Early Beginnings

This picture is of competitors at the Muswell Hill Trials, London in 1876. In 1873 the first recorded sheep dog trials were held in Bala, North Wales, but it was not until 33 years later that the International Sheep Dog Society (ISDS) was formed, following a meeting of English and Scottish sheepmen in 1906. In that year, the first International Trials were held in Gullane, Scotland and, except during the war years, these have continued to be an annual event.

You can read much more of the history of the Society on the following pages:

The Start of Trialling - early handlers

An Accumulation of Nations - Scotland, Wales, England, Ireland and then the World

The Growth of the Trials - public spectacles of the 1930's and 40's

The Organizing of the ISDS - early leaders

Presidents and Chairmen - democratic elections of the 1960's

The Office of Secretary - the shapers of the Society fortunes

Caveat and Acknowledgement:  These essays were written for the Society’s 2006 Centenary celebrations by myself. They do not celebrate the best dogs and handlers, because so many excellent books have been written on that subject, and this author cannot add to that which others are better able to do. So, I must apologise that the very purpose of the Society, being the improvement of the shepherd’s dog, is here being disregarded. Instead, the texts hopefully will outline some of the events, the people and the steps that they took to help the Society arrive where it is today, a Century later.

Much of the historic data for the essays has been taken from the book ‘British Sheepdogs’ edited by Eric Halsall and published by the ISDS in 1992. Since the facts will have come from that Editor and the ISDS Secretary at the time, we may be reasonably assured of their accuracy. One danger in repeating others’ ‘facts’ is that any bias or ‘coloured view’ is repeated. Therefore, I have sought to re-interpret some events in the light of other information. Some authors describing the development of sheepdog trialling will repeat the words of James A Reid, a pre-eminent secretary of this Society. Because that Scottish history is well described by him the reader may not appreciate the similar development of the shepherd’s dog in countries beyond Scotland. However, it is an indisputable fact that the majority of the first 100 dogs in the Stud Book come from the Borders of both England and Scotland. Therefore, today’s dog owes much to that part of the country.

Norman Lorton - July 2006