Dr. Ben's Trial

Due to the bad storms Friday night, I decided to get up super early Saturday morning to drive down. As in 3:30am early. Ugh. And as it turned out, we ran a whopping 1.5 dogs in the first hour of the trial due to a fog delay. I could've used that extra sleep!

Learning from past failures, I let Rae choose which way she wanted to run out. She decided she'd like to climb the multiple steep tiers on the right side of the field. Looked good to me, but ended up losing 3 on the outrun. She managed the top mostly on her own, partially because she was right, partially because one of my worst fears became reality: I COULDN'T BLOW MY STUPID WHISTLE! I was having serious problems getting the low tone of my away flank out. For a fleeting moment I contemplated going to verbals, but I stuck with whistles and somehow worked it out. Good fetch, slow but controlled turn around the post, good first leg of the right hand drive. I got her stopped after the turn to set up the crossdrive and got a good line going. For the first time EVER, I actually hit all of my field markers on the crossdrive. What has happened in the past is I either 1) am too worried about just getting across the field in a straightish line or 2) plan out all my markers and don't even get to them due to our recent trend of retiring. So we had a nice crossdrive, made the panel (I'm thinking OMG, this is only the second time we've made all 3 panels) and had a clean turn. I glanced at my watch (I'm doing much better at remembering to start it when I send my dog!) and saw I had 3:30 left. So I eased Rae up and let her walk them to the shedding ring. We were running 4 ewes and were to take the last 2 on the head before penning. We got set up in the ring and it seemed like within seconds a hole opened up and Rae came in like a champ for a full point shed. We regathered and I had Rae hold them as I went to the pen. I did keep her a little far off her sheep, which almost cost us. As she was bringing them, the first 3 walked right in, but the fourth one lagged behind trying to decided if it wanted to be a follower or a rebel. But Rae and I were really clicking, and the two of us worked as a team to get her in, good for full points.

I WAS THRILLED! Everyone cheered and I was met with hugs when we came off the field :) It felt so good to see our hard work pay off and to see all of the pieces fall into place in the same run! To my huge surprise, we hung on for 5th place out of 72 dogs with an 87. Mark and Peg took first with a 90, Mike Hanley and Streak had an 88 or 89, Christine and Bess and Polly Matzinger and James both had 87s but beat us on outwork. So that was our first Open placement, payback, and USBCHA points! Unbelievable!

Unfortunately, Sunday's run was bad on both our parts. Especially mine. It was hot as hell when we ran and Rae was really on edge before we even got to the field (I guess she was feeling REALLY good about the previous run!) Again I couldn't blow an away flank at the top, but this time it really hurt us. Finally recovered the line to make the panels, but Rae was running like she had dynamite up her butt. Her turn around the post looked like a barrel race. I was frazzled and let her get too high on their heads while trying to protect the strong draw to the exhaust on the first drive leg. It got ugly after that and we quit. She wasn't listening but it was my fault for causing it. I was hugely disappointed in myself which is a shame because I don't want it to overshadow our fabulous go the day before. So we'll just not think about it :P

I don't know what my deal was about not being able to whistle...I didn't think I was anymore nervous than I'd been at other trials. It was freaking hot, and I do often drink something or chew gum before going out there. Maybe that contributed. Dunno, but frustrating for sure.

Livy got to play with her sisters, but it was SO HOT (have I mentioned that?) that even very bad 5 month old puppies didn't want to play as much as they have in the past.

Even hot and tired puppies do not make for an easy photo:

Fail

1 out of 3

Getting better

We'll take it!

On The Road Again

Headed out to Dr. Ben's trial tomorrow evening. I was actually scheduled to be on call tomorrow night, but since I drew up so early Saturday morning, I had to switch nights. Thankfully my coworkers are so flexible! Looking forward to it, though the weather looks a little iffy. I haven't gotten to work Rae much since the BG but oh well. I'll be especially nervous to run her in front of Renee for the first time! Eeek!

Livy will get to see her sisters and maybe I'll even pull her out to see mama dukes run. The Squirt turned 5 months old this week, woohoo! Maybe another month yet til I'll give her a go on sheep. I don't really have appropriate stock for her right now, so we'll see.

BG Lessons

Lesson 1. Do not get stuck in a porta potty during a thunderstorm. Very. Scary.

Lesson 2. Take plenty of dog water in case you accidentally back over your supply. There's no where to fill up on site.

Lesson 3. Merlefriends should NOT be in sight of the shedding ring. Things are WAY too chaotic at that point with plenty of spectacular DQs.

Lesson 4. Getting sheep down the field is no small accomplishment!!!!!

Lesson 5. Boy scouts make great pancakes on the weekend!

Lesson 6. Arm chair handling essentials include all varieties of alcohol and junk food. Never leave home without a solo cup, cork screw, or bottle opener.

Lesson 7. The dog-friendly hotel is cheap for a reason: no hairdryer, iron, or fridge. Limited cable, but at least you can take the whole crew inside. Wifi is also big plus.

