The Trial Course

The course is set out according to standards set by the International Sheep Dog Society. First the dog must run out to behind the sheep, who have been shepherded to a start point at the far end of the course. The handler can send the dog out to the left or to the right, and points are scored for the path the dog takes on the outrun. The dog must then pick up the sheep (the lift) and fetch them to the handler, through one set of gates, in as straight a line as possible. Once near the handler, the dog is commanded to drive the sheep around the post at which the handler is standing, and out to the first set of drive gates. The trial judge will specify at the beginning of a trial whether this is to be to the handlers' right or left, and this is known as a right-hand or left-hand drive.

Once through the first set of gates, the dog must turn the sheep and drive them across the width of the course to the drive gates opposite, turn them again and drive them back towards the handler. The whole of the drive forms a triangle. When the sheep are within the shedding area just in front of the handlers' post, the handler may leave the post to perform the shed. This is where (typically) two sheep are shed off the group. The handler must call the dog through a gap they have created in the group and the dog must maintain control over those sheep which have been shed. Points are scored for completing this task within the shedding ring and for not letting any sheep out of the ring in the process. The group is then brought back together for the pen. The handler opens the gate of the pen and commands the dog to quietly push the sheep into the pen. Closing the gate on the penned sheep signals the end of a successful run.