The 2024 CBCA Championships are on now in Cypress County.--News Photo Anna Smith
asmith@medicinehatnews.com
The weather is fair, the fields are set and roughly 70 sheepdogs are gathered out in Cypress County to showcase what they do best.
The Canadian Border Collie Association is currently hosting its annual championships roughly a half hour drive outside Medicine Hat. The location of the competition tries to alternate between Eastern and Western Canada, and this year, southeast Alberta has the chance to see what these working dogs can do.
“It’s just such a beautiful setting,” said contestant and dog handler Amanda Milliken. “These sheep are fun to run on, the judging is just fine, the weather is good. All of these things together just create a great competition.”
Milliken says she appreciates that the sheep, which were contributed for the competition by the Kirwan family, are not overly used to being herded by dogs and especially not in such small numbers, which makes them more challenging to direct than sheep who are more accustomed to canine management.
“I have about 100 sheep back home, and on any given day, eight of them are meeting up with a few dogs, right? Not so much these. Not so much these, they’re out grazing,” said Milliken.
Milliken has been participating in sheepdog handling for roughly 40 years. She travelled from Kingston, Ont., for the championships, where she explained she has a strong tradition with the practice.
She explained that the sport requires a lot of trust and communication between dog and handler, as a good run requires a series of straight lines and tight turns while directing the animal. Every part of the run, including the initial approach, are all worth points.
“Secret to a good run is developing a very high level of communication with your dog, being able to trust what he’s going to do at certain times, what he’s telling you, about how sheep get around on the field by his lists to the left and to the right,” said Milliken. “You play along those lines and try to keep the sheep on a very accurate track and make things flow as smoothly as possible.”
Runs started Wednesday and will continue until the finals on Sunday, said organizer Chris Jobe, in which the objectives will become even more difficult with two groups of sheep on the field to be collected, and an added objective of separating out five specific sheep from the larger herd to put into the pen.
It is the hope of Jobe that the public will come out to see the conclusion of the competition on Sunday, which will run from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
“Just come on out and watch. Bring your lawn chair, talk to all the handlers. If you don’t understand what’s going on, the handlers are more than happy to answer any questions. We all like to talk about ourselves and the dogs,” said Jobe.
