Farm Of The Week: Trainer keeps producing the top dogs

John Bell has nine when we call and none will stay with him more than a year or two. He breeds the occasional litter but will then sell the mother after proving the pups good. Mostly, he buys in his talent.

“You breed what you get but you can buy what you want,” he told the Yorkshire Post a couple of years ago, when setting one of several records in his name at Skipton Mart – which has quietly become the biggest working-dog auction venue in the British Isles.

Last Friday week, Mr Bell got 4,800 guineas for Nell, a one-year-old bitch. It was the 17th time he had scored top price at Skipton in 12 years selling there. In July 2010, he and Welshman Aled Owen smashed the previous world record when they each got 4,900 guineas for a dog. Mr Bell’s was Ron, a 14-month-old he had had for just eight months. A year ago, he set a new record when he sold Dewi Fan to an overseas buyer for 6,000 guineas after training her for five months.

He also holds the record for a dog under 12 months old – 4,000 guineas for Bob, a failed house dog he took on at seven months. He sells dogs younger than most trainers because he gets results faster.

The most he has paid for a pup is £1,000. The buyers are very clearly paying for what he has put in. Last week’s buyer, Jock Sutherland, from the county of Sutherland, in the north of Scotland, was the man who sold him Nell in the first place.

On his way to the sale, the Scotsman took two more one-year-olds to Parks Farm at Newsholme, near Howden, and Mr Bell bought them both. But if he had not liked the look of either of them, he would have had no hesitation about sending it back home. Picking the right dogs is the first essential, he says. He never buys without seeing them on sheep. And he is cautious about bloodlines.

The trade in dogs is heavy on sire references. Mr Bell says the dam is just as important. But the best sire and the best dam can still produce a duff pup. And one of the best he ever got was Bob, the house dog which fetched 4,000 guineas – after being given away by its despairing owner. He gets a few of those.

He tries to avoid getting his age printed but he got into dogs in a serious way 15 years ago, after retiring at 65. You would never guess.

His father had a series of mixed farms, ending up at Giggleswick, near Settle. They always had sheep, and dogs. And the whole family had an interest in horses, which becomes relevant.

Also relevant, almost certainly, is a competitive streak which goes back to Mr Bell discovering he could run a bit in a young farmers’ competition at the age of 19. He got down to 4/16 for a mile on grass and bought his first car with £50 he won in a big race at Appleby.

He struck out on his own at 36, with a dairy farm near Burnley. But he bought his daughter a pony for 86 guineas and trained it and after they had won a show at Ayr, a Scottish buyer rang to say he had to have it. Mr Bell asked for £1,750 and got it. Bear in mind this was 1968 or so.

“The farm cost me £10,000,” he recalls. “That pony had returned more profit than the cows could in a year.”

Horses and ponies became his speciality. By the time he retired, 44 Horse of the Year Show entries had been through his hands. He moved the business to Wetherby and then, 20 years ago, to Parks Farm – 40 acres close to the M62.

He already had in mind that he might go back to dogs. He knew he had a knack for talking to them.

“In many ways it is very similar to dealing with horses,” he says, “but it is not as hard physically.”

One of his three children, Chris, runs a business building riding arenas from the farm, Yorkshire Equestrian Services, and continues to breed thoroughbreds there, as a sideline. Chris also runs their small traditional farming business – a score of beef stores and about a hundred sheep on their way through. Most are young Mules but Mr Bell keeps a handful of veteran Hebrideans and always starts the dogs on those.

“They are such a hardy breed, they can run all day,” he says. “But more important, they are trained to come to me. If a young dog gets between you and the sheep, they are all away and that is how bad habits start. Being able to trust a dog driving away from you is where the money starts.”

Even before they get to the Hebrideans, the dogs go through basic obedience training. A sheepdog is a hunter that has learned to control itself, says Mr Bell. It has to stop when it is told to stop and everything else comes from that. It also has to be “honest” enough not to take a nip when you are not looking.

He never smacks a dog. He never gives them treats, either – just an approving touch and a “that’ll do”. His secret is they want to please him, says his wife, Anne.

He has never worked out how much he earns for each hour he puts in. It is unlikely it would keep him if he had not already had a career and invested in a home and a pension. He sells seven or eight dogs a year. But not all of them fetch 5,000 guineas.

Average for a trained dog is about 2,000. Some farmers like to boast they have never paid more than £200. Mr Bell thinks they must be buying themselves a lot of trouble. Call him on 01757 638281.