Churchmount Working Sheepdogs

This is a very frank interview! Someone said to me that they have heard all the Churchmount interviews on soundcloud and that this one is by far the best. This one is where the world renowned Nigel Watkins is talking sheepdogs. Nigel is true to form with no holds barred! Nigel tells me about how Foot and Mouth disease closed down sheepdog trials in 2001. But it was different then because trials could reopen at any time. ‘Nobody knew when, nothing was cancelled’ . Whereas this time with the Covid, everything is cancelled for the year. Nationals, International and the World Trial are all cancelled. In this interview, Nigel goes on to talk about trialling and judging internationally. he talks about how preparation is very important now and how all the top handlers prepare their dogs for sheepdog trials. Support the show [https://www.patreon.com/churchmountsheepdogs] (https://www.patreon.com/churchmountsheepdogs)

One Man and His Dog and the impact of Brexit on farming. Neil Gillon’s Hill Trial had to be cancelled this year because a mist came down on the hill making visibility impossible, but as we say in Ireland, “its an ill wind that doesn’t blow some good”. The fact that the Hill Trial was postponed meant that on the Sunday myself and John Heffernan were delivering a bitch to Scotland, we also got to meet up with Neil for a chat and run a dog in his trial. Neil was a finalist in the World Sheepdog Trials with his dog Bhoy and he got through to the semi-finals with his Bhoy son, Shweep. Neil was the Scottish team captain for the International in Tywyn after winning the Scottish National with Shweep in 2016. Support the show [https://www.patreon.com/churchmountsheepdogs] (https://www.patreon.com/churchmountsheepdogs)

I know that I don’t need to remind you of the gravity of the situation we are facing at present with this virus. However, I think that as sheepdog enthusiasts, we are very lucky in that at least we can escape from the news into our own dog world for a while. Back in 1999, I remember being at the International and seeing Aled win Supreme Champion with Roy in Trawsgoed. In 2000 I saw him win the Supreme again in Armathwaite, but with Bob. (I was there this time myself, as a member of the Irish team!) Those were tremendous achievements and as we know he would go on later to add two more Supremes and two World Trials to the list. For me, I think the really interesting achievement was how he came back after the 2001 gap to win the very first World Trial in Bala in 2002. So it was great to get talking with Aled Owen and find out what he did 2001. How did he retain his focus or did he set new goals to get through the year? I know that when I got out of the habit of trialing that I lost my focus and I left sheepdogs in 2001. I didn’t come back until 2015. (I don’t want that to happen with me this time.) Support the show [https://www.patreon.com/churchmountsheepdogs] (https://www.patreon.com/churchmountsheepdogs)

I asked John if our course this year would be as good as England was last year. John said why don't you come up and have a look and see what you think. So that's what I did over Christmas. While I was there I asked John for a few of his thoughts. Support the show [https://www.patreon.com/churchmountsheepdogs] (https://www.patreon.com/churchmountsheepdogs)

Toddy Lambe represents everything that is good about working dog trialling. Toddy has won the International Sheepdog Trial Supreme and a couple of National Sheepdog Trials to date. Toddy is not farming on big runs of ground or with big numbers of sheep. So he is all the more example of what can be achieved when you train properly with the right material. Toddy has judged nationally, in Europe and the United States, so he has a great understanding of the type of challenges we come up against as competitors and organisers in sheepdog trials both on and off the field. Support the show [https://www.patreon.com/churchmountsheepdogs] (https://www.patreon.com/churchmountsheepdogs)