April 1, 2022

2021 Meeker Classic Champions
Scott Glen & Alice, Nine-year-old Female
New Dayton, Alberta CANADA

The most decorated Border Collie in North America added the final jewel to her crown by winning the 2021 Meeker Classic.

Scott Glen and Alice from New Dayton Alberta made an amazing run on Sunday, September 12th . The sheep were tough, and it took most of the last eleven minutes of the run to pen the sheep. Closing the gate with 2 seconds left Alice and Scott received a score of 150 points that put them on top above Barbara Ray and Grantham (2nd) Millboro, VA and Faansie Basson and Jack (3rd) from Chico, Texas. This marks Scott’s third Championship in Meeker – winning in 2019 with Taff and in 2005 with Pleat.

Alice, a rough-coated, speckled tri-color border collie . . .

was sired by Scott’s Don and out of Wendy Schmaltz’s Gin. Gin goes back to Scott’s foundation stud Sweep who Scott competed at Meeker with in 1994. Pleat, who won Meeker in 2005 was a Sweep grandson. Alice’s sire, Don was also a 2-time National Champion. Born in November 2011, Alice was always “cock of the walk” – she was sure about who she was and what she was here for says Scott. She first turned on to sheep at 10 weeks old when Jenny, Scott’s wife was trying to get a picture of Alice with a lamb. She balanced and held that single lamb to Jenny like an open dog. Scott didn’t start her formal training until she was about 10 months old. She soaked it up quickly and won the Nursery Nationals before she was two.

Like her father, Don,

she read her sheep well. If she met nervous sheep, she would open up her flanks to relax them. This worked to her favor at her first nursery finals when the other young dogs didn’t know how to handle the sheep. She tended to run wide on her left outrun and that could be trouble in some trials, so Scott had to watch that. Alice was very much a family dog and had run of the house or camper. She was close to Jenny, but if Scott needed her she would go without a backward glance. It was that bond and partnership that helped Alice achieve what she did. She could handle things herself but was willing to take direction too.

Alice had four litters

but not many pups. Jenny runs her son Grit who was 9th at Meeker in 2021 and won the biggest Heart Award. Scott runs her son Tim in cattle and sheepdog trials and will be running her youngest son, Roy this year in nursery. Alice’s grand daughter, Mist is the pup most like Alice and they have high hopes for her.

Scott Glen grew up on a cattle ranch

in Southern Alberta, Canada. His family always had ranch dogs around, but they weren’t expected to help much with the stock work. When he was in his early twenties, he decided to start raising sheep. Scott attended a sheep convention where he was planning to learn how to shear but got distracted by a sheepdog herding demonstration. He never made it to the shearing class, but he has been hooked on herding ever since. Scott has been training border collies to herd sheep and cattle for over 25 years now and made it a full-time profession in 1997. He and his wife Jenny manage their kennel, Alta-Pete Stock Dogs (named after his family’s Scottish clan motto). Alta-Pete means “Aim High”. Most winters they can be found on their Alberta ranch where Scott trains sheep herding dogs for customers. Jenny does the night lambing and Scott takes over in the morning. They spend two months each spring trialing and giving clinics and then summertime finds them getting ready for the fall trials. During the fall, they’re back on the road trialing again at Soldier Hollow, Meeker and the National Finals.

Scott’s first mentor was Richard Tipton of Alberta who sent him home with a book by Barbara Carpenter called, “The Border Collie – Basic Training for Sheepwork”. That is where he learned most of his early training. Later Bill Berhow and Alasdair MacRae were influential in Scott’s work. Scott credits Alice with teaching him that “odd disobedience to commands is not always bad.”

After winning Meeker . . . .

Alice became the most highly decorated border collie in North America. Sadly only weeks later, while traveling east to the USBCHA National Finals, Alice was diagnosed with a brain tumor. Scott’s wife Jenny best describes Alice’s final journey: “The brain tumor grew rather rapidly and she ended up almost totally blind and with severe dementia. We had to put her down the day after we got home from the finals. We keep saying we can’t believe she won Meeker just the month before. You gotta’ be at the top of your game to do that and a month later she barely knew her name. The two things she still knew were sheep and Scott. I had her with me when Scot ran Pip in the double lift at Dave Imas’ trial and when the sheep ran past, she picked up her nose and started sniffing the air towards them and then, when Scott was having trouble with the pen she was trying to get out there and help him. She couldn’t see him, but she could hear him. A testament to the instinct in these dogs that the last thing her brain held on to was her master and her desire to work for him.”  

That says it best about Alice and about most Border Collies!

 

Alice’s Record:

Meeker Classic Champion (2021) Canadian Champion (2018), Canadian Reserve Champion (2015), Kentucky Bluegrass Classic Champion (2018, 2019) and Reserve Champion (2021), Soldier Hollow Gold Medalist (2018), Silver Medalist (2019); USBCHA National Nursery Champion (2013), Reserve National Nursery Champion (2014); USBCHA National Open Champion (2016, 2017, 2019); Western Canadian Champion (2016, 2017, 2020) and Reserve Champion (2021).