Sunview SDT

Labor Day weekend brought about a new trial run by Maggie Chambers up in Quakertown, PA.  It was a bit of a trip for me, but I got to stop by Dad's on the way there and he got to come see my runs!  And it was so fun to see my Northern friends that I miss so much!

The field was very tricky, being quite small and having lots of pressure.  The sheep were beautiful wool crosses that were quick to run to escape and happy to stand down a dog.  I had entered Gabe in both Ranch and Open because in NEBCA trials you can do that until your dog places in Open...only problem is that I have no more NEBCA trials scheduled for the fall, so now Gabe is stuck in Open for all the trials we'll be attending.  I was hoping Ranch would run first so I could get some nerves out of the way, but nope, Open first and Gabe was the 2nd dog to the post.  The first dog got stuck on the cross-drive when the sheep saw their buddies in the set-out only a short distance away...yikes!  I took a deep breath and sent him left.  I think he would've been fine but I gave him a safety redirect (never hurts to check in with him to be sure he's listening).  With the sun shining in my eyes and a dark treeline bordering the edge of the field, I couldn't see him at all, so who knows what he did at the top.  But when the sheep started moving I could figure out where he was and he seemed to be listening well.  We had a good fetch, had to work it but he was flanking and stopping well, tight turn and fair start to the drive.  Then it gets a little foggy...I think we missed our first panels and our cross-drive was quite scenic.  He was pacing and trying to listen, just taking some wrong whistles.  But I was OK with that.  We were far from being on line, but I was thrilled with his attitude and how he was handling the sheep, so I figured I might as well stay on the field and keep working through it.  After the cross-drive was what turned out to be, as the day wore on, a nearly impossible chute which you had to make before going to shed.  We timed out after a brief attempt since our drive was so time-consuming.  So that was Gabe's first Open run!!  Not really what I'd had in my mind...the outrun was short at less than 300yds, ugly drive, didn't get a chance to shed...but still, I was really pleased with our go.

Spain ran toward the end and we actually had a pretty tidy run except for a few costly mistakes on my end.  I turned just inside the drive away panel, got flustered and gave her the wrong flank (so she crossed her course), then turned AGAIN just inside the cross-drive panel!  We also timed out at the chute of doom.  This run made me realize that I need experience on flat fields because the depth perception was obviously an issue for me.

Gabe had his Ranch run in the heat of the day.  The outrun was slightly shorter and the chute was made wider and shorter to give us a fighting chance!  I decided to send him right this time and could actually see him to stop him at the top.  He listened well and brought them at a nice controlled pace right down the field.  All the runs blended together so I can't remember about the drive panels, and I know we got scenic again, but he was listening.  I do remember that he had one who kept wanting to leave and he handled it well.  We did get the chute and ended up 4th out of about 30 dogs.  The class wasn't the prettiest, but the Open teams had some difficulty as well, so it was understandable.

Rae got to work a little bit by taking a turn on the exhaust field.  Someone was taking sheep off the field and bumping them into the exhaust field for us to pick up and put away in the paddock.  It was very hot by then, the terrain was rough, and she was not in shape, so she was pretty tired when her turn was over.  But happy!

 

We could see just a tiny bit of the action from our post. 

This picture shows a rare moment with the sun behind the clouds!

Sunday I again ran Gabe first in the Open.  I sent him right, got him stopped and listening well down the fetch and around the post, but then misread the pressure on the driveaway.  I was protecting a previous draw toward the inside of the field (and setout) when these guys wanted to go toward the exhaust.  I flanked him to cover too late, and because of the fenceline jutting out into the field, he couldn't get to them in time before they were at the exhaust and slipping through the high-tensile.  I did check to be sure that he was behaving and not in chase mode, and I was reassured that he was trying to cover them :)  So that screw up was 100% my fault, which was disappointing, but acceptable.

 

My friend Barbara tries to shed, so hard when the sheep are glued to you!

Sunday was rainy.

 

Spain ran in the last third and we had a surprisingly good go!  The two of us worked that course about the best that we could, made the chute, and then got to the shedding ring.  Though everyone was getting the chute now that it had been adjusted, there were but a handful of sheds during the day because the sheep were very people friendly.  I didn't have much time because we were slow around the course, and as time was ticking down I pulled off a Hail Mary as I called her in on a ridiculously hard attempt...AND SHE CAME FLYING IN!!  YAY Spain!  She was just turning the single as the judge called time, and unfortunately we did not receive any shed points.  On one hand I was pretty bummed, and even though the peanut gallery protested for my points, the judge said nope!  But it was a huge moral victory for me and I couldn't have been happier with Spain's effort.  We ended up in 3rd out of 53 dogs, how cool is that?  Our 86 was just topped by two 87's, rats!

 

It was her owner's birthday, what a fun present! 

Cell phone picture courtesy of B. Levinson

 

Gabe had one more turn in Ranch and as a training experience I made him go left even though he really was set on going right for the 3rd time in a row.  He didn't need his redirect this time, so I was happy to see he remembered that.  A sweet fetch and good start to the drive, made the drive-away panels, crooked cross-drive, don't remember the second panels, and made the chute.  Good enough for 7th this time and another run that I was pleased with.

So that's Gabe's Open debut (and Spain's third Open trial).  He tried so hard to be a good boy and listen to me.  I only saw the breakdown of his Sunday scores, and he had a 19 point fetch and a 20 point fetch for those.  And we really had to work the fetch, the sheep did not just run straight down the field, so that made me quite happy.  His RT was my fault.  He took some wrong flanks, but that is not unexpected, just where we're at right now.  It was not that he was disobeying me or running over me like in the past.  And Spain sure tried her very best for me and it felt like we were on the same page.  So a good weekend for both dogs, though plenty of room for improvement!