More than 26 handlers,106 entries and about 60 dogs competed in the Northern Tasmanian Sheep Dog Championships held at Exeter.

Bernard McGlashan and his dog Drift won the Novice competition. The win was a “surprise”. 

“He’s only young and it’s the second time he’s been out on the ground. I haven’t done a lot with him. But it also depends what sort of sheep you get,” he said. 

Mr McGlashan has been entering in competitions for about 25 years. Nine sheepdogs accompanied him to the weekend-long event. 

“It’s something to do and I enjoy it,” he said. 

“I use the dogs on the farms, so it’s an extension of that, it’s a bit different than farm work but it’s the same principle.” 

The president of the Exeter Sheep Dog Club Alan Middleton said this year’s event had a record number of entries.

“I’ve been here since 2008 and this is the most I’ve seen,” he said.  

“We had too many dogs to get through in two days, so we had to start on Friday.

 “If the dog does a complete course and takes its complete time then there’s 15 minutes with each dog.”

The aim of the trials is to use the dogs to get the sheep in a straight line and bring them around the 10 metre long course. The sheep must remain in the white lines at all times.

Each score starts at 100 and points get deducted each time the dog doesn’t act in the expected way. The highest score wins. 

“The dog has to get a good cast at the start because if he doesn’t then he’ll turn the sheep away from you,” Mr Middleton said.

He said the event was successful because of the way the community treats the contestants. 

“We give them breakfast and morning lunch and dinner and afternoon smoko. We feed them well and they keep coming back. We’ve got a pretty good set up too, everything is spot on,” he said.

The event is held annually.