The sheep dog trials a very popular for farm working dogs. The trials are very similar to the daily tasks the working dog will perform on a farm, just slightly modified to be more controlled. The dogs would be released into a fenced area and are tested on how well they can bring sheep to where they need to be inside a fence. If the dog gets off task and wonders a bit, this can cause a loss of points. A dog can get disqualified for biting sheep. The whole trial is also timed. The main event of trials is handlers working their dogs in …show more content…
More and more people own these dogs as a family pet, rather than a working sheep dog. Since these dogs are made for working, they tend to be high in energy and require plenty of exercise. To release their energy, owners tend to use agility courses as an outlet. Due to high intelligence, these dogs can be easily trained for agility. In order to be good at agility a dog must have speed as well as the ability to clear jumps and other obstacles. Due to their natural athleticism, they have no problem finishing these tasks. There is a minor setback that comes with natural speed of a border collie. They tend to get eager and will go too fast, even faster than their handler. This leads to the dog potentially messing up. But if they complete the course successfully it is done with speed and grace, making Border collies a need to watch dog on agility courses. As well as using these dogs for agility, they can be used for search and rescue. If the dog is properly trained to avoid other animals that they instinctively herd, and adapts to find missing people, they can be very useful in the search and rescue field (Collier