a dog's life

We almost missed this (our calendar system definitely has a flaw in that if we don't look for stuff to add to the calendar, the calendar gets empty): the Soldier Hollow Classic Sheepdog Championship.  Luckily I was paging through the local alternative newspaper Saturday morning while H was biking and found an article about it.  He got back from his ride, got cleaned up and off we went - after a brief stop in at the Murray Sports Authority's "SNIAGRAB*" sale to buy a new and less dowdy ski parka for me and a new soft shell for H.  Skiing is coming after all.

After the shopping we headed off to the Heber Valley, where our GPS told us to drive through the adorable town of Midway en route to the Soldier Hollow cross country ski venue where the sheepdog trials were being held.  Unfortunately, our GPS did not tell us that "Swiss Days" was in full swing in Midway, an event also missing from our calendar.  It will not be missing next year: there were far more people attending Swiss Days than were at the Salt Lake County Fair.

We finally made it through the crowds and slow-moving traffic and paid $5 to park in a field below the Soldier Hollow Resort.  This fee, plus the $12 entry fee (plus the $$ fair food) made for an expensive afternoon's entertainment.  But the cost was more than made up for by seeing all these dogs - working border collies, a performing agility troupe of rescue dogs and the water-loving "splash dogs" - out and about and having fun.

Going the distance

The Splash Dog competition was an open field where folks could sign their own pets up for a chance to dive off a platform into a pool for fame and everlasting glory.  Many of these dogs just launched themselves off the platform; some, an adorable puppy included, had to be convinced that it was a good idea.  A lot of these dogs seemed to be rescue dogs, including Bruce, a happy, three-legged black lab, whose 7+ foot leap was a personal best for him (the winning jump was 21+ feet).  The crowd cheered for everyone, regardless of the distance.

The border collie trials, an international event with forty-two competitors from all over the world every continent, are impressive.  A small herd of five range sheep (large and fairly brave (for sheep) sheep who live out on their own) were positioned a  l  o  n  g  ways away from the dog and its handler.  Guided only by the handler's whistle and occasional shouted commands, the sheepdog must bring the sheep down and across the field, around through three gates (which these semi-wild sheep are not interested in doing, going through gates), then back to the handler where the dog must "shed" the five sheep into a pair and a trio.  Finally, the handler opens a pen and the dog must put all five sheep into the pen (which the sheep are even less interested in doing, being penned up) - all within a thirteen minute time limit. 

Workin' dog

The dogs on the leader board had apparently all run in the morning, and we didn't see anybody actually pen the sheep.  But these border collies possessed impressive skills that didn't necessarily seem connected to their age and experience.  The last run of the day was by a young dog named Wyn.  She did great, quickly driving the sheep down and putting them through two of the three gates, and even shedding the sheep without breaking a sweat.  Right at the end, however, as she was supposed to collect them and push them towards the pen, Wyn got frustrated and darted towards one of the sheep.  She didn't come close to nipping it, but that was a break in form that disqualified her run.  Hopefully she did better on her second run on Sunday.

The good thing is that all these dogs don't get disappointed or feel bad if they don't do well.  They're outside, doing what they love to do and were built to do - whether it's retrieving a buoy off a dock or driving sheep across a mountainside.  We would all do well to take a lesson from them and learn to enjoy living in the moment every now and again.

* That's BARGAINS spelled backward.  Sigh.