MacRae Sheepdogs

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United States
Abbeville, SC
MacRae Sheepdogs

Our passion is to increase the mutual understanding & bond between sheepdog handlers and their dogs. Please visit us www.macraeway,com/academy

Our positive, proven methodology is based on our dogs natural instinct to want to get to balance point; it is a system rooted in making a connection with our dog instead of a correction. We breed, train and trial Border Collies as well as provide on-line sheepdog training, and in-person clinics, lessons & custom training.

09/25/2026

Trip was amazing!! It’s true what they say, no Scotland, no party 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🥂
We’re excited to be back in the USA 🇺🇸 We all arrived safely late Wednesday and leave Monday to compete in our National in Alturas, CA—we really are complete nutters 😅
Enormous thanks to Bryan and Allison White for their support, generosity and friendship in helping us get to the World Trial; also for letting us enjoy their gorgeous ranch until we leave for CA!
This photo is one of my favorite places, Glencoe.
Hope you all have an amazing weekend 🙌

09/21/2026

Fantastic accomplishment, World Champions David Howells and Wyverne Pip 🏆🏆🌍🐾🐑
and
Young Handler World Champion,
Jack Howells and Cydros Boss,
—father and son , very special for them and their family 👏👏👏👏

Dean McAuley and Joe,
Reserve World Champions, some month you 2 have had, well done and very happy for you 🔥🔥🔥🥂🥂
Angie Driscoll and Kinloch Carlos 3rd, all those in final
Brace World Champions , Kevin Evans with Dan and Ids—congratulations! 🎉 👏👏

Thank you Scotland, Fiona McMillan and the countless volunteers for a first class event.
Loved seeing friends, meeting folks we’ve connected with online and watching top dogs in person, win or lose, it’s a privilege.
Special thanks to Joyce, Andy all those that helped make this trip possible for me, Alasdair and our dogs, we are forever grateful!! 💙🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🙏

09/19/2026

Congratulations to all through to WT Final tomorrow 👏🐾🐑🌍🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🥂
No glory for us but 1st class event in every way!
Good luck🍀

09/18/2026

It wasn’t our day but so proud of Nite , he sure didn’t look 10.5 years old ❤️❤️
He ran well, had the sheep on his nose for the drive, impossibly I missed x drive at 1 mph!!🙈,
after a good split, sheep were tricky at the pen
great work from him , but I made too many mistakes and once complete, left only 15 seconds to single—we timed out .
You never know how many, if any, of those single points you’d get but by taking too long to pen, I never gave us a shot and slightly less than full points was enough to qualify.
For me, it always feels worse when I let my dog down.
From Nite’s perspective though, he worked sheep, ran well, ate steak and is well loved; a pretty great day.

There’s a football saying that can apply to trials when things don’t go you’re way …
‘Nobody cares, work harder’
— for me it means no excuses, put in the effort, learn from mistakes , get to work and try again.
I’m so grateful for Nite and this opportunity 💙

Alasdair’s field (1) didn’t get finished yesterday but he had a crackin run, 191, with Bute and she’ll certainly be through to the semis 🎉🇺🇸👏👏👏👏
she had a great finish, smooth pen and a heart stopping single! 😍😍
Moss runs late in field 2 today 🤞🤞🤞
Congratulations to all those through from Day 1 qualifying.

First class event in every way. Sheep and course are brilliant, incredible job by all here ; just amazing Scotland 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿💪💪

Enormous thanks to all of you for your support, messages, donations, texts, those of you here at the trial, it means the world to us 🙏
—TEAM USA, LFG!!!!! 🇺🇸🇺🇸🎉🥂🥂🥂🥂

09/15/2026

Last morning walkies at beautiful Tighnablair 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿💙🐾
So grateful for our time here.
Tomorrow down to Lauder for the World Trial parade ; trial starts Thursday! 🇺🇸🥂🥂🥂

09/09/2026

Brilliant few days here 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🌈🥂—
arrived Scotland Friday night and off first thing Sat to a great trial, Atholl & Weem .
Big congratulations, winners Michael Gallagher and Roy 🏆👏👏
(Well done Bridget Strang and Ken 5th Team🇺🇸)
Alasdair and I crashed and burned but dogs ran not so bad; very good to get a chance on these tricky sheep!
Sunday , Udny Trial, another fantastic field and sheep.
Andy Carneige and Suus won with a class run on 96 🎉🏆🥂👏👏

Nite was 3rd despite my mistakes at the pen.
Cym had good run around the course, not so bad at pen, but decided to single at the shed that was a split 🙈
Bute and Moss both ran well around course but foiled by the pen —we have lots of work to do to figure out these sheep!

