Tuesday, October 30, 2007

1st ever Vizsla sheep-dog winner

the whole thing begun while reading a book about London's Hyde Park. 1956 sadly saw the end of the annual sheep dog trials in the middle of this park, which was a shame, because it was visited by lots and lots of people from all over the world.....
we thought that sheep dogs need to be collies, not vizslas, because vizslas are gundogs and not herders. but anyone who knows radio knows that he always fancied himself a bit of an all rounder, so he started training towards fulfilling his olymic dream and the training went well and he got lots and lots of compliments for getting to be an increasingly capable sheep dog, both enthusiast and stalker, so we simply gave it a go and entered this years regional trials in the lakes....to start off, radio had to fulfill a (well, not so) simple 'round up' and 'seperate the flock into two' task. once he completed this in near record time, he progressed to a much more difficult task...this involved needing to first flank, then bring the flock in towards the handler in a straight line, do a superfast turnaround and hold them there... (our nerves were quite chittery as we only just started to see success with this these last days and lasse forgot to take pictures in all the excitement)...BUT: he did it - and, to our (and everyone else's) utter amazement, won 1st prize!!!!! as far as we know this is the first time a Vizsla has been awarded in such a category, we are well proud, well done super radio!!! we'll get pics from the awards ceremony sent soon and will add them to this post then...(thanks Andrew!)

6 comments:

redgirls-in-scotland said...

Our mum is smiling and giggling like some kind of demented idiot. We don't know why.

Redgirls just want to say that we were there and know how many collies didn't stand a chance. World Sheepdog champions amongst them.

It's really all about overcoming preconceptions. Vizslas can do anything if you believe in them.

Redgirls love Radio. XXX

Charlie said...

My mum is giggling like a fool too! I think it's that last pic of you with your rosette giving those sheep a great look.

WELL DONE RADIO! You show those collies!

Ditto said...

Wow, both myself, Dexter and my mum are very impressed!

Brilliant work!!

Hamish said...

Welcome home Radio and folks. We missed you. Seems like you've learned lots of new skills to pass on to your star pupil. Well done you are amazing. I knew you were never a sheep worrier you just wanted to herd them.

SAC said...

Huge congratulations Radio - what will you accomplish next?!

:)

Anonymous said...

I did some sheep herding once (see my blog). It seemed very easy but then there weren't as many as you had there. And I didn't win a rosette for it. Perhaps I didn't do it correctly.