Meet the 2011 Judges...

We wish to welcome the following judges to the 2011 National Sheepdog Finals in Carbondale, Colorado: Norman Close, Warren Mick, Frank Cashen, and Peter Gonnet.

Norman Close -- Coeur d'Alene, Idaho

Norman Close was raised on a mixed farm in Lancashire England and has been working with livestock all his life. In 1980 he immigrated to Alberta Canada where he worked on a large dairy farm. He now resides in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho with his wife, Vickie. His full time business, Handhills Border Collie, has produced some of the top dogs in Canada and the US. He has 12yrs. experience training and trailing dogs. His many accomplishments include winning the 2005 Canadian and Western Canadian Championships and placing 5th in the US National Finals.. His training style is "win-win." He believes if you show the dog how to do it right, they never learn to do it wrong. Helping the dog to succeed rather than to fail eliminates confusion and creates good habits! Norm's commitment is to run and breed strong dogs that work well on farms, ranches, and to make successful trial dogs. Additional information about Norm Close can be viewed on his web site www.handhillsbordercollies.com.

Warren Mick -- Altamont, New York

Warren Mick has had Border Collies for over twenty years and has been training and competing with them for nearly as long. He currently lives in Altamont NY with his wife Maria and eleven BCs. Warren is an engineer by trade and worked in the GE gas turbine engineering division until 2007. Warren's BC experience started in 1989 with a pup bred by his sister. Since that first dog, the world of working sheepdogs has become an all-consuming passion. He spends much of his free time training and working his own dogs but also enjoys giving lessons and helping others in training. Warren competes with his BCs at trials around the country and has run in nine USBCHA National Finals and many regional championships. He has put on numerous trials and helped organize many regional finals competitions. He has twice been a director for the USBCHA and has held many positions in the Northeast Border Collie Association. Warren usually takes on several judging assignments each year, and has been fortunate to have been a judge for USBCHA finals in 2006, the Bluegrass Classic in 2006, 2007 & 2011 and the Lacamas Valley Trial in 2010.

Peter Gonnet -- Outlook, Saskatchewan CANADA

Peter Gonnet was raised on a farm in Alberta Canada where he grew up with Border Collies. His Dad used them every day for chores. The Gonnet’s had Scottish shepherds for neighbors which provided the family farm with pups. Peter remembers watching in awe as his neighbors worked their Border Collies herding sheep. He was amazed at how the dogs responded to whistles at such great distances. This curiosity and amazement for the Border Collie has stayed with Peter throughout his adult working life.

Peter and his wife Pam now manage a large grazing reserve looking after 1350 cow calf pairs and have a purebred flock of North Country Cheviots of their own. Peter got his first Border Collie 29 years ago, to help him with his work. He uses his dogs everyday for ranch work and trials as well. Peter believes that your best trial dog must be your best work dog as well. He has won the Canadian Championship and has been Reserve CBCA Champion, Western Canadian Driving and WCC Nursery Champion, nine times SSDA Open Champion, as well he has judged throughout North America.

 

Frank Cashen -- Enniscorthy, Co. Wexford, IRELAND

I was born in 1959 and raised in Offaly, located in the centre of Ireland. I always had an interest in dogs having trained hunting dogs, mostly pointers for hunting pheasants and grouse. In 1990 I got married to Maree and moved to my wife’s farm in Wexford, in the South East corner of Ireland. We have four daughters Mary 19, Aine 15, Claire 14 and Elaine 9. Maree farmed sheep, cattle and horses and I decided to get a border collie pup rather than go herding on
horseback.

                I trained this pup with the help of my neighbors Jim and Toddy Lambe, who were training and trialing collies. In 1993 they encouraged me to take Ben to the nursery trials where we qualified and won the nursery final. At that time I had got and almost trained a second collie a bitch called Jan.
                In 1995 I competed in my first National and made the team with Jan. I also made the team again in 1997 which was the first year for the International to be held in Ireland. Due to being the last Irish dog to qualify I was the first to run in the qualifying which I won. I also ran first in the Supreme and won. Jan had never won an Open trial before and we were the first Irish pair to win the Irish International. In 1999 I won the Irish National Brace with Jan and Spot, and in 2000 I won the same again with Jan and Rosie. Rosie was also Reserve National Champion the same year and qualified for the Supreme, ending up in 12th place. In 2002 Rosie was Reserve National Champion and in 2004 I was Reserve National Brace Champion with Rosie and Sam and came third in the International. Since then I haven’t had any success at national trials. In 2010 I was runner up in the Nursery Finals with a dog called Jip. He is now running well in open classes along with my two other bitches Clare and Fly.
                I've judged numerous trials in Ireland and abroad since 1997 including the 2001 Continental in Paris, Finnish National, Irish National 2007, Kingston Sheep Dog Trials Canada 2007 and 2010, Sonoma San Francisco 2010 & 2011 and the Swiss Open in 2010. I've given numerous clinics in Switzerland and Finland. Since 1998 until March of this year I've been working in construction, but now I have more time to work my dogs.