SALEM, Ore. — Each year, Ian Caldicott and Raven OKeefe receive a special delivery in May — a truck carrying 150 sheep.
The sheep arrived Thursday morning just in time for the 81st Annual Running of the Northwest Championship Sheepdog Trial, that began Friday and runs through Sunday at Wolston Farm in Scio.
During sheepdog trials, herding dogs move sheep on a field, through fences and other obstacles, directed by a handler. People from all over the Northwest will gather to watch, and run, more than 50 herding dogs over the course of three days.
Caldicott and OKeefe, the owners of Wolston Farm, have only been hosting this trial for a few years, but their history with sheepdog trials spans decades.
How it happened
Growing up in England, Caldicott often watched sheepdog trials. While attending graduate school, he bought a dog, found a farm and started training.
Meanwhile, OKeefe went to her first sheepdog trial to help a friend and was in awe at what the dogs could do. She described it as “love at first sight.”
In 2000, OKeefe met Caldicott at a trial in Washington — with the help of his dog.
“This big, beautiful border collie came up to me and laid his big head on my knee,” she said. “I fell in love with Ben, (Caldicott’s) dog, and then to get Ben I had to get (Caldicott) as well. It was a package deal.”
For the past 18 years, the couple has been at Wolston Farm doing what they love — training dogs and teaching handlers — until they took on another responsibility seven years ago.
The couple volunteered to host the Northwest Championship Sheepdog Trial, which began in conjunction with the Linn County Lamb and Wool Fair, to keep the tradition going when there was no other venue or host available.
“They were going to discontinue it, and this is the oldest trial possibly in the country, and certainly in the West,” OKeefe said. “It seemed so shameful that would happen.”
The Northwest Championship Sheepdog Trial is broken down into divisions based on age and experience level.
OKeefe said the levels of sheepdog trials are similar to baseball leagues: Nursery Class would be equivalent to Class AAA, Pro-Novice is intermediate, and Open Class would be the Major Leagues.
Each dog starts with a perfect score. For every mistake, judges dock points. The goal is to have the highest score by the end of the trials.
The course changes in size by class, getting bigger and more complex with more experienced dogs.
The longer a dog is trained, the stronger the bond is between the dog and handler.
“(That bond) is absolutely essential, it is a partnership. Neither of us can do it on our own,” he said. “The (dog) you spend the most time with is the one you do better with.”
While attending a sheepdog trial, you will most likely hear the phrases, “hey,” “lay down,” “get back” and “that’ll do” — commands from handlers that tell herding dogs what to do.
Handlers begin training by establishing right from wrong. The dogs learn from correction and praise what the handlers want and don’t want.
First, they learn how to bring the sheep to the handler, then how to “drive” the sheep away from the handler and keep them in a straight line by moving from side to side.
After that, the dogs are taught voice commands for the details. Handlers also use whistles, with sounds that represent different voice commands, since the sound carries further than vocal commands.
Caldicott’s herding dogs are all border collies, but he trains a variety of breeds.
He said herding dogs would rather give up eating and sleeping than give up working. It’s what they live for.
“Once you turn on that light bulb, it never turns off,” he said.