Thank you to the generous trial hosts, sheep providers, setters, scribes, everyone that contributed, special thanks to judges Neil McVicar and Geordie Simpson
Grateful to spend time with Joyce and Andy❤️
No signal here but will update whenever we can ☀️

09/04/2026

1st night in 🇬🇧, me & Hotel Clerk...—🤷‍♀️😅😂

ME: do you have a dog friendly room available?

CLERK: yes , 1 or 2 dogs please?

ME: 4 😬

CLERK : Oh, sorry, we have a 2 pet maximum

ME: completely understand , could I pay additional fee or get a 2nd room;
we’ve just flown in from United States and have 4 w us.

CLERK: Oh lovely, you’re moving here?

ME: No, we’ve actually come for the World Sheepdog Trial in Scotland

CLERK: You’ve flown across from America, with 4 dogs,
so you can compete in a sheepdog trial ?
Aye, um , so, ok then, you are ,,,

ME : A COMPLETE NUTTER

CLERK : Aye, right , you’ll fit in f*cking perfect, sign here

09/03/2026

What day is it? What time? Where are we?
Confused af but happy to be here!! 😍😍😍
So many crazy challenges to make this trip happen
Enormously grateful to everyone that helped make it possible 🙏🙏
Gaggle of dogs pictured ready to go
but as for me, I’ll update more after sleep !
All I know—no Scotland , no party 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿💪💪🎉🎉🥂🥂

* in pet taxi on Chunnel from France into Dover en route to 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

08/28/2026

Have a fantastic weekend 🙌🥂..Dolly Parton’s 9 to 5; she was such an amazing, generous and inspiring person 💙

07/28/2026

If you feel frustrated in your training, if you sit with it long enough, you’ll often find her real name is expectation.

It may be how you thought your dog would work, what you’d accomplish, how quickly you’d progress, the handler you’d become, how easy it would be, etc.
One of the best gifts you can give your dog and yourself, is letting go of that.

Expectation can breed frustration.
What you want may not be meant for you in this moment, but that’s not to say you won’t achieve it, in fact, you may get something even better.
It does, however, mean you may need to change.

These 5 actionable insights can move you forward.
It starts with the mindset to believe…

1. Believe that abilities aren’t static and they can be developed through hard work, effort, mentorship and that you’re going to improve.
Accept you may have to put yourself in a position to be uncomfortable or possibly embarrassed to push through to the next level; the cost of entry.

2. Focus on small, daily improvements and in the value of compounding good habits, rather than quick wins.
Believe in accountability; success with your dog starts with your responsibility to improve as a teacher—

3. Employ self-discipline over motivation when needed. Even when you don’t feel like it, to get better you have to put in the work.
Rather than comparing yourself to others, strive to be a little better than you were yesterday.
Believe in proactively taking ownership of where you are and where you want to go.

4. Realize every expert was once a beginner, failing more times than a novice has even tried.
Failure is part of the process; it’s going to happen. Believe that failure is an opportunity to learn.

5. If you’re not making progress or achieving goals, get help; self-awareness is strength.
That includes recognizing when you can’t do it alone.
There are many qualified mentors; adapt a positive method with students that have consistent success. Believe in coaching.

Partnership includes holding up your end.
Frustration is a problem you can solve.
When you let go of it, it increases patience, improves focus and revives joy.
Mostly, it can transform your relationship with your dog.; believe—
macraeway.com

Address

Abbeville, SC

Telephone

(434) 955-3767

Website

http://www.macraeway.com/

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