Work the flock into the gate. Pressure is the only tool you have, and pressure is also what
ruins the flock — push too hard and the sheep scatter. Patient arcs, not chasing.
HOW TO PLAY
You are the dog. The sheep are a flock — they hold together, they keep their distance from
each other, and they run from you. Get all of them into the gate and let them settle.
Commands
Keyboard
On a keyboard the commands are 1–7 in
the order they appear on the bar, B or
space barks, and P or
Esc pauses and resumes.
Barking
A bark is a shove: it triples the dog's reach for a moment and frightens everything nearby.
It gets you out of trouble and it costs you — see below.
How you are scored
You start on 100 and lose points for faults, the way a working-dog trial is judged. Time
against par, and barking more than the layout allows. Then the handling faults:
RUSHED THEM
How frightened the flock was over the whole run — worth up to 20 points, and invisible
while you play. It is the reason bulldozing them into the gate scores badly even when it
is fast.
BIT THE STOCK
Going in close and fast at an animal. Standing close is ordinary work; close and fast
is not.
CROSSED
Putting yourself between the mob and the gate, so your own dog is in the way of where
they are going.
LOST THEM FROM THE PEN
Getting the whole flock in and then letting one break back out.
The run-complete card names every point you lost, so the number is always something you can
argue with.
PAUSED
The clock is stopped. Pauses are recorded with your run.