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Dog trainer leads top prices
A SHEEPDOG trainer from Howden proved who was leader of the pack when he raised the highest price in the world at sale from one of his latest pupils.
John Bell sold his 14-month-old Border Collie, Ron, for 5,145 at Skipton last week when he put him up for auction - and got the second highest price with his bitch, Floss.
Both were bought by farmers from Scotland who have had dogs from Mr Bell before - Ron has gone to Perthshire and Floss to north of Oban.
"It is the 15th time I have topped the sale during the eight years I have been going there," said Mr Bell, who is in his 70s, adding that the price Ron fetched had beaten the previous at sale record of 4,305, also at Skipton, in 2004.
Mr Bell first started training dogs as a teenager on his parents' farm in the Yorkshire Dales.
"I found I had a knack and it was good for pocket money, as I sold them for 15 to 20," he said. "But it went out of the window when I started work as there wasn't time."
He farmed in Lancashire and Wetherby before moving to Howden. He has always liked dogs though and when he retired 12 years ago he took up the training again.
"I have never been interested in trialling but I love teaching young dogs," he said. "I breed some myself - all of which I keep - and buy some at about six or seven months old. I choose them by their temperament and what interest they show when they are around sheep."
He trains up to six at a time, which are at different stages of learning. "You can't rush them. It's a matter of letting them use as many of their natural skills as possible while training them to recognise and obey commands.
"You have to be firm - you don't need to be rough or hard but they have to know that you are leader of the pack. They respect and respond to that."
When they are ready for auction, Mr Bell advertises them in specialist magazines as well as them being listed in the sale catalogue.
"I also like potential buyers to come to the farm and see them before the sale as there is only four minutes to buy once there and it is a big risk for someone to buy a dog they don't know."
While he feels sad when he has to part from his dogs he says they are going off to do what they are bred to do - to work with sheep.
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Weather for Goole
Wednesday 08 February 2012
Today
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