A young lady called Anna has e-mailed me from Leicester, and suggested I write about David Kennard and his sheepdogs. Excellent point, thank you Anna, as I have been meaning to do so for some time now. In fact I meant to do it before his excellent children's series 'Mist - Sheepdog Tales' finished on Channel 5 recently. However I'm sure they'll be repeating it and there are DVD's for sale so, never fear, you haven't missed out completely if you didn't see it. Anne, Hannah and our Roundswell surgery featured in the final episode, as did several of our patients.

I met David many years ago when trying to train my first sheepdog.....

The important lesson I learned from our first meeting was that I had the wrong dog...so a couple of years later I purchased the right dog, which he helped me to train. I reckon I was up to trial standard (I'm not sure if he'd agree.....) but then pregnancy intervened so I had to drop that idea. However, Molly has been an extremely useful sheepdog for the last 10 years, more recently joined by Jack, one of Gail's pups, half-brother to Mist.

David runs a flock of 850 ewes, as well as making films, writing books, competing in sheepdog trials (he was runner-up in the brace competition in the National trial a few years ago) and giving sheepdog demonstrations. He is one of the nicest blokes you could ever hope to meet, and his ability to talk the hindleg off a donkey is legendary; how someone who fits so much into his life can have the time for 1-hour telephone conversations on a regular basis is always a mystery to me.........

The sheepdog demonstrations are a must for both locals and holidaymakers. He often has a falconer there as well and the evening is entertaining, educational, and unmissable for anyone who loves dogs.

The National sheepdog trials this year are at Castle Hill, Filleigh, between 21st and 23rd August. All money raised is going to the North Devon Hospice so it will be a fascinating and worthwhile event to attend.

Check out David's website at www.boroughfarm.co.uk

And don't forget my e-mail address for your comments on anything on the website or the practice -  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it