Border Collies Corral Sheep In Springdale Rodeo Mutton Bustin' Event

SPRINGDALE -- Frizz darted left then right, running in a black-and-white border collie blur.

Three black Angus cows glared back at her. Suddenly, one cut loose and bounded out of the corner of the yard.

Frizz chased her down, throwing her 30 pounds dangerously close to the hooves of the 600-pound animal. She soon corralled the recalcitrant cow.

Jerry Kever of Tontitown spent time Saturday working with his Frizz, getting his herding dog ready to drive sheep during the Mutton Bustin' events each night of the Rodeo of the Ozarks.

The rodeo continues through Saturday with the children's sheep-riding event starting daily at 6:30 p.m., before the main performance of the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association-sanctioned event. The 4- to 6-year-old winners of the early event will take that woolly ride again during the regular rodeo performance.

Kever and Frizz will be there, too.

Kever's mentor, Jack King of Centerton, and Robbie Kesner will join Kever in the rodeo arena with their dogs. King has earned many awards for training and handling the dogs, including a Hall of Fame induction by the Mid States Border Collie Association.

Kever put Frizz through her moves with a whistle, calling out each move with a different sound. Various whistle calls tell the dog whether to circle clockwise or counterclockwise, when to drive the cattle or put them in a pen. He even told Frizz to slow down as she penned the cows so they wouldn't get scared and injured.

When Kever blew a "sloppy" call, Frizz knew what to do.

"She doesn't know exactly what it is, but she also knows I probably will tell her," Kever said. "And sometimes they want to do it their way, and sometimes they're right."

"It's a complicated deal to get real good at it," Kever said of the whistle. It took him about a year. The whistle ensures the dog can hear the commands from a distance -- or over the crowd noise at the rodeo. Although there are "no limits to the whistles," Kever's dogs also obey signals thrown by hand.

Frizz put the cows in their place and held them there without whistles.

"They'd rather work cows than eat a steak," Kever said of the border collies he breeds, raises and trains. Once the cows' actions satisfied Frizz, she laid down, her proud head up, her sensitive ears pointing to the sky, her one eye watchful and her mouth seemingly smiling while she panted.

With a young dog, Kever works first for a good stop, lying down.

"I want him to lay down and collect his thoughts about the mistake he just made," he said.

Kever makes no promises, however.

Frizz is a young dog, just about 18 months old, and he's unsure how she'll perform with sheep in front of a crowd. She's never seen sheep, and it is her first rodeo.

"It's a pretty good test of a dog," Kever said. "She's never been to town. She'll have to do a little bit more than think."

Kever celebrates his 81st birthday this fall, but he still works two dogs -- and just for fun, he said.

"I only have a few calves," he said. "I couldn't do it without the dogs. They can be a big help." Each day the dogs drive the cows from a yard near the house to the field; at night, they drive them back.

"You can hire somebody to help you with the cattle, but all you have to do with a dog is feed him," Kever said.

"Border collies are really smart," Kever said. "They pick up a lot. But they have their traits, and you have to learn how to operate with that.

"The biggest complaint I get (from people who bought one of his puppies) is that, when they drive away the cattle, the dogs bring them back." Border collies -- as opposed to other breeds -- are bred to "bring them to you," he said.

Kever grew up on a farm at Elm Springs, and his father had "regular" collies to work. And Kever, for a long time, kept some bird dogs. But none were pets. In addition to his two working dogs, Kever keeps two older border collies -- and even they want to work.

"They are so intelligent," Tex Holt said of the dogs. "They blow those little whistles, boy, and those dogs know exactly what they're supposed to do."

Holt serves on the rodeo board and helps organize the children's events each year.

The bossy one of the three cows tried to move away again, and Frizz flew into action.

"When they can get the job done without you, it kind of hurts your feelings," Kever admitted.