Lesson 8. Take time to see the sites. Didn't make it to the horse park, but did make it to the stud farm tour, fiber festival, and top of the field.

Lesson 9. There are good people and good dogs everywhere. Enjoy the opportunity to see some good dog work and hang out with fun people from across the country.

Lesson 1o. Remember to take your dog ties OFF your truck before driving 6 miles back to the hotel.

Lesson 11. Watching Tommy and Alasdair in the International Shed is a clinic in and of itself.

Lesson 12. If you have a puppy, everyone will know you. If you're a vet, everyone will know you.

Lesson 13. I really need to get my alternative medicine certifications. The chiro was charging $45 "a pop" (haha I'm so funny). Chiro, acupuncture, and massage are must haves for me.

Speaking of puppies, here are some photos of Livy and her brother Deuce playing on the Novice field.

Thanks for the fun, BG!

BG Day 4

Didn't catch too many of the morning runs. Saw Joni run Lew for the last time, bless that old dog's heart. He certainly did respectably for a dog who can't see well. They were hanging on to the Top 20 board for a good part of the day. Robin and Zac had a good run going right up til the last second when he had quite the impressive grip! Bummer. Anet timed out with Dod within mere seconds of closing the pen door :( Peggy Wilkinson and Liz (Rae half-sister) had a really successful trial, managing to get around the course both runs! I'm so excited for her! Chris Chambers had another nice run with Molly, he's holding tight at the bottom of the board tied with Cheryl Jagger-Williams. Scott and Don and Tommy and Sly looked sharp, of course. I liked Chuck Dimit and Luke, also making it through. Alasdair had an extremely tough group but worked them beautifully with Star. Someone said how enjoyable it is to watch a "bad" run of his, you see the amazing handling skills and dog skills that much more clearly.

I ran Rae right before lunch, when the sheep were working well and the temps were decent. She gave me a nice (right-hand) outrun, she managed the top well with only a little input from me, but she wouldn't move off the pressure on the first part of the fetch in order to correct the line. This has always been a major weakness for us. Managed to make the fetch panels, good turn, but then she got really hesitant to walk into her sheep about halfway down the driveaway. I think it was a combo of old dog already with eye, getting more eye as she ages, and getting tired. She didn't listen several times in a row and I couldn't get them settled to set up a good line for the cross drive, so I called it quits. I really, really wanted to get to that shedding ring, but oh well.

This trial was a lot to ask of Rae and she certainly did her best for me. I wish we would've made it further around, but all things considered, it was a very good experience for us. She certainly gave me her all. Heck yesterday we had a decent score going: 19.5, 9.5, 13 before retiring in the vicinty of the driveaway panel.

It is hard to imgaine that one year ago today I went to the post with her for the very first time at Mary Brighoff's fun trial. What a dog to take me from complete beginner to Open at the Bluegrass in a year. I owe so much to her (and Renee!) and am having so much fun trialing that I don't want to think of her getting old on me. We'll get back to work once we get home, and I'm sure things will be just fine at the local trials with non-BG sheep and non-BG-sized fields!

Off to the Double Lift.

BG Day 3

Another ridiculously hot and humid day. The weather has been taking a toll on the dogs and sheep, and a number of good dogs went down today in a blaze of gripping glory. Mike Neary and Bob Washer both had really nice runs going, not to mention that they had great first round runs...unfortunately both dogs lost their cool and body slammed a lamb after the shed. Really a shame. Don Whittington had a nice run with Fionn and I'm pretty sure he's in the lead going into tomorrow. Annie Palmer did really well with Dot and is likely to make the finals. I missed her run but she said how shocked and excited she was since she'd come down here with no thoughts of placing. Joni Swanke's Lew son Griz had another good go; I've enjoyed watching him run because he looks VERY similar to Livy, and I'd be quite happy if she grows up to look like him out on the field! Christine had a decent run with Tweed, though both runs were not as smooth as we'd all hoped for. She's got an outside chance of making the finals, depending on how things go tomorrow. A number of the leaders from Round 1 either had poor runs or DQ/RTs, so it looks like those who can get 2 respectable scores on the board will make it through.

A few of us took a little tour of the local thoroughbred farms. We saw WinStar Farm, home of Derby winner Super Saver. At Ashford Stud Farm we got to walk around the breeding shed and barns since Bob used to work as a stallion handler there. We saw Tail of the Cat cover a mare (yay Storm Cat progeny!) and I got to touch Giant's Causeway and Dunkirk. What's Lexington without some thoroughbred action, right?

Rae and I run again tomorrow. I hope the humidity holds off, that's really what's making it so miserable here weather-wise. We'll give it our best shot!

BG Day 2

Another tough day here in Lexington. Lots of trouble at the top, and after seeing so many good dogs unable to bring sheep down the field, I feel very fortunate to have gotten the opportunity to join in the fun even with our abbreviated run! Around lunch time a terrible storm came up out of nowhere. The air sirens went off and everyone ran to their campers/cars/whatevers to hunker down. After the storm was over the heat and humidity came back with a vengence. At this point the sheep were wet AND hot, and just didn't plain feel like moving. I think there was something like 8 runs in a row where the dog didn't get sheep down the field.

