Dave and I just returned from the Meeker Championship Dog Trials. Here 140 border collie compete, herding a small flock of sheep through an expansive course.over open range through high grassy troughs, past boulders, through gates, around posts. These are the finest of the working dogs and the most feral domesticate merino sheep. These yearlings have spent the summer in the high mountains of Utah, roaming freely, They have the spirit of the Wild fresh at hand. The Meeker dog trials is their first stop on the way to their winter range. The border collies and handlers travel from all parts of the US and Canada to meet and greet these ewes on a sanctioned course. Here Luck, Instinct and Bonding command the field.
Stay wide and don’t hit your target direct on. Come at it from the side- give wide berth.
Put everything in slow motion so you can see what’s happening,what’s likely to be next.
Control your focus - not the dog. Like an artist working with a paint brush.
Stay purposeful. Don’t lose yourself to the energetics of the moment.
Go with what is happening. Don’t try predict what will happen.
Some things happen by LUCK alone.
It’s not about getting a straight line to the goal. It’s about making each move toward the
next place in the field and then the next place and the…maybe you’ll make the goal. .
Make course corrections with definition. If you vacillate, the sheep can scatter.
Don’t rush it!!! Keep gathering your presence about you and move at that pace.
If you’re not made for running, don’t try. Stay with what you are. Martha, the dog, who
“loves people more than work”, doesn’t have her heart in working sheep and plays.
Stay close in and make minor adjustments while keeping the larger goal in mind
Sheep are like pebbles in a roaring brook, they scatter indiscriminately.
Is there such a thing as a single sheep’s mind? Or is it a collective sheep mind with a
single expression? Are we like sheep?
The function of Thinking is to keep the collective mind calm AND moving.
Don’t stop long for your successes or your mistakes – the flow moves all the time.
Don’t work by intimidation.
Don’t overwork it…
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