Sandy Montgomery, Terregles, Dumfries, died on December 28, after a short stay in hospital, following a period of declining health.  
He was known for his great spirit in competing in sheepdog trials, including hill courses in Scotland, England, Wales and Ireland, despite having to walk on crutches for more than 20 years. His sense of humour was legendary in the area. 
Born at Clarebrand, Castle Douglas, Sandy worked on local farms, acquiring his first dog at age 15 and joined the International Sheep Dog Society in 1952. 
National Service took him to Hong Kong, which he enjoyed and it proved a source of tales for many years to come. 
On demob from the army, Sandy found work as a draughtsman in Glasgow, enrolled in night school and eventually qualified as a civil and structural engineer. 
By that time, he was working in Manchester, living in Macclesfield and finding opportunities to run sheepdogs and make friends with local handlers and flockmasters.
In 1973, he bought The Lag, a small, derelict farm, near Dumfries where his father and youngest brother, Graham, disabled for life in an accident, were to live with him. 
With his father’s help, he demolished and rebuilt the house, while working as a bridge engineer for the local authority, running the farm, training his dogs and never lapsing in his love of life and fun, despite the family living temporarily between two caravans through that time.
In 1984, Sandy won the Scottish nursery final with Glen (Monty) and was a regular member of Dumfries and Kirkcudbright nursery team. 
He also earned a place in the National team on more than one occasion, winning the Jack Fraser Trophy for sportsmanship several times and a similar trophy at Woburn Abbey International in 1987. 
In 1988, Sandy met Margo and the couple married in 1990. Around this time, a lambing injury to Sandy’s hip turned into arthritis, which caused him a great deal of pain and resulted in his use of crutches. 
On visits to his brother, Ritchie, in Bristol, Sandy would head off to trials in Wales, Cornwall and Dorset with him. 
The brothers teamed up with Welshman, John Thomas in September, 2004 to travel to a two-day trial in Ireland, setting the stage for, ‘a Scotsman, an Englishman and a Welshman walked on to a trial field in Ireland ...’ story.
The punchline was that Sandy won on the first day with Will and came second on the second day. He also travelled to trials in Cumbria and won at Penton. He took the Doon Valley perpetual challenge trophy with Will in 2007.
After retiring from Dumfries and Galloway Council, Sandy decided he needed to occupy his brain and enrolled on a course of on-line study and in 2009 graduated as MSc in bridge engineering. 
An active and sociable man, Sandy never got over becoming unable to travel in the last year of his life and eventually became bedridden, but he followed the news and trial reports in The Scottish Farmer until his death.  
He is survived by Margo, stepchildren, Karen and John and two dogs, Will and Craig who both miss their master.