There were some nice runs today despite the challenges. Looking at the scores doesn't always reflect the quality of work...there have been some very nice dogs who handled difficult situations very well. Lyle and Shep's run from yesterday held on to win Round 1, with several others close behind with scores in the 80s. We got behind schedule again today due to the storm, so the handlers meeting was bumped from tonight to tomorrow morning. Reversed course is expected.

Livy got to see her sister Floss today. Floss is nearly twice the size of her, she really looks like a dog who's a good month older than she is! And she's got tons of coat! Floss hated her and tried to eat her. Oh well.

Blue Grass Day 1

It's been a rrreally long day so I'll try to give a quick report. Sheep set 450+ yards on horseback, running 3 5-month-old Sufolk/Rambouillet lambs from a flock out of Texas. Right hand drive, single, then pen. The lambs were essentially feral this morning for many of the runs, spooked by both dog and person. Set out had lots of trouble settling them. During most of the morning runs the sheep were wild and uncontrollable. Then some hideous storms rolled in, with the worst thunder and lightning I've seen in a long time. Rae was a nervous wreck! Finally the storms moved on and we got back to running dogs. At this time the sun came out and the temps skyrocketed, as did the humidity. The sheep became very heavy, but were pissy if you pushed on them too much. Rae's tongue was dragging before we even got onto the field.

For the last 2 weeks I planned to send left. She fought me the whole way out to the post to go right. I finally got her to give in to me and sent her. She had run out about 75yds when I saw her head turn in. Not like her wide-running self at all. I waited a second for her to fix herself, and when she didn't, I downed her and re-flanked her. Which she did, til she turned in again after about 50 yards. Downed, corrected her, re-flanked. Turned in again, corrected her, gave her a get out. Next time she turned in I gave in and just let her have her right hand outrun. Turned out beautifully, and even though I lost sight of her for a bit and she lost sight of her sheep for a bit, she came in just where she needed to be. The set out person didn't back her horse out of the way as is usually done, she just sat there with the horse right on top of the sheep. So Rae was juking and jiving around the horse trying to get control of her sheep who were glued to the horse. It took a lot of work but she finally got control of them and brought them down the field, listening pretty well to me. Missed the fetch panels but I was OK with that since we had decent control of the sheep at that time. Finally started to get into a groove after making the driveaway panel when she just ran out of juice. The sheep stalled right behind the panel and Rae couldn't get them going again. I whistled her up, called her up, shouted encouragements, flanked her on either side of the panel, flanked her to the top side of the field...and she just couldn't do it. So we retired. Rats. The exhaust dog had a tough time getting them off the field and had to bite.

A big highlight of the day was seeing Livy's dad lay down a smokin run. He had some sweet moves at the pen on some very challenging sheep. And Denise's young dog May ran her heart out for her and really did a nice job.

We don't run again til Saturday, so the next 2 days will be spent socializing and enjoying the runs :)

Happy Bluegrass Eve!

Yeah I haven't been very up to date with blogging...quick catch up before bed: Rae and I trialed at Twin Oaks in Murfreesboro, TN last month, then last weekend we were at the Hanley's in Lexington, KY for Chinquapinwood. At Twin Oaks I retired the first day because she wasn't listening to me AT ALL, which is a problem we've been having of late. We did respectably the second day, though still encountered some selective hearing, but we held it together to finish and even got our shed.

Chinquapinwood day 1 she listened very well and I was super pleased. The cross drive was unbelievably difficult, you lost sight of your dog and sheep through a good portion of it, and it was always a surprise to see where the sheep would emerge after coming out of "The Bermuda Triangle." I didn't have her push on the sheep enough (figured this out after the fact), which resulted in the sheep stringing themselves out. It was a tricky situation as the lead ewe wanted to bolt but the trailing ewe wanted to poke around. We timed out at the pen, but managed a 62 (without a pen or shed). For day 2 we had our most excellent outwork EVER! She listened beautifully on the fetch, and it was our nicest display of teamwork at a trial. The fetch line, turn around the post, and driveaway was going phenomenally until we got a little boogered right at the panel. We both have panel panic, and I was getting excited about how well the run was going! She got squirrelly, wouldn't take her downs and grossly overflanked 3 times in a row, so I RT'ed and ran down the field to remind her what lie down means. Ah well, I was super duper happy about our performance up til that point. And it was my fault for causing it to begin with.

Livy got to play with her brother Deuce. They look so much alike! He's such a sweet boy.

Now we've moved on down the road to The Bluegrass. Handlers meeting was tonight and the course is set after much discussion on pen placement. I'm up mid-day tomorrow for the first go round. I AM SO FREAKING NERVOUS! My 4th open trial is the BG? What was I thinking?! I have to remind myself I'm here for the experience and so there's no need for all this pressure I put on myself. It WILL be fun! About a gazillion of Livy's relatives will be running, so I can't wait to see them in action!