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www.jewishnews.co.uk
Jewish News 14 September 2017
Special report / Israeli sheepdogs
Israel’s flock stars The Scottish Highlands it’s not. In an unusual story that calls to mind Jamaica’s legendary Olympic bobsleigh team, Stephen Oryszczuk speaks to the team behind Israel’s determined but unlikely first entry into the World Sheepdog Trials, and discovers one entrant who had the right idea – but chose the wrong animals to practise his new skills
Adi Etrog and Daisy
Think of sheepdog handlers, and you’d probably think of the broad accents, tweed jackets and deep-lined faces of generational farmers, crook in-hand, whistling their collies through the Welsh valleys and over the Scottish Highlands. You might not think of Israelis. That could be set to change, however, after a flat-cap raising first Israeli entry into the triennial World Sheep Dog Trials, held on Sunday in the Netherlands. Among the 243 competitors from 30 countries were Adi Etrog with her dog Daisy and Itai Yatzkan with his dog Munch, performing the outrun, the lift, the fetch, the driving, the shed, the pen and the single, watched closely by English team coach Charles Bowen-Perkins. To paraphrase the surprised presenter of BBC Radio 4’s On Your Farm who followed the team’s travails, these Israelis bring to mind the Jamaican bobsleigh team immortalised in the film Cool Runnings. “It’s not very popular in Israel, it’s a small thing,” says Adi, who got into it by accident. “I was given a border collie as a present. I started to train her, just the usual stuff, then when she was a little above two years old we bred her and found a farmer who wanted to buy the pups, but he had one condition – that I had to train them to sheepdog working.”
Itai with Munch and Ruth Sanderson
Not having done it before, Adi started looking for someone to teach her. “There was no system, so I went on the internet and bought Andy Nichols’ DVD, because he said he can teach anyone to train a border collie.” Adi’s pepper farm was just in its first year, so she bought Indian Runner ducks for her dogs to practise on. “It was so enjoyable. After six weeks, I was hooked.”
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