Roscommon hosts 2025 Irish National Sheep Dog Trials

RTÉ News​

4 days ago

Teamwork, precision and a keen eye for stray sheep is the aim of the game this week in Lisbrock, Brideswell, Co Roscommon for the 2025 Irish National Sheep Dog Trials.
The three-day event which ends today sees 150 sheep dogs and their handlers compete for a chance to represent Ireland at the International Sheep Dog Trials in Scotland next month.
There are 50 trials for individual dogs each day, with a doubles category also held.
The National Singles Trials are run over a 400-yard course with five sheep and there is a maximum time of 15 minutes to complete the course.
Judges mark penalties deducted for errors made by the dog.
Miriam Lettner competed with two of her dogs at the event who "had a good run".
"They got on well … I'm very proud of them both," she said.
On what it takes to train a competitive sheep-herding dog, she said: "It depends on how they start off.
"You'd hope that all pups that you have have the natural instinct to walk sheep and cattle, and then it just depends how they start.
"Every dog is a little bit different and you adjust your training to whatever the dog offers."
Ms Lettner said she uses a mixture of "whistles and voice commands" to communicate with her dogs in competition.
"You have the sheepdog whistle, and you usually start off with voice commands, and then you put the whistle commands on the voice commands so that you can use both. So on the distance you use the whistle and close by you can use your voice commands," she said.
The trials are organised by a voluntary committee under the umbrella of the International Sheep Dog Society.
Chairperson of the Irish National Sheep Dog Trials Barra O'Brien says it's "basically showing how important events like this for, not just the farming community, but also in terms of demonstrating the standards you have in relation to sheep herding".
"It's showing the capability of the working sheep dog. There are a lot of farmers who could not farm without sheep dogs … the hills, the lowlands, you go out there to a field and you try to bring in 100 sheep on your own - it's impossible."
Irish President of International Sheep Dog Society Pat Murphy is responsible for finding suitable locations for the trials, which he says is "getting harder and harder".
He said that a big site is needed where there around 250 sheep available to be used each day. Groups of five sheep are used for each run, but each group is only used once per day.
But Mr Murphy said that because "sheep numbers in Ireland are falling, you go with a really good one (location), and it's important to have a good local committee and shepherds in the area who can let out sheep, take them off the course and keep the event running smoothly".
It's not all about sheep, with some canines honing their skills in different ways.
Donnie Anderson is a sheep farmer in the Dublin mountains, but his sheep dogs also have a unique skill … the ability to herd geese.
Mr Anderson said that "it's handy to be able to do it if you need to bring them in, like this year with the bird flu, they had to be brought in and kept in, and usually they stay out themselves".
"The thing about the geese is I can bring them to a place like here, where there's people and they're not likely to do any damage, to run into somebody or anything, whereas if you had sheep, you couldn't control them without being in a fenced area."
The top 15 performers in Roscommon will go to Scotland next month to represent Ireland at the international trials and compete against other sheep dogs and handlers from across the UK.
John McCullough, Chairman of the International Sheep Dog Society, said it can be really competitive but that Irish dogs easily "hold their corner".
"We've had a number of past winners at events here in Roscommon competing over the past three days. So we have a very, very strong team at this stage, and hopefully we'll bring the supreme championship back to Ireland once again."