“For him, it’s like his best ever bowl of ice cream; he never gets tired of it. For me, the best part is the relationship with my dog.”

Christie True’s blue eyes sparkle from her sun-brightened face as she describes the thrill she gets from working with her border collie, Shep. Shep and True will compete in the Vashon Sheepdog Classic next week at Misty Isle Farms, joining over 100 other dog-and-handler teams from around the country.

As True describes it, though, the line between handler and dog can blur when it comes to knowing how to move sheep. Border collies, the most common breed used for sheep herding, are born to the job.

“Breeding determines each dog’s level of motivation to herd,” True said last week at her Maury Island home, where she trains and lives with Shep.  “The challenge for each dog’s human partner is to find the individual dog’s balance between talent and drive.” And that takes time.

True spends about four hours a week working with Shep and Dusty, a dog she shares with a friend, during the winter when daylight hours are short. In the spring and summer, the time spent working with the dogs nearly triples. Add that to the time spent caring for the sheep she keeps for herding practice and simple home time with Shep, and this hobby looks more like devotion.

“It’s harder than it looks,” True said, “but I work hard, and I like to play hard.”

Indeed, True has a big job as director of King County’s Department of Natural Resources and Parks, a post she’s held for the last four of the 30 years she’s been with the department.

“I love my job,” she said. “That’s pretty rare, I know. I feel very fortunate.”

True started working with the department as an environmental scientist and got hooked on the notion of forest and agricultural open space acquisition. Today she’s responsible for everything the department oversees, including 200 parks, over 200,000 acres of open space and conservation easements and the 800,000 tons of garbage that flows through transfer stations in King, Snohomish and Pierce counties. And she can still say she loves the job, in part because of King County’s people.

“In our region, we’re really lucky because people here have a strong environmental ethic,” she said.

True and her husband Larry made Maury Island their home 22 years ago, finding it the ideal environment to combine her urban work with a rural lifestyle. It’s also there that she first learned about herding dogs.

Starting with Australian shepherds, her Aussie dog Nell herded reluctantly and “only because I wanted her to do it,” True said.

Aussies, it turns out, aren’t the most enthusiastic of sheepdogs.

“I soon realized I needed a dog with lots of natural talent for herding,” she said. That’s when she started watching border collies. The innate need to herd that is bred into border collies makes them excellent teachers for their human handlers.

“I’m still learning,” True replied when asked what was the hardest thing to learn about herding dogs. Her friend’s dog Dusty, she added, has been her teacher and has helped her bring out the best in Shep. She had to learn the appropriate commands to point Shep in the right direction when herding and to contain his enthusiasm in the interests of getting the job done right.

“In Shep I have a ‘forward’ dog,” she said, meaning he’s highly motivated and needs to be guided into working the sheep nicely.

She also had to learn to understand sheep, as well as the best working “positions” between dog and sheep. And she had to learn how to care for sheep. Her passion for herding dogs led her to start breeding sheep for practice. Now she co-owns 50 sheep with four other herding enthusiasts.

Border collies are reputed to have the largest vocabularies among dog breeds, a point that becomes obvious in observing this breed at work. An aura of mystery overlays the dog-handler team as they work the sheep.

True uses a special — and very hard-to-learn — shepherd’s whistle to communicate with Shep, but it’s much more than that. Some commands are in full sentences; some are whispered; some are clearly disagreements between dog and handler. And the handler doesn’t always win.

“We were excused from competition once when Shep worked one sheep so hard it lay down and played possum,” True said.

At this year’s Vashon Sheepdog Classic, over 100 teams will have two chances each to herd a flock of five fresh Brownsville, Oregon, sheep through a course that must be completed calmly in 10 minutes.

In that 10 minutes, each dog must complete six tasks on the course from the initial and critical lift, where the dog establishes first contact with the sheep. Done without compassion, a botched lift can set the tone for a losing run through the course. Done correctly, the lift establishes trust between dog and sheep, and the dog can take control.

Handler and dog work together throughout the course, but at great distances, as much as 300 yards apart. After the lift, the dog must bring the sheep back to the handler in a straight line between fetch panels. This step is called the fetch.

Then the dog must take the sheep around the handler to “turn the point.” This challenges the dog’s urge to get the sheep to the handler as fast as possible and requires restraint. Harder still, the dog’s final act in the course is to drive the sheep away from the handler — against their natural instincts — and into a pen. All can be accomplished smoothly with good teamwork between dog and handler.

With every step in the course, this year’s judge, Linda Tesdahl of Maryland, will score each team’s performance. True’s tip for spectators who want to enjoy this year’s trials is to be sure to watch the sheep.

“The sheep will give clues as to what’s going to happen next,” she said. “It is the sheeps’ behavior that tells us how well a dog is doing.”

What is True hoping to get from this year’s Vashon trials? A trophy?  First Place?   “I’m just hoping for a nice, clean, pretty run,” she says. “I’m happiest if Shep listens to me and we work well as a team. I just want a good experience with my dogs.”

Vashon’s sheep herding competition, started several years ago by local herder Maggi McClure, has grown to be the largest event of its kind on the West Coast. Last year the trials attracted over 3,500 spectators over three days, and this year organizers have added a day of competition for younger dogs and less experienced handlers.

Watching the border collies at work makes it easy to fall in love with the breed, True says, but she has a warning for the besotted.

“They’re wonderful dogs,” she said, “but they don’t just need physical exercise. They need mental exercise; they need a job.”

As a hobby, working herding dogs is a time-consuming job for the handler, and clearly worth every minute for the ultimate dog lover.

— Susan McCabe is an island writer and Voice of Vashon’s station manager.

The Vashon Sheepdog Classic will run from dawn to dusk, Friday through Monday, August 22 to 25. Included at the event are more than 20 local artisan and craft vendors. Food and drink will be available for purchase, and a Saturday night field party with food and drink will feature live music and opportunities to meet the handlers and dogs. There will be a shuttle Saturday and Sunday from the north-end ferry. For more information, see www.vashonsheepdogclassic.com.