Bad picture of the back field in the morning.
The course was very fun but challenging. It is a small field with a tiered "off-course" field to the left of the post. Gabe ran wide the first day (probably because we have a history of fighting at their place), and since the sheep were set on a ridge, I couldn't see him behind his sheep (same goes for all proper outruns, too). I was ready to down him when I saw the sheep notice him, but it was too late. He crashed into them and I had to get on him. But I did let him keep going because he calmed down after that initial outburst. He listened nicely around the course, still running stop and go because I have to right now. Not the prettiest of runs, but he finished with a nice pen. It was good enough for 4th out of about 30 dogs.
Cheesy picture but I was proud of us!
Rae was very happy to play field cleanup/exhaust dog during the PN runs. She had lots of work to do and hung in there as long as she could in the heat. After she'd had enough, I used Gabe in her place, and he got some good work in.
The handlers' dinner hosted by Todd and Peggy was again phenomenal. So good and so fun!
Sunday I ran Spain first. I thought she was the only dog to hit the cross-drive line all day, seeing as I nailed the subtle markers I picked out from the handler's meeting. The line is very deceptive on that field and the markers are few, but it seems that the judge was not using "my" line but one that I thought was well below :P How dare she! Spain worked pretty well for me around the course. I boogered up the pen a little because I really wanted HER to do all the penning. Sometimes she gets a little hesitant at the pen, so I sacrificed some points there making sure she put them in herself instead of deferring to me. We got 6th.
I sent Gabe the other way as a learning experience, and it was more of an uphill route to the sheep, with much of the top out of sight for the dog looking for its sheep and the handler looking for its dog. I gave him a few down whistles when I thought he was behind his sheep. Lovely lift, lots more downs to get him reigned in, and again he worked well despite wiggly lines. Lots of difficult flanks to take and pressure to work against and he did it! He came in 5th.
Picture of the ribbons because Rae's mother Starr was on Sunday's ribbons!!
On the way home I stopped at a very small trial at Keepstone Farm. I currently have no big fields to work my dogs due to my neighbors' hay schedule (or lack thereof), so I was happy for another opportunity to train on my dogs. I got there in time for the small field trial, the one where the field pressures are so, so great. Really good to school on the dogs. The classes were so small that placements didn't really matter to me, I just wanted good work. All three dogs tried very hard to listen while still concentrating on the challenging sheep, Gabe in the Ranch and Rae and Spain in Open. I really wanted to get a shed with Spain, but somehow we got called for time shortly after I entered the ring. I still had 48 seconds left on my watch, so I'm not sure what happened there. Bummer.
So it was a long but productive weekend for us. I'm glad I got to see so many friends at Billadeaus' trial. Livy's sister Nym ran in her first Novice/Novice trial and looked great! Her other two sisters did well, too, in the PN. Nice to see the girls in action. Poor Livy didn't get a turn, and in hindsight I really wished I'd have run her (especially since they are her breeders). Patience.
