Lisa Marie, a 9-year-old border collie herds some sheep during the herding dog demontrations at the Jackson County Harvest Fair Saturday. Jim Craven 9/30/2006 (Mail Tribune / Jim Craven)Lisa Marie lives to move sheep.
The 9-year-old border collie glides back and forth, low to the ground, running a trio of sheep between barrels and panels, while Kathy Rose of Grants Pass blows high-pitched blasts and calls from her whistle.
From "down" and "walk up" to "way to me slow" and "go by fast," different commands are represented by each whistle.
"Some dogs have up to 200 whistles when they're trained," said Marilyn Hahn, who along with Rose coordinated herding-dog trials and demonstrations as part of the 2006 Harvest Fair at the Jackson County Fairgrounds in Central Point. The event started Saturday and continues today.
A chili cook-off, grape- stomp championships, lawnmower races and antique- tractor pulls are among the featured events at the annual celebration of fall.
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Hahn, who has trained border collies to herd for 30 years and teaches herding clinics, said she tells people they need to know a few things before bringing their first border collie home.
"Border collies really don't make really good pets," she said. "They're wonderful interior decorators and excellent excavators in the yard."
They need a task — and herding sheep, cattle, ducks or reindeer suits them fine.
She said a good herding dog will settle its stock right away rather than get the animals agitated, and must work at a smooth, calm pace.
"They have to not work herky jerky," she said. A good herding dog will have a sound temperament and not be too shy or too aggressive.
"Another thing I look for is bloodlines," she said.
Rose said she uses sheep to train dogs and then sells the sheep to help fund her hobby.
"Any one of my dogs will handle 300 or 400 sheep," she said. And dogs such as Lisa Marie make great employees, she added, because they don't require worker's comp or a lot of sleep.
Sheep prefer canines to humans, too.
"Once the sheep are used to them, it's less stressful," Rose said.
Pat Cane of Sprague River ran her 5-year-old border collie, Tweed, through the course, as a dozen intense border collie onlookers watched from the sidelines.
The canine crowd relaxed when she uttered "That'll do."
Hahn said she thought the 1995 film "Babe," about a pig raised by border collies that learns to herd sheep, has made the sport more popular.
In fact, she said, many of the herding scenes in the movie were accurate.
"There's a lot of it that is very spot-on," she said.
Reach reporter Meg Landers at 776-4481 or e-mail mlanders@mailtribune.com.
