Wessex Border Collie Club

Border Collie Of The Year is a gala event which is held annually and hosted in rotation by the Border Collie Breed Council's member clubs.  2017 was the turn of Wessex Border Collie club to host the event, to determine the Border Collie Of The Year 2016.

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All CC and Reserve CC winners at champ shows held in 2016 were invited to attend this prestigious event.  Show Champions are eligible for entry as well.  Entries are limited to 64 dogs.

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Click on the Button below for a full report including photographs and judges critiques for the event.

Wessex Border Collie Club have historically given a trophy to the member who gains the highest point score over the year for Breed Showing and for Working disciplines. In an attempt to try and find a true Top Dog, rather than a dog that is heavily shown, points for 2015 and 2016 were averaged by the number of shows/classes in which the points were obtained, and achievements in individual working disciplines were recognised rather than one Working award. Once again, a true Top Dog proved elusive as those lightly shown benefited from the new system.

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At the AGM it was decided that Wessex Top Dog would be determined by dogs gaining the most points at our own shows. So Top Breed Show Dog will be determined by the highest points gained from places at our May and September Breed Show, Top Obedience from places at our Limited OB Show in May and Top Agility from points scored at our KC Open Agility show in August.  1st to 5th will receive a rosette.  

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The new system means that no point sheets will have to be filled in - our Top Dog administrator will total points from our show results for each member entered.  

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For more information and for Top Dog Archive, click on the button below.

Wessex Border Collie Club presented a unique opportunity for its members to introduce their dogs to sheep in a controlled environment to find out whether or not the dog had natural herding instincts.  The day started with a talk on sheep herding and trials given by instructor Robert Putnam, followed by a herding demonstration with 3 dogs, all at different stages in their herding training.  

First was a young pup called Meg, owned by Lawrence & Lucienne.  She has been put to sheep only twice before and clearly demonstrated her natural herding instinct, something which is inherent and cannot be taught.  Following on from Meg, Robert put his dog Spotyn to the sheep.  This youngster of nearly 2 years has already taken part in sheep herding trials and demonstrated quick responses to the whistle and commands.  Robert's 3rd dog was Sis, a very experienced herding dog who has had success at Sheep Dog Trials.  Seren is Robert's old lady of 13 years, retired from working sheep but still very fit and does a fantastic job of rounding up the sheep when our new and eager dogs scatter them.  She helped Robert with each and every dog that attempted to herd his four wethers that day.

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Click on the Button below for a full report on the day.

Click on the photo of the sheep for photo gallery.

The weather on Sunday was glorious and Davie Currier and his assistant Alan put 5 Border Collies and 2 Gun Dogs through their paces.  They explained the various elements of Working Trials and Eric (Sheltyshem So Esoteric SBCHT CDex UDex WDex) gave us a demonstration of the clear jump, the 6 foot scale and the 9 foot long jump.  He also demonstrated heel work and a search square.  

Each dog had a go at the clear jump, progressing from a low height and attempting the full 3 foot jump.  The also did a small section of the 9 foot jump, but none of the dogs attempted the scale.  They all performed heel work in varying degrees of success!  After lunch we started working on nose work - tracking. 

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At the end of the day the "Most Promising" certificate and rosette went to Lawrence & Lucienne's Meg (the puppy that was used by Robert at the sheep herding day!).  What a promising future this little one will have.