THE GARTH COLLEY TRIALS.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXX, Issue 4597, 14 December 1875, Page 3

THE GARTH COLLEY TRIALS.

(From The Field, August 14.) The mention o£ "Colley Trials" in the heading of this article impresses upon us the expediency of at once assuring our readers the subject of which we are about to treat is not the same as that one which, under a somewhat similar heading, has been occupying a prominent position in most of our daily papers for the past few weeks ; the venue is laid to-day not in the asphyxiating atmosphere of a law court, but on the moorland heights of one of the principal sheep-walk mountains of South Wales, where the air that we inhale is what Mr. Kuskin describes as " the fragrant breath of right heaven," and the cause to be tried is the comparative excellence in sagacity and high training of some twenty specimens of that most sagacious and intelligent of the canine species, the colley or sheep dog. The trials began at eleven o'clock, the modus operandi being as follows : —The competing shepherd and his dog took up their position beside the pen or "kyle" into which the ultimate object was to drive the sheep; in 'an adjoining field was placed another pen, from which, as eaoh dog severally entered the lists, three mountain sheep were " enlarged;" the shepherd then, directing the dog's attention to the sheep by various signs, and in most cases unintelligible expressions, signalled him to bring them through the intervening fence and up to the pen where he was stationed, and to within certain limits around which- his (the shepherd's) operations were restricted ; then might be said to come the tug of war, the sheep in most cases showing a most decided objection to enter the pen. Ten minutes was the time limited for each trial, and at the end of this time he (the dog) had to be withdrawn, whether he had succeeded in penning his sheep or not. There were unaccountably no published catalogues or lists of the competitors, and we failed in many instances to learn their names. The first dog called in the open class was Mr. K. D. William's Bush, a black, white, and tan dog, who was fortunate in getting his sheep very easily from the field and through the fence, working very steadily and obediently, but not displaying any very brilliant qualities; his performance, however, fully merited the fourth prize, which was afterwards awarded him. No. 2 was also clever and obedient, but worked far top wide of his sheep. No. 3 was unfortunate in having an unsociable trio, who parted company directly they were turned loose, and would not come together again. No. 4, Mr. J. Jones' Wag, was by far the handsomest colley on the field—a black and tan, with a good coat, well shaped body and legs, and a most intelligent countenance, and in addition to this he proved himself to be also one of the best, if not the best performer of the day ; he was worked by his owner, who made up in breadth what he lost in length, and was possessed of stentorian lungs, and a whistle that would not disgrace a steam engine. Wag carefully obeying every signal of his master, and watchful for any symptom of breaking away on the part of the sheep, worked them quickly, but steadily and noiselessly through the fence, and succeeded in penning them cleverly in six minutes ; the performance of dog and master was an excellent one, and well deserving of the equal first which they were awarded with Mr. H. Jones and his Mon who were the next competitors; Mon is a rusty brindlecolored smooth dog, of very unpretentious appearance, and the tactics which he and his master pursued, were quite different from those of any of the competitors who had proceeded them, for the dog after quickly and cleverly working his sheep up to the pen, stood perfectly still, apparently loaving the task of penning entirely to his master, who, by the craft which he displayed in accomplishing it, seemed to show himself quite equal to doing bo without any aid of dog or man; it was evident, however, that Mon was on the alert, and quite prepared to frustrate any effort of the sheep to break away. Next followed Mr. E. Prothero's Kent, a black and white smooth dog, very fast, but well under control, and working steadily and carefully, but too wide of his sheep ; he succeeded, however, in penning them in seven minutes, and was awarded the third prize. The rest of the competitors in this class were of an inferior order, and not worthy of any special comment. Next came the local class, and here most of the competitors worked under a disadvantage, for the rain was coming down in a perfect deluge, and thiß seemed to render the sheep obstinate :and disinclined to move, besides which a ditch on the taking-off side of the fence became filled with water, and in most cases it was with the greatest

difficulty that they could be brought to face this. The first good trial in this class was that by Mr. Hugh Jones's Mon, whose performance in the open class we have just noticed; his sheep obstinately refused the fence for some five minutes ; but were at length driven cleverly through, and shepherd and man pursuing precisely the same tactics as they had done on the previous occasion, succeeded in penning the sheep in six and a half minutes. The next worthy of mention was a bob-tail rough dog, who worked his sheep beautifully through the fence ; but kept too wide of them when he had brought them up to the pen. After two or three failures, Mr. D. Thomas's dog was put down, and he cleverly succeeded in penning his sheep in four and a-half minutes from the start ; but this was only good enough to entitle him to., second honors, for later in the day Mr. D. Price's 18-months* old puppy, working a docile trio of sheep without a check or mistake, easily won the first prize by penning them in the extraordinary short time of two minutes. This must undoubtedly be regarded as the best performance of the day; for although this dog's sheep were evidently more tractable than those which fell to the lot of Wag, of whose performance we spoke so highly in the former class, the quickness and decision with which he did his work would seem to merit the assumption that had the sheep been less manageable the performance would have been relatively even better. The awards were as follows : , Class 1 (open).—lst and 2nd prizes (of £5 and £3), divided between Mr. J. Jones, of Rhayader (Wag), and Mr. Hugh Jones, of Llaueryrfa (Mon) ; 3rd, Mr. K. Prothero, Tyncwm (Kent) ; 4th, Mr. R. D. Williams, Abergwessin (Bush). Class 2 (local). —Mr. D. Price, IJaullwafa ; 2nd, Mr. M. Thomas, Dlangynog ; 3rd, Mr. Powell, Builth (Scot) ; 4th, Mr. Hugh Jones (Mon).