Tredegar shepherd scoops international sheepdog title (From South Wales Argus)

Tredegar shepherd scoops international sheepdog title

12:50pm Friday 14th September 2012 in News By Argus reporter

A SHEPHERD won the driving championship at the International Sheepdog Trials last week.

Jeff Hudd, 60, and his collie Tysswg Nell, six, from Tredegar battled fierce competition to secure the victory for Wales on Friday.

The trials were held at Redland Farm, just outside Cardiff, and a record number of people from across the world attended the event.

Mr Hudd said: “I grew up on a farm, so I have always been around sheepdogs. Now we live on a hill farm in Tredegar and keep a lot of sheep, so there are always dogs around.

“I’m a breeder of collies and have had the same brood for more than 35 years.

“I have competed in trials before, but have never made it to a national level before.

“It was tremendous to win after all this time.

There is a lot of work that goes into training for an event like that, and to be chosen to represent your country on the day and know that the judges think you are capable of winning, it’s fantastic.

“It was nerve racking because there are no qualifying rounds, so you just have to hope on the day that you can get 50 sheep herded in a straight line for 800 yards. It’s a tricky though, because it goes against the dog’s nature.

Only some dogs take to it, and luckily Tysswg Nell is one of them.”