BY DENNIS SMITH
Has Meeker Gone to the Dogs? Every September, this Colorado town becomes the home of the Meeker Classic Sheepdog Championship Trials
“That’ll do, Pig.” I can’t help it. Farmer Hoggett’s humble praise of his pet pig’s performance in the heartwarming 1995 film “Babe,” automatically pops into my head every time someone mentions border collies. If you saw the movie, you’ll remember Babe was the doggedly optimistic barnyard piglet that aspired to win a national sheepdog trial so as to avoid the seeming inevitability of being processed into a pair of smoked hams, a side of bacon and somebody’s pulled pork sandwich.
The film succeeded on several levels: The precocious piglet won first place in the trial and saved its bacon (so to speak). The movie won a coveted Oscar and 17 other awards and grossed over $240 million. Its most unlikely achievement may be that it opened the eyes of unsuspecting audiences around the world to the remarkable talents of border collies and the highly competitive sport of sheepdog “trialing.” Stock dogs of various pedigrees have existed since prehistoric times, but border collies are a breed unto themselves. Developed and bred in the border country (hence the name) between Scotland and England in the late 19th century specifically to locate, gather and herd flocks of sheep across rugged terrain, they possess an uncanny ability to interpret and control the movements of sheep. And they do it all relying almost entirely on instinct, catlike reflexes, predatory posturing and an intense, intimidating stare known simply as “eye.”
Responding to a variety of vocal commands and whistle signals from skilled handlers, they can also shed, or separate, selected sheep from a flock and pen them with amazing precision. It’s no secret that a single well-trained border collie can do the work of five men on foot or horseback.The first sheepdog trials evolved as a way for shepherds to test their handling skills and determine the superiority of their individual dogs. They originated in New Zealand’s McKenzie region in the 1860s but spread quickly to Australia, then Wales, Scotland, Ireland and eventually the U.S., where today they’re enjoying increasing popularity with participants and spectators alike.
Surprisingly, one of the most challenging and prestigious sheepdog trials in the world takes place every fall in Meeker. This September the town is proud to be celebrating the event’s 25th anniversary.
Interestingly, the name “Meeker Classic” originated in the 1987 when determined little northwest Colorado mountain town aspired to sponsor a champion sheepdog trial to stave off looming economic despair. Like the movie “Babe,” the Classic was an immediate and smashing success.
Not only did it draw some of the best trialing teams in the international circuit — thereby saving the town’s financial bacon, so to speak — the trial proved to be one of the most demanding the handlers had ever faced. They’ve been coming back ever since, joined by other competitors from around the world to take a crack at what some have referred to as “The Mother of All Sheepdog Trials.”
Professional trainer and handler Kathy Knox confessed that winning the Meeker Classic proved more difficult than winning the Nationals, and she’s done both. In fact, she won the Nationals before she could win at Meeker, which somehow makes the point.
“If you can win at Meeker, you can win anywhere,” said Bud Boudreau. And he should know. Bud and his border collies have accrued a record of top 10 wins spanning 30 years of competition in trials on both sides of the Atlantic, including the World Sheepdog Championships, National Finals, National Nursery Finals and, eventually, the Meeker Classic, an event he’s attended faithfully since its inception 25 years ago.
More than just a formidable competitor, Boudreau also serves as a judge in national competitions and is a lifelong professional trainer responsible for schooling border collies and handlers for working sheep ranches from South Dakota to Texas and as far away as Argentina, where it’s been his distinct pleasure to work with gauchos on the acclaimed ranches of South America. In short, where sheepdogs and trialing are concerned, he’s seen it all and considers the Meeker Classic the “toughest of the tough.”
No other trial in his experience so accurately duplicates the challenge of gathering and moving a flock of sheep under real-world conditions. More than any other, the Classic tests the true potential of a dog and his handler.
“It can also be humbling,” he said and fondly told the story of his first experience at Meeker. “I remember it vividly. You have to understand, these are green sheep, really green … brought down from remote alpine pastures and held in isolation until the day of the trial. Some of them had rarely, if ever, seen a human being, much less a stock dog.
“When they saw my collie coming for them, they bolted to the backside of the hill where, unbeknownst to the rest of us, cowboys were at work driving another big flock down from winter pasture. The trial sheep joined up with the cowboys’ flock, and of course the dog tried to gather the whole shebang. The cowboys didn’t know a trial was underway on the other side of the mountain and tried to drive the dog off. It was a nightmare — which is precisely the point. It was unlike anything any of us had ever encountered at a trial, but it was exactly the sort of thing that can happen on a working ranch. It was the real deal, and many of us were addicted from the get-go.”
Because a fresh batch of sheep is recruited for each run to ensure all teams compete on an equally difficult playing field, other pros had similar bewildering experiences at the Classic that day. Herb “Hub” Holmes, who drew the initial run at the opening event, actually ended up calling his dog off in disbelieving frustration, only to discover as the day went on almost nobody’s dogs could handle those wildly unpredictable ewes.
Meeker’s super-spooky range ewes and high-elevation Rocky Mountain terrain may have earned the high praise and enduring respect of competitors, but its townspeople, sponsors, vendors, shopkeepers, hoteliers and supporting volunteers have turned the occasion into a collective effort that is the talk of the international trialing community.
The entire town mobilizes behind the Classic, and everywhere you go from Main Street to the trial field, something is going on — food and craft festivals, pancake breakfasts, evening barbecues, open air concerts in the town square, dog training demonstrations, lamb cooking classes. Artists from around the world fly in to compete for thousands of dollars in prizes. High schools and middle and elementary schools from surrounding communities schedule educational field trips to the Classic.
Bagpipers play, and horse-drawn carriages shuttle spectators back and forth between all the activities. It’s a truly a marvelous undertaking. Amanda Milliken, 2009 first place winner at Meeker, called it “a happening.” Jack Knox, another world-class trainer and charter Meeker competitor from Scotland who now lives in the U.S., described the atmosphere in Meeker during trial week as “electrifying.” “They talk about Meeker in Scotland, for crying out loud,” he said.
One year Jack Knox met a spectator from Georgia. “Said he came here a few years back on vacation to see the Rockies, doesn’t own a sheepdog and never saw a trial before, but he experienced the Classic and he’s been coming back ever since. It’s that kind of party,” he explained.
In Boudreau’s travels between sheep ranches and trialing events, he often finds himself caught in those spontaneous, small-talk conversations that invariably pop up between complete strangers sharing adjoining airline seats. “It never fails to amaze me how many of them ask me if I’ve ever heard of Meeker as soon as they find out I train border collies. Seems like everyone knows about it,” he said.
The Classic generates over a million dollars for the local economy and pumps another quarter million into the surrounding region. That’s an economic stimulus package the feds would do well to emulate, and an incredible example of how good old-fashioned American ingenuity, determination and hard work can overcome seemingly impossible odds.
The parallels between the Classic’s success and the movie “Babe” seem obvious enough, but a paraphrased tag line from another inspiring movie comes to mind too: “Build it, and they will come.” Trainers, handlers, hard-working collies and the people of a small mountain town have all come together to put on a show that that pulls crowds from around the world. To which we should all say, “That’ll do, Meeker.”
Dennis Smith is a freelance outdoors writer, photographer and columnist from Loveland. Dennis writes a monthly outdoors column for Colorado Country Life. His work appears in several national and regional publications.