Nobody checks for pedigree, a shiny coat or the color of eyes at the Super Bowl of sheep dog trials.
It isn't beauty but brains and brawn that count at the Meeker Sheep Dog Classic, where the sheep are mean, the course is tough and one panting participant even dropped dead from exhaus-tion."This is more like combat than traditional trials," said the trials' judge, James Smith, of South Ayrshire, Scotland, who is a director of the International Sheepdog Society.
Five-thousand or so people watched the ninth annual event as border collies averaging 40 pounds attempted roundups of 150-pound Rambouillet ewes just down from hills, where they contended with coyotes, bears and cougars.
"They've just been pulled in off pasture, and they don't like what's happening," said Gus Halandras, a sheep rancher and one of the event's organizers.
No biting, or gripping as it is called, is allowed. There's no barking, either. It doesn't help. The dogs just have to stare the sheep down to get them to run through gates and into a pen.
Sheep resistance ranged from waving a hoof defiantly at the dogs to just refusing to move. It was especially brutal with the sun blazing down on dogs not used to the 6,240-foot altitude.
A small pen labeled "Dog Oasis," was set up just outside the judging area. A big bucket of water sat inside - not for drinking, but for dunking. Dogs jumped in to cool off.
This year's winner, Molly, owned by Bruce Fogt, editor of Working Border Collie magazine, is a living example of just how tough the event can be. She was knocked out of last year's trials when a sheep ran over her and dislocated her shoulder.
For the record, it was a dog-only event: No pigs allowed. Not even a movie star like Babe, who learns the secret sheep password for dog trials in a movie that had surprising success this summer.
The four-day event drew almost 100 dogs from all over the world. On the final day, Sunday, 10 dogs and handlers remained in the running. Only three were able to finish all the assigned tasks within the allotted 30 minutes.
First the dogs had to run out 500 yards and bring in 10 sheep and guide them through "fetch" gates. Then the handlers whistled or shouted "Look back!" and the dog went back to bring in another 10 sheep.
The dogs then drove the 20 sheep through gates before bringing them into a larger circle called the "shedding ring."
The final, and toughest, part of the event came when the dogs had to maneuver five collared sheep from the herd into a separate pen, fighting the ewes' instinctive attempts to follow the group.
Humans could only stand by and marvel.
"You could take 20 people out there and they couldn't do what those dogs are doing," Halandras said. "They could wave jackets and shout, and the sheep would just run around them."