STORY AND PHOTOS BY KAREN BOSSICK

Tova R. Cladouhos was so taken by a border collie named Little Molly, who made her mark as one of the early champions of the Trailing of the Sheep Festival sheep dog trials, that she wrote a children’s book detailing Little Molly stories.

One book led to another and she now has a collection of beautifully illustrated children’s books based on Little Molly—Boisean Don Helsley’s champion sheep dog.

When Little Molly retired from trials to a new life at Cladouhos’ ranch in Grangeville, Molly did not discriminate, Cladouhos said. She herded a stray donkey and a calf that had found their way into the Cladouhos pasture right alongside the sheep.

“She was smart and patient and would pen the sheep right on time in 12 minutes,” Cladouhos said. “When she came to our ranch, we’d tell her, ‘Molly put this one in the barn,’ and she’d do it. We’d say, ‘Go get No. 18,’ and she’d know to do it. She knew if a sheep got out of the pasture before we did.”

Cladouhos took her place among the vendors hawking pajamas covered with sheep pictures and Idaho Wool Grower bumper stickers that included such pitches as “Eat More Sheep—50,000 Coyotes Can’t be Wrong” and “Ewe Haul” at the National Point Qualifying Sheepdog Trials held Friday through today at a pasture on Buttercup Road north of Hailey.

Among the vendors was Southpaw Leather’s Michelle Castillo, of Bellevue, who boasted an array of beautiful leather goods, including leather ties for the man who doesn’t know what color to pair with his suit and fly swatters covered in cowhide and tooled leather.

The flyswatters are a heck of a lot prettier than the Plain Jane plastic flyswatter, said one admirer, and they should come in handy given the recent invasion of houseflies looking to get out of the cooling fall temperatures in the Wood River Valley.

Liam Curd, the One Whittle Guy, worked on a pair of walnut chopsticks between customers.

Chopsticks are, perhaps, not what you would associate with a sheep festival—have you ever seen a picture of a Chinese sheepherder? But Curd said he sold 14 chopsticks at last year’s Trailing of the Sheep Festival, including some that he hastily made for a custom order while the buyer was watching the sheep dog trials.

Chopsticks are not just a work of art but they’re the thing of competition in places like South Korea, said Curd.

There, they have a competition to see how long of a shaving a chopstick maker can get out of a 40-foo- long piece of wood.

“If you go backwards, the wood peels off and breaks,” Curd said. “Keep it going forward to slice through.”