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Finland Clinics and AHBA Trial
My Summer 2009 Trip
Can you imagine taking a trip halfway around the world and stepping out into colors you hadn’t seen in half a year, and weather that was crisp and cool and bright when what you left was hot, humid and brown? Finding a language totally unlike my own, and dog breeds that not only had I never heard of, but had trouble pronouncing the names? This is where I found myself this past July much to my amazement and delight! It was a trip at least 7 months or more in the planning and things just easily fell into place. Originally, I was going over to give some sheep clinics. There was going to be a fun trial during that time frame, so I suggested that since I was an AHBA judge, why not see if they could get sanctioning, and amazingly, Sinikka Kumpusalmi was able to pull that off! She hosted the very first AHBA trial in all of Europe! I saw 17 different breeds of dogs at that trial. We ran the HCT class (Herding Capability Class), JHD class (Junior Herding Dog) and then two levels of the Herding Ranch Dog class. I will list the breeds below.
After a series of four flights, and a couple days of rest and adjusting to the eight hours of time difference, my first job was a cattle clinic for the Finnish Herding Club held in the city of Juva. The president of the club, Heikki, also hosted the clinic at the dairy where his family and two other families work the 250 cow operation on their Muumaa farm. The clinic was predominantly attended by Border Collies, but also by an Australian Shepherd and a Kelpie. On our way home, Sinikka’s car broke down so we had our first Finnish adventure getting back to our home! Thankfully, it doesn’t get dark there until about midnight, so our rescuer didn’t have to drive the two lane roads in the dark!
The following day was a multi breed clinic and that is where I met my first Lapland Reindeer Dog and a Pumi. There were also Smooth Collies, Shelties, and an Aussie. The next clinic was also an all-breed clinic with an Iceland Shepherd, Catalonian Shepherds, Kelpies, and a Cao Serra de Aires to name a few. The final clinic before the trials was exclusive for Australian Shepherds, which is my breed. In between clinics, my daughter and I were able to visit two ladies that had bred their bitches to my male a couple years ago. We have been email friends since then and they hosted us at their homes and showed us some of the special areas of their country. Pia lives on a dairy so we enjoyed lots of rich dairy food and cream skimmed right off the top of the fresh milk! She also lives in the Karelian region of Finland, which is right next to Russia and we were able to see the border area of Finland and Russia. I never dreamed I would ever see even a small part of Russia!! My other friend is Miimi and she hosted us at her home and took us to the Valamo Monastery in Finland. This is Finland’s only monastery. What a rich heritage the Russian Orthodox Church has there. We also enjoyed a lake cruise in Kuopio, visiting some different shopping areas, and just seeing some villages as well as Finland’s capital, Helsinki. The countryside was simply lovely with some of the most beautiful birch and pine trees I have ever seen with so many lakes it made this Texan want to bring that water back home with me! Getting to know the culture, values and ideas of this country were fascinating, and it gave me insight into the people and how they think in general as well as how they regard their dogs and integrate them into their lives and work. .
When I arrived, Sinikka’s farm was all meadow with no fences. In Finland, there aren’t many fences since anyone has the right to walk onto your property and pick berries or walk right through it. Quite a different approach to the way we do things here in the U.S.! We started my first clinic with just electric netting in a fifty foot circle. It was the first time her sheep had ever done anything like that! They had usually been worked as a whole flock and taken through the forests for each dog’s lesson. So, it was new to the dogs and the sheep. I couldn’t think how we were going to be ready for a trial!! I drew up some basic plans for the two men who were going to help build the JHD arena. We drew them up on the back of some cardboard. Then I left for a couple days on one of my visits to my friends. When I returned, they were working on a round pen of wire and wood posts and the arena was going up along with holding pens etc… Amazing! What I did discover was the men had made gates only 4 foot wide. Thankfully, I discovered this before they finished the take pen gate and I let them know that had to be 10 feet, the full width of the pen! The saving grace is that Sinikka’s sheep are very used to little gates and pens since they spend probably half the year in a barn with little gates and pens so we had no problems with them whatsoever! Everyone pitched in and lined the round pen with snow fence to help the sheep see the fencing and not jump it or run into it. Girls were painting panels everywhere I looked as the men finished building them. The arena was finished, the holding pens were done and the men had made a beautiful bridge for the ranch trial as well as other holding pens, and panels. All this was done in less than a week! I kept inviting them to come to my house and help me!! They just laughed!! I may be the first judge who has gotten to check out a raw sight and choose where and how to place an entire arena and then have it all built from the ground up! The arena was a tough one to trial in because there was a big drainage ditch running through the middle of it, just before the center panels, with a few rocks thrown in for good measure. It made quite an obstacle in and of itself!
