VISIT TO SWITZERLAND 2011.

It is a real privilege to visit overseas especially if you can go and do something that you really enjoy.

 This is the second time that I have been invited to judge a trial in Switzerland. My wife, who is now my travel agent, chose a different route this time. I am amazed each time at her ability to find cheap tickets on the internet. I flew via Dubai to Milan where Alberto picked me up. From there we had a two and a half hour drive to the little town of Lostallo in the south of Switzerland.

 It was nice to see Alberto again, and it is always a relief to see someone familiar in a foreign country.  Catching up on the way home most of our conversation was about dogs and trials. Alberto has qualified for the Swiss team for the World trials later this year. The trial I was about to judge would be the last one where the handlers could get points for the Swiss team for the Continental Championship.  

As the jet lag caught up to me later that day I was glad to go to bed early and get some much needed sleep. The next day I helped Alberto put up the course. This was something different. He had two guy's helping him, one German and one Italian speaking. For most of the morning Alberto left the three of us to put up the holding pens and the course. One Afrikaner, one Swiss German and one Italian speaking Swiss guy working together, not able to understand each other. I must say it did test my communication skills which, according to my wife, “are not very good”. Anyway we got it done, a nice field, 300m outrun and a big drive of 350m. You could not ask for a more picturesque setting, a nice green field with these huge steep mountains on both sides of the valley and little grey buildings hundreds of years old standing like monuments, all over the place. Traditionally shepherds used these stables to keep their animals in during the long winters and some are still in use today.

The judges box.

There were about 30 dogs entered. The morning of the trial the weather was chilly, but in the end it was a great day as the sun made its appearance later in the morning. The sheep were interesting as they were ewes with 3 month old lambs at foot. We decided to take the really small lambs out and give each run three ewes and a lamb. This was a little strange for me, but you work with what you have, especially if there are not a lot of sheep available. In the end I was surprised how well the sheep worked with the exception of one or two groups.

Alberto's wife Elena scribed for me during the judging and it helped a lot as I could focus a hundred percent on the runs. The running was good and there were some really nice dogs to watch with good handling to complement them.

It would be interesting to see some of these dogs on our lighter and wilder sheep.

The beatiful valley were the trial was held.

There is big difference when it comes to handling the Swiss type of sheep versus handling our sheep. In general the Swiss sheep need to be pushed around the field; they even tolerate the dogs being a little rough on them. At the shed and pen they had no fear or respect for the handlers and this could and did complicate things. You had to be sharp with this type of sheep because they could do the unthinkable in the blink of an eye. Normally I find wilder sheep easier to read and predict.

Jurg Haller won the trial with one of the late afternoon runs. It was pretty to watch, one of those type of runs that when you watch it you know it will take some beating. After the trial they announced the Swiss Team that will go to the Continental Championship later the year. Congratulations to all who made the team, I hope you have a good time and nice runs.

On the Sunday and the Monday we had some training lessons set up. The weather was great for training dogs, a little chilly and wet, but really nice. The nice thing about the lessons was that there were not many dogs so we could work most of the dogs three times a day. It is always fun to work other dogs.

In the training field, working on shedding.

This discussion was only about one thing ''Dogs''

In the late afternoon shearers arrived to shear Alberto’s sheep. It was great fun to help a bit. The strange thing for me is that the wool is worth absolutely nothing. I could not resist trying my hand at shearing a couple. I enjoyed it. The week passed very quickly and before I knew it I was on my way home.

Shearing at Alberto's stable. I just had to try a few.

I had a great time with some fantastic friends and memories of great dogs working sheep between steep mountains. Most nights I go out and train my dogs regardless of the weather. Sometimes standing out there in bad weather I ask myself, “Why do you do this?” Then something like this trip happens and I know it is worth it. Don't hold back when you do something, you have to give it everything. One day you will reap the rewards.