What a Career Change Taught Me About Purpose, Drive, and Quality of Life

Dore Star was bred to work sheep.

That’s what she was built for — gathering sheep out of the pasture, moving stock from one field to the next, and competing in sheepdog field trials. She did well. Really well.

In 2019, she finished Reserve Champion at the Western Canadian Double Lift Finals.

She had the ability, the training, and the heart for it.

But her story didn’t end in the trial field.

At five years old, I made the decision to retire her from competitive trials. Not because she couldn’t do the job — she absolutely could — but because I started to notice something small. Subtle. The kind of thing you only pick up on if you’ve spent years working alongside a good dog.

She was still sharp. Still capable. Still competitive.

But she didn’t lean into it the same way.

And I’ve always believed something about working dogs: if they’re going to do the job, they need to have heart in it.

That decision led to a transition I never expected.

From Trial Field to Trail Dog

Star moved to my brother Jeff’s home. Instead of daily farm work, her life shifted to hiking trails, running mountain bike routes, and living inside as part of the rhythm of family life.

At first glance, her new role couldn’t look more different from sheepdog trials. No whistles. No flock. No judges.

But what surprised me most was how little she had to relearn.

People think sheepdog training is just about sheep. And yes — it is. But it’s also about control, awareness, travel, and staying connected. It’s about making decisions under pressure.

On sheep, she had to read movement before it happened. On the trail, she reads the terrain — and she reads Jeff.

She watches his front wheel. She feels when he shifts gears. She knows when he’s setting up for a climb or dropping into something steeper. She waits at trail intersections for him to decide which way to go.

When moving sheep, she could work up to 600 yards away, listening for a whistle and adjusting off a command. On the bike, it’s the same principle. She’s not glued to Jeff’s side. She checks in. She holds a line. She responds to a word or whistle.

The job changed.

The foundation didn’t.

Her focus. Her steadiness. Her ability to think instead of react — that all carried over.

She wasn’t becoming a different dog.

She was applying the same mind in a different

Watch Star's Full Story

If you’d like to see Star in both roles — working sheep and running trails — I share the full story in this video:

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