Battle of the wits
‘‘Most people have good dogs, but you want one better than that. You want to find one with x-factor.’’ Ken White
‘Behind, Posh! Get behind!’’ Posh the heading dog has her eyes fixed on the sheep, ears perked, as she trots with purpose. After a lifetime of farm work and winning many trials, 8-year-old Posh can almost work the sheep around the obstacles by herself. Together with her master, Rob Mather, the duo navigate five romney ewes through two gates, before holding them in a marked circle where they must separate two sheep wearing red collars. She must then herd the sheep into a small yard. Posh was one of 30 sheep dogs competing on Friday at the Southern Hemisphere Red Collar Dog Championships in Ashhurst. Mather, a farmer from Foxton, said the best trial dogs were just like the best athletes. They had the right temperament and ability. A three-time world championship trialist, Mather said the Ashhurst course was challenging. Most heading dogs were not familiar over flat country and commands were lost in the wind. ‘‘Normally we work on hills and the sound bounces up, but flat land is different. ‘‘The wind has buggered everything up a bit, too. Posh is usually right on the butt, but that’s dog trials. That’s the sport we’re in.’’ Don Wickham and his smoothcoated sidekick, Kim, were also tested, running over the 15-minute time-limit to complete the course. ‘‘Jeez, what a bloody balls up,’’ Wickham muttered as the judge calls his run to an end. Ken and Natalie White’s critical eye was cast over the field, with the two judges having attended four world championships and more than 45 years experience. ‘‘I think when we got married there was a dog in the house before I was,’’ Natalie White said. Shepherds would train dogs for about two years, but even this course was proving difficult. ‘‘This competition has the dogs [chasing sheep] away, which is not what most heading dogs do in New Zealand,’’ Ken White said. ‘‘Most people have good dogs, but you want one better than that. You want to find one with x-factor.’’ The course was put together by Feilding man Duncan Mcgillivray, 93, who represented New Zealand at the World Sheep Dog Trials in 2011. Mcgillivray has been a shepherd since he was a lad growing up in the misty hills of Scotland.