brookcove
Posted : 5/9/2008 11:30:51 PM
The running out part is called the "outrun". Then the sheep are "lifted" - ideally, you'll see the sheep's heads come up, the sheep will come together, and they will start moving straight towards the handler together. I'll post a video in a minute that will show this more clearly on a larger flock. Then the "fetch" is when the sheep are moved towards the handler. Border Collies generally have a natural inclination to fetch. The rest of the video is the "wear", in which the sheep are walked with the handler, around a course marked by obstacles to simulate holes in stone walls, mountain paths, bridges, or gates.
The outrun, lift, and fetch together are called the "gather." I ask Ted to "gather" the sheep three times in this video. That's not typical at this level, although in an Open run one might do the course, then divide the sheep, then regather the sheep, then pen, then let them out and do another type of division of the sheep.
And there's a championship style course where one might be asked to stop the sheep when they have only come a third of the way down to you (the distance of these gathers is usually more than 500 yards). Then the dog will be asked to leave those sheep and turn around and go get another group of sheep in a different part of the field, which he can't see from where he is. Then the dog must correctly bring those to where he left the first set, then leave the second set to go get the others which by this time have wandered off, and put them with the first group. These are usually done in groups of ten, so the whole flock when done will be twenty sheep. Then they do the whole driving course with twenty sheep.