The working dog: A farmer's best friend

Sheepdog trialling is a fast-growing sport which was brought to the British public’s attention by the popular television series, One Man and his Dog. But Brian Bell was competing long before the show was aired and has represented England on one occasion. He explained the complexities of sheepdog training to reporter Wendy Short

Brian Bell was given his first dog when he was just three years old. By the time he had reached 17, his interest in training had made him a regular spectator at local trials, but it was by a somewhat convoluted route that he acquired his first trial dog.
“I had a sheepdog called Sam, which went missing one snowy winter’s day and after asking around, I heard that a stray collie had been spotted at Silver Hall Farm, in Newsham,” says Brian. “As it turned out, it wasn’t my dog, but the shepherd at the time, Fred Wilson, said he would let me have a good bitch for £25.
“That was Meg, and she lived up to his promise. She turned out to be a great dog, with a very natural way with sheep. I don’t think she took very much notice of anything I said though, and she would disappear without warning, as she liked to chase rabbits.
“Meg was the first dog I owned which had been registered with the International Sheep Dog Society and came with papers.
“I had never seen a pedigree before and after some research, I decided to mate her with a registered dog and keep a puppy. The result was Jess, my first trial dog. She turned out quite well and I won sixth place at a nursery trial with her, but unfortunately she was killed when one of our cows kicked her. The next time I bred Meg, I kept another one of her puppies – a dog this time and I called him Rock.”
Describing Rock as “as hard as the hobs of hell,” Brian persevered with his training and the pair achieved has some minor successes.
“He wasn’t easy to train and when I tried to walk him after an operation for a burst appendix, he nearly pulled out all my stitches. But we had a couple of third places at open trials and we were progressing, until he ran into a fence rail and became impaled – I took him to the vet but he couldn’t be saved.
“I was absolutely devastated when he died. He was my best friend, always with me and always dependable – he would work cattle as well as he worked sheep.”
These early disasters might have signalled the end of sheepdog trialling for anyone less tenacious, but Brian’s competitive nature and keen interest in dog training drove him to greater efforts and in recent years he has notched up some impressive trial wins.
One comment made by an elderly Scottish gentleman who had been watching Brian run a dog has stuck in his mind ever since.
“It was very brief. All he said was: ‘Och, the dog is too good for the man’. That made me even more determined to succeed. It is too easy to blame the dog when the fault usually lies with the handler.
“It takes a lot of patience and commitment to get a dog to a decent standard. There are no short cuts and if the dog is making mistakes, you need to go back to the beginning and put more work into the basic commands.”
Brian and his partner, Lynn Morland, live at Hamsterley and train their dogs at Pool Tree, a smallholding which rises above Hamsterley Forest and where the temperature always seems to be a few degrees colder compared to the surrounding villages.
Undaunted by the chill winds which seem to be a feature of the area at any time of the year, the couple manage a flock of purebred Hebrideans, as well as about 50 Texel cross ewes. A group of quiet sheep and a small enclosed area are essential requirements for training a young dog, insists Brian, who is a semi-retired farmer.
However, the best approach for novice handlers is to buy a trained sheepdog, he advises.
“A novice handler paired with a novice dog is not the ideal combination for starting the training process. It’s best to buy a dog which has already been well trained, so that the handler can learn how to encourage the dog to makes the right moves, without the situation becoming chaotic.
“You cannot make any progress until the dog is steady and will stop when on command. Before training starts, it should respond to its name and come to you when asked, as well as lying down and staying put, until being told to move.
“It takes a lot of practice to get the commands right. Sheepdogs learn very quickly, but they can learn to do the wrong thing very easily and once bad habits are formed, it can be hard to break them.
“Letting the dog herd the sheep into a corner is one common mistake. The sheep also have to be chosen carefully – if they are used to being moved by dogs they will learn to stay close to the handler and this allows the dog to move freely around them.”
Your trial prospect should have working dogs in its pedigree and at least one of its parents should be available, so that you can see that it behaves calmly around sheep, says Brian.
Another useful tip is to watch sheepdog trial videos, which can be found online on Youtube.
