Dog sports and dog events in Maine

Herding ("Stockdogs")

This is a sport primarily for Border Collies. Other breeds can certainly herd but we most commonly see Border Collies in this role as this is a breed that must be kept busy with a job. Some are fortunate enough to live on a farm where they can become valued members of the staff by herding sheep, ducks or other livestock. In fact, this is a very popular (and serious) sport known by the term "stock dog" trialing.

We encourage you to visit the Northeast Border Collie Association website as a wonderful resource to learn about these wonderful dogs, not to mention the amazing photos!

Below is an article describing our visit last year to the Common Ground Fair where we watched David Kennard demonstrate this amazing sport.

Herding Demo Sign

Work and Play
We went to the Common Ground Fair in Unity, ME Friday (Sept. 23) and saw David Kennard of Wellscroft Farm put his herding Border Collies through their paces. David has volunteered as an exhibitor with the fair for over 20 years. He is clearly passionate about the sport and dedicated to his dogs. As seen in the footage connected to this article, it is clear that he is very popular with the consistently large crowd. His herding dogs are truly amazing and represent a wide range of ages.

Nell, Dot and Bess

At nearly 13 years, Bess is the pack elder. Don’t let her age fool you, as she certainly held her own, as did her daughter, 11-year-old Brit.

The two-year-old Dot, or “Dottie” as David often refers to her, strutted her stuff representing some “new blood” to this popular exhibition. A spritely Nell (a.k.a. Nellie) is a mere teenager at 7 years old.

Bess and Brit

Bess, Dot, Nell and Brit are all Border Collies. David began his presentation by explaining that this breed is truly wonderful but cautions owners that they do require a lot of effort and must be kept engaged with some kind of job.

Sadie

Toward the end of the exhibition, Sadie joined the fun. Sadie is a gorgeous Burmese Mountain dog. Sadie herds occasionally but primarily serves as a guard dog (and big furry cuddle bug from what we could see) at the farm.

After the exhibition we made nuisances of ourselves and pestered David to share some of his wisdom and experience with us. Since we are considering adding herding to Mojo’s repertoire, we had lots of questions! Here is some information he shared:

Herding awakens a drive in these dogs that is previously dormant (it’s a DNA thing). If you’re going to begin herding with your dog you should be truly committed. Do you have a place to go regularly where your dog can take “ownership” of the sheep? Or better yet, do you plan to get some of your own? For dogs that have herding in their blood (and obviously, that would need to be sorted out first), this becomes an important part of their lives. Herding is truly work for them and they take it seriously. Letting a dog herd just sometimes will be a tease and the dog may feel it is being punished if the opportunity is not given on a regular basis.

Understand that herding sheep can be quite dangerous (sheep kick!). As you’ll see in some of the footage, David has the dogs herd ducks. He suggests Indian Runners, as they don’t fly (see video “herding ducks”). This is a great way to safely introduce a young dog to the sport. And yes, it is best to begin a dog at a young age.

Know when to reward. David does not recommend praising the dogs while they’re working. Instead, they have come to know that they will be rewarded at the end with a play session. See videos “Play” and “Play More” to see his dogs catching soft flying discs.

We saw enough from this exhibition to know that we would love to have sheep for Mojo and other dogs to herd on our farm and we can't wait to learn more!

David and Sadie
David with Sadie

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to see more photos of
Nell, Brit, Dot and Bess!

Herding Dogs Video:

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Working Stockdogs (herding)