Description
“Quirky” would be understating Jig’s personality. He absolutely adores Les and has never met a person that he didn’t love. He is fanatically obsessed with brooms. While working, he is a machine, making him the most obedient dog that Les has ever trained. He is very photogenic due to his intense instinct, erect ears and focus on the livestock. Jig lives to work and has an abundance of enthusiasm. Jig is a 5-year old male out of Imp Rob of Scott McDonald’s who is by Van der Zweep’s Gary and Fae, belonging to Jill Hefner, out of her Nan and Tanhill Glen.
Les, and his wife Katrece, live near Childress, Texas, in the Texas Panhandle. Les was raised on ranches in southwest Texas where his family raised sheep, cattle and goats, and he credits this experience for developing his ability to read livestock. Throughout his youth, he focused mainly on team roping, qualifying for the College National Finals while attending Sul Ross State University. His dad, Eddie Hale, was a long-time sheep dog trainer and began trialing in the 1960s, so Les was around working dogs all his life but didn’t really get involved in training or trialing until after college. He got his first border collie in 1986 which his dad helped him train. From then on, he has had the sheepdog bug and it eventually replaced his love for horse training. Although there was about a 25 year pause in his trialing career, Les has jumped back in with more passion and dedication than ever! He serves as a director for the Texas Sheep Dog Association and has earned Open Ranch, Ranch, and Nursery Dog-of-the-Year awards in that association as well as recently winning the double lift finals at the TSDA year-end trial with Ike. With his two current open dogs, he has won eleven open trials in the last two years. Les’s greatest satisfaction comes from the journey of taking a pup through the training process to becoming a competitive open-class dog. Throughout his life Les has been a rancher, farrier, police communications officer and currently holds a business development position for Angus Measurement Services.
