CHENEY, Wash. — Border collie owners and competitors traveled from across the country to compete in Cheney for a spot at the United States Border Collie Handler's Association National Competition.
The competition took place at the Catbird Stockdog Training farm and hosted 73 teams from across the world, including seven teams from the U.S. and two from Canadian provinces. The top five teams will advance to the national competition.
Originally a sport for farm owners in the United Kingdom, the Sheepdog Trials are something that now draws people from across the world.
"Well this particular course here, the landscape here is fantastic. It's a challenging course and even to spectate it is interesting," said Eamonn Connell, an international dog handler from Ireland who was judging the competition.
The amount of land available in Cheney allows the course to change every day and keeps the dogs and the sheep on their toes.
"It's all modeled after the kinds of things shepherds would do on a daily basis," said Dave Imas, the owner of Catbird Farm.
Imas also trains his own and other people's dogs on his property.
"When I started doing this, I didn't know which end of a sheep pooped and ate. And there are many people like me, but after 20 years I have a lot of experience with both sheep and dogs," said Imas.
But Imas loves the competition. He says he began competing in 2005 and now hosts the yearly trial competition in Cheney. Imas also went to the World Championships in Northern Ireland representing the U.S. team in 2023.
"To really be successful in the dog and sheep perspective, we measure our time in months and years," said Imas. "I just love watching the dog, and just manage everything and bring out all of those instincts."
On Saturday, Oct. 19 and Sunday, Oct. 20 the teams will be back at Catbird Farm to compete with younger and less experienced border collie dogs.
For more information about dog training and other events, visit the Catbird Stockdog Training Farm website.