Wins the First Prize. 113 



her feet in a moment, prevents their exit. John waves his 

 hat to the judges, picks up his coat and stick, receives a 

 signal that all is right, and so concludes the trial. 



It has been a good one ; and everybody says the patient, 

 sturdy Cumbrian's clever little bitch will be " a deuced 

 bad 'un to lick"; and, as a fact, she is, for she wins the 

 first prize. 



The three sheep are turned out of their temporary 

 pen, and without difficulty John, with Fan at his heels, 

 drives them off the ground, and the next competitor is 

 called upon. 



Such is a description of an ordinary trial, which, of 

 course, may be considerably varied according to the nature 

 of the ground over which it is run. Arrangements are 

 generally made by which the puppies, that have usually 

 a special stake for themselves, work over a shorter and 

 easier course than the all-aged dogs, for reasons that will, 

 naturally, be obvious. Although the time test, i.e., the 

 shortest time in which the task is performed, is not 

 absolutely a criterion of the best work ; some arrange- 

 ment as to time must be made, and this is usually left 

 to the discretion of the judges. Thus, if ten minutes (or 

 a quarter of an hour) are allowed in which to perform the 

 allotted work, any dog that occupies that time, either by 

 losing or separating its sheep before half the work is com- 

 pleted, may be struck out altogether ; and, as I have said, 

 a similar penalty attaches where a dog bites his sheep or 

 barks at them to any extent, further than perhaps an odd 

 note or two when such may be absolutely required under 

 extraordinary circumstances. The latter, when the sheep 

 " take steck/' as it were, and refuse to budge from a corner 

 into which they may have run, or have sought refuge in a 



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