Turk won his first trial that he competed in at the Del'mar Sheep Dog Trial in 1995 at Six Mile Ranch just west of Kamloops, B.C. It wasn't in Open, Pro/Novice or Novice/Novice. It was the Stockman's Challenge for ranchers and farmers from the area and I think there were 4 or 5 of us in it. It took about 2 minutes to complete the course which was about the same as a Novice/Novice course and Turk was the only dog to finish.

As I used to say in the first three years of trialing, "We got it done but it wasn't pretty". Over the winter of '96 something happened to Turk. I think he grew up and realized that he didn't have to scare the blazes out of everything, be it sheep or cattle or ducks, to get them to move. He settled and got his balance and found the flight zone and learned some pace and I started the 1997 trial year with a dog that was using his head as well as his power.

Turk has always been an extremely courageous and powerful dog, able to move anything. He excelled at cattle trials and still loves to work cattle although we don't do it much anymore. He won his last one at the Wild West Cattle Dog Challenge at the North American Sheep Dog Championship at Tejon Ranch in southern California at the age of 9+ when most cow dogs are starting to get slow.

He has been a dog that started with a green handler (me) and got over all the mistakes I made and still came out on top.
I had one thing going for me when I picked Turk out of the litter of pups born to Dave Ellison's Mint by Dave's Imp. Jim a son of Bobby Dalziel's great Wisp, two-time International Supreme Champion. I had been a dogmaster in the RCMP in the early sixties and I knew when I saw little Turk that he was a brave little boy and would be a courageous dog. He had the most confident eye that he just kind of said to you; " I can handle anything"!! And he could!

Following are some of his accomplishments over the last 7 years that he has competed:

• 1997 British Columbia Open Cow Dog of the year.
• 1998 British Columbia Open Super Dog (Must stand in the top 30% in both sheep and cattle trials. Turk is the only dog in B.C. to win the Super Dog Award since these standards were established)
• 1999 Calgary Stampede Stock Dog $hoot-Out finalist.
• 2000 CBCA Canadian National Finals 2nd Runner-up.
• 2001 Calgary Stampede Stock Dog $hoot-Out finalist.
• 2001 CBCA Canadian National Finals, 5th. Place.
• 2001 British Columbia Open Sheep Dog of the year.
• 2002 Calgary Stampede Stock Dog $hoot-Out $10,000.00 Grand Champion.
• 2002 British Columbia Open Sheep Dog of the year.
• 2002 Farm Fair International Stock Dog Trial 3rd. Place.
• 2002 Wild West Cattle Dog Grand Champion at the North American Sheep Dog Championship, Tejon Ranch, Lebec, CA.
• 2003 Winner of the San Pasqual Sheep Dog Trial at Murietta, CA and 3rd overall in the three trial Hospitality series at 10 years of age.
• Has placed in the top ten at the Western Canadian Championships for the last 5 years.
• 2003 Winner of the Del'mar Driving Championship at the Western Canadian Championship.
• 2003 CBCA Canadian National Finals 7th Place.
• 2003 Reserve British Columbia Open Sheep Dog at 10 1/2 years of age.
• Has won the Perpetual Trophy for Best BC Dog and Handler at the CBCA Nationals the last 4 years.
• Has won the Perpetual Trophy for Best BC Dog and Handler at the Western Canadian Championship the last 3 years.
• Winner of numerous sheep and cattle dog trials both in Canada and the United States.
• Still going strong at 10+ years of age.

DEL'MAR TURK RETIRES AT AGE ELEVEN

TURK WITH SOME OF HIS AWARDS OVER HIS 8 YEARS OF TRIALLING

Turk ran his last trial at Zamora, CA in February of this year. He was eleven years old in April. I had been entertaining the idea of retiring him for a little while after seeing him slow down sometimes to a crawl depending on how he was feeling at the time. This age thing seems to go along quite slowly and then it seems to start progressing rapidly. At Zamora, Turk's outrun on the first day was like watching paint dry and it was particularly painful for me to watch a dog that had been so fast and so strong that he was just a blur on the way out to his sheep and to see him now at such a slow pace. I made the decision that day that this would be his last trial and that he would enjoy the rest of his life with respect and admiration and the memory of the great dog that he once was. He is still a great dog and he has nothing to prove to anyone. He has done it all and never looked back. He is the best thing that ever happened to me and he and I have had, and still have a relationship that will long outlast both our lives. He is still very active as a stud dog and enjoys that very much (who wouldn't) and still does lots of chores around the place and at trials, setting out and exhausting and moving sheep around. He still enjoys the work but he is also quite willing to let some of the young fellows do the hard stuff. He has taught me to be patient and observant; to anticipate what is going to happen, to read the sheep and cattle and to learn as much as I can by watching him to see what he thinks is the right thing to do at the time. I once said at the Calgary Stampede after he won it that Turk didn't make mistakes, that I made the mistakes and that still holds true today. He gave me everything he had and is still giving and he is a gift from God that I most joyously accept! His offspring are the proof of his greatness and have already proven themselves to be worthy dogs, some on ranches and quite a few on the trial field.