How old are sheepdog trials?

[PennyT]

Maja noted: "But the history of trialing so far surprised me at being so recent. But I am only on page23"

 

Sheepdog trials in North America with more than one contestant started around 1850. Trials are very likely older in Great Britain, Australia, and New Zealand. In GB, the usual date given is 1873; in NZ 1867; and I forget for Au. I would be happy to bet a substantial sum that the date for the British Isles is prior to 1850.

 

In the program for the 2010 Finals (meaning hard copy, not available on the internet), I have an article on the subject.

 

Penny

[Donald McCaig]

Penny is far too modest. Her years of patient, scrupulous research illuminates Border Collie history none of us knew. Her lengthy essay in the 2010 program is unique and irreplaceable. Those with a scholarly interest should beg borrow or steal a copy. I intend to send one to Barbara Carpenter whose extraordinary collection of Border Collie literature is destined for the ISDS.

 

Donald McCaig

[Maja]

Thank you for the information . I meant the scale and the type of trials requiring the skills that are present nowadays, since the sheep industry I would think has diminished rather than developed.

 

Maja

[PennyT]

Thank you for the information . I meant the scale and the type of trials requiring the skills that are present nowadays, since the sheep industry I would think has diminished rather than developed.

 

Maja

 

In Great Britain, ISDS managed to retire a key organizational figure in, I think but could be off a few years, the late 1940s and remain a going concern. Until the 1940s, ISDS was the registrative body for North American Border collies, then Allen started the North American Sheep Dog Society.

 

The NASDS registered Border collies and sanctioned the North American Championships in the 1940s with full courses but no international shed. NASDS was a victim of its own success with next to no staff (probably all volunteer but I couldn't swear to it) that couldn't keep up with registration demands. While Reid was still ISDS secretary, the ISDS would continue to register pups bred in the U.S. off of ISDS registered parents when papers were not forthcoming from the overburdened NASDS office. Per an agreement with the ISDS, Border collies from ISDS parents born in North America were supposed to be registered with the NASDS, not the ISDS. This problem was one of the factors contributing to the AIBC, I think at any rate, also now defunct or moribund. The ABCA is a direct descendant of the NASDS as is the USBCHA, so the actual dates are more from the 1940s.

 

The reason the ISDS didn't vanish through two World Wars is said to have been through the efforts of Reid.

 

Here we had World War I, a depression afterward, brief manic prosperity, and the Great Depression of the 1930s, all without a national registry in place.

 

Skills needed historically are a whole different subject. I'm writing about it sometime soon.

 

Penny

[Maja]

This is all very interesting; I was just wondering about the connection. Thank you.

Maja

[Gloria Atwater]

So, for those of us stuck on the opposite side of the continent from the Finals and Penny's excellent article ... might there be any way we would read it? I'd love to soak up some more BC history!

Cheers ~

 

Gloria

(home in northern Nevada)

[NCStarkey]

Penny,

 

Thank you for all your efforts to create the article in the Finals program, as it is an outstanding chronicle of the Border Collie history! Perhaps after the Finals are over, the program (or at least the article) can be reprinted to enlighten the masses!

 

Regards,

nancy