NC State/Dr. Ben's

Though Rae and I have had good success at Dr. Ben's in the past, I decided not to enter her this year.  The trial is always SO hot and humid, the field is steep, and the course includes two sheds...so all in all, a little too physically demanding for Rae these days.  So I stayed home and took call during the weekend and just drove down Monday to run in Ranch.  My goal with Gabe was just to find sheep.  If he took a down at the top, GREAT!  If not, we'd retire.  Though he really wanted to go right, I was afraid to send him up the terraced side of the field thinking that he'd be drawn in early.  I did convince him to go left and he left my feet on a nice, wide trajectory.  The fenceline for the PN setout pushed him a little tighter than I'd wanted him, so I blew him down and what do you know..he took it!  After a hint of confusion, he took a very nice redirect toward the now-blind-to-the-dog setout.  He came in nice and deep at the top and dropped the moment I blew him down behind his sheep.  YAAAAY!  The rest of our run was a bit of a blur to me...I remember that it wasn't necessarily too pretty as far as lines and panels go, but he listened to me the entire way around the course!  He didn't miss any downs and took maybe 2 or 3 wrong whistles, but was correct when I followed with voice.  And both of us were able to keep our cool and work together.  We finished with an easy pen where the sheep were happy to oblige.  I was SO THRILLED with our effort out there, his first time running the big course there.  So happy!

Gabe turns the post at Keepstone Farm, photo by L. Roberts.

I'm not sure what happened for Spain's run.  She wanted to go right and I let her.  Then I thought she was getting a little tight on the way out, so I downed her and gave a redirect.  This truthfully may have been the only time she's gotten a redirect in a trial, and I had doubts whether or not I could stop her on her way out.  She is a good outrunner so has always been left to her own.  I did practice a redirect once this week on a very short outrun just in case we'd need it on those terraces...and we did.  But after that, she didn't listen to anything coming out of my mouth or whistle.  It was very unlike her and I don't know what got her so rattled.  One of her strengths is her biddability, so I didn't know what to do as she blew me off the whole way around the course.  I'd finally had enough on the crossdrive and called it quits, running out to make her lie down.  She was even fighting me at the exhaust!  Don't know what had her so off her game, but I'm interested to see how she works for me this week.  Her owner and her breeder were both there to see us crash and burn, oh well!  Guess that's how dog trialing goes.

Keepstone Farm SDT

Wow, our third weekend in a row trialing!

The Keepstone Farm SDT was a small trial in northern VA offering 2 runs for each class both days.  Trial 1 was on a small field, maybe a 200ish yd outrun and a smallish cross-drive, whereas Trial 2 was on a field that I'd imagine to be roughly the size of an arena trial (though I've never been to one).  The allure for me was that I'd get to run Rae on smaller fields with heavier sheep that wouldn't outrun her, and that I'd get multiple runs with the other two dogs.  Spain and I need to get together, and Gabe and I need experience running courses and working away from home. 

Each field had very, very difficult pressure-related challenges and I had a really good time seeing how me and my dogs could handle it.  The sheep at this trial were very people-friendly.  They were fine around the course, often stopping to graze or turn on a hesitant dog or a strong-eyed dog.  But when it came to the pen and shed, they wanted to be in your pocket!  With 12 runs over the course of the weekend, I forget most of the details of the runs, but I do remember a few highlights...

Rae ran well for me, though I was a bit rusty handling her and made some costly mistakes.  I gave her the wrong whistles for much of the cross-drive during one of her runs, and even the wrong verbal flank while going from the pen to the shed.  For one run we had an impossible-to-shed group.  I waved my arms in their faces, beat my stick on the ground, ran at them, jumped, shuffled them around with Rae...you name it, I tried it.  The sheep stood on my feet with glazed-over expressions.  At one point, I nearly tripped over one that scooted behind my legs.  Talk about knee-knockers.  We didn't get that shed.  Anyway, Rae got a 5th, 3rd, 2nd, and 6th.

Spain and I had a less-than-stellar run where I gave some wrong flanks and she also took some wrong flanks, but after that poor showing we got it together and had some pretty smooth runs.  She got 1st, 3rd, 5th, and 1st.  We ended up Reserve Ranch Champion of Trial 1 and Champion of Trial 2.

Our loot.  I don't usually do ribbon photos, but wanted to share with her owners. 

And her pose in this one is priceless!!

Gabe had a great weekend of work.  I'd expected him to forget to listen at the top, thereby forcing me to RT and go upfield for at least the first run.  But he listened!!  Both of his gathers on the big field were lovely.  One was dead on-line and managed mostly by himself, with only a few stop whistles and one flank to keep them from slipping around the panel at the last second.  The other took some flanking to hold the line, but he was listening and was amenable to my input.  AND, he and the sheep were walking!!  In all of our runs, there were some wobbly lines, some made and some missed panels...but he was working with me and was listening great!  The work that we did made me so proud to see that we CAN do it away from home or familiar places.  One run on the little field I ended up retiring with him when we got in over our heads, but up until that point he and I were managing a tough situation very well, and I was very pleased.  At one point he managed to work a single back to the other two sheep, covering, thinking, and listening.  He ended up 4th, 2nd, and 3rd in his Ranch runs. 

Me and my good boy at the parking area Saturday.

Look who got to come along!  She's a pretty good hotel dog,

especially when she has her own bed.

I am used to Rae running well for me, and Spain is an experienced dog who knows the drill, though I am very happy that we are getting better and better.  But the star of the weekend really was Gabe!!  I know we'll have our ups and downs, but I am so excited to see our potential.  This weekend was the first time ever that I felt like we had it together on the trial field.  We are going to keep working hard in hopes that maybe we're about to turn a corner.

