intro into he World of Sheepdog Trials is on Wednesday the 17th of August @ James McCloskey’s- 7 PM Start.
Address- Tulnaree, Carndonagh, Co. Donegal, F93E8WF

See you then!