As the building progressed, handlers descended upon the farm and wanted to practice! They had mostly been working the sheep in a large group and not in any sort of precise manner, and certainly not doing take pens or repens! I think everyone began to see they had much to learn unless they had already been trialing in another venue. Tents were rented as well as food vendors brought in food for the contestants and viewers to buy for lunch and snacks. It was all very festive and the day it rained it was also quite a welcome and thoughtful provision!!
Sinikka and I walked the ranch course and tweaked a few things trying to get a good flow for the course. I think this may have been one of the more challenging courses I’ve seen in awhile! The ranch course began in the take pen and then they had to take the sheep through the center panels of the JHD, and out through the 4 ft. gate into a wide alley. If they were level one, they took them through another 4 ft. gate across from the one they just left, or level 2, they went over the bridge. Then they went to the sorting area. The sorting area was quite a challenge since there was neither back gate nor front gate either. The dog had to hold them in a holding area but not push until the handler got to the swing gate as there was no stop. The handlers had to put 5 sheep into each side pen but the swing gate left one side open to the dog. So, if the dog didn’t hold them in, the sheep could come back out. If the dog didn’t stay out, there would also be problems! Timing was critical with those tasks. If they did it too quickly, then all 10 sheep would be in one pen and the sort would have to be done again. If the dog didn’t hold them in the holding area, the sheep would leave and the handler would have to start all over again there. After the sort, the sheep had to be let out of both pens, then either driven or fetched to a grazing point and held. The dog had to hold the sheep, then the handler recalled the dog and sent them on an outrun, lift and fetch around the post and put them through the panels and then repenned the sheep. The draw was very strong in one direction as that is the way they were used to going home and they only had hot wire mesh with no electric turned on. One dog in level two had almost a perfect run going but pushed just a little bit and got the sheep thinking of going home and they went into the fence and pushed through for an NQ run. That was a heartbreaker! But it had been established ahead of time if they got off course, an NQ would be the result.
We had so many different breeds of dogs attending the HCT classes, and many did a very good job. I saw Mudi’s Briards, ACD’s BC’s Aussies, Kelpies, Schapendori’s, Croatian Shepherds, Shelties, Picards, Catalonian Shepherds, Pumi’s, Pyrenean Shepherds and others I can’t recall! It was hugely successful and people are clamoring to have another trial next year. I think it is safe to say that an all breed trial has never been done in this country before to this degree. It is a new concept that breeds other than the BC and Kelpie can work stock, so promoting these new ideas is not only healthy for the Finnish dog world, but I think it should be encouraging to those that own these other working breeds to challenge themselves to get out there and see just what instincts their dogs have and what they might be capable of doing! It is a wonderful thing to see our dogs work with the instincts they are born with!!
I can’t thank my new friends enough for their wonderful hospitality and the friendship that was extended to me and my daughter. We made so many friends and memories that we will cherish! I think this may be the very beginning of a movement in the Finnish herding community to start helping other working breeds bring out their latent working instincts and I think Sinikka Kumpusalmi is at the forefront of this effort. I wish everyone much luck with this endeavor and their dogs~!!!
Linda Bell
List of dog breeds attending the trial:
Beauceron
Briard
Pyrenean Sheepdog
Sheltie
Picard
Australian Cattle dog
Serra de Aires Shepherd
Catalonian Shepherd
Lappland Reindeer dog
Kroatian Shepherd
Hungarian Pumi
Hungarian Mudi
Border Collie
Kelpie
Koolie
Australian Shepherd
Shapendoi
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