Last weekend Rae returned to the Open field as I made my Open debut at Barbara Ray's trial. Due to terrible rain and flooding in the days prior to the trial, a number of handlers didn't show up, leaving me there with literally not a single person that I knew! Dan evenutally did come for his run, but his was a few hours after mine had finished.
The field was tough and the sheep were tricky (ewes who had been weaned within the last couple days). We were up 12th, and when I went to the post, there had been only 1 complete run! Sheep left for the set out pens, wouldn't lift, broke apart and squirted everywhere, or headed for the river. If you pushed too hard, sheep were gone; not enough and they turned to face the dog. A few dogs stalled out, a few gripped off. A vast majority sent left, but I sent right along the river to prevent her from running too wide, and she ran out very well. I gave her the top to manage on her own, since everyone before me tried to micromanage it and ended up in big trouble. Took her downs well on the fetch but didn't flank as freely as I'd like. Got a little off-line but corrected after a bit of an effort convincing the sheep to move. Just missed the panels. Clockwise turn around the post was wide...she took off and was going to run way wide, I was a second late in noticing it before reigning her in. I didn't expect her to run wide there and wasn't ready for it. Good first leg with one of our best turns to start the cross drive...I managed it with downs instead of "theres" since she hasn't snapped into place as neatly as I'd like on her "theres". A little bobble on the cross-drive where we got high, but we got them back online WITHOUT her going into fetch mode! They stalled once, but she got them going again. Made the second panels, but I flanked her too late and they thought they'd head up field. She got them stopped, but then I needed her to take a difficult away flank that she just wouldn't give me. It was at a tough spot on the field due to the draws upfield, to the exhaust, and to the river. I tried and tried, but she eventually went come bye and thus we crossed our course. We were having trouble settling the sheep and regaining control, but I didn't want to give up. Eventually I stopped whistling and just encouraged her to bring me sheep any way she could. They were facing her and standing her down, but she hung in there and was very brave and got them to me at the pen. They tried to bolt once at the mouth, but she had a clean and calm flank to stop them. We had to really work for it, but got them in for a 9 point pen.
At this point I realized I forgot to set my watch (I'd never worn one before), so had no idea how much time I had left. I was SO EXCITED to get to the shedding ring, I momentarily forgot my flanks! I had to shush Rae to send her for them! I regained my composure and we worked for maybe 10 seconds before I had them lined out. There wasn't a hole, but just as I was about to call her in anyhow, the sheep rearranged themselves. We gathered them up and started over, I got a hole and she came right in! She was funny, I had to call her off quickly because it looked like she was going to take that single down! Good enough for an 8 point shed...I'm not sure if I lost points on our scenic route from the pen to the ring, or from the shed itself. But I was SO HAPPY!!
Rae is happy, too
Sunday I again sent right, she looked even nicer than yesterday at the top, but then didn't cover as I'd liked. She never flanked enough to turn them, just sort of rode them down the fetch off-line and eventually to the river fence, which wasn't that far off-line, but you were called off there due to sheep jumping the fence and falling in the river (no joke, lots of handlers got called off in this exact scenario, and there were a number of sheep that needed to be retrieved downstream on the opposite bank). I tried long flanks, short flanks, verbals, LOTS OF CORRECTIONS, even tried to down her, but nothing worked. Another handler told me the sheep were just faster than my dog, I thought she was not taking her flanks. Too bad there's no video.
One thing that was very cool was that I could see where our work has paid off. Her downs were pretty good, her flanks at the pen and shed were very nice. When the sheep stalled, she hung in there, and I was so proud that she got them up when they turned to face her. We have worked specifically on all of those skills. Need to keep on top of these things, get the shed solid, and really get her freely flanking...but we're getting there!
Our run Saturday was good enough for 12th place out of 39 dogs. Sunday we joined some good company on the DQ list. Disappointing, but I am super happy to have gotten around one day, especially on such a difficult field. I haven't seen the official results, but there easily could've been a 50% DQ/RT rate.
Not from the trial, just a random Rae picture by the river at homeSo all things considered, a great weekend for us! I learned a lot and had lots of fun!
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