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Leault Working Sheepdogs permanently closed

Just found out the Leault Sheepdog farm is permanently closed. We were timing our drive from Edinburgh to Inverness in June to get to the farm in time for the demonstration.

  1. Does anyone know of another dog farm/demonstration in that area?
  2. Recommendations for other stops along the way?

The plan was to leave Edinburgh around 9:30 and meander north until the 4:00 doggy demonstration. We'll be doing the Culloden area stuff the next day.

***EDIT TO ADD***
Found them with some help from the people at the RS office. It's now called Working Sheepdogs and the new website is under construction. https://workingsheepdogs.uk/

Posted by
13809 posts

On the Rick Steves Scotland tour I actually found the Scottish Crannog Center more interesting than Neil and his dogs. YMMV, of course if you find another demo.

Posted by
553 posts

We enjoyed the Crannog Center also, but much of it was destroyed by fire last summer.

Can’t help with sheepdog farm— we greatly enjoyed the one we visited in Ireland.

Posted by
94 posts

I am SO GLAD to see that Leault Sheepdog demo will be open! We saw them once before and LOVED it. We're coming back with family and wanted so much for them to see this!

Posted by
6 posts

Does anyone know of a working sheepdog farm/ demonstration that can be reached by bus, or a tour from a bus station or train station. All seem to be remove and only reachable by car, which we are not planning on renting. We'd really like to see one.
Thanks.

Posted by
38 posts

Hi Allan, thanks for the update. Just wondering what the difference between the Leault sheepdog demo and the "new" working sheepdogs demo is (from what I can gather, it is the same fellow running these). Is it just a change of name? I see that the new website is under construction and that they had plans to open their demos in Spring 2022. I guess we can just stay tuned.

As for other sheep dog demos - they appear to be few and far between. I did see a farm on Skye that ran a yearly show, but no info on demonstrations.

Posted by
4024 posts

I don't know if it means under new management or just rebranding. Whatever it is, they're not good at replying to messages. I've been searching for other doggy demos but haven't had any luck.

Posted by
38 posts

That is what I found on my search, absolutely nothing out there for demos. Like I said, there is a farm on Skye, up on Waternish peninsula that holds a sheepdog trial every summer, but don't do demos. They are open for farm tours and cake though, and it looks to be an interesting tour if you are in to sustainable practices, conservation, etc. Here is their website: http://www.waternishfarm.com/

Posted by
66 posts

Here's another alternative. There's a bed and breakfast that's part of a sheep farm with working sheep dogs that's very close to Culloden and Clava Cairns, about 6 miles from central Inverness. Iain, the owner, is a sheep dog trialist, and the website says that he will give demonstrations of his dogs working with the sheep to people who stay in the B&B. It's called Leanach Farm B&B https://leanachfarm.co.uk

We are considering staying in their two bedroom cottage which looks as though it has lovely views of the countryside. This was brought to my attention by the tour guide that we're using in the area. I asked him about the possibility of seeing some sheep dog demonstrations. He said they weren't easy for him to arrange, but that we might want to consider staying at this B&B if we were really interested in a sheep farm experience. He doesn't have any personal connection with them, so he can't vouch for the B&B or experience, but the reviews look pretty good.