From: Calgary, Alberta,

Canada

Billie Richardson

Billie Richardson has been a mechanical engineering consultant for the past 28 years in Calgary, Canada.  While Billie never grew up on a farm, she remembers being amazed after watching the Calgary Stampede World Stockdog Championship many years ago and how they could get a 2 year old dog to maneuver around with whistles! She now has a small farm outside of Okotoks, raising sheep,  goats and, in her words, "a few useless chickens".

Billie's first herding dog 'Cosmo' was more of a conformation-bred Australian Shepherd, but she stuck with it and learned a lot. She later found it very difficult to find someone willing to work with an Aussie.

Billie attended a clinic with Trudy Viklund, who had skilled Aussies. Motivated by that, Billie ploughed ahead with her new dog Dan, which Trudy helped her find, and the rest is history.

Dan was the first Australian Shepherd to qualify and run in the USBCHA Nursery Finals and he made the semi-finals in 2013. He's also the first Australian Shepherd to qualify and run in the USBCHA Open Finals. in the 2015 and 2018. He also qualified for the World Sheep Dog trial in 2019. Their biggest win was the 2018 World Stockdog Championship, the first non-Border Collie to ever win. He won the 2018 Clock, Stock and Barrel Champion and been a finalist many times in both venues.

Billie has grandkids of Dan that have qualified and run in the USBCHA Nursery Finals and continue to build on his legacy in both cattle and sheep trials, field and arena.

Billie teaches clinics all over Canada, USA and Europe. "My training style is simple,  I want the dogs to understand pressure and go around their stock sensibility. I believe in trust and respect as well as firm but fair.  It is my goal for people to see themselves and their dogs in a way they didn't know was possible. I hope to inspire people to train and trial to be their best and not worry so much about the team next to them," she said.