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Border collies live a dog's life of Riley
-  The Daily News - Bowling Green, KY. - Melinda J. Overstreet  -

PERRYTOWN - Asking Henry Hinton about his working Border collies is a bit like asking some parents to tell you about their children. "I'm proud to say that the Border collie is the smartest breed dog in the world and the world's number 1 stock dog," he says.

Hinton will show off that pride Sunday as he demonstrates at Glasgow's Highland Games at Barren River Lake State Resort Park how the dogs herd sheep.

Hinton breeds, raises and trains working Border collies on his Allen County farm, where he also raises beef cattle and keeps several sheep.

His first experience with a working dog was the blue healer puppy he and his wife raised. "That was a pretty smart dog, pretty tough dog, but hard headed."

"I had heard about Border collies, so I bought me one," Hinton says. The first Border collie he bought about six years ago was too weak to work cattle, so he wanted a tougher dog, and the second wasn't a good working dog either. Then he bought another one, and she is still around. "Not all Border collies make good working dogs, but not all of any kind make perfect dogs," Hinton says.

Then Hinton bought a stud dog that wasn't very good, so he bought Joe, who is now 7 years old. "He's kind of the granddaddy of all of them," Hinton says. "He's the boss here."

One of Joe's offspring, Mac, just turned 2, and Hinton says he thinks Mac is going to be as good as his daddy.

"I recommend if somebody wants to buy a dog, watch mamma and daddy both work. If he comes from working ancestors, most like he will be a better dog," Hinton says.

All of Kiss' and Tish's ancestors, for example are from the United Kingdom, where Border collies are originally bred. Both of the full sisters made excellent working dogs, but Tish, his favorite died this week. Hinton cries as he talks about her and remembers her award- winning work. "That little dog right there, oh she wanted to please you, she minded," he says.

Nearly 10 minutes before the start of the first Mule Day Parade of the new millennium, Henry Hinton and his pals were making sure they had their act down pat.

Hinton's pals were 30 sheep and two perceptive pooches by the names of Rounder and Hope, border collies who apparently know just how to keep a flock in line. Hinton, while a little anxious before his Mule Day debut, was also noticeably confident.

I guarantee they can keep them in line," said a knowing Hinton of his dogs.

Hinton who trains border collies for a living in Scottsville, KY., was able to keep the sheep in perfect order with Rounder and Hope keeping a collective eye on the action, making sure not one sheep took a b-a-a-ackward step.

As predicted, Hinton's clan was the hit of the parade as they garnered one of the loudest ovations of the afternoon by the thousands who lined Carmack Boulevard. It was just one of the highlights of one of the most star-studded Mule Day parades ever.

COLUMBIA, Tenn. – It may have been a Mule Day parade, but a herd of sheep almost stole the show.

PERRYTOWN - Allen County is going to the dogs this weekend.

Actually the dogs - more than 200 from 10 states - are going to Allen County to participate in Hinton's Stock Dog Championship.

The competition, which stated Friday, and continues today and Sunday at 7:00 a.m., likely will last until mid to late late afternoon each day, or "until we get done," Henry Hinton said.

Stock dogs, those used to herd animals such as cattle and sheep, will compete in five classes: Novice-Novice, Pro-Novice, Nursery, Open-Sheep, and Open-Cattle. There will be two runs in each class and the combined points of the runs will determine the winners.

In each class, the dogs have to round up and fetch a small herd, but as the classes increase in difficulty, the herd will be farther away and the dog will have more obstacles to bring them through, Hinton said.

The Novice-Novice class is for beginning owners and dogs. The Pro-Novice class is for either an experienced handler and an experienced dog vice versa. Those classes competed Friday.

Jim Lowery of Fairview, TN., brought his 14 month old dog Jill to her first competition - and his - in the Novice-Novice class.

"I didn't do well at all, but I did not get disqualified," he said after Jill's first run. "I feel a little better now. I was a little intimidated. ...I figured it would be really competitive and tense, but everybody's been real helpful and real good about giving pointers."

Despite a disappointing run that brought 46 point out of a possible 90, Lowery says he's hooked.

"I think it could sure get under a man's skin and in your blood," he said.

Terry Tubbs of Dalton, GA. went a step further.

"Not everybody can do this and not everybody wants to do this, but it's addictive," he said.

Tubbs said it's hard to find people to have meets, because not everyone has the facilities and it's such a big job to coordinate it all.

"I'm a cattle man and a lot of the meets just have sheep, and (Hinton's) brought the opportunity for the cow people and the sheep people to come together," he said.

This was the second competition for Gary Dockery of Bowling Green, who bought his first stock dog last spring and now has four.

"I went to a couple of trials with Henry Hinton and it looked like fun, so I got into it," he said.

His dogs Dolly and Joe had earned 62 and 53 points in the first runs of the Novice-Novice and Pro-Novice classes respectively.

The Nursery class is for dogs under 30 months old by Dec. 31, and the open classes are just that - there aren't any particular age or experience requirements.

Ken Hilley of Plainsville, GA., is in his seventh year working with stock dogs. No matter how much experience, "you can never reach the goal of knowing it all - it's unlimited," he said.

Hilley said he likes the competition, even though he gets nervous sometimes.

"But once I'm at the handler's post, my pressure's off," he said. "It's a thrill to be able to communicate with the dog through different means - voice, body gestures, and whistle commands - to be productive."

Although it's too late to register for the championship competitions, spectators are welcome. Admission is free. Some bleacher seating is provided, but bringing a lawn chair is suggested. Breakfast and lunch are available.

Local Border collie breeder and trainer Henry Hinton takes time out of his busy work schedule to make visits at Hillcrest Personal Care Home to entertain residents with his collie of many tricks and just some hands-on-petting.

28 Members of an Austrian 4-H group, known as Lanjugend, visited Wisconsin, Illinois, Missouri, and Iowa before arriving in Bowling Green on Saturday.

While in Kentucky the group visited farms in Warren and Allen Counties. One of the farms visited was the Hinton farm in Perrytown, just outside of Scottsville, were Henry Hinton entertained the group by showing off one of his working Border Collies.