This trial was close to Dad's home, so he was able to come for the weekend and see us in all those runs.  And I had a great time catching up with my Northern friends who I don't get to see nearly enough.

Red Creek Farm Novice SDT

Last weekend we headed to South Carolina for the Red Creek Farm novice trial at Jon and Carol Anne Tholkes' lovely farm.  I'd never been there before, but the trip was easy and the trial first-class.  Saturday was a scorcher.  By the time I ran Gabe and Spain in the Ranch class the temps were in the low 90s.  Me and my guys weren't used to that heat, seeing as it is generally much cooler in the mountains where we live. 

N/PN sheep take a nap in the shade.

The field was small and the Ranch course was more like a PN course with a small cross-drive.  The sheep used for the Ranch class were unbroke katahdins and were very nice.  They were very sensitive to the field pressures, which seem magnified on a small, fenced field, but were heavier than many katahdins I've come across.  Gabe was a little too excited about the whole trial scene and forgot his listening ears.  RT.  Spain was pretty nice around the course though I didn't handle too well, I can't remember any details, I think the heat got to my brain!  I ran her on mostly verbals so as not to confuse her with her new whistles.  The sheep had not seen a pen before and were nicely challenging to put in.  We had to work hard and I was very happy with how she kept her head until we got them in.

Sunday was a little cooler and the dogs were appreciative.  Gabe ignored my down at the top (though his lift was nice and controlled), so we RTed.  I hadn't been able to make arrangements for someone to exhaust my sheep if we retired right away, so after I met him on the far side of the drive panels to remind him what a lie down whistle sounded like, he got to drive them the whole way across the field and to the exhaust.  Didn't mean to reward him for his bad behavior by letting him work, but that was just the way it worked out...and he didn't put a foot wrong.  Ahhh!  So frustrating!  Spain again had a pretty good run.  My timing is not where it needs to be with her, yet, but she listened very well on a combination of verbals and whistles.  Another difficult pen but we got them in, good enough for 2nd place.  We still have a long way to go as far as getting together, but she is trying very hard for me!

Rae and I watch from the shade.

Free range peahen just hanging out.

If only Gabe could get the jitters out and settle down at trials...sigh.  (The same could be said about me).  He is a very nice worker and I love working with him, we really are a good team when we are both at our best.  I'm sure that we just need more miles.  So we'll keep at it!

Ewetopia Bluegrass Benefit SDT

Last weekend we headed back to the Lexington-ish area for a small benefit trial to raise money for the Bluegrass.  I'd only entered Gabe and Spain, a dog I've had on loan from a friend for a little over a month.

The field was small and the sheep were quite trial-wise; impossible to hold at the top and always looking to run from the dog (not to any place in particular, just *away*).  Due to the sheep circumstances, I was very thankful I hadn't planned to run Rae.

Bowl-shaped field.

Gabe and I were first in the Ranch class.  After being in the 40s all morning, the temps skyrocketed to about 80 in what seemed like 10 minutes.  And just in time for our class.  Gabe ran out nicely and actually took his stop whistle at the top (HOORAY!).  We had a fortunate draw in that the sheep actually were sort of held by the setout, so he had a nice lift and start to the fetch.  I gave him several downs, which he took (HOORAY!), made the fetch panels and then the sheep bolted for the exhaust which was directly behind the post.  Nearly every run had sheep booking for the exhaust, ours was unique in that we had a straight fetch before this happened.  He got them back to me, we had to unwind the post (like many others), and then he finally got into a good flow pushing them along.  They wanted to run numerous times, he'd catch them and we'd try to get going again...but after some meandering around the field, I decided to quit while we had control of them, so we said thank you and exhausted our sheep.  I was really pleased with how hard he was trying to do what I was telling him, even though there was a lot going on out there for him to think about.  And, I kept my cool running him!!

Spain's sheep were at the driveaway panel by the time she arrived at the top of the field, so we had to play catch up the whole run, never having made that good dog-sheep connection.  She was listening but didn't take her away whistle very well.  I'd just tweaked her whistles last week and the new away whistle didn't hold up during that run.  We muddled around the course and finished, though none of it was very pretty.

Sunday I decided not to run Gabe.  One of my biggest priorities right now is correct top end work from him...no slicing the top of his outrun and no crashing into them like a freight train.  Lie down and calm down!  The sheep absolutely wouldn't allow themselves to be held...if you sent left, they watched as the dog was coming around and they ran right.  If you sent right, they ran left.  So smart of them!  So I figured this would be very counter-productive for where Gabe and I are at right now, and though I'd have liked to push them around the course, it just wasn't worth it to have a bad top end experience.  I did run Spain because she is an experienced trial dog, so I didn't figure I'd ruin her with one bad experience.  She listened beautifully even though we had to run like our butts were on fire.  She is very fast and responsive, so even though the sheep ran like mad, we were able to catch them and somehow slide through the fetch panels with them.  After retrieving them from their bolt-to-the-exhaust, we got them going well for the first leg of the drive.  Near the panel they bolted again and she caught them, but we missed high.  Had them lined out well on the cross-drive but I gave her one of Rae's flank whistles and boogered that whole situation.  She caught them just before they broke the plane of the cross-drive panel and we managed to save it.  We didn't get our pen this time...they ran around it twice before I changed my game plan to one that would've worked had we just a few seconds more.  Another ugly run, but I was really happy with how well she listened to me.  She even took a number of her new away whistles.

Gabe watching the course being walked.

Even though it was tough going out there, we all had a really enjoyable time visiting and watching dogs.  After the trial I buzzed up to OH to see Livy, she'll be home in a few weeks!  Gabe and Spain both got some work in up there, so I really didn't feel bad at all about scratching Gabe from Sunday's run.

Hotel coming back from OH: Gabe, Rae, Spain.

Lots to practice in the next few days before another trial this weekend.