Several top trial competitors have brought out training books and videos and these can be helpful, although it is probably best to stick to one source of advice to avoid confusion, he says.
Ideally, you will have a mentor who will guide you through the process until the moves and the commands become second nature.
The starting age for training a young dog is an issue which is hotly debated among trainers, he says.
“The age varies greatly, depending on the dog,” he explains. “There is a trend for starting dogs as young as seven to eight months and they can go to sheep at that age, but I like to wait until they’re at least nine months old and a bit more mature.
“If a dog is walking among sheep and you see its head drop and its eye fixed on the flock then it is ready for training, but the process must not be rushed.
“I had one dog which showed no interest at all in sheep until he was 18 months old. One day, a pheasant got up and he started chasing it. The bird flew over a hedge and he then saw the sheep and began rounding them up as if he’d been doing it for years. That was Ben, and he was the first dog that won an open trial for me. “
The dog for whom Brian has the most affection is sadly no longer with him. Moss was bought as a pup from Barbara Walton at Streatlam.
“Moss was the best dog I’ve ever had,” Brian says simply. “He was very well bred and he had a great temperament.
His best feature was his ability to control even the wildest sheep – he seemed to have a calming effect on them.
“I was always secretly pleased when we got to a trial and saw that the sheep were going to be hard to handle, because that would give us a better chance of winning. He never did anything silly, but although he was easy to train in many respects, it took a very long time for him to become 100 per cent correct on his left and right commands.”
Brian’s current main trial dog is Hutch, a five-year-old son of Moss who has inherited his sire’s good nature and loyalty. The pair have notched up 12 open trial wins, as well as qualifying for the World Trial, which is being held in Holland next year.
Meanwhile, Moss’s son, Ben, is just starting his trialling career.
The International Sheep Dog Society is the governing body for all official sheepdog trials, with each region having its own affiliated club or association. In Teesdale, we have the Northern Sheepdog Association (NSA). It was formed in 1966; the year when England won the World Cup, notes Brian, who has been the organisation’s chairman for many years. The role involves a lot of hard work and Brian and Lynn visit the trial field ahead of each event, taking with them the series of pens which are used to hold the sheep for the competition.
Brian is keen to highlight the contribution made to the NSA by its secretary, Jean Bousfield, from Harwood. She is the only woman to have won the English National Trial, an achievement she gained in 1977, when she competed in her maiden name, Hardisty.
The couple also set up the posts and gates which guide dog and handler around the course and make sure there are plenty of people to stand at the top of the field and ‘let out,’ or release the sheep for the dogs to gather. In addition, Brian arranges meetings of the 20-strong committee and finds farmers who are willing to provide trial fields.
“We rely on goodwill and we’re always looking for farmers who will be kind enough to let us use their fields for trial venues and to supply us with sheep – we need about 100 head so that we don’t have to run the same animal more than twice. We generally attract about 30 competitors in the nursery trial season, which runs from October until the end of March and is a forum for handlers to run dogs in the early stages of their training.
“Considerably more people attend our open trials, which are sometimes held in conjunction with the local agricultural shows. The NSA also welcomes novices and we put on new handler classes, for people with only limited experience. Every year, our organisation takes part in two inter-club contests, where we put together a team and go head-to-head with other local clubs – the Northern has won both of these competitions this year.
“Sheepdog trialling holds an attraction for people of all ages – at Northern trials, our youngest competitor this year was Sophie Watt, who is 11  while our oldest was Alan Leek, who is still competing at 89. Two of the main sources of enjoyment during my trialling career have been all the nice places I’ve visited and the lovely people I’ve met through taking part.”
Despite Brian’s many successes on the trial field, there are a couple of achievements which continue to elude him.
“My ambition is shared by many other competitors,” he says. “I would love to win the International Supreme Championship or the World Trial. I’ve probably left it too late, but who knows? I have the dog to do it in Hutch – we just need a bit of luck on the day. I will continue to compete for as long as I can walk to the post.”
For more information about Northern Sheepdog Association trials, visit www.spanglefish.com/northernsheepdogsociety/ or ring Brian Bell on 07808 001149.