WINDSOR -- David Kennard's four border collies went through their paces like a precision drill team Saturday as they ran through the finer points of sheep herding for an appreciative audience.

One of the many highlights of the Fiber Frolic at the Windsor Fairgrounds, the sheep dogs will show off their stuff four more times today when gates open for the seventh annual Fiber Frolic at 10 a.m. The event will close at 4 p.m.

Kennard, who operates a 450-acre sheep farm in Harrisville, N.H., commanded his shepherd's hook like a baton as he directed his four border collies -- Rosie, Brit, Joy, and Nellie -- around a fenced-in demonstration area.

The dogs would run quickly toward the half-dozen sheep and send the animals on their way.

When the dogs would stop about 150 feet away from the flock, the sheep would also stop moving. Lying in a flat crouch on the ground, the dogs' eyes zoned in on the sheep like laser beams.

It takes a couple of years to train the animals, but it is an avocation Kennard clearly loves. The dogs are not just his hired hands; they're his trusted companions.

"We're totally a team," he said. "We just drove four hours to come up here, a couple in the front seat and a couple in the back. They're just like family."

Kennard's dogs not only know how to round up the sheep, they can also put them in a pen. When the farmer told Brit to "open the gate" to the sheep's pen, the dog walked up and grabbed a rope attached to the gate and pulled it open.

The dogs worked as a team to separate two of the sheep from the herd and escorted them to the gated pen.

The small task ran completely contrary to the sheep's instincts and the dogs' training.

The dogs, Kennard said, are trained to keep the sheep together while the sheep prefer to stay pretty close to each other.

"That may look easy, but let me tell you, it's harder than hell," he said.

Al Maloney, event coordinator at Fiber Frolic, said Kennard is always a crowd pleaser among a variety of demonstrations at the festival that also features alpacas, llamas, goats and rabbits. The celebration focuses on all things related to fiber, beginning with the animals that produce wool to the tools that spin fiber and the finished products made here in Maine.

"There's almost anything that you can harvest the fiber from and spin here," he said. "We've got people here with plants for making natural dyes."

In addition to the demonstrations, there were numerous workshops devoted to the beauty and originality of homemade products in a world that places increasing emphasis on mass production.

Opening at 10 a.m., Maloney said about 1,000 people had passed through the gates by 3 p.m.

Although many appeared to be tourists or curiosity seekers, Maloney said the majority had clear ties to the wool or fiber products industry.

"They're what we refer to as 'fiber addicts,' " he said. "They're into knitting and spinning and they go to these events to get locally grown natural fibers. Then there are those here who love the animals or who are thinking about buying some animals."

More than 70 vendors have set up shop at the fairgrounds where everything from spinning wheels to glass buttons were offered for sale.

Sponsored by the Maine Alpaca Association, with support from the Maine Llama Association and the Maine Sheep Breeders Association, the festival changes a little each year, and Maloney tries to use the experience to improve the event in the future.

"This year, we found that we better start manning this gate earlier," he said. "We expected the gates to open at 10 a.m. but the gate was open and people started streaming in at about 9 a.m. -- and we didn't have anybody there to sell tickets."

A.J. Higgins -- 623-3811 Ext. 431

ajhiggins@centralmaine.com