In only five years sheepdog triallist Angie Blackmore has accomplished what many handlers take a lifetime to master. Roy Lewis meets her to gain an insight into the world of top flight sheepdog trialling.

Angie Blackmore keeps her whistle about her at all times.

IT'S not easy breaking into the male-dominated world of training and trialling sheepdogs and harder still to win national acclaim. But Angie Blackmore of Bromsberrow Heath, just off the main Ledbury to Gloucester road, has achieved just that.

In only five years she has accomplished what many handlers take a lifetime to master.

She has qualified for the English national and, if successful, will go forward to the international arena.

Along the way, Angie has bagged many other accolades with her Border Collies and among them is the honour of being the first woman to qualify to show skill and communication with her dog in the main ring at the Royal Welsh Show.

Although very modest about her achievements, she believes she has a natural feel for the working dog.

"I just love working them. I think I can look at pups and just get a feeling whether or not they are the right ones," she says.

Five years ago Angie had never owned a sheepdog. She had worked spaniels and kept Jack Russells but when she increased her flock of sheep she decided to go to Lancashire to buy a Border collie to help her control them. It opened up a new world for her.

Some of Angie's trophies

"I became fascinated with the Border collie as a working dog. They are so intelligent and second only to a human being as far as intelligence goes.

"Their whole personality is addictive and when you are bonded well with them they want to please you in everything they do. I get a lot of satisfaction working with the dogs every day."

Peg hitches a ride with Angie Blackmore on her quad bike.

She found herself glued to the television to watch the One Man and His Dog series, a video of which has just been released. Angie is featured in the next series, due to be shown at Christmas, following her trialling at Berwick House in Wiltshire.

So determined was Angie in her thirst for knowledge that she admits she kept approaching some of the leading handlers in the region.

"I am a very determined person and fortunately I found Derek Lloyd of Leominster, Dick Roper in the Cotswolds, and Jack Chamberlain from Brecon, so helpful," she says. "With such a lot of experience between them I learned a lot." She put back something into the sport last year by being secretary of the major international sheepdog trials, held at Howle Hill, Ross-on-Wye.

A pup stands up to a sheep - the first sign of a good working dog, says Angie.

One of her first local trials was at Mathon, in 2002. Since then she has competed each year, collecting three wins.

Angie divides her time breeding and training her dogs and looking after a flock of 650 Welsh and Suffolk-cross sheep on the 80-acre holding, leaving her little or no time to train other people's dogs.

Angie regularly trials five dogs and, of seven youngsters, she has four ready to run in nursery trials.

"A lot of success is being able to read the sheep. Immediately I see the front sheep turn her head left or right I move the dog," she explains. "Trialling is a team effort and a great leveller and you do have to have a great sense of humour and endure a lot of teasing.

"But there's a great atmosphere at the trials and I just love working the dogs."

One of Angie's dogs, doing what it does best.

She feels that it's difficult to put a time plan on training - even for basic training - as dogs vary in their ability. Full training takes about two years, sometimes longer. A dog can then be worth about £2,000 although Angie knows of one that sold for £3,600.

At about 10 months, a naturally-talented dog will instinctively go around sheep while others tend to work them differently and not so effectively, Angie reveals. "For every one fully-trained Border Collie that makes the grade, there are five or six that don't and these often go to the farm."

She's happy for dogs to be sold to farms because the Border colie is very active and needs plenty of work, which she reckons many holdings provide.

11-week-old pups learn the ropes around Angie's farmyard.

However, she finds it difficult parting with them because every one receives individual attention.

Operating under the Rosewood prefix, she starts training pups at 9-10 months. "They are ready to go on when they have a keen instinct to want to work with sheep. Most collies will work with cattle too," she says. She has what she calls ankle-clinging sheep to help train her youngsters.

"These sheep are more interested in me and not afraid of the dog," she explains. "My Welsh sheep are light moving and the Suffolks are heavy and a bit daunting for young pups but working them is all good for training."

Agility training is also essential for development and to occupy their minds, insists Angie.

Things have generally gone well during four years of trialling but learning to whistle proved something of a stumbling block.

"It seemed to take ages to master it properly and now I find the whistle hangs aroung my neck just about all the time for fear of losing it."